Litsy

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier

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Can't say that I completely understood everything Lanier said, but I did get the main message: social media is ruining the world and we are its slaves. Not Litsy.

CoverToCoverGirl I have been shouting this for twenty years, so almost from the beginning. Litsy is an exception. I only have a Facebook account (7years) because it was needed for an account for my small business or Litsy would be it. I‘m very happy that schools are starting to ban them and Australia is setting age restrictions on many of these unfettered platforms. Just my thoughts and opinions. 12h

ShelleyBooksie Aww, snuggle kitty ♡♡ 12h

33 likes2 comments

Billypar

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist | Liz Pelly

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#tuesdaytunes @TieDyeDude
I always felt a little guilty for using Spotify given the little to no pay that artists receive. But Pelly's book details a long list of other problematic behavior. I never listen to the Spotify-made lists much, but they are a huge part of their business model. Artists get added to them based on less than transparent ways involving their record labels or sometimes from the artists themselves paying for the privilege 👇

Billypar Or some artists agree to make generic 'chill vibes' music for small amounts of money and without their identity linked, which supplants authentic ambient artists from playlists. And if all that's not bad enough, there's a whole phony music pseudoscience underlying all this that tries to identify the least offensive, most homogeneous music possible to promote while generating ever increasing fake subgenre labels to trick people into thinking 👇 2d

Billypar they've discovered some kind of new, niche musical scene that doesn't exist. The whole thing is demoralizing, and it sounds like Spotify's employees who may have joined out of a genuine love of music are becoming increasingly disillusioned with their tech-bro leadership. I may be too addicted to delete my account, but this definitely reminded me of how important it is for music fans to find other ways to support our favorite artists. 2d

CSeydel It‘s so frustrating because they really have a good service. I don‘t feel guilty about making playlists and listening to them — much of what I listen to on Spotify, I already own on CD or cassette (or both!), anyway — but I‘ve definitely started to be more cautious about Spotify-supplied playlists. And more intentional about buying concert tickets and merch rather than just streaming. 2d

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Billypar @CSeydel Yeah, concert tickets and merch are really the best ways. I also do like Bandcamp - I think the streaming payment is only marginally better, but it's great for discovering new indie artists and makes it easy to buy their songs, albums, and merch. 1d

CSeydel @Billypar Yes, everyone always recommends Bandcamp, and I made an account. I‘m sure it‘s better for discovering new artists, but most of the artists I usually listen to aren‘t on there - I thought it would be a replacement for Spotify, but it‘s very different. 1d

Billypar @CSeydel Oh yeah, it doesn't replace Spotify by a longshot for me either. But I'm very happy with the artists/albums I have found there. 1d

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annamatopoetry

The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages | Jean Gimpel

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Which will win, my distaste for history of science or my love for medieval shit? Medieval shit, it turns out. A concise little summary of how it's wrong to label the medieval era as stagnant, with lots of interesting bits about engineering, astronomy, clockwork, but more importantly their impact on society. That said, Gimpel is VERY based in the mid-1970s and draw some far fetched (we've seen) conclusions about the fate of the western world.

8 likes

annamatopoetry

The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages | Jean Gimpel

"... That christianity, by destroying classical animism, brought about a basic change in the attitude towards natural objects and opened the way for their rational and unabashed use for human ends..."

4 likes

REPollock

Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines | Joy Buolamwini

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I didn‘t expect this to read like a memoir (a genre I typically don‘t read) but I appreciate how the author interweaves her own history and story with the illuminating information about facial recognition and image processing AI technologies.

I‘m glad I have read other books about the different technologies grouped together in the description of “AI.”

16 likes

ImperfectCJ

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier

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I'm not sure if this short book was compelling on its own or just along with my other reading/experiences, but it definitely struck a chord for me. A Silicon Valley insider, Lanier makes a distinction between social media that uses what he terms BUMMER algorithms to target and manipulate users and other, less insidious types of online interaction. I don't like his Solitary/Pack terminology, but aside from that, it's a very convincing read.

TheLudicReader I am currently reading Lanier‘s book, too. I am becoming increasingly distressed about social media…I dumped out of FB in January and don‘t miss it at all. Insta is probably next. 1w

ImperfectCJ @TheLudicReader His comparison to lead paint was really helpful to me, the idea that I'm not leaving social media forever, just until a better system is in place. And then I remind myself that I was keeping in touch with people fine before Facebook, and I just need to remember what that looked like. The fact that it's difficult to remember is a bit alarming to me, how thoroughly social media has changed how I relate to people. 7d

43 likes2 comments

JLaurenceCohen

Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks | Scott J. Shapiro

"Project Shield was established to protect dissidents against repressive governments. Brian Krebs, however, needed protection from three teenagers."

21 likes

ImperfectCJ

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier

"What if listening to an inner voice or heeding a passion for ethics or beauty were to lead to more important work in the long term, even if it measured as less successful in the moment? What if deeply reaching a small number of people matters more than reaching everybody with nothing?"

As one whose passion for blogging diminished with the push to focus on SEO and who's feeling odd about using IG to promote voiceover work, this quote resonates.

ImperfectCJ And just for the record, Lanier is specific about what about some social media is insidious (he refers to it by the acronym BUMMER), and Litsy doesn't do it, so while I'm on the verge of quitting Meta, I don't plan on leaving here (unless the business model changes dramatically and in a bad direction or unless I find myself changing in ways I don't like because of how I use Litsy). 1w

32 likes1 comment

ManyWordsLater

Podcasting for Dummies | Tee Morris, Chuck Tomasi, Evo Terra

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Not book related. BUT I launched a podcast!

Take a listen! Review! Subscribe! Tell your friends!

It would mean a lot to me. ❤️❤️❤️🎧

www.Momsamongotherthings.com/podcast

#selfguidedwomenandgenderstudiescourse

42 likes

shanaqui

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist | Liz Pelly

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This was interesting and clearly involved a lot of research, though I eventually found myself glazing over because it felt a bit repetitive. The problems with Spotify boil down to the same basics: remuneration of artists is poor, it's built to make money for the creators, it pivots at random to any metric where it can make the numbers go up, it's opaque...

12 likes

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