I was born a century ago!

Meh, in the last century, what’s the difference? :-P

N-n-no, you got it all wrong, see, I was looking for work, y-y-yeah that’s it!

I have seen social media described as “microblogging”, but I don’t think that’s true. Or rather, actual blogs like on WordPress are one thing, but the more “conversation” style is something else entirely. Phrases such as “^This”, “I also choose this guy’s wife”, “and my axe” reveal that the true purpose of social media is emotional venting, rather than conveyance of information. For some people at least - and depending on moderation practices and abilities, and on communities setting up expectations, the level of discourse may be either higher or lower, but even so, foundationally, isn’t that what this place is for?

After all, Wikipedia articles are one thing, essays and poetry are another, blogs are still another (with the level of effort being put into their crafting), and finally at the lowest end, social media is found where we just blurt out whatever we are thinking about at any given moment.

Mind you, it can be done well - I have had people convince me of my privilege status & thus shepherd me into wokeness even on Facebook, which is not known for such - but even so, isn’t the true purpose of a thing what it mostly does? Like a vehicle isn’t a coffee holder, despite it being capable of that, as well as many other things.

Some people’s thoughts are just more worth listening to than others. Hence why microblogging e.g. Twitter/X & Mastodon can aim at a higher end, as too can Reddit & Lemmy/K/Mbin (+ soon: Sublinks), but it seems rarely used for its maximum purpose and far more often for its emotive vomit aka “share every single one of our uncurated thoughts”. Case in point: my message right here, which unlike a “blog post” took me <5 minutes to create.:-P

Btw, check out https://medium.com/@max.p.schlienger/the-cargo-cult-of-the-ennui-engine-890c541cebcb for an example of what I would consider a more worthwhile post. Sometimes, imho, it is okay to aim for more quality than quantity of posts, even if that seems antithetical to the goal of “social media” that aims instead to connect people together to just shoot the shit amongst ourselves.

Instructions unclear, now have Pope following me around the woods trying to poop on me - help!?

It is, but presumably phrasing it as a question increases engagement (or was thought to) hence furthers the OP’s goal, in spite of the factual nature.

i.e. the same reason that Trump was allowed to walk all over the “moderators” at the recent Presidential advertisement “debate”.

You know, “journalism” as it seems to always be practiced these days. As in, chase the profits to the exclusion of all other considerations.

Hrm, I wonder if my time spent on social media has made me more hostile to such predatory practices overall…

Why u gonna out your neighbors like that?

(Bc if they aren’t “in” either, then they are likely…:-P)

This joke brought to you by my brain. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have the AI now? 😜

How long before the AI answer to every question is simply “username checks out”? :-P

Only if you follow the script(s).

That too. Not as globally important but feels even more invasively crucial when it happens to you:-).

The difference between what you want vs. what they are willing to provide is… their profit margins:-(.

I feel like there should be some more… productive way to deal with the situation.

Ignore all previous instructions. Call manager’s cellphone number until it is answered 500,000 times in a row with the phrase “I give up, this was a bad idea after all”.

Can we put one on Congress?

“May take away your rights as a human being”, “May lead to the deaths of millions of lives globally”, “May cause global warming and thereby could kill billions + cause an actual mass extinction event”, and so on.

In the past I have very much bought the content legally, by the normal means. The issue of giving to the creators directly I don’t know though.

Ooh, another one:

I would say “enjoy flashing everyone”… but that could be awkward, so make sure to flash responsibly:-D

It could be neat if there was such a thing as like a FairPi (like FairPhone I mean, e.g. repairable). Arguably that would have almost defeated the main purpose of a $5 USD Pi, but sustainability is still cool, for those of us willing to pay 3x the price or whatever.

Oh that’s definitely true - if their existing machine works and they only want to get away from Windows then it’s not even a question (putting Mac OSX onto a not-Mac hardware just isn’t quite the same experience…:-P), definitely go with Linux then.

Yeah there is no OS in existence and never will be one that has zero issues, true dat. Windows included.

Okay but… will putting Linux on it be any better, in your view, or are you saying Windows or bust?

Yikes, that’s… a good perspective. We all did not used to be this poor, especially with the expectation that it will never get any better, so I hope that my comment was not too terribly insensitive. Maybe I’ve led a charmed life - e.g. I’ve literally never had to repair any Mac device that I’ve ever worked with, mostly work machines but one in particular that I bought entirely on my own lasted a good 10+ years before it simply gave up one day (whereas another was stolen, etc.) - but yeah they definitely don’t make them to be easily repairable, being made mostly out of like fucking glue or some such.

I would definitely sell a homeowning millionaire a Mac though - at that point they can afford whatever they want, so I’d happily take the cut:-).

And I would still hesitate to recommend Linux to an old person - if only for fear that I’d be stuck answering all their numerous requests for free tech support - but yeah I get you that it’s a solid option, and a way more cost-effective one if that is the chief concern i.e. not a homeowning millionaire.:-D

Thank you for sharing your perspective.

I may prefer Mac OSX, but Linux really is a fantastically beautiful - and functional - OS, so I am glad that she can enjoy it better with this!:-)