MyPE

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Why I Want to Give Up Social Media

By

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In the early days of the internet it was an absolute free for all – no regulation, no tracking, no censorship, everyone was anonymous – not because they chose to be but because it was safer to be so.

Everyone who used the internet used it for sharing of knowledge and to learn – we used it like a library.

Then the idiots got involved and wanted to be entertained.

So, web sites evolved to entertain the masses. Much like religion, then Film, then TV became the opium of the masses, the internet has become the opium of the masses.

We live in a head down generation where we would rather communicate with some pixelated blob on the other side of the world than actually talk to someone within touching distance.

The lines between work and social became blurred and big media and governments woke up to the possibilities of how the internet could shape and channel human thought and interaction.

Advertising began to become prevalent and then part of the narrative – web sites were started on the basis of monetisation and profit and not on the basis of solid contribution to advancing humankind. Let’s face it – do you REALLY need to know what Suki in Japan is eating or thinking? As humankind we are failing to attend to our basic needs and. MORE IMPORTANTLY, of our fellow humans.

We are losing the ability to communicate, explore, learn and retain knowledge – it is just so mush easier to look things up again and again with that screen in your hands, in your car, on your desktop, in your lounge, kitchen, toilet and dining room.

AND, with every person lost to the lure of Social Media and Search Engines we feed the gaping maw of ‘monetisation’.

We are already into the next product of the internet where WE become the product, where Social Media companies and even sites like MyPE (See: Why MyPE is Like Facebook) rely on eyeballs to make money to keep feeding ever hungrier society with crap. Reminds me of an episode in South Park where people who blindly signed Apple’s Terms and Conditions were sewed together ass to mouth to create an endless self sustaining loop passing crap to each other.

As we become the product it allows ever more companies to give us services for free whilst they use our mutterings, track our movements, see what we write and say to profile us to click on product adverts for stuff that we THINK we need but really don’t. AND, dare I say it, they may even be passing our innermost thoughts and movements on to government agencies.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.