When I watched this though, I had to think: back in the days of television, wasn’t it even worse? There was nothing you could do to influence what was on. We literally called what was on programming ffs.
I was also a little unimpressed by the radio parts shopping example. Is he really saying that instead of engaging in some feed scrolling while you’re waiting to be called in the doctor’s waiting room, that you should go on a mission to repair some electronics? There’s project time and there’s entertainment time and they ain’t the same.
Idk, I mean the mass amount of options we have now are different from the TV days. It's easier than ever nowadays the find the online community that believes in lizard people. At least back then, there was some sense of shared reality through TV, even if it was subservient to corporate or government powers. Now, we don't live in the same reality as our neighbors.
And I kinda think you're misconstruing what he's saying about allowing your thoughts to be guided by the algorithm vs being active in choosing what media you consume. The radio is just an example of how you could find a lot of valuable information by guiding your own consumption. Algorithm wouldnt allow you to find info about that radio. It rewards you for being passive. I mean its meant to be addictive and capture your attention. I think his point is that the more people conflate their social media algorithms with the internet, the less able they become to do some basic research.
I do think It’s been a longer road to where we are than most people realize. Conservative talk radio and Christian AM radio had been peddling disinformation, outrage, and conspiracies for decades prior to the Internet. That really paved the way for today’s bullshit, and the prevalence of podcasts in the conservative media wackosphere helps show that.
I think his point is that the more people conflate their social media algorithms with the internet, the less able they become to do some basic research.
I guess that didn’t come through very clearly for me. Does using Instagram actually harm people’s Googling skills? This is a bold claim, and while interesting, was not founded on any evidence. I could tell he’s concerned this might be the case but he didn’t have any particular knowledge of this to present. Which is odd, because he typically has extensive knowledge about what he’s presenting.
It was a bit of an odd video for him. That’s fine. He’s more than earned the right to the occasional weird editorial.