Blocking is the key to not being miserable on social media. Its okay to just be here for the memes. I dont block for disagreement, but rather how they act
I dont block for disagreement, but rather how they act
This is the key point, blocking is a tool for curating the experience you get. If you block for disagreement you get an echo chamber, if you block based on behavior you get peace.
Excellent insight, friend :)
The Internet would be a better place if we all stopped feeding the trolls with our attention which is now money. Ignore and move on
One of my favorite podcasters (C. Derek Varn) finished his podcasts reminding his listeners to “Protect Your Peace”. There are several ways of doing this. This post is one way. Minneapolis is doing it a different way.
I agree with many people ITT that overuse of blocks could create echochambers, however I still think that blocks are an underused feature of social media. These days much online content is not designed for discourse, it is designed for engagement. Rage bait, over sensualisation, even trolls farming frustration for their hit of endorphins. These are the kinds of people (and content outlets in general) which should be blocked.
But to be clear, not everyone who disagrees with you is a troll, or trying to rage bait.
It’s called curating your community/feed.
By doing this, you get to shape it based on what you want, if you created an echo chamber, it’s because you WANTED an echo chamber.
me tolerating the most negative person I’ve met in an online gaming group because they’re friends with someone (and idek how)
yeah I needed to hear that
Yeah, as I’ve gotten older I no longer harbor right wing politics or talking points. Police apologia? Blocked. Pro capitalist talking points? Go jump in the orphan grinder 5000. Billionaires are smarter, better people? To the salt mines. If you’re still arguing against progressive policies and ideals you’re not of use arguing, you’ve already chosen to disregard any evidence to the contrary.
I try and block all kinds of stuff. The ideal is that if I would be down-voting many things in a community I should just leave them in peace.
I’m conflicted on this because if you block enough of people opposed to you, you end up lacking any insight into what they are actually doing.
My own personal mental health has taken a hit because I feel a need to bear witness. And its all… a lot
She’s not talking about people with opposing views, she’s talking about drama queens, trolls, and all the other louts.
She’s right.
This is a good way to create echo-chambers. But hey it is good advice when used with nuance.
“ackshually you have to listen to the miserable fuckwads or you’re in an echo chamber” well good thing this post just provided some great advice
Actually you DO NEED to engage in a few bouts to assess how miserable they are to decide whether it’s worth it to continue a conversation.
Otherwise you’re just another wannabe despot (like Trump) who likes to listen to themselves & thinks the world revolves around them.
It’s difficult to check whether the person you’re arguing is doing it in bad faith or because they’re really engaging in discussion with you.
Excellent advice.
And it’s often a service for the person you’re blocking too: you’re saving them from having to see your opinions, which might infuriate them pointlessly.
Your time on this planet is limited. Don’t pass it around on people like mentioned here, ads, big tech-time sinks, influencers (and their inevitable accompanying drama). It is your time, not theirs, not even god’s.
Just fucking don’t.
Amen. Wise words.
Sometimes I engage them for my own entertainment.
This is dumb as shit and sticking your head in the sand and creating an echo chamber because you can’t deal with people having differing opinions from yours. I hate this shit, if its going to stay an open forum for the exchange of ideas we need to hear from everyone, including the dumbfucks and the trolls, else we risk creating these little bubbles where we are never challenged and get extremely susceptible to group think, manipulation, and extremism- exactly the things that breed the idiots you can’t tolerate.
Grow a fucking spine instead of fasttracking the Internet into fucking Black Mirror episode.
The post doesn’t claim you should block people that disagree with you, but insufferable people that bring the conversation down with insult and rage baits.
Like you are doing right now.
Well the post states you should block “fools” and a lot of people will consider people who disagree with them to be fools, which will create the echo chamber
Perhaps people who think that are the fools, and they’re doing the block-ee a favour.
Yeah if the discussion is going to end with “fuck you you’re wrong [this user has blocked you]” its better all around to get to that point as soon as possible.
There are extremely mentally unstable people all over the internet, here included. I don’t care to include their sentiments because it never goes well. So; you keep doing what you’re doing- but it doesn’t deserve this much ire. It’s not about creating an echo chamber. If I blocked more people maybe I would come on here more often.
I think these two things are not mutually exclusive.
There are people who should not (but unfortunately do) engage with harmful ideas online.
The best case scenario is these people shout into the void, and nobody takes them seriously.
More often than not, these people lack the epistemology to engage in civil disagreement.
The worst case scenario is these people vindicate the bigots through weak arguments, meltdowns, and fallacies, which get screenshot / clipped / shared to other bigots.
This isn’t an argument for suggesting people should shut up; I would like for people to be better trained in critical thinking. That’s not always possible though, and some people need to step off the highway.
Thanks for saying this!
While i can understand the temptation of creating a bubble where every opinion is aligned with my own and everyone is entertaining, i think it’s a mistake. Ofc, if it’s just a troll, by all means go ahead and block them.
But “bores” are often enough knowledgeable people in some areas, and drama-starters sometimes give an impulse where real discussion can take place. Also, authoritarians of all colors need to be called out, so that the probability of their propaganda taking root is reduced as much as possible.
I have 334 users on my block list.
335 now.
If i may ask, on the small possibility you might see this, what triggered you to do this? I understand that you might disagree, but did i do something wrong?
You’re welcome to add me to the list too, since your threshold seems to be very low - they posted perfectly respectful comment, was it just because you disagreed with them?
Since our Greenknight doesn’t see it:
I’m on anarchist.nexus because i don’t want to use lemmy and it’s the piefed-sister of dbzer0.com - reason for this is that the Lemmy devs are hardcore tankies. I for myself am more of an socialist.
And I definitely said to block trolls; bores are not worth blocking because if i find a comment boring, that’s hurting noone. drama-queens are often catalysts for good discussions like i said, doesn’t mean i have to reply to them - i’d rather stay informed.
authoritarianism like nazi and tankie propaganda on the other side is like a festering wound and needs to be countered. If you don’t, you get what the USA is currently going through.
couple things.
- they’re in an anarchist group
I have no problems with anarchists, just specifically groups of anarchists. kind of negates the whole “anarchist” thing.
- they were promoting intelligent interaction with trolls and authoritarians to combat the spread of their influence
if everyone ignored them, then their influence would stop. There’s no reason to interact with either.
ultimately their ideas only feed the people they are arguing against. this leads me to believe this person is either a troll or a fool. considering they’re a member of an anarchist group I assumed they’re a troll and not an anarchist.
