Inspired by Zvi's recent post: Counterfactuals about social media (a)
His call to action:
So, what is to be done?
You, yes you, should abandon Facebook and its ilk to the extent feasible in your life. Encourage others to do the same and provide real incentives and reasons. Be willing to pay a real price for all this. See my previous articles on the subject.
But what is to be done as a society? With our collective action and enforcement mechanisms?
...
Short answer: No. Why would we do that?
On a personal level, I see Facebook as a useful tool that makes my life appreciably better for many different unrelated reasons, but this question asks about the EA community, so I'll stick to that side of things.
As long as Facebook exists, there will be a lot of people who use it as a primary platform for making plans and hanging out with people, and those people will be less likely to stick with EA if the community mostly disappears from Facebook. (Also, if the "mainstream" groups went down, groups like Dank EA Memes might stay up; I don't have any beef with that group, but it's not the first thing I want a search for "effective altruism" to return on Facebook.)
I've seen squabbles break out on Facebook groups, but those were rarely any worse than the most awkward in-person interactions I've seen in the community; they're also public, and involve people using their real names, which helps to keep things somewhat civil. I'm more uncertain about the EV of small, private EA message groups within Facebook, but I haven't seen evidence that they are actively harmful.
I agree with Zvi that the newsfeed is poorly designed and that some of the company's business practices aren't especially ethical, but I haven't seen any evidence that using the platform has caused any kind of collective harm to the movement, or even to many individuals in the movement.
PSA: everyone reading this who also uses Facebook should absolutely install a newsfeed blocker.
FB Purity is excellent: https://www.fbpurity.com/
Regardless of your opinions about Facebook, using a newsfeed blocker will absolutely make your Facebook experience better.
In my experience, almost all the value of Facebook (like >99%) flows from Facebook groups & Facebook messenger (edit: also Facebook event invites, occasionally). Blocking the newsfeed helps me focus on the parts of Facebook that actually add value.
(More conspiratorially, the newsfeed is where Facebook deploys a lot of its mind-hacking techniques, and I really don't like the notion of having my mind / attention hacked. This is basically an aesthetic preference.)
Also, Twitter does a much better job at the "newsfeed" thing, and Twitter's feed is much easier to curate & generally less mind-hacky.
I think everything is mind-hacky. Facebook doesn't seem better at it than my primary school curriculum or social group. I know it's for corporate interests, but everyone tries to influence you for their own interests. I don't really see how this is special - I think as long as I'm benefiting and Facebook is benefiting, it's no one else's business.
I think Zvi is assuming readers have already read the previous articles he links to at the top of post.
Currently reading Cal Newport's 'Digital Minimalism'. Even as an older millenial who has been implementing some of his practical tips for some time, I find that he explains the detrimental effects of social media (mostly focussed on harms at individual/social group level rather than societal) in an accessible yet detailed way.
In terms of practical advice, I personally am not in favour of "willpower alone" approaches (though arguably I "use" those with respect to social media I've never been drawn to, e.g. Instagram), as at this point I believe that social media is intended to be addictive, and there's no reason to forcibly expose yourself to an addictive substance. Options available include:
- Time blockers: Blocks websites/apps during a specific time. The one called Freedom, while costing around $30 a year on a subscription basis, works very well on PC and it's not obvious to me how you'd circumvent it when the anti-deactivation features are enabled. (you probably still need to have the willpower not to Google how to circumvent it). Appblock is a workable one for Android, though very easy to circumvent if you're semi-determ
... (read more)I entirely agree that "willpower alone" approaches aren't likely to work for many, or even most, people. I block my newsfeed and don't have the Facebook app on my phone. I also block dozens of other websites that I find more distracting/sticky than valuable.
I do similar things to control the amount of sourdough bread I eat; if I purchase good sourdough, I find that willpower isn't enough to stop me from eating too much of it, so I only buy it on special occasions. Like bread, Facebook is a "sometimes tool" that I'm glad to have in my life.