That's Angertainment

My first experience of the Internet was in the early 90s. It was peppered with people writing "welcome to my site" and giving us a list of links to websites they were interested in. It was a digital homeliness. Most of this function is now filled by social media.

Back then the Internet promised to be a door into every library into the world. Being able to tap into knowledge from anywhere. The global village was just a couple of mouse clicks away.

Quarter of a century later we have a cesspool of conspiracy theories and anger. The villagers now carry forks pitchforks and torches ready to burn down anyone who is different to them. Where did it go so wrong?

First off news is disappearing. TV3 in New Zealand has almost given up on news. NZ is on track to becoming a news free state. The comments on social media on this matter are rather depressing. The vast majority of them saying "we don't need news", "good riddance", "it's all fake" and my personal favourite, "go woke - go broke". You never know what you've had until it's gone.

In Australia news organisations are a shadow of what they used to be. The ABC has been gutted over the 20 years with funding cuts from a series of governments that don't believe in frank and fearless public broadcasting. Add to that the appointments of people from News Corp into key roles.

The commercial networks don't do serious journalism anymore. It's mostly click bait. This is largely because advertising has moved from the traditional media of radio, television and print. Vast swathes of advertising revenue is now hoovered up by the likes of Google and Meta. Good journalism costs money. Journalists have to be paid and lawyers engaged because those in power don't like scrutiny. The sad truth is media doesn't have the resources to do good journalism.

It's not just NZ and Australia. It's a global phenomena. The tide is receding on the fourth estate. The consequences are dire. The rise of populism, the erosion of democracy, the rise of conspiracy theories and the erosion of trust.

People's habits have changed. People don't consume free to air media as much as they used to and getting people to pay for media subscriptions in an age of information overload is an almost impossible task. We used to get our news from the main evening bulletin. That rarely happens these days. As a result society has lost its reference points. We get our news from social media mostly. Algorithms tailor that news based on what we've interacted with before. The end result is a feedback loop that just confirms our biases.

The Internet has become a place of anger. People are angry. They're angry at the government. They're angry at the media. They're angry at the other. The simple truth is anger drives engagement. When people get angry, they keep scrolling. They click. They share. They comment. They stay on the platform longer. The longer they stay on the platform the more money the platform makes. The more money the platform makes the more they can invest in making people angry. It's a vicious cycle.

What can we do about it? Don't engage. That's the only way to break the cycle. Don't click on the click bait. Don't share the conspiracy theories. Don't comment on the angry posts. Don't give them the engagement they crave. Stop feeding the beast.

I've cut back a lot on my social media use. I tend use Facebook for contact with family and friends. Twitter to check the news from journalists and reputable sources.

I try to get outside more. Take in nature. Go for a walk. Read a book. Listen to music.

I've gone retro, back to the 90's and revived my blog. Welcome to my homepage :)