By Petr Knava | Social Media | December 29, 2020 |
By Petr Knava | Social Media | December 29, 2020 |
In ‘The Twittering Machine’, his harrowing account of the mass psychology behind the rise of social media in general and Twitter in particular, author Richard Seymour describes how we all fall prey to a system that we are simultaneously complicit in propping up:
The Twittering Machine may be a horror story, but it is one that involves all of us as users. We are part of the machine, and we find our satisfactions in it, however destructive they may be. And this horror story is only possible in a society that is busily producing horrors. We are only up for addiction to mood-altering devices because our emotions seem to need managing, if not bludgeoning by relentless stimulus. We are only happy to drop into the dead-zone trance because of whatever is disappointing in the world of the living. Twitter toxicity is only endurable because it seems less worse than the alternatives. “No addiction,” as Francis Spufford has written, “is ever explained by examining the drug. The drug didn’t cause the need. A tour of a brewery won’t explain why somebody became an alcoholic.”
Author Shoshana Zuboff also touches on this topic, producing an account of the totalitarian tendencies of social media in her book, ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power’, writing how:
Our dependency is at the heart of the commercial surveillance project, in which our felt needs for effective life vie against the inclination to resist its bold incursions. This conflict produces a psychic numbing that inures us to the realities of being tracked, parsed, mined, and modified. It disposes us to rationalize the situation in resigned cynicism, created excuses that operate like defense mechanisms (“I have nothing to hide”), or find other ways to stick our heads in the sand, choosing ignorance out of frustration and helplessness. In this way, surveillance capitalism imposes a fundamentally illegitimate choice that twenty-first century individuals should not have to make, and its normalization leaves us singing in our chains.
And to throw ONE MORE wordy quote on top of the pile (it’s Christmas, I must be feeling generous), here’s academic Nick Srnicek in his ‘Platform Capitalism’ on why we can’t really expect anything else from the business interests that run social media:
These are not asset-less companies - far from it; they spend billions of dollars to purchase fixed capital and take other companies over. Importantly, ‘once we understand this [tendency], it becomes clear that demanding privacy from surveillance capitalists or lobbying for an end to commercial surveillance on the Internet is like asking Henry Ford to make each Model T by hand’. Calls for privacy miss how the suppression of privacy is at the heart of this business model. This tendency involves constantly pressing against the limits of what is socially and legally acceptable in terms of data collection. For the most part, the strategy has been to collect data, then apologise and roll back programs if there is an uproar, rather than consulting with users beforehand. This is why we will continue to see frequent uproars over the collection of data by these companies.
All true. Social media is indeed a hellscape of epic proportions. It’s also so much dammed fun! Doom-scrolled fun onboard the Titanic. A way of collectively coping with the trauma that comes with living through a late stage capitalist climate dystopia. So in that spirit, here’s a thread of Twitter users pondering some of their favourite moments on the social media site over the last 78 months that have made up 2020:
what was everyone’s favorite 2020 twitter moment? mine was the large boulder the size of a small boulder
— elise navidad (@crocfanpage) December 26, 2020
i knew nobody would believe that this happened in 2020 so here’s your proof https://t.co/CWTKEg2Vt4
— elise navidad (@crocfanpage) December 26, 2020
Don't know about favorite, but this was pretty great https://t.co/yKFTxkI6cL
— Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) (@whykristenburns) December 27, 2020
the cop who cried about the fear of her fast food being messed with in the drive thru
— Gabi Ramirez (@9abiii) December 26, 2020
— Kristen, M.A. (@nevercomplicit) December 27, 2020
— Sliz (@slizagna) December 26, 2020
Ben Shapiro accidentally telling the whole world he’s never made his wife wet 👌🏾 pic.twitter.com/jSea9TsTBj
— Vagittarius Season 🤪 (@theythemtaty) December 27, 2020
the photographer that waited every night underwater for four years to get this picture pic.twitter.com/ohxmOvufbL
— Evan Murray (@TheEvanMurray) December 26, 2020
https://t.co/GcAaoooAIQ
— Pauly (@hopeless_hair) December 27, 2020
This one
— Tim Doran (@tuggyt) December 27, 2020
When the dude went to the hospital bc he was so stressed tryna write kids bop version of WAP
— ☆ Dr. Funkenstein ☆ (@BabyPuncher69) December 27, 2020
The brother in law, the gift that kept on giving, live commentary (RICE TRUCK) https://t.co/8Oa66UnMpS
— Jason Chow (@JasonChow) December 27, 2020
— coco loco (@carlietcoleman) December 27, 2020
i don't normally reply to tweets like these but i think about this a lot https://t.co/1GGvohGPyO
— rche🌷 (@madokoneko) December 29, 2020
WHEN EVERYTHING WAS A CAKE
— 🌵 (@_valexsico_) December 27, 2020
i think about large boulder size of small boulder and bathroom rock far too often https://t.co/hfO1yw1rIe
— Mackenna • bIm (@mack_rach) December 27, 2020
Personally enjoyed when this guy made the rounds 🐻 pic.twitter.com/SqiNUjuzKD
— tanya (@flameswan) December 27, 2020
— Mark Skaggs (@samesince83) December 27, 2020
This halloween costume pic.twitter.com/sDF8GU2SQa
— send cat pics (@iseveryoneokay) December 27, 2020
that guy who upon having to actually spend time with his kids because of the pandemic wrote that whole long thread on why not having children is a privilege
— onlyfans.com/tinderdistrict (@tinderdistrict) December 26, 2020
The cop that shoved some cotton coil in his Starbucks then claimed he "found" a tampon in his drink.
— llamalluv 🦙♥️ (@llamalluv) December 27, 2020
As if women don't know what used tampons look like and couldn't tell in 3 seconds he was lying. AFAIK this is still "under investigation". 🙄🙃
I think when we temporarily ran out of living people to cancel so we all canceled Genghis Khan
— "Emotionally Quarantined anyways" Jamie (@NotJamesSawyer) December 27, 2020
This really did it for me this yearhttps://t.co/FXo760Dana
— Jennalyn (@SpeerJenna) December 27, 2020
The Uncle Davids have brought me so much joy this year! https://t.co/u0y1U03bEj
— Sam (@somesamstuff) December 28, 2020
This guy making metal to people's meltdowns. pic.twitter.com/mDxgETUgc9
— Ash vs Ashley 💜🌶🍍🌮 (@Ashashley3121) December 27, 2020
The British guy who bought Broccoli with caterpillars from @Tesco and ended up raising them and they became butterflies. https://t.co/meNKHTM5bv
— Influential Delinquent (@MuNchYkID) December 28, 2020
Right wing Rage Against The Machine fan tells them he's not going to listen any more because they have brought politics into it. pic.twitter.com/G7Qzdtt1In
— Substantial Mealoholic (@Pete_Ford) December 28, 2020
Trump administration booking a landscaping company between a porn store and a crematorium instead of the four seasons hotel but pretending it was deliberate and going ahead with it. Like Sean Spicer pretending covfefe was a code word
— Jennifer Harrison⁷ (@GeneticJen) December 27, 2020
Herman Cain tweeting after he died from coronavirus was memorable pic.twitter.com/mV5lgc4S9b
— Scott (@sbrix) December 27, 2020
Also Chuck Grassley's pigeon sagahttps://t.co/d1EH4Qvc4x
— Spad Boonerism (@Robbiepierce) December 27, 2020
Brit Hume tweeting a screenshot with “sexy vixen vinyl” tab open on his computer. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/P8jCWQbFzC
— Arnold Ziffel 🇺🇸 (@DontMessWMurphy) December 27, 2020
When due to pandemic, the Tim the security guard took over the social media for the National Cowboy Museum. pic.twitter.com/mv8E2JjjmE
— Dylan Roberts (@dylan6roberts) December 28, 2020
— Justin de la Cruz (@justindlc) December 26, 2020
When none of the blue check marks could tweet for like three hours.
— survival saisons (@AMan4AllSaisons) December 27, 2020
— Marshall Beach 19th St (@Beach19thSt) December 27, 2020
Elijah Wood politely visiting a stranger’s Animal Crossing village
— Aaron BURRRRRRRR ❄️🍦 (@PitchAFett) December 27, 2020
That fucking egg yolk tweet was a legendary moment. https://t.co/XDPn8VpMIq
— Charcoal~ iru is cool (@Charcoal_190) December 29, 2020
Rushing to defend Sesame Street after Trump's all-caps "Stop the Count!" tweet. So many good memes.
— Ariana (@_Hippeaux) December 27, 2020
Trying to think of one that’s not been said, but this is up there for me pic.twitter.com/0zmmtRqBPe
— Tyler Wildman (@Tyler_Wildman) December 27, 2020
When Ethan rickrolled youtube pic.twitter.com/q9ZkwsjmM4
— Ma'am. (@lessssssbian) December 28, 2020
https://t.co/5jO0AjPC16 i still think about this and say microwave in my head like this.
— sara dulaney (@DulaneySara) December 27, 2020
This one was pretty good pic.twitter.com/ZlqzwfWRLp
— Lee (@PauliChickadee) December 27, 2020
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