Facebook's "Vast Wasteland"
Charles Warzel’s essay Facebook’s Vast Wasteland, distributed as part of The Atlantic’s subscription newsletters, makes some interesting comparisons between Facebook now and TV at the time of Newton Minnow — a “vast wasteland.”
Rather than focus on the lies and misinformation that are so common on Facebook, Warzel addresses instead the junk and unoriginal content that are so popular.
While it’s tempting to think the essay is just one more elitist take on what us common folks find interesting and important, I think that would be shortsighted. There’s a more profound truth here that reflects some of my own disappointment with how social media and the internet have evolved.
I never expected, for example, that the “birds of a feather flock together” concept would result in so many negative and hate-oriented groups would find Facebook such a useful tool. I was naive. Nor did I expect so much junky stuff to be so popular on Facebook (junky stuff is really the focus of Warble’s essay). When assessing Facebook though I think it’s important to keep two things in mind:
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
Sturgeon’s Law: "Ninety percent of everything is crap."
I no longer use Facebook due primarily to its focus on advertising which keeps it constantly tottering between censorship and free speech while maintaining ad revenue.
So, yeah, I’m inclined to agree that Facebook is a ‘vast wasteland.” I also think that, properly used and managed, it can be quite useful — as long as its tendency to veer into groups focusing on lies and misinformation can be controlled.
Still, there are many other ways for me to gather information and to be sociable; not using Facebook suits me fine.
Copyright (c) 2021 by Dennis D. McDonald