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Comment by vorpalhex | Hacker News Reader

I'm really conflicted over this article because it makes some really good points but is missing the forest through the trees.

Information overload is very real, and people are very prone to making mistakes when digesting information from social media.

The answer isn't to kill social media or force users to solve CAPTCHAS before posting. It's to improve those critical rationality skills and the ability to analyze information.

Social media algorithms are harmful, but they're ultimately dumb likelihood solutions that do naive grouping - it just turns out that more partisan/outrageous content tends to be more exciting and elicit more key value actions.

The fix isn't to try and play legal games with social media providers, but to teach users how the mousetrap works and what are the levers they can control (and the ones they can't).

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> It's to improve those critical rationality skills and the ability to analyze information

You're assuming the majority of people are bamboozled by bias and propaganda, and if they were better educated they'd be immune.

But it's just as likely that they'll continue to believe what suits them regardless of rationality training. Assessing sources and analyzing information is hard work. So is thinking, and it's especially difficult if the results go against the beliefs of your social group.

I'm not convinced that critical thinking skills will make the slightest bit of difference to the vast majority of people .

> The fix isn't to try and play legal games with social media providers, but to teach users how the mousetrap works and what are the levers they can control (and the ones they can't).

In other words, empower people.

I agree but this is part of the struggle. All the con artists tell you they want you to be empowered to make the correct decisions yourself and the other guy is a con artist who bullshits you into thinking he is trying to empower you.

> It's to improve those critical rationality skills and the ability to analyze information.

You can not apply personal solutions to systemic problems.

Another (less fashionable) way of putting it: you can't fix human nature, so you need institutions that mitigate the worst effects.

Average person in developed countries spend more than few hours consuming media every day even more so in the US. Why do we think this is sustainable?

I have always wondered the second order effect of binging so much media and it kind of shows these days with people being dumbfounded/superficial and making connections where none exists.

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