Comment by charlesabarnes | Hacker News Reader

Comment by charlesabarnes | Hacker News Reader

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This is something I've personally explored and lightly researched. I think the general population generally prefers recommendation algorithms (they espouse how great _their_ for-you page is on tik-tok or how spotify suggests the best music).

You would also be combating against ad and social media companies with extremely deep pockets. You have to keep in mind that algorithmic sorting also would impact search engines like Google and a ton of shopping websites.

I personally think the way this has to be done is something more fundamental and "grassroots-like". Similar to how a significant chunk of the internet are against "AI content" I think that same group of people need to be shown that this algorithmic recommendation brainrot is impacting society considerably.

edit: To take this point further, as an American, I have been wondering why people would disagree on basic principals or what feels like facts. The problem is that their online experience is completely different than mine. No two people share an exact same home page for any service. How are you supposed to get on the same page as someone when they live in a practically different world than you?

> I think the general population generally prefers recommendation algorithms

Not really. It's a dopamine addiction, like a gambling addict 'preferring' that a casino is nearby. But they know it makes them miserable. That's why people would pay money to quit.

https://reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/would-you-pay-to-qui...

What other product would people pay to not use? Only products that harm you.

I'm counting on a European country or Australia to try first, where the social media companies don't have much influence.

I definitely don't disagree there! I think I am on the same page as you as far as goals. I just am unfortunately a bit more jaded and pessimistic about the unending reach of these platforms.

The timidity and lack of vision from politicians everywhere is a disgrace. All it would take is one successful case study in one country, and most other countries would follow.

> That's why people would pay money to quit.

That's not really what the survey said. In fact, it found that the overwhelming majority of users would pay good money to continue using those platforms.

> The answers suggest users value these platforms a lot, on average by US$59 per month for TikTok and $47 for Instagram. An overwhelming 93 per cent of TikTok users and 86 per cent of Instagram users would be prepared to pay something to stay on them.

$59/month was the average claim for how much they'd pay to stay on TikTok.

They even cite other studies that came up with similar numbers, so it's not a fluke.

The part about paying to be off of them was about a hypothetical scenario where everyone on their campus agreed to some deal where they all stopped using one of the platforms together at the same time.

That's how they arrived at those weird numbers for paying to quit as a group. Like all studies that ask hypothetical questions about how much people would pay for some outcome, the real world value is always less. When you start introducing impossible constraints like "everyone else would quit" it becomes even more disconnected from reality.

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