Americans: No.
this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2026
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The issue is in order to do so, they will have to make themselves feel less important. These social platforms are designed for exploitation by offering users instant soapboxes, immediate gratification in the form of likes/views/comments, a false sense of connection, etc. This is a sliver of the sickness they've spread.
Goddammit, I think you just described my relationship with Lemmy.
To be fair, Lemmy has a ton of really smart people that I learn a lot from too.
Upvoted to feed the habit.
I agree with @wesker@lemmy.sdf.org in their comment. No one in real life is on twitter. Twitter is place that seems real because people on media convince themselves its real and give it substance.
No materially meaningful thing happens on twitter, and its perceived importance is a byproduct of media hyping it up.
Now meta.. thats an altogether different beast. FB market place captured most of what used to happen on craiglist. Its how entire families organize and keep together.
In terms of analysis, I'm annoyed at Cohn here. This isn't something we as individuals have control of. Her saying people individually have to make the difference is like saying you individually have to make the difference regarding climate change by making different choices, like recycling.
So Cohn did mention comprehensive privacy laws and the ability to leave platforms. These are absolutely things that need to happen.
However as an individual there are still things you can do. Cohn mentions Bluesky because it has no algorithm (except the "Discovery" feed). Cohn also mentions (in the video) Mastodon. And the truth is you don't need to switch fully, just don't only slurp down the concentrated hate machine(s).
Look at Lemmy. Reddit decided to be pricks and a bunch of individuals jumped over here to create what I think is a pretty good community. That doesn't mean the problem is solved. That doesn't mean Reddit isn't still a problem. That doesn't mean Lemmy is perfect. But that is a win and something individuals can do.
Additionally, those are things you can do now. You don't need to wait for some law to be passed to fix things. You can make the move now. (While still advocating for laws to fix things.)
I get a lot of my business for my company from facebook marketplace and my facebook reviews. It enrages me that I have to use facebook to succeed, at least at this point in my business.
When I need to buy or sell anything for my farm activities, its pretty much the only game in town.
This isn't something we as individuals have control of.
Absolute nonsense.
Oh its absolutely not though. And you thinking that, thats decades of propaganda operating on you. And it worked. It shifts the responsibly from those in positions power, who can make societal scale decisions, to those who have the least power, who can only change their individual behavior.
And its not an accidental thing as a mechanism for governments, corporations, etc.. to use to shift blame. Its all very well established.
There's no propaganda. Its very simple logic and reason. I've done it. There's no reason you can't too.
It doesn't shift responsibility anywhere. For some reason society gets this ridiculous notion that there can be only 1 person or entity to blame for anything, when in reality that's almost never the case. Platforms have the choice not to exploit their users, and the users have the choice to leave. Both are responsible for the way things are, and either party has the power to end it.
There’s no propaganda.
Of course there is no war in bah sing seh! How could I forget.
Individual choices are practically immaterial and have almost no impact on the outcomes societies endure. For all practical purposes, individual choice is meaningless. You doing or not doing something doesn't mean shit, because you aren't in a position of power over systems.