> The (ultimately false) class antagonism narrative of /r/WSB that the game really is rigged is a fitting end to a decade that at the outset told everyone they could be a unicorn (or enjoy part of the spoils) if they could deliver a cash cow to elite investors if they only pulled up their sleeves and grinded through.
WSB is a subset of Reddit's bigger issue: A mix of populist ideologies and misinformation. The GME pump was fueled by misunderstandings that people could get free money and hurt corporations by pumping up the price of a stock. Anyone with a basic understanding of investing could see that the stock price was coming back down, but instead Reddit went all-in on the "diamond hands" narrative that encouraged people to hold forever and blamed conspiracy theories for the inevitable fall of the stock price.
The irony is that the barriers to entry for well-paying jobs are lower than ever before. Traditional trade jobs like plumbing or welding pay well these days, and safety standards have never been higher. Breaking into tech is as simple as loading up some free tutorials online and practicing away at any number of free websites. In 2021, you don't even need to live near these companies to get the job.
Reading the front page of Reddit, you'd be convinced the world has never been worse and we're on the verge of societal collapse. Combine this with politicians eager to fan the flames of discontent and promise easy solutions (much like this article) and of course people will be angry and disillusioned. The social media effect works to amplify the negative and dismiss the positive.
> The social media effect works to amplify the negative and dismiss the positive.
You're not wrong here, I use to look at TikTok to fill the time and my god have my emotions become more balanced since deleting that app once I realized how it was making me feel.
But this is another good example of how we're beset from all sides by forces attempting to extract value that will never be returned or re-distributed, just a bigger mess made left for the rest of us
20 years ago, televised news got people to watch by teasing outrage or fear stories. "You'll never believe what this politician said...". They did it because it worked.
Social media has evolved into people replicating that same behavior. The more outrageous or rage-inducing the content, the more engaged the viewer.
I don't put 100% of the blame on social media platforms, though. We all need to accept some responsibility for what we consume. As much as we like to blame "the algorithm", it's not very different than nicotine in cigarettes or the sugar in donuts. Placing all of the blame on social media companies almost enables the negative behavior more, by pretending that it's entirely out of our control.
> Breaking into tech is as simple as loading up some free tutorials online and practicing away at any number of free websites. In 2021, you don't even need to live near these companies to get the job.
Uh no, that’s populist. Tackling hard problems remains something for the researchers and the super-committed.
Hacking together an online version of some existing social structure is indeed easy, but then you need the right connections to play the game
> Reading the front page of Reddit, you'd be convinced the world has never been worse and we're on the verge of societal collapse. Combine this with politicians eager to fan the flames of discontent and promise easy solutions (much like this article) and of course people will be angry and disillusioned. The social media effect works to amplify the negative and dismiss the positive.
Which makes their call that we're on the verge of societal collapse kind of true, but not for the reasons they thought, right?
Reddit is big, but it's still a social media bubble.
The general sentiment and worldview of Reddit doesn't represent the general sentiment of society as a whole.
Step outside of social media, where the worst problems around the world are piped 24/7 into our senses, and you realize that the average person is still doing fairly well.
That really depends on what your conception of an average person is?
I'm not sure it's even useful to look at an average person, vs the bottom 10%? Your average person could be doing fine even with slavery taking up a reasonable portion of people
WSB is a subset of Reddit's bigger issue: A mix of populist ideologies and misinformation. The GME pump was fueled by misunderstandings that people could get free money and hurt corporations by pumping up the price of a stock. Anyone with a basic understanding of investing could see that the stock price was coming back down, but instead Reddit went all-in on the "diamond hands" narrative that encouraged people to hold forever and blamed conspiracy theories for the inevitable fall of the stock price.
The irony is that the barriers to entry for well-paying jobs are lower than ever before. Traditional trade jobs like plumbing or welding pay well these days, and safety standards have never been higher. Breaking into tech is as simple as loading up some free tutorials online and practicing away at any number of free websites. In 2021, you don't even need to live near these companies to get the job.
Reading the front page of Reddit, you'd be convinced the world has never been worse and we're on the verge of societal collapse. Combine this with politicians eager to fan the flames of discontent and promise easy solutions (much like this article) and of course people will be angry and disillusioned. The social media effect works to amplify the negative and dismiss the positive.