The Lack of a ‘Dislike’ Button on Facebook Makes us Soft, Coddled, and Stupid
Push and Pull
When’s the last time you received constructive criticism? How about a recent example where your faults were pointed out? Hard to remember, right? Well, it’s obvious why, you’re perfect, duh.
If you read the previous paragraph without flinching at the cringe sarcasm, you likely need psychiatric treatment. For the rest of you, you’re all probably still trying to remember any such example in past years. It’s unlikely that you have, and no, fights and arguments don’t count. I’m talking about instances where you put yourself out there - your opinion, your beliefs, your projections - and you faced a bit of surprising but earnest pushback. You’re probably still going to have a hard time remembering.
It’s because we’ve been stripped of the tools to get that particular job done.
Not much you can do with an empty toolbox. Source
And what happens usually is that we spiral into this unsuspecting vortex of self delusion where friends and family perpetuate a misconception or ill-born reasoning and the only way to snap you out of it is some heinous comment that you dismiss anyway. No constructive development there. Social-media has regressed into unanimous praise vs. bigoted trolling.
It’s ultimately the machine that trains the operator. If your volume buttons on your remote don’t work, you’ll likely to not ever adjust the volume again unless you make the painstaking effort to order a new remote. Without a certain functionality available, a user’s capacity to factor in that component atrophies.
Now apply that to social-media. There are some aspects to these platforms that are conspicuously missing, the major of which being a ‘Dislike’ button on Instagram or Facebook. There is no built-in capacity to simply disagree or show disapproval. The most you can do is a frown-y face which can mean a whole spectrum of things in that vague emoji. Again, if you want to show a counter-thought or disapproval, you have to throw a heated comment into the ring alongside your name and picture and link to your own personal life. Not the most healthy situation.
Facebook doesn’t want you to be unhappy or feel vulnerable. Their number 1 goal is the raise your level of dopamine so you can continue using their tech. They’ve taken away your ability to adjust volume since it would undoubtedly lead to slowing down the faucet of social-media.
And now, our ability to think critically, receive criticism, and have actual discussion has atrophied. We are dumber, softer, and less capable of disagreeing with on another, one of the absolute necessities in a modern society.
"We're programming people!" Source
So it goes without saying that I love the downvote option on Steemit. Downvote this if you agree! Flex that muscle, learn to used it more smartly.
Doesn't really help that because all of your opinions are tied back to your entire profile, you are automatically judged upon your character, further muffling some people's potential opinions.
Yes, more "dislike" on Facebook and humanity will be smarter (at least FB's humanity). ;)
That is the second place is a trophy society we live in these days unfortunately.
At first I wanted to flag you because, I partly disagreed, but when thinking about it again, Facebook indeed discourages constructive feedback. There is enough criticism alright, however the content that mostly get put on is not intended for the general public, but for friends and family.
The culture that Facebook aimed to create is very different than Steemit or other social media like Youtube and Twitter, who's users want to reach wider audiences. So in that sense, although I don't like Facebook, I feel like you can't really compare Facebook to those kinds of social media.
P.S. flagged you to express my right to flag!