Media/algorithms keeping us glued to our phones. My sister’s been a good window into that effect. She still refuses to even consider that the way she consumes news keeps her misinformed. Which is, every morning she reads what her phone has chosen to push to her. She commits that cardinal sin of letting news seek her, instead of vice versa. I’ve begged her to watch “Social Dilemma” on Netflix, but she doesn’t want to challenge herself. She likes her worldview too much.

So to this day, far as I know, she’s convinced that every Covid case has a 20% chance of generating long Covid. Her phone showed her a CDC study indicating that total reported long Covid cases divided by total reported Covid cases yields a quotient of 20%. Problem is - how many cases are never reported. I’ve had it at least twice, neither discovered via a publicly administered Covid test, so how are my two cases counted in her denominator? They’re not. Her denominator is a tiny fraction of the true universe.

She would have seen that if she actually read a paper. But her phone knows better than to push reporting about that to her - wouldn’t keep her scared and glued to the screen.

I don’t think any of this is that hard. I still mostly blame us, the market of media consumers, for the changes in media.
[Post edited by hoolstoptheheels at 04/10/2024 09:59AM]