What's the worst invention of the 21st century? : asklemmy

[+] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.ml 157 points 4 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

[deleted]

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 18 points 4 months ago

Does Lemmy count as social media?

[-] tiramichu@lemm.ee 22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes - by most definitions. It's powered by user-generated content and is based on interaction between users through engagement with that content, which is voted and scored.

There is a difference which I personally feel makes reddit less harmful than other social media, however, which is the algorithm - or lack of it.

In most social media, the algorithm exists to continually serve people the exact content they engage with in a constant feed, which is IMO the most socially damaging part of social media because it creates endless doomscrolling, toxic echo chambers, promotion of sponsored content, and a whole raft of psychological problems in users.

The Lemmy homefeed is more organic, and scrolling through 'all' you see content genuinely from everywhere, in a less curated way based on upvotes, not individual algorithmic tailoring. And that's maybe not as "engaging" but it's far less damaging.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] collapse_already@lemmy.ml 101 points 4 months ago

Separate apps for various retail stores. I don't want a home depot app. I don't want a kroger app. We have a generic app for this category called a web browser. If you want me to download a specialized app for your store, I assume that means that my browser does not sufficiently breach my privacy for your "business purposes."

[-] OhmsLawn@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

The only one I use is Safeway, to scan the in-store coupons. I'm not sure how much info they can get, because the app fails to load until I pause my VPN.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Geek_King@lemmy.world 83 points 4 months ago

I also second social media, but I need to make another suggestion it'd be Keurigs k-cups. So much plastic waste for the barest level of convenience.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

Even the creator of the K-cup said he regretted creating it because of the environmental impact.

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Thank you for beating me to mention this.

K-cups are really amazinlgy bad. And it's not like there aren't much better solutions available. Philips has those fully bio-degradable pads, a local store now sells a type of coffee maker that uses just the coffee powder in balls where the outer shell is compressed grounds that is cracked open to get to the powder inside.

But no, Keurig and their fucking oceans of plastic waste.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

What the hell is a K-cup, it sounds like something you shove up your vaj

[-] ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Nah that's a diva cup

[-] Geek_King@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

It's a small plastic cup full of ground coffee, Kuerig machines use them. They generated a ton of plastic waste, since each k-cup was a single use.

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (12 replies)

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 53 points 4 months ago

corporate personhood.

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 21 points 4 months ago

That's pre-21st century though.

[-] SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 months ago

It’s a bad enough idea we don’t need anymore for the next few centuries.

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 months ago

Is that really a 21st century idea? I would have thought that was a reaganomics reform tbh

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 7 points 4 months ago

well citizens united was 21st and encoded it in law.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 52 points 4 months ago

proof-of-work blockchains. instead of a utopian decentralized currency we have a utopia for scammers and day traders, and uses a ton of energy at a time when we need to conserve to combat global warming.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 50 points 4 months ago

Facial recognition technology. Not only is it not as perfect as people claim in identifying people, but some countries are using it to attack the LGBT since it was discovered the LGBT have different variances in facial features. And yet that's not even 100% perfect, so now you have a bad technology for a negative purpose repurposed into another negative purpose that it's causing collateral damage with because it's as awful at that as the first thing.

[-] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 18 points 4 months ago

Just pointing out I read that whole article and there was nothing in it to suggest that any countries are using it to attack LGBT people

Dunno why you linked it instead of something more relevant

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] wildcardology@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

Influencers

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] retrieval4558@mander.xyz 27 points 4 months ago

Modern social media

[-] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

Emissions controller modifiers designed to "roll coal"

[-] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

It should be legal to slash the tires of anyone who does this.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Clickbait.

Internet advertising.

[-] Vaggumon@lemm.ee 23 points 4 months ago

Social Media 100%.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

I'd say specifically the predatory algorithms.

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

Billionaire celebrities with millions of fans enabling their narcissism.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 8 points 4 months ago

Those are very old. I'd wager that the first monarchs and despots wouldn't be too different from such celebrities

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 21 points 4 months ago

Anything cooking related. It all the same shit you already had but this time it's plastic, harder to clean and only does 1 specific thing.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 14 points 4 months ago

Not to mention the shit that's completely fucking useless, like Juicero - a "juice squeezing machine" that only works with plastic bags you get from their subscription service.

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago

Corporations are people?

Trickle down economics?

Nuclear weapons?

[-] bamfic@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The first is 19th century. The rest are definitely 20th century

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Resol@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

Microtransactions in video games. Hell, I'd say that modern video games in general are pretty bad, ESPECIALLY modern mobile games.

load more comments (6 replies)

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 13 points 4 months ago

Too soon to tell, but I guess unregulated app-as-an-employer model is pretty bad.

load more comments (6 replies)

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 13 points 4 months ago

load more comments (7 replies)

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 11 points 4 months ago

Node Package Manager

Cryptocoins

Smartphones without keyboards

Roblox

[-] mholiv@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I can type faster on my keyboard free phone then I could with my old phone with a qwertz keyboard.

Plus when I’m not typing I get more screen real estate. It’s a total win win for me. Not bad at all.

load more comments (7 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 10 points 4 months ago

The Internet of Things

[-] xilliah@beehaw.org 10 points 4 months ago

1000012216

load more comments (11 replies)

[-] DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone 9 points 4 months ago

There's a lot of people who don't know when the 21st century began.

[-] TheGuyTM3@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 months ago

The generative AI's that "creates" content. Just dumb black boxes remixing what you give them, overconfident and inaccurate, yet seen as the ultimate tools by people.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] lettruthout@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

SUVs have to be high on the list.

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

20th century for those

load more comments (10 replies)

Asklemmy