How does one convert the normie?

EzzyCrafts

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Recently i've been being hit with a problem when it comes to my friends of the internet, in which they're endlessly consumed by big tech media and refuse to look at how the internet has declined and has impacted our generation in the worst way possible.

Always, and even not with my friends, their excuses are that of "x is social media too so why not stop that", "as long as i'm entertained i dont care", "the internet has always been bad","privacy doesn't matter"
and other bs.

How does one convert the normie into seeing the truth and seeking for actual content on the internet; leaving big tech and using alternatives, including browsers etc? Anything can apply to this.

This is my first post so be aware of that.
 
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Outer Heaven

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HellManMayo

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Nah, I don't think it'll be happening anytime shortly. The mainstream content troughs are at an advantage over every other alternative because they're

1. Free (in that big companies can run sites like youtube at a loss and still succeed)
2. Don't require the effort (Come preinstalled, require very little tinkering, intuitive and easy to use)
3. Everyone else uses it (your workplace, schools, your hobbies, your family, your friends, etc.)

If people don't care about privacy, there's no way to convince them.
 
I struggle with the same, to be honest.
It's a common problem in psychology too, where people can only get help if they want help/change.

I have a way easier time of explaining the concept to my friends who are over 25, as they've experienced the internet before it became a consumerist algorithm-driven shit-show.

The only way to break people out of the established mega-corporate internet is for them to realize that it hasn't always been this way. That they actually have options. If they're passionate about doing their own thing, maybe use that to your advantage.
 
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ignika98

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Recently i've been being hit with a problem when it comes to my friends of the internet, in which they're endlessly consumed by big tech media and refuse to look at how the internet has declined and has impacted our generation in the worst way possible.

Always, and even not with my friends, their excuses are that of "x is social media too so why not stop that", "as long as i'm entertained i dont care", "the internet has always been bad","privacy doesn't matter"
and other bs.

How does one convert the normie into seeing the truth and seeking for actual content on the internet; leaving big tech and using alternatives, including browsers etc? Anything can apply to this.

This is my first post so be aware of that.
If your approach is to try and convince them that everything they like about the internet is actually bad, you're guaranteed to fail. You have to understand that most people don't care about the "decline of the internet" because they never experienced it. The internet was good in the past precisely because these normies weren't on it.

You'll have much better luck just showing these people alternative websites and such from the angle of "here's something cool I found!" instead of "this is the real internet bro what you're using is cringe and bad and blah blah blah" (normies just tune out at this point).

Now they still might not take to whatever it is you're showing them. After all, there was a reason normies didn't use the internet in the past. If you show them site like agora they might find it dull and clunky compared to the algorithmic social media feeds they're used to.
 
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Fairykang

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The hyper-consumers of Brave New World couldn't even contemplate any other way of life much less enjoy or live it. The few that could be converted are few and far between and are more likely to do it themselves. Anyways, is it better be be a normie or schizophrenic anonymous forum poster? Just because a relative sends me a vid of a soyboy youtuber reading a headline for clicks of something I already know about doesn't mean I have to go on a tirade about grifting, obese manchildren.
 
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jaedaen

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I mean, they're happy with the arrangement. The greedy, soul-sucking data-leeches offer quite a bit with their Faustian bargain. It's absolutely impossible to avoid entirely anymore. I certainly am faulty in my practices compared to the ideal. Hell, your phone records absolutely everything you do and sends it to Apple or Google. In order to be truly principled, you'd have to live life like Richard Stallman, a hermetic techno-monk, and you can't expect that out of anyone. The only way we try anyway is because it makes us feel morally good, kind of like self-righteousness. Without that, why would you even try?

Though, let's be fair, the internet is not all bad. The internet is what you make of it. The types of things you can learn here now, my god. It's like nothing we could have ever imagined in the old days. People just need to be taught how to spot and avoid the traps that are all over the place, preferably from a very young age.
 
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EzzyCrafts

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Hm, sounds like there truly isn't any sort of solution to this. When it comes to younger family/siblings, what's the best way to encourage them to seek out more fulfilling content and ideas instead of hyper-edited content all the time?

So far they've been secured on about all of the alternative/secure sites and applications, but the type of media they consume is still a huge problem. Any ideas about this?
 
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wot

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If by normies you mean absolutely ordinary people who would've only been using Myspace/email/Youtube back in the day, then you can't.

You'd have more luck trying to help those who would've been on "fandom"-type sites in those days. Deviantart, fan forums, stuff like that. The older ones among them actually know what the internet was like back then. From what I gather, they want to move away from all these corporate-controlled sites, but all their buddies and favorite artists still use it, so they'll continue to use it too. Textbook network effect. But the most I've seen them do is use Tumblr, which is at least under less corporate influence but still has a lot of people bringing in bullshit from Twitter and the like.

I thought maybe they could benefit from a resurgence in fan forums, but so few of them want to have discussions about their favorite media or share their fanart or whatever. Even they only want to consume. It's hard, sad proof the 1% rule.
 
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handoferis

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Hm, sounds like there truly isn't any sort of solution to this. When it comes to younger family/siblings, what's the best way to encourage them to seek out more fulfilling content and ideas instead of hyper-edited content all the time?

So far they've been secured on about all of the alternative/secure sites and applications, but the type of media they consume is still a huge problem. Any ideas about this?
Quite frankly mate, this question is about on a par with "how can I get my little brother to never try coffee in any capacity, ever?".

You'll have trouble getting people who aren't extremely personally opposed to this kind of drivel to put it down, because it's an actual drug, that's societally condoned. It's the exact same reason that I still drink coffee even though it mostly just makes me jittery - there are other ways to wake up in the morning, sure, but none of them are quite as easy as coffee.
 
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Shantotto

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I tried. Failed, failed, failed some more. Then I realized I hate it when someone tells me how awesome anime is or how good this music is when I literally did not ask nor did I show I was interested. Same thing goes for mathematics, artificial intelligence, ice poseidon lore; last summer I would write essays on this shit, and go on tangents irl desperately trying to get people to understand how cool all this stuff was. It never worked. I cringe looking back.

I had a conversation with a friend who is generally more open to these types of things and we have all sorts of conversations about machine learning, religion, furfags, and basically anything I can't discuss with the rest of my friends and he told me he went through the same thing with Smash bros. He would get super excited talking about melee lore, pro players, frama data, wavedashing, and whatever smash plebs discuss, and people around him would just zone out. At one point he realized "It was as if I was speaking spanish to them". You telling them about watch time maximizing AI algorithms promoting braindead content and corporate censorship is like is a schizo spewing a bunch of shit about gay frogs, agoraroad, and secret concentration camps for US citizens. No one wants to hear it unless they are already looking for it.

If someone isn't already into something, you aren't going to convince them it's cool, especially if they didn't ask. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

All you can do is give them a taste and let them decide whether they wish to continue forward.

It's bittersweet, I feel sad that many of my irl friends don't know what they're missing, but I also know many of them wouldn't be interested, nor would they have been online if everybody around them wasn't already online. If you want to find a certain type of person look for the place where those types of people gather. That's exactly what I did 3 months ago and I found this place.

They almost have to be searching for something like this to start using it let alone stick around.
 
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