All this. All the replies, all the posts. Just bots arguing with one another, triggering you ‘juuust enough’ to engage and reinforce your bias with a dopamine shot, so you continue to read and get enraged some more. At this point you can’t even tell which is a person and which is not any more. All for the amusement of a few powerful elites in control of the algorithm.
Are we really so placated, hopeless and in need for edification that we continue to participate, with no real translation to real world personal development and action?
It’s not crazy to be concerned or even feel anxiety about not being able to tell if a post is a bot or a person. But being wildly hyperbolic isn’t helping anyone.
I’ve been chatting on the Internet since the days of usenet, and back then there was no algorithm, or advertising or any motivation to drive engagement beyond our natural human desire to communicate. And it really wasn’t that different than lemmy. You still got trolls, bullshit and unreasonable political takes, as well as genuine questions, thoughtful answers and useful information.
Real world personal development and action are important, and you should definitely prioritise that over chatting to strangers on the Internet. But “scribo ergo sum”, I know I’m here asking questions and appreciating answers and discussions, and I know other humans irl who use lemmy, so it would seem logical that some (perhaps most) of the users here are humans and they too may appreciate my answers and discussion.