Mastodawn

MylesRyden Dec 22, 2024

I know I am an old guy, but I second and echo the sentiment of this post and will go one step further...

Is is really necessary to have music/video playing constantly? You can't make it through the evening without having four movies playing? Do you actually enjoy this "content" (it's a tell that it is no longer, "entertainment" it is just "content.")?

To me now, 99.999% of YouTube (TikToc, Reels, etc.) content is beyond boring and poorly made, most pop music is Muzak and adverts are beyond irritating.

Buy an old computer, set up a little streaming set up. Or buy a CD/DVD player. But some CDs/DVDs and play them when you really want to pay attention to them.

The funny thing is that the "attention economy" is going to collapse when the advertisers realize that all of this is just background noise that we fill the air with to kill time while we wait to die.

jakofields Dec 22, 2024

@MylesRyden @shibacomputer Well said! Hope you’re right. A little more contemplation, less noise, is both healthy and rewarding.

@jakofields @MylesRyden there isn't much difference between this and having the radio going in a car mechanic shop

@shibacomputer @jakofields

MylesRyden Dec 23, 2024

If someone intends something as background noise, especially in an unpleasant environment, I got no problem with that. I am talking about high schools kids who can't spend 4 minutes in the hallway without "their tunes."

ms. liz Dec 22, 2024

@MylesRyden this “right to consumption” isn’t sitting well with me, either, but i’m unsure how to articulate it. there’s truly nothing else one can do with their time? how about access through a library?

MylesRyden Dec 22, 2024

@unknown8bit

Agreed with that as well. I was thinking of people who (today) always have earbuds in and (in my time) had the the TV running 16 hours a day.

@unknown8bit @MylesRyden Libraries often don't contain the media your social group / community are discussing, and it takes more effort / confidence to try to introduce other media to the group.

I'm not sure I 100% agree with an unlimited right to consumption, but I think many creators would rather their works be experienced and not paid for rather than not experienced at all.

I do think things are available but only under predatory terms ARE fair game for consumption without accepting terms.

Ciggy Bringer of Smoke Dec 22, 2024

@MylesRyden @shibacomputer

One of the most excrutiating ADHD conflicts is very much 'this is comforting as fuck but necrotic' when it comes to having things on - i basically always flip on the tv to scifi reruns when I am gaming on my steamdeck and focus mostly on the game...but not 100% with game sound and game effects...no...i also have internet radio with music I want to listen to on - mixes always on at 9 pm...

And its like...it feels comforting but I have opinions on ads ive watched a million times but my recall of the whole experience is iffy...as one might expect split focus dopamine release to be.

So this is very much a 'i dont need noise and distraction and split focuses, but I have sought this out since I was about 10...31 years ago, Im a holiday goose over here, fully cooked'

Just a report on why it kinda proves difficult even if we are aware of how the shit sandwich is one.

@MylesRyden @shibacomputer I program (for work or fun) better if I can hear my music instead of the office / house sounds. But, I could figure out a non-streaming away to do that.

I don't understand auto-play on YT (or TikTok / Reels / Loops) though. The only time I was auto-play is when I'm binging a series, and even then, an episode break is a good time to "check in" and see if I want to re-focus.

@BoydStephenSmithJr @shibacomputer

MylesRyden Dec 23, 2024

Interesting you bring this up. The other day someone posted a mix tape from SoundCloud. Looked cool, so I played it. Nice. But then I noticed the same songs playing. I looked and saw that when it ended, it started over. I was a bit flumoxed, some programmer somewhere decided that people hate silence so much that when the music stops, it should just repeat.

I thought this was a kind of crazy design choice.

franco_vazza Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer Discovered NewPipe thanks to this post, excellent, thanks!

Kid Mania Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer
"... please i’m on my hands and knees. do not accept this form of internet..."

This person has A LOT more faith in humanity than I do. That's probably a good thing.
Meanwhile...

"To be sane, he held, was either to be sedated by melancholy or activated by hysteria, two responses which were 'always and equally warranted for those of sound insight'. All others were irrational, merely symptoms of imaginations left idle, of memories out of work."
- Thomas Ligotti

Winter Trabex Dec 22, 2024

They're techno-feudalists. That's what I call them. They're sitting on deeds of ownership, letting other people do all the work for them, and raking in all the profits.

The only difference is, they're not really protecting their serfs this time around.

Rachel Greenham Dec 22, 2024

@trabex @shibacomputer it always was a protection racket though. (who do you suppose they were protecting them from?)

@StrangeNoises @trabex this is a good argument against the concept of techno-feudalism https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii133/articles/evgeny-morozov-critique-of-techno-feudal-reason

(thx @volt4ire)

Evgeny Morozov, Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason, NLR 133/134, January–April 2022

Countering current claims that digital capitalism is issuing in a ‘neofeudal’ age, as the rentier barons of Silicon Valley and Wall Street extract non-productive fortunes from their users and debtors, Evgeny Morozov returns to classic debates over the transition to capitalism to question the relation of the economic and the political.

New Left Review

Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer When the streaming EULA allows for corporate murder, there's no show worth accepting it. Pirate all the things, and send some money to creators directly, if you want them to create more.

@BoydStephenSmithJr curious when you last sent money to a creator directly?

Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer If Patreon counts, each month. If Liberapay counts, about a month ago is when I last funded a contribution. Haven't done a ko-fi payment since earlier this summer. I do have one artist that I just pay through PayPal each month, because I've been supporting her since before any of those services existed.

You?

I know I could probably do more, but I don't do nothing.

𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔟𝔠𝔬 Dec 23, 2024

@BoydStephenSmithJr I spend a lot of money on patreon, Bandcamp and itch.io, but I am not under any delusion that people pirating content are actually paying out of band to, especially if they're pirating TV shows, films, etc

@shibacomputer The current system does make it somewhat difficult pay for pirated content, but I'm fine undermining that system via pirating content, while also funding the creators I can figure out how to fund.

I agree that many pirates are largely unconcerned with directing funding, but I also feel like most pirates may be in worse financial situations than myself or many creators.

ShadSterling Dec 23, 2024

@shibacomputer @BoydStephenSmithJr how many TV shows are there that can we actually support the creators? I’m only aware of one ( https://spacecommand-theseries.com/ ), and it’s far from exclusively funded that way. The one film I know of ( https://www.patreon.com/posts/eonblade-tiers-118442783 ) is closer, but that’s just the one

Space Command – A Hopeful Vision of the Future

@ShadSterling @shibacomputer Fundamentally, you _can_ mail a personal check or money order to an individual (or their agent/representative on their behalf), though I've never done that.

I used to find physical items (from the back catalog or merch store) and purchase them, tho I've downsized my "stuff", so I wouldn't do that ATM.

My understanding is that much of the work for a TV show goes to unionized professionals -- you could contribute to a strike fund.

I'd love to hear other ideas, too!

@ShadSterling @shibacomputer I think Small Beans is trying to get a movie made, and one of the members has a book available for purchase.

But, yeah, it's very difficult to pay creators outside the primary, unacceptably oppressive system -- but that's by design of the powerful because they want you to use the system so they can chokepoint capitalism and take bigger and bigger cuts for doing less and less.

It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing either. I know I'm still paying "the system" for stuf

🍞Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer basic features like uploading and streaming infinite HD media

Roy Brander🍁Dec 22, 2024

Thank you, thank you, it's so good to know there are others who feel this.

I do have a couple of subscriptiions but I draw the line at Apple, Amazon, and Disney, three really awful corporate actors in many fields.

Not paying them feels like a little victory over oppression, every time, teeny it may be.

Maggie Maybe Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer yep hahahha tictok will never be on my phone, but there are plenty of people on YouTube who republish the TikToks that I would be interested in anyway.

@maggiejk that is basically income theft for tiktok creators. not only does the original creator not receive income for their work, but the account that reposts the video on youtube profits. not great!

Sydney / Prophet 🏳️‍⚧️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Dec 22, 2024

Newpipe is good, but designed like its from the early 2000s. Grayjay is a much nicer designed app, even though FUTO might have their own ethical concerns.

For listening to music, Outertune is probably the best option right now for streaming.

@ProphetsCross ok!

Christy Marx Rambling Writer Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer @travissouthard
Fine, but no piracy, please. Piracy hurts creators and artists. It hurts me as a writer.

Irenes (many)Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer @travissouthard yeah this has been our attitude lately, for sure

gkrnours Dec 22, 2024

@shibacomputer @travissouthard words to live by

solo Dec 23, 2024

@shibacomputer @travissouthard
for the discord thing: use a client mod like NitroSpoof on vencord which allows you to send fake emojis

Hadley T. Canine (fox)Dec 23, 2024

@shibacomputer i like that notion of "i will outlast tiktok", like... yeah, all the corporations that "rule our lives"? they're all fucking temporary, and at the rate they self-sabotage, all of us here will almost certainly outlive all of them.

bluesky will go the way of twitter, and twitter will go the way of livejournal

tiktok will go the way of vine. reddit will go the way of digg.

corpos are incapable of long term thinking, and thus are incapable of existing long term.

ShadSterling Dec 23, 2024

@hadley @shibacomputer “corpos are incapable of long term thinking, and thus are incapable of existing long term.” This is why it was a mistake to let corporations control our planetary life support systems

Maverynthia🌱Dec 23, 2024