this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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I mean, I wouldn't use that language, but yeah of course. They don't have firm beliefs yet, in most cases, and their worldviews are more likely to be shaped by memes, whereas the older generations adopt the memes that appeal to their worldview.
If you want to shape people, you want to ideally target young adults.
I don't think it's just about how memes are processed. I think they really consider them less aware, less intelligent, than older generations.
And I was pointing that out is a 'rallying cry' to the younger generations, that this is the level respect they're getting, and that they should do something about it, hence the stronger language.
This is true, but not generationally. Rather, the younger someone is, the less they generally know, and the more.opinions can be shaped.
There's a reason all radical movements throughout history have been driven by the young, and it isn't because the young thought up the ideas. Younger people generally have a different view on new information, especially information that points to problems they perceive, than older people.
If you're trying to have a social media presence you are de facto targeting a younger audience
You're not wrong, but you're also wrong. :p
What I mean is that normally, youth is less "wise" than elders, because of how long they've been alive. The more mileage you put into Life the more you figure out. Its one of the great ironies of the human species that just as we finally start to get wise enough to figure out WTF is really going on, we drop dead. And even worse, trying to pass off some of that wisdom to the previous generation usually falls on deaf ears, because its seen as 'old person yells at clouds to get off of their lawn' by the younger generation.
Having said that, I'm still going to disagree with you in that the original comment is specificially (IMO) targeting the newest generations as specific entities onto themselves, and not just more youthful; the first post-new Internet generation, as being less informed/aware.
One does not beget the other though, its just a coincidence. The 'de facto' is targeting the dummer/spends more crowd, not a specific age crowd. If older generations were 'dumb' and spent more, they would be the ones targeted.
You can see this playing out now in the grifting ecosystem built around Trump and the "alternative news" crowd. Again, this targets people with set opinions, seeking to double down on them.
The claim here is that companies are specifically aiming to shape opinions rather than exploit existing ones.
I think this is a meaningful difference