Star letter

I read with interest Tim Danton’s editorial in issue 272 ( see p7) about how the internet was nagging you, and you wished for it to stop. I’d argue that the problem doesn’t end there, but only begins: the internet is becoming extremely difficult to use, especially when it comes to providing quality information to others.

I gave up blogging some time ago, because there’s no way to compete with the constant barrage of clickbait sites. More recently, I gave up on Twitter and Facebook as I felt they were slowly rotting my soul. It was increasingly impossible to reach people through those sites with articles, videos and support, because of changes the companies made to their ad revenue models. Additionally, the hijacking of social media by major advertisers, the increasing levels of offensive and inappropriate rubbish, and the sheer amount of inaccurate and misinformed news and information, have turned what should have been an opportunity for all, into what is effectively the internet’s lowest common denominator.

I’m wondering just how long this cacophony can continue, or if a time might come when everyone will have had enough and things might snap back? Editor-in-chief Tim Danton replies: Oh, for the heady days of dial-up and bulletin boards! I admire your move away from social media, which can so easily become an enormous time sink.

I would be reluctant to follow your move entirely, though: by using lists, muting keywords that we’re not interested in, and only logging in at specific times rather than having it running all of the time, many on the PC Pro team still find social media to be a valuable resource.

It’s perhaps the surrounding “noise”, though, that explains the rapid rise of communication platforms such as Slack, which simplify the process of keeping in touch with colleagues while also muting the rest of the online world.