The Fords, Rock Creek Zoo Park, Washington, D. C.
Detroit Publishing Company postcards 10000 Series
(1898 - 1931)

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "The Fords, Rock Creek Zoo Park, Washington, D. C." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 14, 2026. (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c18e35e0-c62e-012f-caa8-58d385a7bc34)

"Social Media's way more scary than it first appears."

This world has never provided a better medium for spreading disinformation than our present Social Media system. Not that the system isn’t trying to improve itself, not to reduce the proliferation of deliberately misleading crap, but to improve its overall efficiency in disseminating it. So far, attempts to encourage self-regulation have resulted in responses ranging from Meta’s insistence that any attempt at regulating Social Media speech amounts to too much to the EU’s conclusion that their attempts at regulating have not produced the systematic behavioural change it was designed for. The difficulty seems to lie in Social Media’s design. The outrage and algorithmic engagement Social Media relies upon to profit produce the same dynamics that encourage propaganda to spread. Further, most Social Media firms are based in the United States, which has traditionally viewed Social Media speech as protected under its First Amendment.

I liken immersing myself in my Social Media stream as similar to Health and Human Services Secretary R. F. Kennedy, Jr. swimming in Washington DC’s famously polluted Rock Creek, which is essentially an open sewer. He claims to do this with his grandchildren to promote health, and I suppose, if one doesn’t contract some serious infection, one might manage to build some immune protection from this practice, but it seems like a ridiculous activity for any HHS Secretary to admit to engaging in. Swimming in Social Media seems probably more likely to infect an innocent swimmer, though the infection will very likely be less obvious. No high fever or other outward sign will likely appear, and a single exposure might not produce any symptoms. Repeated exposure, though, seems almost certain to result in some serious infections.

I engage in Social Media because I don’t seem to have any viable alternatives. Nothing else seems to carry the breadth of information, even though I know it’s liberally sprinkled with mis- and disinformation. I have to sort out the differences, even though I know I will prove incapable of discriminating in some instances. I can feel confident that bad actors are vying for my attention and that my native gullibility will continually work against me. I still enter the creek, splashing around, hoping for the best, knowing for certain that I’ll also encounter some of the worst. I tell myself that at least I’m vigilant. Many enter the same stream, even more trusting and gullible than I. They might come seeking some convenient lies to reinforce their beliefs, rather than a few facts capable of puncturing a few myths. Our Social Media system seems mythical in scope and reach, but only because it is.

The future looks bleak for anyone hoping for someone to intervene to clean up the Social Media creek. The EU has rules and has levied a few fines, but the magnitude of this difficulty dwarfs any and every attempt to get some arms around it. It might be blythe and altogether too easy to insist that people should figure out how to get along without their Social Media feeds. People will always insist upon engaging in activities that are not conducive to health, wealth, or even continuing life. We revel in our little vices, even when one of them grows all out of proportion to all the other ones. I want to believe that there’s something Big Brother can do to protect us from the more malign actors, but I’m afraid I don’t believe there’s anything a Big Brother can do short of nattering around the edges of the problem, which does nothing. Does anyone seriously believe our current incumbent could have been elected President without the focused and malign efforts of countless propaganda mills flooding Social Media with lies?

Malign actors will prove incapable of not continuing to leverage the most powerful medium ever created for spreading mis- and disinformation. They will profit from coming efficiencies that will transform the medium into an even more convenient form, whatever that might become. We will need to remain vigilant and still probably expect to get hoodwinked a few times more, and even more again, for this is a Wild West medium, complete with the virtual equivalent of gun slingers. Avoid whatever seems too good to be true. Try not to forward every satisfying meme that comes through. Do not disclose more personal data than you would to your brother-in-law. That supplement that mainstream science has reportedly been preventing distribution of doesn’t do what that commentator insists. It could ruin your liver. Let each user remain wary. Social Media’s way more scary than it first appears.

©2026 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Unscrolling, #PureSchmaltz