Replying to the bolded parts in principle.
I come from a house of books, many books, all walls of the house almost covered in books, yet rarely read books myself anymore unless I want a really in-depth study of a subject. In fact I spend almost as much time researching a book before I buy it as I did for buying my car, for example. And then books will give you one author's perspective only.
Information overload is real, but in my opinion mostly affects those with less advanced critical thinking...which is largely the majority. Clickbait - sensationalist headlines - are not a new thing at all. The end goal is also as old as time: profit, power. The difference this time 'round is the SCALE and SPEED. Where in the past news would take weeks or months to arrive (e.g. from Rome to England) now they arrive instantly. In Greece, for example, it was not uncommon for villages clustered around a valley to have a shared opinion on something, because that was the range of the people, and that opinion may be very different one mountain ridge away, near ports, near rivers. People may have had similar thoughts with someone in the other side of the country, let alone continent or planet, but they'd never even know the other existed.
What's more insidious - but I do not subscribe to any "master plan theory" - is the positive feedback loops employed by anything on the internet. This is dangerous because again most people have neither the knowledge of it happening, the understanding of how it works, or the critical ability to resist it. Their search results and suggestions funnel them onto a path until it becomes their little bubble of reality filled with like-minded people all enforcing the same ideas over and over and over. I don't believe this is planned, driven or
designed to be manipulative for any more nefarious goal than...adds, sales. Of course it IS a vehicle for manipulation where it matters a lot more than buying one brand of diapers than another, in politics, and it is being used heavily all over the world, and THAT is bad, but I doubt it's Mr Zuck or Musk behind it. I see their personal political opinions as mildly uninteresting, I think their drive is profit. Personally I don't care about their specific politics, I care a lot more that that mechanisms they've put in place to sell diapers can influence politics, and hence influence my life.
Moreover we all LIKE to hear what we like to hear, we're hard-wired for it and it takes a lot of effort to be a critical, pragmatic thinker, especially if it means going against the grain. That's where in my opinion STEM people like me have an edge, we're trained to question and analyze with a fairly cold-blooded attitude
It's also a double edged sword because we also question ourselves first and foremost!
I disagree, that's on the user, if I want to search about a news topic I can find both good as well as deep information, just takes more effort. Ultimately through my job, and after 10 years of stress, I finally learnt to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I know there's a ton out there which I don't and won't know, so I try to switch it off and focus on personal development, financial independence, and happy kids and wife. My wife's a very smart person, with great practicality - a lot more practical than me - but far less curious about what she feels or thinks are not her field (she's a painter and a teacher) than I am. She couldn't care less about politics, science, economics, history, which to me is mind-blowing! I am saying this because I want to illustrate the point that getting the knowledge is on us, more than ever before, the hard part is sifting through the shitstorm that's around us 24/7/365 and actually making the effort to get it.
On topic, I had a look at Threads, it's an Instagram app, apparently. I don't use Instagram so I won't use this app. I do use twitter for many years but follow a handful of people whose opinions I like to read - so this is my own, self-imposed echo chamber/positive feedback loop
Snapchat planets. I do use facebook but mostly to talk to people. For what it's worth (to me), I am pretty careful with how I spend my money, and know for a fact social media don't make me buy anything, but similarly, adverts never worked on me either.
