Hello dear reader!
For months now, there has been a trend in our closed Facebook group of 2300+ members where, despite being active, very few people see my posts due to the algorithm. It's also incredibly difficult to get comments and reactions from you, except when I post something very controversial (which is rare).
I think it's super important to build a community around the podcast, but social media platforms - contrary to their original promise - no longer support this goal. Instead, they:
- manipulate people's attention and emotions with algorithms that select content to keep users on the site for as long as possible,
- spread false or misleading information that influences people's opinions and decisions, as well as their behavior,
- promote polarization and hate speech, undermining dialogue and tolerance,
- harm people's mental health and self-esteem, reducing confidence and increasing anxiety,
- reduce real human connections and interactions, isolating people and causing them to lose empathy.
Because of all of these reasons, more and more people are turning away from social media platforms or using them passively. A recent study found that 40% of social media users only view other people's content but do not share anything about themselves or comment.
So, we're going back to the broadcasting era, but this time it's not just Hungarian television or Czech 2 that we can watch, and it's not just on TV.
I understand if you, dear reader, are fed up with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and countless other broadcasters that inundate you with ads and produce low-value, time-consuming content that gives quick dopamine hits.
I don't know if this process will be stopped by a new platform, but I see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Recently, a new player has emerged in the market, Substack, which is also home to this newsletter.
Based on statistics, only 1% of my readers are registered users, but perhaps the article of Bence Horváth from 444.hu will inspire you to subscribe to the platform. Here's a quote from him:
"Substack has become one of the biggest social media successes of recent years, even if this can be measured primarily not in terms of user numbers, but in terms of effectiveness. The platform allows users to launch their own newsletters, which are then delivered to subscribers' email inboxes. While the posts can also be read on individual users' Substack pages, the primary reading experience remains the email newsletter. The success of Substack has demonstrated that many people appreciate receiving content in their much more manageable and personal email inboxes, which they are genuinely interested in. Another major advantage of Substack from a user perspective is that it does not feature any ads.
And if that wasn't enough to convince you, here's a little icing on the cake: "In recent weeks, even compared to what we've become accustomed to in the Musk era, some unpleasant scenes have played out on Twitter, when the social media platform suddenly began preventing the sharing of links to Substack, a newsletter platform that has become quite popular in recent years. They were the best at getting Elon Musk worked up so far."
So now is the time to come and join this new platform, where you can comment, connect with others, and if you still have the motivation for it, avoid having to tolerate Facebook and its counterparts.
And with regards to building a community, we can already start thinking together about how to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the HAC podcast in the autumn of 2023. I envision some kind of club in Budapest where we record a live, public broadcast with audience participation, followed by a party. Do you have any ideas? Will you come?
Podcast
This week’s WOOHOO! burned out. episode is about workaholism, consumerism and the effects of those to our society. The underlying story is the new Ben Affleck movie ‘Air’
On the Hungarian front we have 2 new episodes this week.
Regardless of the fact that my dad visited us in Stockholm last weekend (really), this little snippet came out of me during the Lackfi Creative Writing Course:
The experiences of my friends and clients also support the situation outlined in the story. It can be very difficult when cultural differences arise between children who have moved abroad and parents who have stayed in the mother land.
And HAC brings you my old accomplice. In the 108th episode, I talk with my friend and colleague, psychologist and host of the Idegállapot podcast, Izabella Szűcs, about survivors' guilt, with a special focus on the experience of those who have moved abroad.
I came across this concept for the first time in my readings about Holocaust survivors, but then I started to wonder if I too might experience a similar sense of guilt when I start preparing to return to Stockholm with my family after a long stay at home.
Edith Eva Eger writes in her book, "The Choice," "I survived, but I was not yet free."
We explore this topic in this episode. Listen to it on your favorite player!
Flick
I watched the movie "Ron's Gone Wrong" with my 11-year-old daughter, and it does a great job explaining, in terms she can understand, what's wrong with big tech, social media, and our constant addiction to gadgets.
At the film's climax, the profit-seeking, immoral tech mogul tries to achieve his goal by abusing all his users' private data. My daughter’s eyes widened when I explained to her that all social media platforms collect and sell our data similarly.
Great family fun with an educational character with a slightly vague happy ending. I recommend it to those with children!
That's it for me today, long live May, this is one of my favorite months!
All the best,
András