With the exception of my comms2point0 website nothing in life is ever simply black and white. Everything is more nuanced than first it seems isn’t it.
by Darren Caveney
I see a lot of debate about all the ills of social media. And of course there’s the anti-vax nonsense on Facebook where Dave questions the knowledge of scientists. And the political rows and deceit on Twitter. But there’s also the pure goodness of seeing the misinformation and lies called out for what it is on Twitter.
Email is evil and wrecks our working lives too. Yes, I have been there too with the 200 emails a day distracting from more important work. But let’s not blame the channel, it’s how people mis-use it that’s the problem and needs some clear organisational rules wrapped around its use.
Algorithms are another. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of how they have changed social media. I have been critical of them.
And algorithms are everywhere. Which is dangerous as they force us down tiny little cultural cul-de-sacs. People like Stewart Lee and Martin Scorsese have warned about this in terms of our online streaming, watching and listening habits. And I’m not going to argue with the director of the joint best movie of all time.
But sometimes they can work well too.
So, I’ve been very film and TV bored recently. Desperately scrolling for something I haven’t seen before and which scrapes past my minimum 6/10 ratings threshold.
I recently stumbled upon a film called Ferry. It’s the story of Ferry Bouman and the origins of his soon to be drug empire in Holland. It’s creative, violent and funny. Why haven’t I watched more Dutch film and TV before?
The very next time I log into Netflix a TV show pops up in my recommended feed and it’s about undercover cops in Holland. It’s called Undercover. Oh nice, I say to myself, I wanted to see more Dutch stuff.
So I start watching it and here’s the thing – it’s a follow-on from Ferry. Yep, that’s the algorithm at play.
But this time I was chuffed because the show is great and one of those that you’ll whistle through.
Then I looked into things a little closer and realised that the TV show actually came before the film. Oh. So the film goes back in a time and is a prequel. OK. I watched them in the wrong order. Except I didn’t, really.
Anyway, check Undercover out if you have Netflix.
Why am I raising this?
Other than a film and TV recommendation opportunity the purpose of this post was really just a little note to self that things are rarely all good or all bad. Black and white.
And even an algorithm can turn up something really rather positive.
