this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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I digitally sterilised by great aunt's tablet. Removed YouTube. Removed Google's slop news feed. Switched her browser to brave (no ads) and search engine to duckduckgo. Put on more sensible news outlets like the BBC and ITV.

Now she's complaining that it's "just not as good as it used to be".

My great aunt is going into slop withdrawal.

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[–] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's interesting to see the older people in my life not recognize clearly AI generated content that seems obvious. My theory is older folks don't play video games so aren't used to seeing digitally generated images and how realistic they can be, but also the subtle things that make it noticeably fake.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 26 points 3 days ago

I suspect poor eyesight is also a factor.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

To be fair, the first time I saw a modern AI generated picture, I thought it was real. You can spot it when you see a bunch of AI generated pictures and get used to the style. I find that they have a weird sheen and bokeh effect to them, or a high contrast. It's uncanny.

Possibly that they're too clear and too perfect. As most cameras and pictures aren't that clear. They're kind of like renaissance paintings where everyone is perfectly staged and captured.

[–] astronaut_sloth@mander.xyz 8 points 3 days ago

I think it also has to do with how closely someone is looking. AI images look amazing at a glance, but a deeper inspection shows the weird unnatural flaws. I figured that some percentage of older people just glance at the image and take the immediate reaction.

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The real cuestión is why did you do it

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Do you suggest we should just let her slop away?

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes. Who are you to decide what they watch and what they don't? Op even decided on news sources. I thought this was obvious. Would you like her to come and decide what you get to watch and read too?

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

All fun and games until she gets scammed for the 50 millionth time

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

If she is always getting scammed, she will ask for help. If she doesn't, its her money and her problem

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

They're probably afraid she gets scammed online and loses all their inheritance money.

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

Do not mess with an elderlycs tech if you are not willing to be always present and patient to fix any complain.

[–] november@lemmy.vg 1 points 2 days ago

Some people actually care about their family members, sorry if that's an abstract concept to you.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's definitely youtube she is missing. You can give her a curated feed with some self hosted options, like specific channels that get downloaded and updated regularly.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Could be a good idea tbh. Maybe a third party client. Problem is, some of them don't work.

I know some Christian YouTube channels she might enjoy that are actually pretty orthodox and not off the walls.

The problem with YouTube is also the ads. A while ago there was an AI generated robotic dog toy ad. Like advertising itself as a realistic robotic dog. That's the type of thing she'd fall for immediately.

[–] november@lemmy.vg 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

NewPipe? She can follow her favorite channels without getting the algoslop recommendations, it blocks ads, and you can even log in if she wants to comment on videos.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 2 days ago

I'll try it out on my own device. The dog (that she is incapable of taking care of) ate the charging cable so no more tablet for a while.

She does like watching actual stuff. But the slop distresses her.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

It's easy to download whole channels with yt-dlp. Then I would just make her some folders in vlc I guess if you don't want to spend money. Although a server is 200$ and then you could put them on jellyfin but ya, I don't know of any serverless options that have a youtube feel to them.

[–] november@lemmy.vg 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Why Brave? Does she use crypto?

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] november@lemmy.vg 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Vivaldi has a built-in adblocker.

Firefox and its forks have uBlock Origin.

There's no reason to inflict Brave on someone.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 0 points 2 days ago (3 children)
[–] black0ut@pawb.social 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Promotes crypto, it's based on chromium and the CEO is an asshat.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Where does it promote crypto

[–] november@lemmy.vg 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

Quite cringe but I don't think she'll see that

[–] Brutticus@midwest.social 7 points 2 days ago

Its chromium, my guy.

[–] november@lemmy.vg 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

More like what does it do right that other browsers don't do better?

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] november@lemmy.vg 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You literally ignored me pointing out other examples.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Too late for that. Didn't know they existed.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Meh. I use youtube still. Just don't follow the feed.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's fine if you're smart enough to tell fake news apart from real news

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 13 points 3 days ago

I mean that is a skill needed for not just the internet but pretty much all sources of information.