8 replies to this topic

[HackSlash]

I was reading this article earlier today:

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/social-media-facebook-twitter-instagram-society-negative-1.4429146

 

I found it interesting, as its something I've been saying for a long time now about social media and the internet in general, it's a weapon of mass destruction.

 

No, you don't need to point out the irony of me using the internet to decry it, I'm well aware of it.

 

Okay, okay...maybe weapon of mass destruction is a little (a lot idiot, says you), dramatic.  I've been drinking, celebrating tonight, I just signed my IE25 (guaranteed employment until I'm 58).

 

However, for all its benefits there are a lot of negative effects.  I know that Bill Gates and others, the leaders of the digital revolution are now saying we need to slow the hell down, that we have come too far, too fast.

 

I think I'm off topic. 

 

Social media.

 

I agree with the premise of the article.  Social media is toxic, it's an echo chamber.  It has fundamentally changed the way we relate to our fellow human beings.  It has changed the way we consume information and stay informed and not for the better.

 

Look at what it's done to Generation Y (Millennials) and is doing to Generation Z.

 

As to the above video, I've done some checking, and the claims Simon Sinek makes are accurate.

 

I've read the books "The Shallows: What the Internet is doing To Our Brains", and "The Dumbest Generation: Or Don't Trust Anyone Under 30".  Yes, they are interesting reads.

 

Now, I'm not pissing on Millennials, you are what you've been programmed to be, and it's not your fault.  The fault is ours.  I used to be a High School teacher, and I had to quit.  Mainly because I couldn't sell that bullshit message to my students.  That you can be anything you want, if you can dream it you can do it, you are all winners.  Christ, if I'd stayed in that profession, I'd have put a gun in my mouth a long time ago.  I couldn't do it.  I viewed it as disrespectful to my students, because I couldn't help prepare them for the cold hard realities of life.  I'm sorry that it happened to you.

 

Shit, off topic again. 

 

Social Media.

 

It's a bloody echo chamber, using algorithms that produce  "information" based on your interests or things you've liked.  I can see how anxiety producing it is.  I have a friend, really nice person.  If you look at her FaceBook, or Instant Gram, or Tumblr (good source for porn, by the way), you'd think she was a rock star.  When in fact she's miserable and nearly broke.  I've even told her she needs to stop comparing herself to what she sees on her friends social media accounts.  No every ones life is all unicorns and rainbows.  I worry about her sometimes.

 

Anyway, that's my two bits. 

 

Discuss.

[SeaBeeGipson]

*clicks like, moves on*

Jokes aside, I think Social Media has helped communications in my mind.
I can't watch the video atm, but if it is what I'm assuming (Social Media has destroyed basic communication skills and became an addiction that many younger generation suffer from), I have to agree to some extent.
However, Social Media has great advancements. Facebook for example, when my best friend was deployed to a region where cell phone connection is unheard of, we still managed to use the low-data requirements of FaceBook Messenger on base to stay in contact. Skype, Video chats, all of those wouldn't work, but I was able to remain in touch for 10 months with my best friend and he was with his family as well.

It helps plan events too. My kids birthday is coming up, whereas when I was a kid, my mother would make cards and mail them out, or call people 1 by 1 to invite them to my birthday party, I can create a group, mass invite everyone, and get a much quicker RSVP status on who is going, who isn't. I get that it invovles less communication, but the planning aspect has become so much easier.

I hope, without watching the video, I Stayed on topic.

[GoldIron]

Yea, I use my computer and phone a lot, like what I'm doing right now. The more we dislike each other generations, the more it would cause a divide.  This is ...kinda  a stereotype of Generation Y. Then, it could cause some Generation Y members to go on the defense. Most likely , it would lead towards polarization like the same thing happening in both the American political parties.

[onbekende]

You gain a society, you lost your community.

[HackSlash]

@SeeBeeGipson: I can agree that Social Media has its benefits.  Technology is neither bad nor good, its neutral.  I can use a hammer to build a house, or I can use a hammer to kill a person.  I can certainly understand the value of Social Media.  Two years ago, over the Christmas holidays I was that depressed I was contemplating suicide.  I posted something on my FaceBook and it saved me.  A friend that I haven't seen since High School (he's a PAFO in Ottawa), called the MPs and got me the help I needed. 

I mentioned in a post I made about Star Trek Discovery (yes, I hate it), that I was bullied in Junior High and High School.  At least I knew that when I went home at 3:00, it was over.  I didn't have to face it again until the next morning.  Now, because of social media, its invading the only sanctuary some of these kids have.

 

That being said, I firmly think that we need to weigh the good with the bad, and overall I think the impact that social media has had is not for the best.  We, as a society, need to reevaluate how we use it and to minimize its role in our lives.  To approach it with the attitude of "Caveat Emptor".

 

As to the video, go to Youtube and type in "a generation of weakness" and it will show up.  No, he doesn't piss on Generation Y.  He cites Social Media as one small part of the overall shitty hand Gen Y has been dealt.

 

@GoldIron: I don't dislike Gen Y.  As you pointed out, each generation criticizes the one that comes after it.  Hell, I'm Gen X, and we were described as slackers.  You are absolutely correct when you state that overuse of social media is leading to increased polarization.  I like what the Editorial section on BBC described American society "Due to the use of social media to stay informed and bloviating network news.  Americans have divided into two hostile alien camps, that neither understand the other side, nor have any wish to do so."  How can democracy survive when you have no compromise?  I'm not pissing on Americans, I see it here (Canada), too.  To be frank it scares the hell out of me.

[ccabal86]

It's a bloody echo chamber, using algorithms that produce "information" based on your interests or things you've liked. I can see how anxiety producing it is. I have a friend, really nice person. If you look at her FaceBook, or Instant Gram, or Tumblr (good source for porn, by the way), you'd think she was a rock star. When in fact she's miserable and nearly broke. I've even told her she needs to stop comparing herself to what she sees on her friends social media accounts. No every ones life is all unicorns and rainbows. I worry about her sometimes.

I totally agree about social media, it's why I'm not on any of these platforms. It's mostly a cesspit of stupid people wallowing in their information bubbles. The internet is a wonderful thing, but predictably, your avreage human is too stupid to use it to his or her benefit, instead sinks countless hours into an activity that they don't even enjoy for the most part and yields no benefit at all.

[ccabal86]

Excellent article relevant to the topic : https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/11/former-facebook-exec-chamath-palihapitiya-on-social-media.html

[brewersalliance]

i wrote a paper on this topic for someone i was dating once... 

[onbekende]

i wrote a paper on this topic for someone i was dating once... 

Found via Tumblr? >_>