Social Media

[JACKOAT]

My wife has a theory on cell phones being the most detrimental thing to relationships, primarily because the tendency is to expect immediate responses and when the response time is past the individual's expectations it creates a sense of mistrust, regardless of the reasons.

I take it a step further. I believe social media has been the catalyst that has pushed society to the precipice and we are now staring into the abyss...interpersonal relationships have been discarded for 30 second sound bites and mini-dopamine rushes to stave off the anxiety of not having enough "likes" or whatever platform equivalency the social media platform someone is using substitutes for likes.

Thoughts? Are we, as a world culture, slipping away from our humanity at an increasingly rapid pace because we are being "reprogrammed" toward an online addiction that continues to feed our need to be validated by strangers via digital media?

 

[User_79044]

To be fair, while i agree that social media unhindered is making a lot of things real bad real fast, its more a catalyst or multiplier on the vile attitude of anonymous on the internet in general. Le after lie, troll after troll, that are all believed completely by enough people to be an incredible downward spiral into the destruction of something that should actually be amazing.

 

[bernMCM]

I think it's more like a disease, people will have the fever for a while, some will succumb to it, but after a while most people will build a resistance to it and just break free.

You can see that with Facebook, it peaked and now it's falling, I'm sure that will be the case for Instagram and TikTok too. I don't think there's any more innovation possible that will come and replace them. But I may be wrong.

 

[Jesterr]

I think it's more like a disease, people will have the fever for a while, some will succumb to it, but after a while most people will build a resistance to it and just break free.

You can see that with Facebook, it peaked and now it's falling, I'm sure that will be the case for Instagram and TikTok too. I don't think there's any more innovation possible that will come and replace them. But I may be wrong.

There's always the next "new" thing. Myspace gave way to facebook which gave way to instagram, youtube, tiktok, etc.

The internet, and the web in particular, are accelerating things, but there was a time "party lines" were a thing, pen pals were a thing along with newspaper clippings (memeing in the old days), and the mark 1 social thing, sitting around gossiping with the neighbors/boys at the pub/friends you run into at the store. Humans are social animals, and social media just feeds into that, like loot boxes feed into human's risk behavior and fear of losing out.

 

[FrankTheDuck]

I'm sure that will be the case for Instagram

I miss the instagram that was just about using the limited filters to post random photos

 

[-Wyrm-]

What is this "So-cal Media" you speak of?

Seriously, I haven't logged in to my Facebook in more than a year. I use YouTube, not in an interactive way, and don't remember the password to my old (and probably deleted) Instagram.

This is the most online interaction I have done since moving away from the "big city" and breaking contact with the group I raced with. Most of the racers I knew and "hung-out" with were a bit on the anti-social side... like me.

I understand cars and engines. People... are unpredictable, and I don't like random, unpredictable, and emotional things.

 

[Republican Bear]

Barely touch any of it except Youtube and Discord. I hate Twitter and Facebook.

Problem is every idiot can now share and make his opinion public.

 

[-Wyrm-]

Barely touch any of it except Youtube and Discord. I hate Twitter and Facebook.

Problem is every idiot can now share and make his opinion public.

Yup. That was what my father said about MySpace. "If we give every idiot a soapbox, we'll be overrun with loud, unwashed idiots who think everyone wants to hear their stupid ideas."

I laughed at the time, but now it's become the norm on social media, and they get offended or "triggered" if we give them our opinion, after they insist we HAVE to hear their opinions.

If I wanted to listen to an idiot talk, I'd talk to myself more often.

 

[Fewmp]

I honestly feel like social media has become a HUGE crutch for normal human interaction. That said, I do feel that for those with severe social anxiety, social media gives them a much safer outlet (depending on platform) to engage with a community.

 

[josemaloco]

My wife has a theory on cell phones being the most detrimental thing to relationships, Primarily because the tendency is to expect immediate responses and when the response time is past the individual's expectations it creates a sense of mistrust, regardless of the reasons.

I know this is not an easy thing to do in all cases, but with people I know (wife, family, friends, etc), I set the expectations that I'm not on the phone at all times and it might take me a long while to answer. If they don't like it, well, too bad.
A few can moan and whine from time to time but you just keep doing your thing and they 'll come around eventually.

 

[JACKOAT]

I know this is not an easy thing to do in all cases, but with people I know (wife, family, friends, etc), I set the expectations that I'm not on the phone at all times and it might take me a long while to answer. If they don't like it, well, too bad.
A few can moan and whine from time to time but you just keep doing your thing and they 'll come around eventually

Interesting you mention this. During my tenure in corporate I noticed a trend of "immediate response" to emails. My theory was people looking to kiss the boss's ass would race to respond as quickly as possible (and often not really with anything meaningful). This continued to get worse and worse and when texting became more acceptable it began there as well. The downside, to your point, is we have created a form of conflict wherein people now expect IMMEDIATE responses and when they don't get one they become angry, suspicious, etc. and with that people have become more and more anxious, leading to all forms of mental stress.

 

[josemaloco]

Interesting you mention this. During my tenure in corporate I noticed a trend of "immediate response" to emails. My theory was people looking to kiss the boss's ass would race to respond as quickly as possible (and often not really with anything meaningful). This continued to get worse and worse and when texting became more acceptable it began there as well. The downside, to your point, is we have created a form of conflict wherein people now expect IMMEDIATE responses and when they don't get one they become angry, suspicious, etc. and with that people have become more and more anxious, leading to all forms of mental stress.

Yeah that's definitely a thing. Doing what I said at work is risky tho because you have to gauge:
-How valuable you are.
-How pushy or strict the people you work for are.
-How good of a relationship you have with them.

But with the years I learnt that it's not worth staying for a shitty job, unless you really have very few options.

 

[HTYYHRK]

The societal threat from social media is people with power using it to secretly exert control, you don't have to listen to an idiot saying something stupid but there has been demonstrable harm from companies, often in collusion with governments, silently censoring people telling the truth or persuasively arguing in favor of things that the powerful don't favor.

 

[lockjaw7]

I miss the instagram that was just about using the limited filters to post random photos

it is wild remembering it was a photo app once

 

[User_101940]

it is wild remembering it was a photo app once

glad I never knew what it was to begin with

 

[User_101940]

At least we're past the era where people look at you weird if you don't have a Facebook account. Social media is corrosive to actually being social or having a normal community.
And all the spying too. The Stasi and KGB could only dream of having compromising materials like these. All of it served up on demand.

 

[mlpatreon2]

social media is pretty asocial despite its name

 

[Karamchad]

nah

 

[mullerkaka]

Half of the conflicts in the world are people blaming each other on social media.

 

[mullerkaka]

I know its different but a good old forum, I feel is much better than Facebook or Instagram.