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Let's talk about how Social Media is failing society

nush

Member
Please tell me in what ways has our society improved since social media was introduced.

You can get a lady to come to your house and have sex with you and you don't need to buy her a drink or pay for the taxi.

Don-Draper-so-smooth-driving-his-car.gif
 

BlackTron

Member
Well... I guess I'm duty bound to ask if you can provide verifiable evidence of this? I'm no fan of Zuckerbot's hellsite, but the claim FB directly led to the death of people needs a bit of back up.

This is more recent but will quickly get you up to speed on the context of the situation. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/business/rodrigo-duterte-facebook-philippines.html

Edit: More info, not the NYT: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/facebook-philippines-dutertes-drug-war
 
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Astral Dog

Member
im not an expert or community manager or something 😅 imo the impact has been quite ugly

Social media has brainwashed an entire generation with negativity,false advice,propaganda and brought the worst of human groupthink to light, though i haven't read them in detail ,i heard there were have been studies linking the use of social media with stress and depression ,and no doubt mental health has deteriorated ,these aren't real human connections but more like a disturbing,false virtual society with an ever changing set of rules that people have associated with real life.(as in,they literally want real life to resemble social media,it has shaped the way they interact,communicate and behave)



i can see it helping people just by not being exposed to it anymore, if it was completely abandoned someday🤔
 
The impact of smartphones and social media is insane and it has never been more apparant to me than now than I'm in a bigger city (Hong Kong). Everyone is staring on their damn phone all the time. When waiting for and riding the train especially I feel like in some form of cyberpunk diystopia. It's crazy. Feel like among some mindless drones. Humanity is doomed unless some form of change comes in this regard.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
The impact of smartphones and social media is insane and it has never been more apparant to me than now than I'm in a bigger city (Hong Kong). Everyone is staring on their damn phone all the time. When waiting for and riding the train especially I feel like in some form of cyberpunk diystopia. It's crazy. Feel like among some mindless drones. Humanity is doomed unless some form of change comes in this regard.
At least for people in public they have nothing else to do but entertain themselves.

You should see some of the meetings I have at work. You got people talking or presenting shit and some people pull out their phones checking who knows what. It could be business related, it could be Twitter.

The best ones I've seen are people I walk by to change seats (my eyes arent the greatest) or go to the bathroom and I see they are checking Amazon on their laptop.

People dont even have attention span to focus when there's a coworker talking to the crowd. Nor do they care enough to be prepared in case someone calls on them to answer a question in a meeting room. Insane.
 
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Social media is destroying society
The Internet is destroying society
Video games are destroying society
Cartoons are destroying society
Rock and roll is destroying society
TV is destroying society
Comic books are destroying society
Films are destroying society
The Radio is destroying society
Reading books is destroying society


See the trend here. Over the course of human history, people have always been getting their panties in a bunch when a new type of media emerges that they do not understand.

Historically they are always wrong.
What this tells me is every medium takes time to mature. The first wave tends to be novelty and fascination, with very little substance. Over time it gains respect and creators who grew up with that medium but have insights about the world beyond it with meaningful things to say will find a way to tell meaningful stories or make a positive impact with it. In the end people accept what they grow up with and get use to. Maybe Tik Tok will one day be outdated and seen as an old people's pastime like newspapers.

However, I'm not sure social media and the internet are strictly comparable to commercial fads before it. There is an element of much more direct social impact because it is your average person themselves who are creating content and thus much more involving and participatory than what came before. You are not just experiencing pure fiction, you are strolling a very real yet very skewed zoo of society. Once you had to be an expert of a particular trade and people sought to be entertained by that skill, to be removed from reality, but now people are content to be entertained by bubbles of reality itself. The damaging part is thinking the extreme shit you see is real, or ideal, or common, when in fact a lot of it is manufactured and artificial and rare. Most people don't have the skill, the mind, the time, or the patience to distinguish and dissect what is and isn't real. Not to mention the presence of it is ubiquitous, overwhelming, and unavoidable since essential societal functions have been integrated into it. It's no stretch to say social media has distorted both our view of reality and possibly reality itself thanks to a big part of our daily reality being digital. It just blurs the lines in an unprecedented way. Even when we only had movies and comics, there were people who couldn't tell what was reality and imitated those, obsessed over them. But they were few in number. Now, when it's become so pervasive and intwined with how we live, nearly everyone is being affected and on shaky ground, even if you consider yourself sane. Just because it hasn't happened before--and now, at the dawn of AI revolution--I might argue technology has finally outpaced human society's ability to control it and integrate it into their lives without becoming subservient to it.
 

CGNoire

Member
Trying telling this to our Heroin addicted congress who whenever listening to testimonials on the issues with Social Media while the whole time checking and surfing the own phones looking for there next fix.

In other words I wouldnt exspect anything to ever be done. These people in power are just as addicted.
 

nkarafo

Member
When i was younger i had this idea that the internet is better than TV because people can interact and share their opinions, unlike how TV would broadcast whatever opinions and propaganda they wanted, unchallenged.

But because i was young and naive, i didn't realize how back in the late 90's/early 00's, computers and the internet itself, as tools, were not exactly user friendly (as they are now). Computers were harder to use and harder to troubleshoot and the internet was slower and not as good at handling media like music and video. It required much more patience, technical knowledge and attention span to use. I didn't realize how this basically filtered out most of the population and as such, most of the idiots. It was the computer nerd era of the internet, sure there were assholes back then too but they were fewer and there were also much fewer idiots. There were fewer people in general.

As computers became easier to use, as mobiles became much more capable, as the internet became much faster and reliable and social media started to creep in, i started to realize how wrong i was about this "freedom of expression for everyone" being a good thing. And today i have no doubt.

The vast majority of people are idiots, it's simple as that. The rest of us were much better off not having to deal with them or their "opinions". But now they have all the tools and platforms they need to feed their narcissism and push their idiocy to everyone. That's what the internet being better and the social media brought us. And i realized how all this time TV was better because it kept the vast majority of people at bay and we could at least have to deal with the fewer idiots who had the privilege and connections to be on TV. Remember the "Look mom, i'm on TV!!!!!" person who just happened to be where a camera crew was? Remember how obnoxious that person was? Well, now we have to deal with them 24/7 on the internet and social media.

And all that comes from someone who only keeps a FB account with less than 50 or so "friends" so he can use Messenger. On a heavily modded browser that filters out ads, "suggested posts" and other spam. I never use tweeter. Never use Instagram. Never use Tik Tok. I try to use good old, text heavy forums mostly. And i'm still getting enough social media toxins from the cracks. I can't imagine how anyone can actively be a part of these platforms daily and be able to stay sane.

In the late 90's the internet was like an "escape from the real world" but today i rather walk outside and deal with whoever is in my radius instead of having to deal with the cesspit the internet has become, which was the real real world all along.

This might sound like an elitist talking here, on a high horse and all, but that's how i honestly feel, sorry.
 
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NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
In the late 90's the internet was like an "escape from the real world" but today i rather walk outside and deal with the real world instead of having to deal with the cesspit the internet has become.
.
Ain't that the fucking truth. I'm craving some authenticity. Back in the day, everyone was chill. All you had to do was avoid pedos, which was easy enough. Everyone was much more chill. Sure there would be the occasional troll. But most people usually just laughed at them.

Now everyone is so high strung?
 

OZ9000

Banned
Twitter is hit and miss - I find it useful for specific topics I follow but I don't interact with the idiots that plague it
Tiktok is cancer
Instagram is shit
Facebook is both good and bad however I no longer use it. I am embarrassed by what I have posted 10 years ago.
 
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StueyDuck

Member
it does make me laugh that Murica saw their kids all buying into the CCP propaganda app and Decided, "let me join in and pretend i'm a flim/flom for internet points".


the West lost a social media influence engineering war they didn't even know they were fighting in.
 
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Zephyrus0

Banned
There are people who don't believe social media is incredibly harmful for society? Really?

A tool that made people to stop socializing in person, an action that is vital so humans know how to behave around others, that mixed wildly different cultures with wildly different values, that created large bubbles for the weak minded where they can get their worthless opinion shared and repeated by equal drool fountains, that boosted dangerous ideas by amplifying them...

It's a net negative. I hold the same view for the internet. It's an incredibly useful tool, but it should've never been made because the positives just do not outweight the negatives.

Must be nice living a life where the most straining brain activity one produces is breathing.
 
The internet (and social media) exposes us to so many ideas, cultures, and information that we'd be completely in the dark about otherwise.

Its a net positive. The perspective the internet provides is important, but you also need to understand that 500 people in a group screaming loudly might seem important, but it doesnt represent the full picture.

Its a communication tool. I feel bad for people that cant regulate their use of it, but thats just human nature. Banning it is bullshit.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
I've recently come to hate the following

1 - Prank videos. Most of the time, the pranks aren't even funny and are actually super rude. I can't wait until some of these fuckers get the shit beaten out of them on video

2 - Videos where dudes ask random questions to women. The questions are always the same, and never particularly interesting "What's your body count? Would you date a dude shorter than you?" Who fucking cares.

3 - Couples videos. Fake and ingenuine. You want people to gush over how cute you are? Why?
 
Not social media, but searching for decades old knowledge and hidden info on Torrent sites is a good coping mechanism to survive a bit longer
 

Tams

Member
The vast majority of people are idiots, it's simple as that. The rest of us were much better off not having to deal with them or their "opinions". But now they have all the tools and platforms they need to feed their narcissism and push their idiocy to everyone. That's what the internet being better and the social media brought us. And i realized how all this time TV was better because it kept the vast majority of people at bay and we could at least have to deal with the fewer idiots who had the privilege and connections to be on TV. Remember the "Look mom, i'm on TV!!!!!" person who just happened to be where a camera crew was? Remember how obnoxious that person was? Well, now we have to deal with them 24/7 on the internet and social media.

And all that comes from someone who only keeps a FB account with less than 50 or so "friends" so he can use Messenger. On a heavily modded browser that filters out ads, "suggested posts" and other spam. I never use tweeter. Never use Instagram. Never use Tik Tok. I try to use good old, text heavy forums mostly. And i'm still getting enough social media toxins from the cracks. I can't imagine how anyone can actively be a part of these platforms daily and be able to stay sane.

In the late 90's the internet was like an "escape from the real world" but today i rather walk outside and deal with whoever is in my radius instead of having to deal with the cesspit the internet has become, which was the real real world all along.

This might sound like an elitist talking here, on a high horse and all, but that's how i honestly feel, sorry.

I consider myself to be a bit of an idiot most of the time; so it scares me that possibly (probably?) most people are even more idiotic than me.

On another, also negative note: I was at a dinner last night and half the people were on their phones half the time. I'm a bit of a phone addict myself, but try to not use it at social gatherings (though I do need it as a quick dictionary for my current life). But they were just there in the middle of the dinner scrolling aimlessly.
 
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Dr. Claus

Banned
I consider myself to be a bit of an idiot most of the time; so it scares me that possibly (probably?) most people are even more idiotic than me.

On another, also negative note: I was at a dinner last night and half the people were on their phones half the time. I'm a bit of a phone addict myself, but try to not use it at social gatherings (though I do need it as a quick dictionary for my current life). But they were just there in the middle of the dinner scrolling aimlessly.

Dunning-Kruger effect. The fact that you realize you are an idiot already makes you better than 99% of people.
 

Zephyrus0

Banned
The internet (and social media) exposes us to so many ideas, cultures, and information that we'd be completely in the dark about otherwise.

Its a net positive. The perspective the internet provides is important, but you also need to understand that 500 people in a group screaming loudly might seem important, but it doesnt represent the full picture.

Its a communication tool. I feel bad for people that cant regulate their use of it, but thats just human nature. Banning it is bullshit.
And what's wrong about being in the dark about cultures we don't belong to or interact with?

Seriously. What's wrong with that? Because I'm not seeing anything positive coming out of mixing cultures. On one hand you get right wing losers who will demonize them for being different. On another you'll get left wing losers proping them up and shitting their own culture. And their voice, while being the minority on each side, is always the loudest and always the one steering others due to the nature of social media since theirs is the one that gets the most clicks.

So what's wrong with that?

I'd sincerely like for you to explain that to me, because, as I see 2016 and ownward proved without a doubt that social media is more harmful than good.
 

Zephyrus0

Banned
The internet (and social media) exposes us to so many ideas, cultures, and information that we'd be completely in the dark about otherwise.

Its a net positive. The perspective the internet provides is important, but you also need to understand that 500 people in a group screaming loudly might seem important, but it doesnt represent the full picture.

Its a communication tool. I feel bad for people that cant regulate their use of it, but thats just human nature. Banning it is bullshit.
And what's wrong about being in the dark about cultures we don't belong to or interact with?

Seriously. What's wrong with that? Because I'm not seeing anything positive coming out of mixing cultures. On one hand you get right wing losers who will demonize them for being different. On another you'll get left wing losers proping them up and shitting their own culture. And their voice, while being the minority on each side, is always the loudest and always the one steering others due to the nature of social media since theirs is the one that gets the most clicks.

So what's wrong with that?

I'd sincerely like for you to explain that to me, because, as I see 2016 and ownward proved without a doubt that social media is more harmful than good.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
And what's wrong about being in the dark about cultures we don't belong to or interact with?

Seriously. What's wrong with that? Because I'm not seeing anything positive coming out of mixing cultures. On one hand you get right wing losers who will demonize them for being different. On another you'll get left wing losers proping them up and shitting their own culture. And their voice, while being the minority on each side, is always the loudest and always the one steering others due to the nature of social media since theirs is the one that gets the most clicks.

So what's wrong with that?

I'd sincerely like for you to explain that to me, because, as I see 2016 and ownward proved without a doubt that social media is more harmful than good.

The internet is not the issue. Social Media is the issue. If we had stronger laws to punish those who use and abuse it, such as with the case of hte false accusations and life ruined from Avellone and Depp accusations, then we would be in a better place. It is far too easy to make lies, ruin peoples lives, and harass/spread fake news across social media. Forums and such have existed for decades now and aren't nearly as dangerous or detrimental to mental health as a single year of Tiktok or Twitter use.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
I think we all know social media is bad for you. Bad for you mentally, bad for you productively, and especially bad for your children. Even strong people are broken by the way social media manipulates people. But in the end it is the users that have given control to the platforms. They did it not knowing they were being manipulated, but in the end now we know, and we still participate.
 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
I think we all know social media is bad for you. Bad for you mentally, bad for you productively, and especially bad for your children. Even strong people are broken by the way social media manipulates people. But in the end it is the users that have given control to the platforms. They did it not knowing they were being manipulated, but in the end now we know, and we still participate.

In this case (most) of our level of consciousness can't handle the technology, in a nutshell.
 
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AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
In this case (most) of our level of consciousness can't handle the technology, in a nutshell.
In a sense the technology works wo keep you coming back. You know you are addicted, and you need to look. You know it is causing your depression, but you tell yourself you can handle it. I have basically changed to not posting often, and to only post stuff with my kids.

On twitter it is depressing the overall nature of societal interactions. Interaction without consequence, or at a distance creates coldness.
 
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ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
In a sense the technology works wo keep you coming back. You know you are addicted, and you need to look. You know it is causing your depression, but you tell yourself you can handle it. I have basically changed to not posting often, and to only post stuff with my kids.

On twitter it is depressing the overall nature of societal interactions.

You're right.

That's what i said.

Not to sound as an asshole


#conspiracyitwasbydesign
 
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mcjmetroid

Member
I think very young people and older people suck at social media.

Old people use it as a political platform. What was once racist shite talked into a pub now is on Facebook especially. They're simply not used or don't know about the ramifications on what they're saying.

Young teens don't remember a time without social media and the filming of everything for attention is insane.

I'm generalizing of course
 

Lunarorbit

Member
All I know is people's threshold for paying attention or not interrupting when someone else is speaking is completely gone.

I've been trying to modify how I speak to people in their 20s or early 30s. Short and to the point if it's not just us conversing for fun. People have no patience
 

Dark Star

Member
I like that I can create art, music, videos, etc and easily share it with the world online, connect with people who i'd never talk to otherwise, etc. It's a good tool for pushing your idea and brand if you have a business or you're some kind of artist or writer or whatever. But overall I was a lot happier when I didn't have a smartphone in my pocket. I was happier when I didn't have instagram, facebook, twitter, tiktok, etc. Life was simpler, and I wasn't always aware or following other people.

If I could go back to how things were before the iphone (2007 basically) I would. things just made sense back then. when you were offline, you were totally offline, and it felt normal/natural. When you went to a concert or event, you barely felt the need to record or take pictures. I remember when my only "social media" interaction was old school message boards/forums and sending emails on my big ass desktop PC, and that was so much better for my mental health. Nowadays I feel like I'm constantly being tracked and my data is being collected by creepy AI, either my digital footprint or my location/GPS, people always feel like they need an instant reply to texts/direct messages, and just being online 24/7 with no breaks feels so disgusting.
 
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Social media is destroying society
The Internet is destroying society
Video games are destroying society
Cartoons are destroying society
Rock and roll is destroying society
TV is destroying society
Comic books are destroying society
Films are destroying society
The Radio is destroying society
Reading books is destroying society


See the trend here. Over the course of human history, people have always been getting their panties in a bunch when a new type of media emerges that they do not understand.

Historically they are always wrong.
Agreed.

But there is often a period where we have to learn how to use new things responsibly, and we are in that stage with social media now and it ain’t pleasant.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
It has exposed our elite and ruling class as being unimaginably petty, stupid and cowardly people. It’s good to know this.
It also exposed how batshit stupid most people are when they have a chance to express their opinions in front of others. It’s good to know this.
 
Social media is destroying society
The Internet is destroying society
Video games are destroying society
Cartoons are destroying society
Rock and roll is destroying society
TV is destroying society
Comic books are destroying society
Films are destroying society
The Radio is destroying society
Reading books is destroying society


See the trend here. Over the course of human history, people have always been getting their panties in a bunch when a new type of media emerges that they do not understand.

Historically they are always wrong.
Did people really say that books and radio were destroying society? Maybe some crackpot somewhere but was there ever a significant amount of people making that argument?

You'll have to be more specific if you want to talk about these things. What do you mean by 'destroying'? If you mean the total obliteration of all society then clearly someone claiming that films were going to destroy society was wrong. However, it's equally clear that most of the things you've listed have destroyed some part of it.

For example, films and TV shows have almost totally destroyed the oral tradition as the dominant form of storytelling and replaced it with a passive one. Videogames have replaced a lot of physical play amongst the young. The internet has replaced interpersonal interaction for a lot of people, particularly with regards to dating.

Have these things 'destroyed' society. Well, no because we're all still here. But, they have clearly had a negative impact so it's wrong to just glibly dismiss concerns about them.
 
I've stayed off social media for years now, only occasionally jumping on, usually after a few drinks. I haven't spent any meaningful time on their in at least over a year or two. I've thought about coming back to flex a hair, but then thought better of it and just decided to keep things as they are. I've really seen no social benefit to being on social media, never really have, even since it's inceptions. I've always felt like any relationships on social media that don't involve direct interaction(like games) has come across as artificial and disingenuous. I'd rather keep a small circle of close people I can call and speak with or see on a regular basis than to keep a wide net of people that I really don't care about in any meaningful way and stress trying to cultivate relationships that won't affect my life in any meaningful way.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Neogaf is probably the worst version of social media.
It is quite interesting that people don't acknowledge the harm of the social media they like, the groupthink they agree with or the fallout from conflicts that they approve of.

Comedy Reaction GIF by CBS
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
There are several problems of social networks.

- I think that one of the problems is gossip or the misinterpretation of situations, for example, dialogue is the best, but there is no shortage of nosy women or women who give bad advice and ruin a relationship even more. That happens a lot and also the high standards of the society they impose.

-Another that often happens are people who presume things or situations of infidelity or delicate findings that make people anxious, envious or deceitful.

- I think that before there was a lot of privacy and relationships were healthier, now that it is easier, it is at the same time very difficult to find someone.
 
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