Society/Culture Toxicity of social media

[Eagle Wrath]

"Perpetual victims" lol.

It's the most meaningless, stupid day (with a history going all the way back to, what, 1994! Woohoo) and its supporters only cling to it because it gives them their last chance at a bully pulpit.

Save it up for next year. Me and everyone I know, enjoyed celebrating Australia Day yesterday. Now its been and gone.

 

[ferball]

Yes, well that's what that article is all about. But my point is that you have to be in the rabbit hole already.

You don't tho. There are ads targetting people that open the rabbit hole... Sometimes I see them on sites that linked from here. Its usually an ad that targets memes (proper memes in the sense Riochard dawkins used when he coined the term,) concerned with potential treats an identity ie "Why this product/situation/person is dangerous to true British people." "Older people should do this to avoid attackers." etc etc

Click on one and its likely you'll be targetted by more. Ignore them and they disappear for a while.

 

[Kwality]

"Perpetual victims" lol.

It's the most meaningless, stupid day (with a history going all the way back to, what, 1994! Woohoo) and its supporters only cling to it because it gives them their last chance at a bully pulpit.

& the millions in between who know what the holiday represents - why not simply ignore the hol if you reject its premise?
The idea that the ordinary millions support the reason they are getting the holiday is naive & social media gives the haters the pulpit, e,g Australia Day.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Save it up for next year. Me and everyone I know, enjoyed celebrating Australia Day yesterday. Now its been and gone.

No mate I'm angry all year. Just an embarrassing whitewash of a brutal history.

The way I grew up, if you wanted to be an a-hole, you at least had the guts to own it.

European Australians came very close to committing genocide and we're supposed to celebrate it? * that.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

You don't tho. There are ads targetting people that open the rabbit hole... Sometimes I see them on sites that linked from here. Its usually an ad that targets memes (proper memes in the sense Riochard dawkins used when he coined the term,) concerned with potential treats an identity ie "Why this product/situation/person is dangerous to true British people." "Older people should do this to avoid attackers." etc etc

Click on one and its likely you'll be targetted by more. Ignore them and they disappear for a while.

I use an adblockuer so I wouldn't know!

Which is what I'm talking about. We can all take simple, concrete steps to drastically reduce the amount of social media in our lives, so the sort of grotesque mass manipulation that article was describing won't work nearly so much.

There's nothing intrinsically necessary about social media. We CAN do without it.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

& the millions in between who know what the holiday represents - why not simply ignore the hol if you reject its premise?
The idea that the ordinary millions support the reason they are getting the holiday is naive & social media gives the haters the pulpit, e,g Australia Day.

I do ignore it. I stay in and get some work done.

 

[Kwality]

No mate I'm angry all year. Just an embarrassing whitewash of a brutal history.

The way I grew up, if you wanted to be an a-hole, you at least had the guts to own it.

European Australians came very close to committing genocide and we're supposed to celebrate it? * that.

Might be your education, those you associate with?
I was told of the Pinjarra wars in the 1800s & it was no whitewash.

 

[Kwality]

I do ignore it. I stay in and get some work done.

Most of us just enjoy the holiday, the reason is of no significance, Anzac Day the exception.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Save it up for next year. Me and everyone I know, enjoyed celebrating Australia Day yesterday. Now its been and gone.

Do you celebrate when Long Bay, Barwon, and Silverwater were opened too?

I like to crack open a beer and eat a lamb chop personally to commemorate the opening of Pentridge, but that's it because I get to go to the drive in afterwards

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

I was told of the Pinjarra wars in the 1800s

I knew you were old, but sheesh...

 

[owen87]

I like to crack open a beer and eat a lamb chop personally to commemorate the opening of Pentridge, but that's it because I get to go to the drive in afterwards

There's a cinema on the site itself now, can go and commemorate the opening of Pentridge with a film and a beer without even leaving.

 

[owen87]

There's nothing intrinsically necessary about social media. We CAN do without it.

In the same way that you CAN go without a mobile phone or the internet. Yes. But to participate in the modern world it's not reasonable to think everyone can avoid it.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

In the same way that you CAN go without a mobile phone or the internet. Yes. But to participate in the modern world it's not reasonable to think everyone can avoid it.

Perosnally think social media is a little easier to do without than mobiles and the internet per se. But yes, everyone is different.

 

[owen87]

Perosnally think social media is a little easier to do without than mobiles and the internet per se. But yes, everyone is different.

Depends, I know a number of my friends organise events via social media for birthdays and such, so to not participate in social media would require also changing the behaviour of others.

There's plenty of good things about social media, but the negatives are pretty damaging and we really aren't equipped (as people, or as a Government) to manage it properly yet.

 

[Kwality]

I knew you were old, but sheesh...

Sadly for your education it seems, my parents widened my knowledge, & I am both cynical & curious. My Grandfather is buried in Pinjarra cemetery, my father went to school with kids who lost family in the Pinjarra wars & it clearly made a mark on my father (& his sisters).

Try curious & cynical to add to your enquiring mind, you are in for a shock. It will cause to question.

Educate your kids dont indoctrinate them.

 

[Kwality]

There's a cinema on the site itself now, can go and commemorate the opening of Pentridge with a film and a beer without even leaving.

Its more expensive to spend there these days.

 

[owen87]

Its more expensive to spend there these days.

Accomodation used to be pretty cheap there back in the 80s.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Sadly for your education it seems, my parents widened my knowledge, & I am both cynical & curious. My Grandfather is buried in Pinjarra cemetery, my father went to school with kids who lost family in the Pinjarra wars & it clearly made a mark on my father (& his sisters).

Try curious & cynical to add to your enquiring mind, you are in for a shock. It will cause to question.

Educate your kids dont indoctrinate them.

Fear not, everyone tells me I am a very curious fellow.

 

[Gethelred]

I hope we all agree with what Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey think because that is the world view we are now expected to adhere too. Any other opinion will be removed and the person banned from Twitter and facebook. It is out of control now the biased censoring.

I have a question. I'm not on facebook or twitter. Do I have to agree with Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsy, or am I supposed to agree with them via osmosis?

 

[Gethelred]

Sadly for your education it seems, my parents widened my knowledge, & I am both cynical & curious. My Grandfather is buried in Pinjarra cemetery, my father went to school with kids who lost family in the Pinjarra wars & it clearly made a mark on my father (& his sisters).

Try curious & cynical to add to your enquiring mind, you are in for a shock. It will cause to question.

Educate your kids dont indoctrinate them.

Every now and then, I am reminded why I have a great deal of respect for your viewpoint. This is one of those times.

 

[Kwality]

Every now and then, I am reminded why I have a great deal of respect for your viewpoint. This is one of those times.

When I got the sad face I rethink what I wrote, always causes me to review, Thanks.

 

[Eagle Wrath]

Do you celebrate when Long Bay, Barwon, and Silverwater were opened too?

I like to crack open a beer and eat a lamb chop personally to commemorate the opening of Pentridge, but that's it because I get to go to the drive in afterwards

I defintiely wouldve celebrated them yes. We need more. I'm guessing you would be more likely to show up to one protesting something.

 

[The Passenger]

Which is what I'm talking about. We can all take simple, concrete steps to drastically reduce the amount of social media in our lives, so the sort of grotesque mass manipulation that article was describing won't work nearly so much.

There's nothing intrinsically necessary about social media. We CAN do without it.

I wasn't a social media junkie or anything like that to begin with, but I spent my fair share of time on Facebook.

The key was removing it from my phone. I still have an account, but now (as of about six months ago I think) my only access is through a computer and my usage has just completely plummeted - despite the fact I'm on my computer each working day for 6-8 hours so I have ample opportunity to log on.

Previously I'd probably spend roughly 30 minutes of each work day on FB, then around the same time in the evening checking it on my phone whilst plonked in front of the TV. Not a huge amount of time (especially in comparison to many others), but not nothing. Now, I'd be lucky to use it for 3 hours a month. Just checked my browser history out of curiosity - logged on Tuesday for a few minutes to try find out something about the South Africa - Pakistan test match, and before that was Wednesday (8 days ago) for any extended period.

Interestingly I was probably using it more on my computer in comparison to my phone, but the deletion of the phone app still saw my overall access drop - obviously no phone usage, but even my desktop usage shrank significantly. I think there is just something really insidious about the social media phone apps that get into your psyche the way that a web app on it's own just doesn't. I noticed the same pattern with Reddit when I downloaded the phone app (and subsequently removed it) about a year ago, although I've never been a significant Reddit user anyway.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

I defintiely wouldve celebrated them yes. We need more. I'm guessing you would be more likely to show up to one protesting something.

No. I think jail's are something we need, but I don't celebrate their anniversary, just like I don't celebrate the anniversary of a sewerage plant or a Macca's drive thru

The opening of a jail has nothing to do with when Australia was born, that was 113 years later

Just like the USA don't celebrate the birth of the USA on the day the Mayflower landed, or the date the failed Jamestown colony commenced. They celebrate it on the day their nation was born, when they declared independence a couple of hundred years later

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

I wasn't a social media junkie or anything like that to begin with, but I spent my fair share of time on Facebook.

The key was removing it from my phone. I still have an account, but now (as of about six months ago I think) my only access is through a computer and my usage has just completely plummeted - despite the fact I'm on my computer each working day for 6-8 hours so I have ample opportunity to log on.

Previously I'd probably spend roughly 30 minutes of each work day on FB, then around the same time in the evening checking it on my phone whilst plonked in front of the TV. Not a huge amount of time (especially in comparison to many others), but not nothing. Now, I'd be lucky to use it for 3 hours a month. Just checked my browser history out of curiosity - logged on Tuesday for a few minutes to try find out something about the South Africa - Pakistan test match, and before that was Wednesday (8 days ago) for any extended period.

Interestingly I was probably using it more on my computer in comparison to my phone, but the deletion of the phone app still saw my overall access drop - obviously no phone usage, but even my desktop usage shrank significantly. I think there is just something really insidious about the social media phone apps that get into your psyche the way that a web app on it's own just doesn't. I noticed the same pattern with Reddit when I downloaded the phone app (and subsequently removed it) about a year ago, although I've never been a significant Reddit user anyway.

Yes, I’ve heard a few people say that keeping SM off your phone is a much smarter approach. That seems like a really good idea. Sounds like you’ve got it well under control.