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Thanksgiving Got Shorter After the 2016 Election, Study Says
- dumbfounder 8y agoThen researchers used that mobile tracking data to see who visited strip clubs the Friday after Thanksgiving. They contacted those people to see how much they would pay for them not to tell their wives about it. You know, for science.
- dang 8y agoPlease don't do this here.
- dumbfounder 8y agoDon't call into question whether researchers should have access to this type of data? Or don't do so in a snarky way? Is it a requirement to not have fun on Hacker News, even when contributing to the discussion in a meaningful way?
- dang 8y agoThe snark is a problem, it wasn't clear what your point was, and your example contained plenty of secondary flamebait just waiting to blow up when another commenter supplied the match.
- dumbfounder 8y agoIn case you still don't get it for some reason, I am using a colorful, yet completely plausible, example to show WHY random people should not be given access to such data. I think it illustrates quite succinctly why access to such data should be tightly controlled. Instead, it is being handed out to random researchers.
- dang 8y agoI believe you that it's what you intended, but the way you did it breaks the site guidelines, so please don't comment that way on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- brlewis 8y agoThe current top comment on this story raises the privacy issue without snark: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17199880 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17199880
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- baccredited 8y agoNo comparison to 2015 data? Maybe Thanksgiving always shorter for this group.
- tlb 8y agoAlso, presumably areas of different political affiliation are likely to be farther apart, and people with a long drive home are likely to go home earlier. Perhaps they've corrected for all that in the paper, but it's not out yet.
- rootusrootus 8y agoIf true, then people are losing focus on what's important. Half of my family is extremely conservative. Half is very liberal. We get along great at family gatherings, because we just agreed that discussing politics is less important than family relationships. Maybe that will play out over the next couple years, now that the latest political developments seem to have really stretched the boundaries. Perhaps we will collectively decide it just isn't worth it to squabble. If we get super lucky we will realize we are being played, and we'll join together and turn on those who are driving the division.
- assface 8y agoI have zero tolerance for racism. My family voted for Trump and they say racist things. I don't need that in my life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
- fjsolwmv 8y agoThanks for that heartfelt message of high moral standards, 'assface
- gjs278 8y agoI'm sure we're all going to become nazis if we don't shut these racists down. maybe we can put them into camps?
- tomjakubowski 8y agoShunning someone for being an asshole isn't equivalent to genocide.
- cheald 8y agoUsing Popper as an excuse for not engaging with those you find intolerant is lazy. The paradox is that unlimited - not any - tolerance is self-defeating. Here's the man himself on the subject: > I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. -- The Open Society and Its Enemies Popper doesn't conclude that one must absolutely intolerate intolerance, but that one must reserve the right to not tolerate intolerance when the expression of that intolerance "answers arguments by the use of their fists or pistols." One might even argue that by refusing to "meet them on the level of rational argument, but beginning by denouncing all argument" you are in fact that intolerant person that Popper argues must be met with intolerance.
- TrainedMonkey 8y ago"The smartphone data included 21 billion “pings” of devices in November 2016, each recording the location of a given smartphone at a specific time. It was provided by SafeGraph, a company that collects location data and other information from partners, including developers of mobile applications." Well that is certainly interesting. This comes out to 70 pings for every smartphone in November. I am assuming dataset they've got is limited to U.S. only, there is a single cell phone per person, and there are 300 million people in U.S. (both are minor underestimations). Now I am wondering what other information is available for purchase and how it is used.
- cryoshon 8y ago... so you're saying my data was used without my consent, multiple times per day, without any oversight by an IRB board which is standard for any kind of study involving real people. i'm writing my complaint letter right now. i only wish there was an angle for a class action lawsuit.
- emodendroket 8y agoWasn't there just a story about police departments buying this data?
- clairity 8y agoi just happened to be at a salon at ucla a couple weeks ago where keith chen spoke about this research. the data comes from about 30 million phones for which they can reliably get the data, not every phone in the US.
- wokky 8y agoAny study like this will have the interesting caveat that the presence of smartphones at a formal, traditional family gathering might itself produce effects. That is: maybe family gatherings are getting shorter because so many people would rather play with their phones than listen to Uncle Joe's story about high school football. Again. How could a researcher using smartphone location data control for that?
- emodendroket 8y agoWell, for one thing, smartphone penetration is tremendous, and for another, all groups being compared have phones.
- whack 8y agoOne of the most important skills I learnt as a kid, from my family, is learning how to disagree without taking it personally. My parents couldn't possibly be more different from my sister and I. They also encouraged us to have meaty discussions and debates, everyday at the dinner table. Over the years, we've had some very passionate and spirited debates, but they were entirely focused on the issues. Not the people behind the issue. We learnt how to disagree violently, while still showing warmth and love for the person behind the disagreement. As a teenager, I thought this was the default in society. It was only after leaving home and going to college, that I realized it was the opposite. Whereas my family took disagreements as an opportunity for lively debate (and a bit of fun in the process), too many people take disagreements as an insult and a personal affront. One can only hope that this tide will swing back around the other way.
- to_bpr 8y agoThis is pretty unfortunate if accurate given that the political "opinions" causing the rift, on both sides, are likely held by people whose political knowledge extends to roughly the start of the current election cycle and no further. And at the root of this division lies the mainstream media.