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'Smartphone zombie' fine cheered on Chinese social media
- draw_down 8y agoWhen other people are looking at their phones in public, they’re being zombies. When I do it, it’s because someone important may be trying to contact me.
- yasp 8y agoGarbage journalism to cite anonymous internet commenters and then also fail to mention that China's Communist Party liberally uses internet shills to manipulate public opinion. >A 2016 Harvard University paper found that in contrast to common assumptions, Chinese Internet commentators are mostly paid government bureaucrats, responding to government directives in times of crisis, and flood Chinese social media with pro-government comments. They also rarely engage in direct arguments, and around 80% of the analysed posts involve pro-China cheerleading with inspirational slogans, and 13% involve general praise and suggestions on governmental policies. [1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party
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- tivert 8y agoThey also use social media censorship strategically to accomplish their own aims. I recall a story of some lower government official (something to do with trains, I think) who screwed something up. The higher ups unusually chose not to censor the social media criticism of him, then used the criticism to justify his removal.
- laurent123456 8y agoThat's a tricky situation, because they want to report about some event in China and they logically quote a few comments to give the general mood. But you're saying the whole thing might be fake, so what should media do? Stop reporting about stuff happening in China? Investigate each comment and find out if it's true or fake? (Not going to happen) I think what they're doing is all they can do - report on what's happening, objectively, use sources as reliable as possible, etc. And if it turns out the whole thing was made up for political reasons, expose the lies, which the BBC also do.
- trhway 8y agousing camera on the phone augmented by GPS it is possible to recognize that the user started to cross the road and notify the user (West democracy version) or just turn the screen off for the period of the crossing (authoritarian country version).
- tabs_masterrace 8y agosadly on iOS you can't use the camera while the app is in the background. Android might work but probably not without problems too
- toomuchtodo 8y agoHacking around a lack of personal responsibility is inefficient. Fines are better, and will incentivize these people to pay attention like responsible adults in potentially hazardous areas of public spaces.
- unpwn 8y agoAnyone know the details of the law? "activities affecting other vehicles or pedestrians" seems pretty vague...
- renholder 8y agoWhilst a fine might be a good idea for crossing the road, it'll eventually be eroded away over time as the practice of _always_ looking at your phone saturates more and more into society. Discovering this compulsory need might lead to reducing the actual actions but let's face it: Other things you could recieve a fine for, jail time for, etc. are now in the mainstream. Gay marriage and marijuana are two principal examples (not that I'm against either). It's only a matter of time, really.
- ddeokbokki 8y agoYour comparison doesn't work at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to marry someone you love or consuming marijuana whereas crossing the street while essentially being tunnel visioned on a 6" screen is potentially very dangerous for yourself and, more importantly, others.
- renholder 8y ago>There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to marry someone you love or consuming marijuana... Today, there isn't, no. How about 50 years ago? Edit: I feel like you entirely missed the point of societal progression, here. There's nothing wrong with it, now, but it doesn't - explicitly - mean that this was never the case or that your arguments of "protecting the people, themselves, or others" was never used to justify the illegality of them.
- xmonkee 8y agoWhat does ignoring safety have to do with societal progression? This isn't some progressive cause. You analogy is absurd.
- stefan_ 8y agoAh yes, the very dangerous pedestrians! That's depression era revisionism to make people feel less bad for not paying attention, hitting and killing people merely walking with their cars.
- bxio 8y agoNetherlands: Let's add lightning strips at the end of crossroads to appear in people's peripheral vision. China: Just fine them.