4 ms·

Maybe I'm just out of touch (25 years old here) but I've never felt this desire to share this stuff. I don't want to be the stereotypical "it's the kids who are

Maybe I'm just out of touch (25 years old here) but I've never felt this desire to share this stuff. I don't want to be the stereotypical "it's the kids who are wrong" here - but I think this behavior has been trained into them by companies whose interests are served by it. In my book that's a bad thing. A desire for privacy isn't selfish at all, it's actually a sign of a well-adjusted person.

compiler-guy 8y ago
Some people really do like to share things about themselves. It's akin to liking to perform on stage. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself. It's dragging others along with you that is unseemly.
threwawasy1228 8y ago
I don't really get it either and I'm about the same age as you. I feel like I don't get it to such an extreme that I actually am not sure I understand the article at all. I like to take pictures of lots of things, I like to take pictures of lots of mundane things also, I like to take pictures with friends, of the various apartments I've had in messy states, candid photos of my loved ones just like the person in the article. I love taking photos of those things because I want to have aids in remembering what has happened and transpired. I want to remember fully what all my apartments used to look like and the things I used to own. I want to remember my father in his old age, I want to remember obscure spots I went hiking once and forgot all about. I want to have these memories stored outside my volatile brain-memory. I don't post a single one of them on social media at all. I have zero compulsion to do so in any way, shape, or form! I do enjoy pulling out a photo sometimes when a conversation comes up it might relate to or when I want to say "hey look at us a few years back ahaha!" but that is not very often. I can't understand the authors perspective.
- theoh 8y ago
  The article is not about taking photos, it's about how relationships are mediated and affected by (e.g.) someone's Instagram feed. It comes down to an essentially Sherry Turkle-esque observation: when a relationship is mediated through images on social media, each fresh image doesn't so much affirm the relationship as assert the continuing independence and individuality of the poster. You could look at it from an information theory perspective: showing people what you are up to through digital images is very different from doing things with those people.
chrisweekly 8y ago
25 years old? You are still a kid!
Topolomancer 8y ago
I would go one step further: for me, the article has a slight undertone of a dystopian future. 'Why do you not want to share how great your life is? Why are you keeping these things to yourself? This is selfish, everyone should benefit from it!' I hope this is not where parts of society are headed right now, but from my partial observation of people who regularly use Instagram, there is a certain validation mechanism going on. It tends to enforce/augment the 'drama level' in one's life to some extent, as even mundane events (getting an ice-cream, eating dinner...) have to be put into a relevant context ('Treating myself to a big cone after crushing the TPS reports today').
- jacobush 8y ago
  Interesting, I didn't read it at all like that. I read it as pointing out the inherent shifts in interest when you are sharing intimate life with strangers.
  - Topolomancer 8y ago
    I see your perspective in there as well. Maybe for me it is a function of my age; having already reached the magical 30-year mark, the urge of telling people to 'get off my lawn' gets bigger and bigger over time :-)
- dkarl 8y ago
  Exactly, it forces people to present their life in tiny little stories that are transparent and gratifying at a glance, and they constantly attend to that perspective on their life. In a time when everybody had a certain number of friends, some closer than others, you could recognize that some of your friends were shallow and influencing you to have a shallow perspective on yourself, and you could keep those friends at a distance while seeking closeness with friends that had a better influence on you. Now everybody has those shallow friends with them all the time, even when they're alone. Morning, noon, night, taking a bath, sitting in a cafe with a coffee, looking at art in a gallery, going for a walk alone, the question in the back of your mind is always, "How do I present this moment to someone who will grant two seconds of attention to it, and who doesn't know me at all?"

compiler-guy 8y ago

Some people really do like to share things about themselves. It's akin to liking to perform on stage. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself. It's dragging others along with you that is unseemly.

threwawasy1228 8y ago

I don't really get it either and I'm about the same age as you. I feel like I don't get it to such an extreme that I actually am not sure I understand the article at all. I like to take pictures of lots of things, I like to take pictures of lots of mundane things also, I like to take pictures with friends, of the various apartments I've had in messy states, candid photos of my loved ones just like the person in the article. I love taking photos of those things because I want to have aids in remembering what has happened and transpired. I want to remember fully what all my apartments used to look like and the things I used to own. I want to remember my father in his old age, I want to remember obscure spots I went hiking once and forgot all about. I want to have these memories stored outside my volatile brain-memory. I don't post a single one of them on social media at all. I have zero compulsion to do so in any way, shape, or form! I do enjoy pulling out a photo sometimes when a conversation comes up it might relate to or when I want to say "hey look at us a few years back ahaha!" but that is not very often. I can't understand the authors perspective.

theoh 8y ago
The article is not about taking photos, it's about how relationships are mediated and affected by (e.g.) someone's Instagram feed. It comes down to an essentially Sherry Turkle-esque observation: when a relationship is mediated through images on social media, each fresh image doesn't so much affirm the relationship as assert the continuing independence and individuality of the poster. You could look at it from an information theory perspective: showing people what you are up to through digital images is very different from doing things with those people.

chrisweekly 8y ago

25 years old? You are still a kid!

Topolomancer 8y ago

I would go one step further: for me, the article has a slight undertone of a dystopian future. 'Why do you not want to share how great your life is? Why are you keeping these things to yourself? This is selfish, everyone should benefit from it!' I hope this is not where parts of society are headed right now, but from my partial observation of people who regularly use Instagram, there is a certain validation mechanism going on. It tends to enforce/augment the 'drama level' in one's life to some extent, as even mundane events (getting an ice-cream, eating dinner...) have to be put into a relevant context ('Treating myself to a big cone after crushing the TPS reports today').

jacobush 8y ago
Interesting, I didn't read it at all like that. I read it as pointing out the inherent shifts in interest when you are sharing intimate life with strangers.
- Topolomancer 8y ago
  I see your perspective in there as well. Maybe for me it is a function of my age; having already reached the magical 30-year mark, the urge of telling people to 'get off my lawn' gets bigger and bigger over time :-)
dkarl 8y ago
Exactly, it forces people to present their life in tiny little stories that are transparent and gratifying at a glance, and they constantly attend to that perspective on their life. In a time when everybody had a certain number of friends, some closer than others, you could recognize that some of your friends were shallow and influencing you to have a shallow perspective on yourself, and you could keep those friends at a distance while seeking closeness with friends that had a better influence on you. Now everybody has those shallow friends with them all the time, even when they're alone. Morning, noon, night, taking a bath, sitting in a cafe with a coffee, looking at art in a gallery, going for a walk alone, the question in the back of your mind is always, "How do I present this moment to someone who will grant two seconds of attention to it, and who doesn't know me at all?"