4 ms·
Whenever I see these kinds of stories about ridiculous mass trends, I think ‘This is the kind of stuff my kids will rebel against.’ That gives me comfort.
by masona 7y ago
Whenever I see these kinds of stories about ridiculous mass trends, I think ‘This is the kind of stuff my kids will rebel against.’ That gives me comfort.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoSometimes they rebel against it or sometimes it will be totally normal for them and they will even take it to the next level . You never know.
- v77 7y agoHacker News spends half its time making fun of moral panics and half its time participating in them. Who cares if people want to have plastic surgery or injectable treatments?
- jakemal 7y agoI don't think surgical enhancements are inherently bad, but if the reason they are getting them is because social media is having a negative impact on people's self-esteem then I think that's worthy of discussion.
- amoitnga 7y agoAlcohol is bad for you. Pot is probably bad for you (I don't really know) Feel free to not use any of it. I noticed when social media started to have an impact on how I feel, so I almost stopped using facebook - It's difficult to ditch it altogether because sometimes I need access to dev panel. I unfollowed everyone on Instagram who is not my immediate friend, anyone whose posts are obviously fake nonsense and not genuine moments. I need these to stay in touch with my old friends, see what's happening in their life. I don't need this to see where some C@#$@ drinks their cosmo today.
- BlargMcLarg 7y agoI care because I don't want everything to turn into a race to the bottom with the little gremlin on the side laughing as he continues to sell tools for a premium, yet some groups seem to be hell-bent on getting people in this rat race and ostracizing the people who won't conform.
- exergy 7y agoI wouldn't care as much if it didn't constantly become harder and harder to find other like-minded people. People don't seem to enjoy not having their phones out, not photographing everything, not optimising relentlessly. The world of today is wearisome.
- big_chungus 7y agoWould you please clarify your meaning? I seem to be missing a lot of context. Race to the bottom of what? Selling tools to do what? People who won't conform to what?
- BlargMcLarg 7y agoEasiest way to clarify is through an example. Disclaimer: it might be a poor one. That same thing is already happen with plastic surgery in South Korea. You can opt not to do it, but especially as a girl, you're giving yourself a disadvantage. Watch a few generations go by and poof, suddenly its the new standard. Now what became a disadvantage might as well be what takes you out of the race unless you take the plastic surgery route anyway. Meanwhile, the only people who benefit from this are the ones at the top of the race, and the companies performing the surgeries. It might go so far that the people who don't have plastic surgery become ostracized for looking weird. A similar thing happens in many forms of sports. Somewhere along the line, it became much easier to create and use steroids, and steroids have already shown to have an insane effect without any training necessary. Steroids are an odd example as they are proven to potentially be harmful, but realistically, how are you going to compete against someone using steroids and training the same amount, without taking steroids? Doping in cycling might be the best example: many of these substances can make cyclists endure for much longer, so either everyone needs to take them for it to balance out the playing field, or no one does. You can't say "its up to you", as there's no way you'll be able to compete against someone with a similar amount of training, but juiced up. A ace to the bottom here would be to allow doping, and subsequently, and new drug that would eventually come up. And some people, like myself, would rather not have such somewhat intrusive operations become the new norm.
- 7y ago
- clSTophEjUdRanu 7y agoJulian Assange and Snowden are heroes and Patriots! Gotta run, have an interview at Facebook. Wish me luck! /s
- tyrust 7y ago>Hacker News spends half its time making fun of moral panics and half its time participating in them. HN isn't one person, so this is a good thing.
- RookyNumbas 7y agoI wouldn't be too sure. The author, Jia Tolentino, has made a career exploring, and often ridiculing mass trends like these. Yet by the end of the article she is admiring women who had the procedure done and avoids looking in the mirror as much herself.