16 ms·

Ask HN: What are we, as a society, getting worse at?

12 points by hidden-spyder 6y ago

uberman 6y ago
empathy
thedevindevops 6y ago
Social Housing
derstander 6y ago
Compromising and consensus-building.
WheelsAtLarge 6y ago
We've always done well as a country when there is something that unifies us. We are slowly braking up into groups and we are losing our common beliefs and therefore the ability to move forward as a group. Fighting each other over relatively minor things is becoming the norm but once we break off from the larger group we start of lose trust on the opposing group and it's harder to re-unite. It doesn't help that now everybody has the ability to magnify their views whether it has merit or not. It's not looking good but we have time to change it.
- enchiridion 6y ago
  This explanation feels right, but I don't actually agreed. The US (assuming here) has always had division, and I'd say it's smaller now than it's ever been. Maybe it's easier to pay attention to because social media, but I don't view it as a new or threatening problem.
  - Dracophoenix 6y ago
    Something I notice is that the more insignificant or invisible the actual division, the more important/newsworthy/controversial it's made out to be by both detractors and supporters. Maybe it has something to do with local/individual problems that were previously once limited to at most to a small group of people now obtaining instantaneous exposure to many other individuals somewhere else. It might also have to do with better awareness/marketing of particular discussions as these discussions "hack" their way through moral and national discourse.
yesenadam 6y ago
Who is "we"? The world,..the USA? Feels like maybe you meant USA. (Most people on HN aren't in USA, apparently.)
he11ow 6y ago
Technology. With all the talk about innovation and disruption, it seems on many fronts solutions are not getting better and/or more diversified, but exactly the opposite. - You used to be able to get really good mp3 players - now the ones you can buy are really poor products in comparisons, because supposedly, smartphones fill the gap, except they're larger and more cumbersome. No runner will tell you they're better off with a smartphone monstrosity tied to their arm. - Just a few years ago, smartphones came in all sorts of sizes. Now, they're all big. It means for most makes you need both your hands to operate them. There's no diversity in sizing. - Instead of uniformity in tech every company is racing to create a different specs so no hardware can ever work with a competitor's. I have an Apple device full of media I can't transfer onto anywhere. - Open Internet vs Walled Gardens. And every major company, as per N-Gate, is at war with its users. - I cannot see how setting up a personal website today is any easier than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, Google deprecated Blogger, Medium is increasingly walled-off (see above) and in many parts of the world "The Internet" = Facebook. - Obviously, Amazon. When it comes to buying anything where quality actually matters, you go back to trusted shops. Except we've not got many of them on the high street anymore so...tough luck. - Big Silicon Valley "Disruptive Innovation": WeWork: make an old business model sexy in an effort to rip off pension funds. Uber/Deliveroo: a two-sided market place where you rip off ALL service providers. - Searching for stuff online today is a WORSE experience than it was ten years ago - on privacy, on search quality, on trustworthy results (vs camouflaged ads). I'm not a luddite and I also get that with advancement you also lose out on some things. I have been enjoying Amazon delivering stuff, phone cameras have been getting better. But to a great extent a lot of technology out there is essentially the same or worse than what we had just a few years ago. Big Tech has become huge literally through making progressively poorer products.
- hidden-spyder 6y ago
  > I cannot see how setting up a personal website today is any easier than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, Google deprecated Blogger, Medium is increasingly walled-off (see above) and in many parts of the world "The Internet" = Facebook. Never used blogger, but Github Pages seems like a good replacement. > Searching for stuff online today is a WORSE experience than it was ten years ago - on privacy, on search quality, on trustworthy results (vs camouflaged ads). Totally agree with you on this one. Search has gotten worse.
MilnerRoute 6y ago
Spending time offline. Sitting quietly with our thoughts. Having faith in others.
SN76477 6y ago
Confidence. So many young people are terrified. Scared of commitment They are scared to have kids Scared to drive Scared to cook We do not serve enough tools that build confidence. (2020 didn’t make it easier)

12 points by hidden-spyder 6y ago

uberman 6y ago

empathy

thedevindevops 6y ago

Social Housing

derstander 6y ago

Compromising and consensus-building.

WheelsAtLarge 6y ago

We've always done well as a country when there is something that unifies us. We are slowly braking up into groups and we are losing our common beliefs and therefore the ability to move forward as a group. Fighting each other over relatively minor things is becoming the norm but once we break off from the larger group we start of lose trust on the opposing group and it's harder to re-unite. It doesn't help that now everybody has the ability to magnify their views whether it has merit or not. It's not looking good but we have time to change it.

enchiridion 6y ago
This explanation feels right, but I don't actually agreed. The US (assuming here) has always had division, and I'd say it's smaller now than it's ever been. Maybe it's easier to pay attention to because social media, but I don't view it as a new or threatening problem.
- Dracophoenix 6y ago
  Something I notice is that the more insignificant or invisible the actual division, the more important/newsworthy/controversial it's made out to be by both detractors and supporters. Maybe it has something to do with local/individual problems that were previously once limited to at most to a small group of people now obtaining instantaneous exposure to many other individuals somewhere else. It might also have to do with better awareness/marketing of particular discussions as these discussions "hack" their way through moral and national discourse.

yesenadam 6y ago

Who is "we"? The world,..the USA? Feels like maybe you meant USA. (Most people on HN aren't in USA, apparently.)

he11ow 6y ago

Technology. With all the talk about innovation and disruption, it seems on many fronts solutions are not getting better and/or more diversified, but exactly the opposite. - You used to be able to get really good mp3 players - now the ones you can buy are really poor products in comparisons, because supposedly, smartphones fill the gap, except they're larger and more cumbersome. No runner will tell you they're better off with a smartphone monstrosity tied to their arm. - Just a few years ago, smartphones came in all sorts of sizes. Now, they're all big. It means for most makes you need both your hands to operate them. There's no diversity in sizing. - Instead of uniformity in tech every company is racing to create a different specs so no hardware can ever work with a competitor's. I have an Apple device full of media I can't transfer onto anywhere. - Open Internet vs Walled Gardens. And every major company, as per N-Gate, is at war with its users. - I cannot see how setting up a personal website today is any easier than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, Google deprecated Blogger, Medium is increasingly walled-off (see above) and in many parts of the world "The Internet" = Facebook. - Obviously, Amazon. When it comes to buying anything where quality actually matters, you go back to trusted shops. Except we've not got many of them on the high street anymore so...tough luck. - Big Silicon Valley "Disruptive Innovation": WeWork: make an old business model sexy in an effort to rip off pension funds. Uber/Deliveroo: a two-sided market place where you rip off ALL service providers. - Searching for stuff online today is a WORSE experience than it was ten years ago - on privacy, on search quality, on trustworthy results (vs camouflaged ads). I'm not a luddite and I also get that with advancement you also lose out on some things. I have been enjoying Amazon delivering stuff, phone cameras have been getting better. But to a great extent a lot of technology out there is essentially the same or worse than what we had just a few years ago. Big Tech has become huge literally through making progressively poorer products.

hidden-spyder 6y ago
> I cannot see how setting up a personal website today is any easier than it was a decade ago. Meanwhile, Google deprecated Blogger, Medium is increasingly walled-off (see above) and in many parts of the world "The Internet" = Facebook. Never used blogger, but Github Pages seems like a good replacement. > Searching for stuff online today is a WORSE experience than it was ten years ago - on privacy, on search quality, on trustworthy results (vs camouflaged ads). Totally agree with you on this one. Search has gotten worse.

MilnerRoute 6y ago

Spending time offline. Sitting quietly with our thoughts. Having faith in others.

SN76477 6y ago

Confidence. So many young people are terrified. Scared of commitment They are scared to have kids Scared to drive Scared to cook We do not serve enough tools that build confidence. (2020 didn’t make it easier)