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> Saying hi to the same cashier is nice and all, but there is a lot of depth of truer community that has been left by a gap of the church leaving the mainstream

by xyzzyz 5y ago

> Saying hi to the same cashier is nice and all, but there is a lot of depth of truer community that has been left by a gap of the church leaving the mainstream. Indeed, but in fact, the increase in screen time (previously TV, now also internet/smartphones), has been a major contributor to the decline of community and civic society. Making more things doable online is likely to only make things worse, not better in this aspect.

maerF0x0 5y ago
I guess you're largely commenting on short term (ie < 50 yrs) actualized trends vs I'm looking at conceptual and longer term things like freeing people from certain mundanity (eg dishwashers and clothes washing machines) opens up unprecedented utility (like women entering the workforce when they previously handled domestic work). yes, if we collectively just replace social interaction with asocial videogames or squid game, then yes we'll ultimately suffer. But if time saved by either 1) doing things online or 2) having your role eliminated entirely then we'll have additional and aggregated time for things like clubs around hobbies ... (aggregated part means 60x 1 minute saved could potentially be used to have a social interaction with a friend)
- xyzzyz 5y ago
  > But if time saved by either 1) doing things online or 2) having your role eliminated entirely then we'll have additional and aggregated time for things like clubs around hobbies ... (aggregated part means 60x 1 minute saved could potentially be used to have a social interaction with a friend) Could, sure, but will it? Experience of last 50 years shows that it will more likely be spent on solo watching Netflix, while sipping wine and cuddling with a cat, or playing yet another video game. The fact is, our ancestors had more meaningful social interaction with their friends and neighbors, despite all the modern efficiency improvements not being available to them. In my opinion, modern individual entertainment is so optimized that more old school activities cannot really compete in the immediate term, despite being much more fulfilling and socially beneficial in the long term. Optimizing out chores won’t solve this. But, we strayed very far from the original topic.

by xyzzyz 5y ago

maerF0x0 5y ago

I guess you're largely commenting on short term (ie < 50 yrs) actualized trends vs I'm looking at conceptual and longer term things like freeing people from certain mundanity (eg dishwashers and clothes washing machines) opens up unprecedented utility (like women entering the workforce when they previously handled domestic work). yes, if we collectively just replace social interaction with asocial videogames or squid game, then yes we'll ultimately suffer. But if time saved by either 1) doing things online or 2) having your role eliminated entirely then we'll have additional and aggregated time for things like clubs around hobbies ... (aggregated part means 60x 1 minute saved could potentially be used to have a social interaction with a friend)

xyzzyz 5y ago
> But if time saved by either 1) doing things online or 2) having your role eliminated entirely then we'll have additional and aggregated time for things like clubs around hobbies ... (aggregated part means 60x 1 minute saved could potentially be used to have a social interaction with a friend) Could, sure, but will it? Experience of last 50 years shows that it will more likely be spent on solo watching Netflix, while sipping wine and cuddling with a cat, or playing yet another video game. The fact is, our ancestors had more meaningful social interaction with their friends and neighbors, despite all the modern efficiency improvements not being available to them. In my opinion, modern individual entertainment is so optimized that more old school activities cannot really compete in the immediate term, despite being much more fulfilling and socially beneficial in the long term. Optimizing out chores won’t solve this. But, we strayed very far from the original topic.