5 ms·

We sort of filter out bad memories and every time we reminisce about the past, it's always in a nostalgic and lighter note. I see a lot of people around 35+ re

by cerol 4y ago

We sort of filter out bad memories and every time we reminisce about the past, it's always in a nostalgic and lighter note. I see a lot of people around 35+ remembering how things were better before social media. Things were better because they were kids, or adolescents. It's youth they're nostalgic about. My father, who is in his 70s, always talks about how his peers always talk about how the 60s were amazing, and how they associate its being great with the things that existed then or didn't exist then. But he always concludes with this: it's not that that we miss. We miss being young. Social media surely stirred things up, and I personally am for just getting rid of the whole thing anyway. But we have to take the whole "things were better before social media" with a grain of salt.

steveBK123 4y ago
Agreed there's always a rose-tinted "life was better in my teens/20s" view by each generation. I think theres just another layer added on by social media in the always-online age.
- smithmind 4y ago
  I think there was just much less "keeping up with the Jones" mentality then. Sure, people could see houses and cars, but they didn't have a real time feed of everyone's "happy" moments on social media. No one felt bad that they weren't doing x y or z that their "friends" were doing because they never saw it. They had the people they were close with and not some massive cadre of people they've met throughout their entire lifespan that are in their social media feeds. Also, social media rarely portrays someone's real life. It's their highlight reel and the younger generations don't necessarily know that there's a difference I'd think.
  - steveBK123 4y ago
    Yup someone had commented about social media FOMO that 1) you only see the good stuff and 2) class divisions are more apparent when your friend's friend who had a trust fund or struck it big posts stuff you wouldn't have been exposed to directly & locally pre-social media.
    - steveBK123 4y ago
      Social media more directly exposes you to your friend-of-a-friend networks inner lives, through a glossy filter, that you'd never ever have imagined 10-20 years ago. The people who boomeranged back to their parents basement after college (or after dropping out) are not posting as much as the guy who made $10M on his startup at 25. Further, especially in HCOL areas, you are often adjacent to exponentially more wealth than you have.. which social media now shows. Pre social media I wouldn't have known much about my neighbors who are friends with a billionaire family / famous musician / etc and go to various exclusive resorts on their dime a few times a year... So for some, their basis for comparison becomes too wide and they end up always feeling "behind" when they baseline against infinite wealth.
zeruch 4y ago
I'm over 35 and I don't think things were "better" before social media, but I do think there are aspects that aren't improving with being digitized/VR'd/monetized. And they are things that I suspect people will 'rediscover' over time, without the need to make it part of their personal branding or PR self-promotion campaign. I think the youth angle has some validity, but it also misses something else. I realized in my late 20s that I was already making more nuanced analysis of 'life' for myself than I did a few years prior. "Experience" isn't an end all/be all, but it does carry some occasionally useful benefits, that if you foster can only improve with age. I like hanging out with people my own age (40s) but also younger and older, because I get different useful/interesting things from doing so, and I incorporate it into the lens I use to make a go of life. THAT only comes from age and experience by and large. Social media is tooling, which can (and sadly is) leveraged in any number of ways (regardless of age group)...all of which we as a society have allowed. We need to make choices about whether that should proceed as is, or if changes are required.

by cerol 4y ago

steveBK123 4y ago

Agreed there's always a rose-tinted "life was better in my teens/20s" view by each generation. I think theres just another layer added on by social media in the always-online age.

smithmind 4y ago
I think there was just much less "keeping up with the Jones" mentality then. Sure, people could see houses and cars, but they didn't have a real time feed of everyone's "happy" moments on social media. No one felt bad that they weren't doing x y or z that their "friends" were doing because they never saw it. They had the people they were close with and not some massive cadre of people they've met throughout their entire lifespan that are in their social media feeds. Also, social media rarely portrays someone's real life. It's their highlight reel and the younger generations don't necessarily know that there's a difference I'd think.
- steveBK123 4y ago
  Yup someone had commented about social media FOMO that 1) you only see the good stuff and 2) class divisions are more apparent when your friend's friend who had a trust fund or struck it big posts stuff you wouldn't have been exposed to directly & locally pre-social media.
  - steveBK123 4y ago
    Social media more directly exposes you to your friend-of-a-friend networks inner lives, through a glossy filter, that you'd never ever have imagined 10-20 years ago. The people who boomeranged back to their parents basement after college (or after dropping out) are not posting as much as the guy who made $10M on his startup at 25. Further, especially in HCOL areas, you are often adjacent to exponentially more wealth than you have.. which social media now shows. Pre social media I wouldn't have known much about my neighbors who are friends with a billionaire family / famous musician / etc and go to various exclusive resorts on their dime a few times a year... So for some, their basis for comparison becomes too wide and they end up always feeling "behind" when they baseline against infinite wealth.

zeruch 4y ago

I'm over 35 and I don't think things were "better" before social media, but I do think there are aspects that aren't improving with being digitized/VR'd/monetized. And they are things that I suspect people will 'rediscover' over time, without the need to make it part of their personal branding or PR self-promotion campaign. I think the youth angle has some validity, but it also misses something else. I realized in my late 20s that I was already making more nuanced analysis of 'life' for myself than I did a few years prior. "Experience" isn't an end all/be all, but it does carry some occasionally useful benefits, that if you foster can only improve with age. I like hanging out with people my own age (40s) but also younger and older, because I get different useful/interesting things from doing so, and I incorporate it into the lens I use to make a go of life. THAT only comes from age and experience by and large. Social media is tooling, which can (and sadly is) leveraged in any number of ways (regardless of age group)...all of which we as a society have allowed. We need to make choices about whether that should proceed as is, or if changes are required.