5 ms·

A lot of comments in this thread remind of cigarette companies dismissing health concerns with tobacco. In my circle of friends and family I've seen the majori

A lot of comments in this thread remind of cigarette companies dismissing health concerns with tobacco. In my circle of friends and family I've seen the majority of them go from being people you could talk to and spend time with to people that just stare at their phones constantly, I've heard others say the same about their circles. Parents let Youtube raise their kids because they don't want to get their eyes off the screen themselves. You could be on a luxury vacation on a yacht in the Mediterranean but they never get off their damn phones. There's no way that's healthy. That's not even getting into how social media shapes your mind at a young age. I have two teachers in the family and they both say that kids have become borderline retarded since around 2010. The multi billion dollar attention economy wants to dodge responsibility by holding an unrealistic standard of evidence for their externalities but use your common sense. Humanity has never had anything that constantly demands your attention, are we just supposed to pretend it will have no effect on our mental health?

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
I've noticed that some of the funniest people I know have started using Tiktok in the last couple years, and their sense of humour has completely vanished. Now they just send me these dumb short video clips that are more cringe than funny, and it seems like they can't even make a good joke in person anymore.
gsk22 3y ago
It's hard not to notice that this is essentially the same argument people made against TV ("the boob tube"). People just stare at the TV constantly. Parents let the TV raise their kids. People watch TV even on vacation. TV has made kids stupid. And it probably goes back further -- can you believe the parents letting radio raise their kids? Don't get me started on the children who spend all day staring at words in a book. I have a teacher friend who says cuneiform carvings have made kids stupid since around 1000 BC. Now obviously overconsumption of any media can be unhealthy, but there seems to be a lot of fear-mongering over social media that isn't well-justified. It's just "old man yells at clouds" for the digital age. Lots of broad assertions and very little evidence to back them up.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
  Here's a different take on this perspective. It seems to be demonstrably fine that most people occasionally drink some alcohol. But obviously, if everyone was drunk all the time, society would collapse. Similarly, we could instead say that yeah, maybe TV had some negative effects, but there's no TV outside, at work, at school, at least not usually. And at least for TV, you turn on a channel and watch it. Also there's some pretty good stuff on TV. How many scientists were inspired watching Star Trek as a kid? But I'm sure there were kids who did watch too much TV, and it really did have a negative impact on them. It's just that eventually norms were established yadda yadda that mitigated the severity of it on a societal scale. With smart phones and social media, maybe we're scaling up the sorts of negative effects that people were worried about with TV, to where it really can have some disturbing effects even on a societal scale. And maybe we really should be worried that we're effectively conditioning children to have shorter attention spans due to the emergent properties of a smartphone with multiple different social media apps firing off notifications with very short form content. And the rate of adoption has been so huge, that if it is the case, we might already be fucked pretty soon.
- lezojeda 3y ago
  [dead]
- beerpls 3y ago
  This comment is full of unawareness Television WAS terrible. I have many older relatives who are basically zombies whenever one is on. It has crippled their ability to critically think, it indoctrinates them, and leads to numerous health complications Just because a population has been adequately addicted doesn’t mean the addiction isn’t a problem Now fast forward to today and realize that these modern digital drugs can be many many times more potent than your TV of yesteryear “Lots of broad assertions and little evidence to back them up” Friend I think you need to put down your screen and take a long hard look at what the world is and where it’s heading
- StrangeATractor 3y ago
  Smartphones are incomparable with other forms of media. You don't have a TV within 3 feet of you 24 hours a day that you can pull out at any time. A TV doesn't ding to get your attention. TV channels aren't individually tailored for you to suck in your attention and hold it for as long as possible. There are fundamental limitations to TV which do not apply to smartphones. It's the same with radio. I grew up with TV, the number of people spending almost all their free time on a phone completely dwarfs any TV consumption I've ever seen.
oefrha 3y ago
While I don’t like staring at my phone constantly while I’m around others, have you considered the possibility that people simply enjoy whatever are on their phones more than talking to and spending time with you? A lot of people just want to be left alone, when you think you’re “having an interesting conversation” or “having a good time” or whatnot with them, it’s entirely possible they’re only doing it out of politeness.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  Why make an effort then to spend time with someone if you will just waste that on your phone? It’s kinda rude to others time.
- nvarsj 3y ago
  This concept would be hard for extroverts to understand.
beerpls 3y ago
Excellent perspective, not only do the corps have unrealistic standards of evidence, but when they’re questioned by political leaders they outright lie. ex fb claimed they didn’t design their software to hack the dopamine/serotonin systems and the politicians just said “ok”. like what? We’re living in times where no one is held accountable. Literally billions of lives are being destroyed or seriously damaged for relatively minor profits (per damage caused anyway). When will it change? The populace is so powerless and the politicians are so evil… it’s perfectly understandable why nihilism is so embraced these days

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago

I've noticed that some of the funniest people I know have started using Tiktok in the last couple years, and their sense of humour has completely vanished. Now they just send me these dumb short video clips that are more cringe than funny, and it seems like they can't even make a good joke in person anymore.

gsk22 3y ago

It's hard not to notice that this is essentially the same argument people made against TV ("the boob tube"). People just stare at the TV constantly. Parents let the TV raise their kids. People watch TV even on vacation. TV has made kids stupid. And it probably goes back further -- can you believe the parents letting radio raise their kids? Don't get me started on the children who spend all day staring at words in a book. I have a teacher friend who says cuneiform carvings have made kids stupid since around 1000 BC. Now obviously overconsumption of any media can be unhealthy, but there seems to be a lot of fear-mongering over social media that isn't well-justified. It's just "old man yells at clouds" for the digital age. Lots of broad assertions and very little evidence to back them up.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
Here's a different take on this perspective. It seems to be demonstrably fine that most people occasionally drink some alcohol. But obviously, if everyone was drunk all the time, society would collapse. Similarly, we could instead say that yeah, maybe TV had some negative effects, but there's no TV outside, at work, at school, at least not usually. And at least for TV, you turn on a channel and watch it. Also there's some pretty good stuff on TV. How many scientists were inspired watching Star Trek as a kid? But I'm sure there were kids who did watch too much TV, and it really did have a negative impact on them. It's just that eventually norms were established yadda yadda that mitigated the severity of it on a societal scale. With smart phones and social media, maybe we're scaling up the sorts of negative effects that people were worried about with TV, to where it really can have some disturbing effects even on a societal scale. And maybe we really should be worried that we're effectively conditioning children to have shorter attention spans due to the emergent properties of a smartphone with multiple different social media apps firing off notifications with very short form content. And the rate of adoption has been so huge, that if it is the case, we might already be fucked pretty soon.
lezojeda 3y ago
[dead]
beerpls 3y ago
This comment is full of unawareness Television WAS terrible. I have many older relatives who are basically zombies whenever one is on. It has crippled their ability to critically think, it indoctrinates them, and leads to numerous health complications Just because a population has been adequately addicted doesn’t mean the addiction isn’t a problem Now fast forward to today and realize that these modern digital drugs can be many many times more potent than your TV of yesteryear “Lots of broad assertions and little evidence to back them up” Friend I think you need to put down your screen and take a long hard look at what the world is and where it’s heading
StrangeATractor 3y ago
Smartphones are incomparable with other forms of media. You don't have a TV within 3 feet of you 24 hours a day that you can pull out at any time. A TV doesn't ding to get your attention. TV channels aren't individually tailored for you to suck in your attention and hold it for as long as possible. There are fundamental limitations to TV which do not apply to smartphones. It's the same with radio. I grew up with TV, the number of people spending almost all their free time on a phone completely dwarfs any TV consumption I've ever seen.

oefrha 3y ago

While I don’t like staring at my phone constantly while I’m around others, have you considered the possibility that people simply enjoy whatever are on their phones more than talking to and spending time with you? A lot of people just want to be left alone, when you think you’re “having an interesting conversation” or “having a good time” or whatnot with them, it’s entirely possible they’re only doing it out of politeness.

kjkjadksj 3y ago
Why make an effort then to spend time with someone if you will just waste that on your phone? It’s kinda rude to others time.
nvarsj 3y ago
This concept would be hard for extroverts to understand.

beerpls 3y ago

Excellent perspective, not only do the corps have unrealistic standards of evidence, but when they’re questioned by political leaders they outright lie. ex fb claimed they didn’t design their software to hack the dopamine/serotonin systems and the politicians just said “ok”. like what? We’re living in times where no one is held accountable. Literally billions of lives are being destroyed or seriously damaged for relatively minor profits (per damage caused anyway). When will it change? The populace is so powerless and the politicians are so evil… it’s perfectly understandable why nihilism is so embraced these days