4 ms·

People have always wanted to be distracted or sought solitary hobbies, but what I'm talking about is more how we interface with one another. The way we used to

by gooseus 11y ago

People have always wanted to be distracted or sought solitary hobbies, but what I'm talking about is more how we interface with one another. The way we used to interface with one another was face to face and when you looked someone in the eyes it was simply harder to lie or hide your true feelings. Language is a pretty crappy interface, which is why tone and speech pattern and body language are all a part of the communication methods we evolved. However, as we move forward we drop more vocabulary and use acronyms, we don't construct texts instead of speaking and we share perfectly captured moments with captions instead of simply sharing authentic moments. A stupid anecdote, I went to some concert and a bunch of us were tailgating and it was super hot and most people were just chilling having normal everyday conversation. But a few people felt the need to be taking pictures as if it was some kind of wild fun time. It wasn't, it was just fine, but the pictures for some reason needed to be setup and made to create a fake representation of what was actually happening. We can all share what we want with each other instantly, but what we share seems to need to merge with an identity that is perceived to be under constant scrutiny. How can our children develop an authentic self when the primary method of interfacing with others is subject to that sort of social pressure? I know I'm just wasting my time since people simply say "If you want to do X, just do it" or "I just do Y and it's not a big deal", but it still feels like we're creating a culture dominated by a constant masquerade and today I felt the need to rant about it.

Kalium 11y ago
Any time you have two people interacting in any way, you have a culture dominated by a constant masquerade. All that's changed now is that you're more aware of it than you were before. I suspect quite strongly that you'll find this to be true in pretty much all of human history. It comes with being a social animal with a theory of mind - we care about and wish to shape how others view us.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  > Any time you have two people interacting in any way, you have a culture dominated by a constant masquerade. Often, but not always. And maybe that's another way to look at this. People are longing for authenticity, both in themselves and their interactions, and all they're getting are Facebook posts. In the non-tech society, you got phoniness, certainly, but you probably got more genuine interactions than you do now.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    You got more interactions, but they weren't more genuine. They were every bit as much about building and maintaining an image. I suspect they were less genuine, on the whole, because you had less ability to opt out and limit yourself to only more genuine interactions. In the non-tech society, keeping up appearances was and is of paramount importance.

by gooseus 11y ago

Kalium 11y ago

Any time you have two people interacting in any way, you have a culture dominated by a constant masquerade. All that's changed now is that you're more aware of it than you were before. I suspect quite strongly that you'll find this to be true in pretty much all of human history. It comes with being a social animal with a theory of mind - we care about and wish to shape how others view us.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago
> Any time you have two people interacting in any way, you have a culture dominated by a constant masquerade. Often, but not always. And maybe that's another way to look at this. People are longing for authenticity, both in themselves and their interactions, and all they're getting are Facebook posts. In the non-tech society, you got phoniness, certainly, but you probably got more genuine interactions than you do now.
- Kalium 11y ago
  You got more interactions, but they weren't more genuine. They were every bit as much about building and maintaining an image. I suspect they were less genuine, on the whole, because you had less ability to opt out and limit yourself to only more genuine interactions. In the non-tech society, keeping up appearances was and is of paramount importance.