Has social media made the world worse?

[riche]

I'm not talking forums as there are a lot of great ones out there Inc this one.

But it seems between fb,twitter, Snapchat and the others,people have lost there touch with reality.

The tidepod post made me think of this.

People are just lost and getting away from reality.

Maybe I'm just getting old lol

 

[Jamo7]

I'm not talking forums as there are a lot of great ones out there Inc this one.

But it seems between fb,twitter, Snapchat and the others,people have lost there touch with reality.

The tidepod post made me think of this.

People are just lost and getting away from reality.

Maybe I'm just getting old lol

Social media is a total waste of time, which is why I’m not on it. However I spend waaayyyy to much time on R2R........

 

[Antics]

Hard to say social media has made the world worse, but it has fundamentally changed how we share our lives as well as how we engage with others. I'm not on social media outside of forums. None of the big platforms at all. But I'm personally much more concerned about the impact of social media with regard to governments and corporations far more so than I am worried about children and teens with stunted social skills. If you live your life without regard or value for your personal data and experiences and trust that others will "do the right thing" you are in for a rude awakening.

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

Simple answer yes. Everywhere you go everyone has their head down. .. even when driving. I was at a work lunch the other day and the neighbor boy was on a date. Both of them where in their phones. I went over and whispered in his ear. " dating advise lose the phone" he listened. Unfortunately the girl didn't. ..

 

[Hemmdog]

I’d say social media peaked in 2012 for usefulness , I was connected with friends living abroad and that sort of thing. Now it’s mainly people crying about trump, fake news, and Ad’s

 

[Bryson.bobby]

I think social media can be a good thing if people aren’t on it constantly. It’s one of those things that needs to be used in moderation.

 

[smartwater101]

I'd say no. Technology like the internet is still in its infancy. We may not see a huge shift in our lifetime. But it won't always be filled with narcissists looking to sell their bathwater to pathetic morons willing to buy it. (Yes that's actually a thing.)

"Lost" and "getting away from reality" is something that's been around long before we had the ability to connect instantly. Knowledge is power, and its all so new, and we're all so stupid as a species, it will take awhile before people step out of their online bubbles.

Or... SkyNet becomes self-aware and kills us all, just for wasting its time with memes.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Social media is ushering in the next information dark ages, mostly because it’s a self perpetuating distortion of the truth or a complete absence of truth and there’s so much of it, that it becomes nearly impossible to sort out the truth from someone’s warped perspective of something to outright lies and misinformation. Intelligence agencies have known about this phenomenon for years and exploit it in psychological warfare against enemies, only now we are doing it to ourselves.

There’s also the “emotional feedback loop” that is created by participating in something and receiving likes for it, it makes you feel good, so you want more likes. Some people have gone to the extreme and will do or say anything to receive validation. It’s changed how we interact with each other, making the world a smaller place, but separating us individually and isolating us simultaneously.

The average man now possesses the most powerful knowledge finding tool in the palm of our hands, never has there been a time in history where nearly all the potential knowledge of all of humanity is literally within our grasp... and look what we do with it.

Good or bad it’s here. I will say I’m glad I am not growing up in this world at the moment, it’s an exciting time, but also a somewhat frightening one

 

[smartwater101]

Social media is ushering in the next information dark ages, mostly because it’s a self perpetuating distortion of the truth or a complete absence of truth and there’s so much of it, that it becomes nearly impossible to sort out the truth from someone’s warped perspective of something to outright lies and misinformation.

I completely disagree. This is a problem with human nature. Not technology.

Imagine for a moment, that you and I had no access to things like R2R and had a group of friends who were also fish-nerds. We could perpetuate all sorts of nonsense "Tangs are fine in a 5g! Brisstleworms are the DEVIL! You should only change filter socks once a year!" And we'd never break out of the feedback loop.

People are dumb lol. This how its been for thousands of years.

Social Media (and the internet in general) make it far easier to find these bubbles but, more importantly, it makes it much harder to stay in these bubbles.

 

[Silver14SS]

People are dumb lol. This how its been for thousands of years.

Whether it was in a cave, around a campfire, at the local saloon, the bowling alley for league night, whatever the times, people find a way to gather and share ideas both smart and not so smart.

I can't post it because it's not family friendly, but this thread makes me think of a scene from Deadwood where Al opines on the telegraph coming to town. "Deadwood: Messages from invisible sources" if you want a laugh.

 

[TheHarold]

Maybe I'm just getting old lol

I think its probably this, honestly. Every "older" generation gets disenchanted with youth. Theres nothing special about what's currently happening. Lots of good things, lots of bad things, aka life will continue haha.

 

[tripdad]

The part of it that is bad is the immediacy of it. Things are spread before any vetting goes on at all. That leaves people to react, which way they are never sure, before they have "thought" it thru. It has ruined the old "innocent until proven guilty" while at the same time perpetuating the "I can say anything and you can't stop me" person. In the "old" days you would have to wait until you saw someone before spreading/ re-telling what you had heard/ thought. Gave us time to maybe think better of some things.

 

[Rick.45cal]

I completely disagree. This is a problem with human nature. Not technology.

Imagine for a moment, that you and I had no access to things like R2R and had a group of friends who were also fish-nerds. We could perpetuate all sorts of nonsense "Tangs are fine in a 5g! Brisstleworms are the DEVIL! You should only change filter socks once a year!" And we'd never break out of the feedback loop.

People are dumb lol. This how its been for thousands of years.

Social Media (and the internet in general) make it far easier to find these bubbles but, more importantly, it makes it much harder to stay in these bubbles.

The question wasn’t regarding forums, it was regarding other social media sites. I’m not blaming technology, my post is completely regarding human nature. It’s true dumb people have been around for as long as humanity has dragged it’s knuckles on the ground, the difference is in the past they didn’t have a voice that reached the rest of the world of other people who rightly or wrongly believe them whole heartedly without actively researching the truth via legitimate sources. At a certain level of information overload it become impossible to research it all and therefore even intelligent humans cannot. Therefore intelligence is not protection from misinformation, and it only takes a little bit of it to cause a problem.

The honest truth is in the past if you wanted to learn something you had to make an effort to locate a valid source. The human rumor mill that is social media is a cloud of truth mixed with fiction and it’s self perpetuating based 100% on human nature.

This is fundamental Socratic wisdom vs Socratic Ignorance. Lots of “experts” out there on social media practicing Socratic ignorance in it’s finest form. The problem with that is it only takes a little bit of twisted wrong information to do permanent and irreperable damage.

The fact that there is a measels epidemic is a perfect example. Stupidity loves company and social media is a perfect gathering point. (Last I checked Jenny McCarthy wasn’t an epidemiologist but she makes a pretty good Typhoid Mary.)

Don’t confuse me for the old guy that thinks “technology is bad, and we shouldn’t do that”. I’m just merely speaking how I see it. I do however think most people do not realize that we should be responsible about what we post and share with each other, that’s not saying humor should be left out, but actively spreading bad information has real consequences.

For what it’s worth, I’ve lived through that whole time period of reef keeping in the late 80’s and early 90’s where we waited on a bi monthly periodical put out by seachem for a tiny little article in the back of it that was the “most current” reefing information available. We relied heavily on hear-say information, but there’s a funny thing about dealing with people in person vs. on social media. It’s usually pretty easy to spot whos full of it in person.

Reef2Reef and forums regarding other highly technical skills will always be somewhat kept in check by people who are proficient in those skills and actively post information to counter someone who is just posting nonsense and dribble. It would be an impossible task on a platform like facebook.

The only way to not be influenced by the misinformation that is inundated into every user is to not participate. It doesn’t even matter how mundane it seems, it only takes a little bit of misinformation to cloud the truth, sometimes totally obscuring it.

I don’t disagree with you, I’ve reefed through your example. I just needed to clarify my statement as I think you misunderstood me

 

[rkpetersen]

Social media is a complete rolling disaster.
Anyone can say anything to a large audience;
true experts in all fields - journalism, science, etc - which used to give us common ground, are devalued.
Now everyone's opinion is validated by their group;
no one needs to look outside their comfort zone, or question their assumptions or beliefs.
The polarization of society, especially in America where social media reigns, is worse than it has ever been.
We are going to find ourselves in a civil war, or something very much like it, before long in this country.

And that doesn't even get into the issue of social media being used for monitoring and control;
this is already being taken to extremes in China, and we're seeing it creeping up on us in the West as well.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I got out just as everyone was getting in. I think it’s like any other indulgence; it’s okay in moderation. If you can’t hold your social media, time to quit.

I do see it brings out the worst in a lot of people. Glad I didn’t grow up with it.

I got out because I just don’t care much about what other people think or do, nor do I care to share. In the rare occasion I do, I’ll find a forum, like this one

 

[rkpetersen]

I got out just as everyone was getting in. I think it’s like any other indulgence; it’s okay in moderation. If you can’t hold your social media, time to quit.

Right, I was going to touch on that too.
It's an extremely seductive addiction for some.
And like all addictions, many are not self-aware as to how far down the rabbit-hole they've gone.

 

[Hermie]

It's an absolute disaster for mankind, across societies, largely speaking the Chinese internet/society vs the west vs middle east, etc.

The biggest problem is that the power of "data" and manipulating people's "information streams" is being concentrated into the hands of the few technology/data companies. People don't realize how much data they give over in a given minute of online browsing... you are giving your location, your page scrolling, your ip address, how much time you are on a site, etc, how you respond to "likes" and notifications, and all of this data is being agglomerated and then analyzed by PhD data scientists in order to find out exactly how to influence you and what makes you tick. It's not a conspiracy anymore, but the problem is that it's all "free wheeling" and companies can do whatever they want with all that tracking information. They can manipulate you to want to be online more, or give you "Certain" search results. It's about taking away the randomness of life, which is ultimately taking away the freedom to "experience life" instead of having it "programmed" out for you.

I'm sorry, but we are in for really terrible times ahead. The rich are getting richer and information control of the masses is being perfected. People don't realize what's going on.

And to add, another problem is that we are no longer "sharing experiences" but instead we are being given "scripted" information in order to manipulate us at the individual level. When we don't share experiences (movies, information, etc) then we become more divided. Your FB News Feed, your Twitter Timeline, your Emails (spam and non-spam), your phone notifications, your Google Search results. It's all being scripted to YOU personally. It's much harder to mass manipulate people when you are forced to give them all the same "information" but when you can personalize that information you can target their individual insecurities, their weaknesses and you can become MUCH more effective at it.

 

[Katrina71]

I think it's a double edged sword. It can unite a community like this one, or it can unite people for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Hermie]

The way I look at it, institutions are like Human Organs on a societal level. The individual cells in a human body could NEVER hope to achieve what an entire BODY of cells can achieve, but what Social Media does is it destroys the "preeminance" of institutions in our daily information streams. Respect for Doctors (relatively speaking), or academics, or scientists, or ANY specialized fields, including journalists. Those are vital to societal progress, but Social Media warps the balance so that people get their information from "random websites" or random "internet personalities." The society human body will break down.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I think it's a double edged sword. It can unite a community like this one, or it can unite people for all the wrong reasons.

Scary, isn’t it? I remember getting put in time out back in 1st grade, to slow my roll, for inciting riots. How do we put social media rebels in time out? We can’t. Rabble rousers gonna rabble rouse.