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How Social Media Makes us Pathetic Morons


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Anyone who knows me knows I've been singing this tune for years.  

I also believe all of the issues described in this video adversely impact Black people more than any other culture in America.  I know part of the problem is that I rarely hear Black folks discussing social media in this way, and I think for the most part we are largely ignorant of these issues, and don't really care to think deeply about them.

Another, perhaps more important factor, is that social media simply has us addicted. People who are happy and led fulfilling lives are probably not the same folks who have their cell phones out while dining with others in a restaurant.  They probably never took a bathroom mirror selfie and are not stressed if they leave their cell phones at home by mistake.  

If anyone in this country has a reason to be depressed and stressed out it is Black people.  So it is no wonder we dominate social media platforms like Twitter.  We have become addicted to the activity, like a drug. And like a drug, alcohol, or junk food, you can get away with it occasionally, or in small doses, but constant use is destructive.  

We are destroying ourselves, and large corporations are profiting from it like any common cracker crack dealer.

 

Actually the title is this video is "How Social Media Makes us Unsocial," but if figured the more inflammatory title would attract more viewers. You attract more people with sensationalism than reason.

Edited by Troy
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The video sends a message that is a familiar one and which enlightened me in no way.  I'd be interested in hearing what the users have to say in regard to social media being their drug of choice. That would be informative.

From my POV, social media and its components are a paradox that not only releases your true self, allowing you to key things that you wouldn't say in person, but let's you conceal your true self, hiding behind the facade of whom you wanna-be. It also provides a retreat when in the presence of people who don't bring out the best in you or - in them. So it's all about control and convenience. That's obviously a strong combination to resist, and a hard habit to break.

Computer technology is like a Pandora's Box and all the woes that have escaped from it can't be put back in. The Millennials have inherited this artificial legacy, and the preceding generations are ill-equipped to cure what has also afflicted them. This is too bad.  But there is the possibility that people interacting with each other, no longer insecure about being who they really are, will represent a mode of behavior that will come about as a result of things going in cycles of change. 

Otherwise, human life is doomed to evolve into a species akin to androids on a collision course with asteroids.  In the future Planet Earth could get blindsided by a comet that would send it hurdling back to square one, providing the opportunity for a creative force to Bang out the dents and get it right this time. If, however, these missiles fall short, the electronic body snatchers will prevail and - nobody will know the difference.  :o:wacko:

Edited by Cynique
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Well that's the thing Cynqiue, essentially all we hear in the media--especially the Black media, are the positives associated with social media as described by social media users.  

While I agree with the video I too am a user of social media--I'm just not addicted to it.  This discussion forum is a social media platform.  But I make no attempt to invade anyone's privacy, sell anyone information, or attempt to manipulate people in ways that the popular social media platforms do.

I believe most users of social media do not present there true selves.  I'm not just talking about the trolls who hide behind bogus avatars and say things they would never say in person.  I'm talking about regular people.

My name is Troy and I'm a social media addict.

Several years ago I used to be a heavy social media user.  The people I knew in the real world were not the ones I saw on social media.  Neither was I for that matter.  After while you just get bored reading the fiction of everyone else's lives.  

Like most things Facebook is really is what you make it, but much of what I'd like to make Facebook is already available, in a better form, elsewhere on the web, but many of these sites now struggle because so much of our online time is spent on Facebook.  

So it is not just the web that is less rich our real world experiences are less rich as a result.

 

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I have been couch surfing at a friends place. And I have been spending a lot if time online. But my job entails me doing face time  . Although there are a few querents that I have never actually met. Troy when virtual sex is better than real sex than it's a rap. Didn't watch the video. Yeah I'm the same high strung relaxed guy. That seems to know instinctively and sometime quite accidentally where peoples button reside. The Pugnacious Psychic. 

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Dude what makes you think virtual sex is not already better than real sex?  That said, social media surpassed porn on the web a year or two ago--it is a wrap my friend and I believe that is my point.

BTW Del why is your avatar image broken?

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Well, everybody seems to be on the same page when it comes to defining and deconstructing social media and the people it captivates. The next thing is to analyse the nature of what some perceive as a problem. There are people whose actual existence is satisfying enough to keep them from being hooked on social media, and there are those who have "good things to say" about sites like FaceBook and Twitter and who are more inclined to consider their affinity for it as useful and fulfilling, rather than additive and harmful. Corporate media profits from giving such people what they want.  Since fixing  the "perceived problem", would involve telling people how to live their lives, this creates a dilemma. :huh:

I'm done.  ^_^ 

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"Since fixing  the "perceived problem", would involve telling people how to live their lives, this creates a dilemma."

You know Cynique at the end of the day it all boils down to that.  We live in a country where we basically have the liberty to do anything we want.  For some this is a great blessing and very fanatically rewarding, for others it is a curse.  Most of us fall into the "others" category where liberty and freedom is just an illusion--experienced virtually on social media perhaps.

The problem is if we are free to do anything we are also free to be victimized by the powerful, which is why they typically are the ones who fight so hard for what they call liberty, (freedom from government control).  You saw how hard these types fought to keep slavery the law of the land, to keep Black people from going to school, or from even allowing women to vote.

We have so much freedom it has become politically incorrect to tell people what to do.  Rules are for religious fanatics.

But we need rules to define acceptable behavior--otherwise the rich and powerful, unchecked will increasingly take advantage of us.

It makes me seriously consider what a Trump presidency will look like....

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