I woke up this morning after only 4 hours of sleep feeling uncomfortable about the state of affairs

[Dottleshead ★]

Also, I have decided that social media has screwed up society.  

[BuffJim]

I’m not the kind of guy to have affairs.  I do agree the world is reaching off the charts levels of craziness. God’s got it under control, so I don’t stress about it. 

[Razors Edge ★]

9 minutes ago, Dottles said:

Also, I have decided that social media has screwed up society.  

What's funny is no one actually admits to using social media.  It's always my crazy brother in law or my co-worker Bob.

Sort of like how no one watches TV

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

30 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

What's funny is no one actually admits to using social media. 

I'll admit to not using social media.  No facebook, no twitter, no instagram, no linkedin.

I don't consider a Forum 'social media', but if you do then you may adjust the number from none to one.

[Ralphie ★]

6 minutes ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

I'll admit to not using social media.  No facebook, no twitter, no instagram, no linkedin.

I don't consider a Forum 'social media', but if you do then you may adjust the number from none to one.

That is an interesting question. Here, lmgt! Brb!  

We might be considered an echo chamber in maybe bicycle safety, but little else  other than English speaking people who like playing on the inter webs and have the time and means to do it.   

Forums are an element of social media technologies which take on many different forms including blogs, business networks, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, products/services review, social bookmarking, social gaming, social networks, video sharing and virtual worlds.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki

List of Internet forums - Wikipedia

 

 

[shootingstar]

I hang around this forum and have blog. That's enough.

I don't have a twitter /Instagram/Tik Tok / facebook account.  I do check a birdwatching facebook for bird photos. That's all. I check my niece's twitter account..because...I care about her.  I see a partial snapshot of her thought wanderings. That's all I need to  know at the back of my mind.

I  deleted LinkedIn account since I wasn't aggressively promoting my work experience. There's no point when I'm employed.

[Wilbur ★]

Social media and big tech are the destroyers of the former civil society.   This is the new norm and I can easily see it leading to 2 America's.  That should keep you awake at night. 

I have a Facebook account but don't use it other than browsing Marketplace.  That and this forum is enough and at times too much social media. 

[Ralphie ★]

I think that may be a big part of it, but there are plenty of other problems also. Like RR often says, humans are sort of a scourge on the earth. We always need food, heat, shelter, etc., and all that takes a toll on the eart. Sustainability is a great goal but with current population seems a tall order. If we could back up to when humans emerged from Africa and have a do over, it would be interesting to see if we could have built a sustainable society. 
 

You can also worry aboot things like the Amazon being cleared and burned as well as other earthly physical challenges. And our inability to come even close to a sane way of governing.

 

[BuffJim]

10 minutes ago, Philander Seabury said:

That is an interesting question. Here, lmgt! Brb!  

We might be considered an echo chamber in maybe bicycle safety, but little else  other than English speaking people who like playing on the inter webs and have the time and means to do it.   

Forums are an element of social media technologies which take on many different forms including blogs, business networks, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, products/services review, social bookmarking, social gaming, social networks, video sharing and virtual worlds.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki

List of Internet forums - Wikipedia

 

 

No mention of drivel. They’re not talking about us. 

[Airehead]

I always wonder if the world has always been nuts but social media means we here about them all, all the time.  In the old days a murder in Watkins Cove, Arkansas might not even be known about in Saint Louis. Now I know the bond is 500,000 with one in custody.   It really doesn’t need to be news to me. 

[Ralphie ★]

5 minutes ago, BuffJim said:

No mention of drivel. They’re not talking about us. 

Potd at least.

And man, what a fool’s errand it is to try to list all the forums on the Interwebz. Crikey!

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

What's funny is no one actually admits to using social media.  It's always my crazy brother in law or my co-worker Bob.

Sort of like how no one watches TV

This is social media..........and I typed that while watching a Premier League game of the Tele.

[MoseySusan]

It’s good to get out of your own head for awhile. Ride your bike, hike, go fishing, volunteer, help a Special Olympics team. Lots of ways to reshape your worldview. 

[Razors Edge ★]

22 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

It’s good to get out of your own head for awhile. Ride your bike, hike, go fishing, volunteer, help a Special Olympics team. Lots of ways to reshape your worldview. 

I'm riding more than ever.

But, even in this thread, no one is on FB. No one is on Twitter. No one on the Gram!  I admit I'm on Instagram checking out BugNaked and a few different bike companies.

I think oddly, many folks "news" comes from FB or Twitter (or far worse), and gets to them either directly (from those places) or a step or two later via word of mouth, email, being picked up by "news" (usually also as suspect as Social Media), or one of the networks pushing a perspective. 

We often see it here, even.  A story is posted where someone didn't bother to spend a second or two thinking through it with a who (posted it), what (is the angle and aim), where (did it originate), when (timed to "drop" now), how (did I run across it), and, most importantly, WHY (is this story in front of me) sort of process.  As citizens of the US (or Canada) and of the world, we really need to step beyond just a blanket acceptance of "news" (that is usually aimed right at our blindspots) and actually put on our thinking caps.

I also worry folks have no understanding the scale of the Russian, Chinese, assorted smaller "enemy" or "frenemy" nations, and astro-turf organization mis- and dis-information campaigns that are being run in near constant streams across social media but also fake news and deceptive Internet campaigns.  "Smart" folks are regularly not only outsmarted, but also co-opted into some truly awful stuff.

[Kirby]

Social media is a mixed gift.  As Aire pointed out, I think it feeds a world where we all know more about disasters and problems around the world than we otherwise might. Plus it doesn't always bring out the best in people.  But it's also enabled me to make friends with people I would otherwise never have known.  Some of these people have become real world friends, but even the others have provided support on difficult days and helped me with lots of little questions that might come up (like when I needed to fix the garage door).   It's also enabled me to learn more about topics that I care about than I could without the interaction on social media.

But there are definitely things I do to protect my mental health.  Like days when I just won't go near the news, or a resolve not to argue with strangers on the internet when I'd never engage with them in person.

[Prophet Zacharia]

14 hours ago, Dottles said:

Also, I have decided that social media has screwed up society.  

I think it gives the ability to spew crazy in a format that doesn’t necessarily make that apparent right from the start. In the past, that would take the form of a ditto or Xerox copy of single-spaced, typewritten manifesto. No one was going to read that with the expectation of sanity within. Now it’s a formatted “news” story, electronically presented, or snippet of information in a meme that don’t leap out as being off-base quite as loudly. 

 

12 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I also worry folks have no understanding the scale of the Russian, Chinese

Agreed. And domestic provocateurs.

[Wilbur ★]

The SM giants and their cancellation policies are going to create divided internet users that will only receive their chosen political views from their chosen suppliers and if someone has their way, that day is very near.  Then you see counties in MD, OR and WA wanting to secede to states that better accommodate their beliefs and you soon have a physical divide in the nation. 

Even comments on the Baldwin shooting have been politicized. 

It is sad how intolerant all of society has become and that is only going to get worse. 

[KrAzY]

Social Media is my outlet for making people cry and hate me ..LOL
Society got screwed up because everyone was forced to be hermits for a year or more.