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Teens Who Say No to Social Media

wsj.com

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Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#11

Post by mseebach »

dilemma wrote: post #2

Every action has a re-action. Once a development has reached an extreme it reverses in the opposite direction. Makes sense.

Except there's no real re-action documented here, just cherry-picked anecdotes and vague FUD pandering.

When I was in school, mobile phones were new, and having one and texting (as opposed to calling a landline) was the constant, relentless (and deeply worrying, obviously) pursuit of social validation of the time. Today, apparently, limiting yourself to texting is the pinnacle of measured restraint and self-control.

This exact paragraph (substitute "text" for "like" and "tweet") could have been written about texting ca 1999 (and probably about landline telephones in the 1950s):

To these teens who opt out, the relentless pursuit of “likes” looks exhausting. “I think it takes too much time and kids get too absorbed,” says Annie Furman, 19, who grew up in the Dallas area and is about to start college in Iowa. “I’d rather see my friends in person than tweet at them. I don’t want to spend all my time on my phone. I want to spend it in the real world.”

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#12

Post by blowski »

hellofunk wrote: post #5
Normal_gaussian wrote: post #3

I was in school when msn and facebook were big. I lived in the same town as the school, which was a twenty minute drive from the village most of my friends lived in. They eventually forced me to use Facebook, and it changed my social life drastically. The communication benefit group chats gave me was phenomenal. Nowadays facebook lets me organise my climbing life, and makes a handy contact book for acquaintances. I'm…

Who, may I humbly ask, and do please forgive the intrusion, but who is Mrs. Bucket?

A British sitcom called Keeping Up Appearances about a middle class woman from a working class family, and the many ways in which she tried to pretend she was something she wasn't.

I guess that's the reference, in that so many people on social media are pretending to lead exciting happy lives when in reality they are quite ordinary and boring.

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#13

Post by blowski »

dilemma wrote: post #2

Every action has a re-action. Once a development has reached an extreme it reverses in the opposite direction. Makes sense.

Like writing? This is an over-generalisation. Social media in some form is here to stay, though its exact form will change.

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#14

Post by Normal_gaussian »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #8
NeutronBoy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reference to an early 90s British sitcom (that I never thought I'd see on HN) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_Up_Appearances

I'd suspect the reference was at least partly prompted by the recently released prequel (it was broadcast 2 days ago): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Hyacinth Keeping Up Appearances was better than Young Hyacinth IMO. Here's an intro to Mrs Bucket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsZGHxb4caA

Nope. Never heard of it. Though quite cool.

The reference came from being about to write 'people keeping up appearances', then remembering the show.

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#17

Post by ZenoArrow »

Normal_gaussian wrote: post #14
ZenoArrow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suspect the reference was at least partly prompted by the recently released prequel (it was broadcast 2 days ago): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Hyacinth Keeping Up Appearances was better than Young Hyacinth IMO. Here's an intro to Mrs Bucket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsZGHxb4caA

Nope. Never heard of it. Though quite cool. The reference came from being about to write 'people keeping up appearances', then remembering the show.

Fair enough. The prequel timing was just a coincidence then.

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#19

Post by reddytowns »

maffeis wrote: post #10

Social media are tools, and a tool is as good/bad as the use we make of it, we should never forget.

Social media is a honeypot meant to trick people into giving up their information.

Each piece on it's own may seem unimportant, but like in a game of Go, you won't see the full impact until it's too late.

Re: Teens Who Say No to Social Media

#20

Post by mrweasel »

While I don't think that article is really reviling anything new, there is a few good take a ways.

Firstly: Calling people is still a viable option. Short of meeting face to face, calling someone is still the fasted way of communication and avoiding misunderstandings.

Secondly: The idea that "everyone has Facebook" is invalid. You should always provide users with an alternative to Facebook, ideally just have a website.

The article does make it sound like teenagers are leaving social media behind, but it's only a minority. The interesting thing, to me is that those not using social media have retained the feeling that being busy with your phone and not the people around you, is rude. It makes you wonder if society will split into people who believe that the other group is rude and a group that thinks that the other "simply don't get it".

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