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I Used to Be a Human Being

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Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I promise, you can have even more real, meaningful relationships without Facebook updates.

How can you promise that as you don't know me and don't know how i use Facebook, right? Maybe I'm having a fun time and also projecting good energy out to others. Or maybe I'm delusional. But how do you know with such certainty that my life or any other individual's life would be better without Facebook? I understand if you observed them mindlessly posting updates about minutia and robotically liking this and that.

It seems extraordinarily unlikely that you as a human being have less potential for fulfillment through interacting face to face with other humans than when you do so intermediated by Facebook.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I promise, you can have even more real, meaningful relationships without Facebook updates.

How can you promise that as you don't know me and don't know how i use Facebook, right? Maybe I'm having a fun time and also projecting good energy out to others. Or maybe I'm delusional. But how do you know with such certainty that my life or any other individual's life would be better without Facebook? I understand if you observed them mindlessly posting updates about minutia and robotically liking this and that.

Because I know how humans have interacted socially for the last 200,000 years prior to the Internet. I'm glad it's been a positive experience for you, but for many it's detrimental. There is a reason these articles are cropping up more, and more. People are finally getting privy to the negative effects, of a life consumed online.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#114
post #89

reminds me of the poem "The World is Too Much With Us", by William Wadsworth: >The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we…

I believe this is William Wordsworth.

Whoops. Edited to correct.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#115
To me, this reads like an alcoholic ranting about how everyone should stop drinking. Yes, technology can be addicting. That doesn't mean we're "helpless" or even that it's bad. I'm really sick of these hyperbolic luddites.

Personally, it's not at all a problem. I'm not a technophobe—I have an iPhone, use Facebook, etc.—but it's done nothing but positively improve my life. I can keep in touch with friends around the world and work remotely from anywhere, all thanks to the beauty of these "distracting" technologies.

However, even though my life is heavily entangled with technology I certainly don't feel "addicted" to it. I have no problem going out into the wilderness for a week and having 0 contact with the world. I certainly don't interrupt conversations to check my phone.

If technology is hurting your life, the problem could just as easily be with you as it is with technology.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I'd have to face the holes in my life. That kind of sucks.

Louis CK had some great thoughts about that: https://youtu.be/5HbYScltf1c?t=54s

That Louis CK bit is very good. I'm one of those kill your television types (I'm committed fully to my online crutch) but I have to acknowledge that he expresses some good insights here. Thank you.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not, because technology is a product of the people and processes that created it. And since people and processes aren't neutral (who is, after all), the technology they create won't be, either.

I may come off as disagreeing but I question to understand. Do you have some tangible examples?

Accessibility is often offered as an example here.

When we create a technology that requires certain abilities (the ability to use a qwerty keyboard, for instance) we have inadvertently made a technology that can't be utilized by people that lack that ability level. Likewise, for stairs, visual public signage, color use, etc.

Other examples include accessibility not based on physical difference, but social or economic difference. If you can't afford a smart phone or other computer, it can become prohibitively difficult to apply for jobs (or seek services, etc.) that only accept online applications. Or - famously - the standard IQ test used to ask what color the keys on a piano were long ago. This test was used for employment, military services, etc.; however, that question was inadvertently biased towards middle/upper class people who had experience with musical instruments.

These designs are not created with exclusion in mine, but there are often accessibility issues in one form or another because of our blind spots.

Other times, we create designs that actively mimic our biases - for instance, a bias towards rationalism led the military to design airplane cockpits back in the 1930's+ around an "ideal standard" of human physiology without any adjustability. Because no one is actually average, once you get beyond a one or two physiological measurements (maybe), these cockpits didn't really fit anyone and many US pilots died unnecessarily because they couldn't properly operate the airplane. Once the military overcame that bias they were able to make cockpits that fit many more sizes/shapes of people and our pilot deaths dropped significantly.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#118
I'm considering writing a plugin which, much like an ad-blocker, removes click bait links. There would be various black lists one could use. Any feedback on implementation appreciated.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#120
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you promise that as you don't know me and don't know how i use Facebook, right? Maybe I'm having a fun time and also projecting good energy out to others. Or maybe I'm delusional. But how do you know with such certainty that my life or any other individual's life would be better without Facebook? I understand if you observed them mindlessly posting updates about minutia and robotically liking this and that.

It seems extraordinarily unlikely that you as a human being have less potential for fulfillment through interacting face to face with other humans than when you do so intermediated by Facebook.

You're probably right.
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