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Social Media Is the New Smoking

theroamingmind.com

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Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#111

Post by duderific »

booleandilemma wrote: post #12
oliv__ wrote: post #10

> "That the dude off in the corner consuming his Instagram feed will be looked at the same as the guy standing at the street corner sucking on a Marlboro." I don't think that's ever going to happen. Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. And that's certainly not going away. It would be like wishing that the buddies socializing on the corner would be l…

The other day I saw a woman on the subway spending almost 5 minutes trying to take a flattering selfie. It was pretty sad.

Ha. I have a Facebook friend (actually the wife of a friend) who clearly spends hours dolling herself up for her Facebook profile photo, which she updates every few weeks. Full makeup, hair mussed just so, just the right angle and smile. Instead of thinking, "man, Candy's looking great!", I'm thinking, "it's kind of pathetic that she thinks anyone cares enough about her profile photo that she would spend that much time on it."

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#112

Post by vacri »

thinbeige wrote: post #4

I remember one vacation which was the first after many years: I was lying at the beach enjoying the view. I was so happy that I could afford some vacation after years of suffering and watching millions of vaction pictures from my friends on Facebook. Avid for revenge, I took a picture of the stunning beach view and wrote in big letters 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about (…

> 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about

I don't do the facebook thing myself, but close friends do, and they use it as a social organiser, not an arena for braggadocio. Want to get rid of a table? Facebook. Shitty day and want to invite friends to the pub? Facebook. Cat memes? Facebook.

I'm not fond of facebook, but let's face it; you can't blame the hammer if you make a shitty chair with it.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#113

Post by sumedh »

betenoire wrote: post #54
hammock wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's getting downvoted but this is (was?) actually true, there was a study about it. Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/1...

S/He's getting down voted because (I assume, it wasn't me) he changed the topic/point of the conversation, not because what he wrote wasn't true. Often a comment on something social/subjective/squishy devolves into a objective discussion about the irrelevant details..... like this comment does.

His/her comment is totally relevant, I didnt know facebook was that sneaky to actually save that.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#114

Post by hanoz »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #108
thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

You're missing having mental quiet time by always being attached to your phone. Take a minute or two to contemplate what's around you while you wait for your car to warm up.

Ironically smoking used to be quite the conduit for such quiet contemplative moments. All the more so in its social pariah death throes, with smokers forced out of the office or home, conjuring five minutes quiet from the chaos, in contrast with social media's soaking up of every moment of quiet opportunity with its endless distraction.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#116

Post by baby »

ben_w wrote: post #98
baby wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's like tattoos Come on! It takes literally nothing to create a Facebook account. You can even use a fake mail and name (it might be against the ToS but you still can). The only thing it will take from you is time. (No it won't make your life worst, just use messenger.com and not the main API with the newsfeed so that people can contact you.) I would compare that to having a phone back then, when it was kind of t…

Nothing, except your time. Your time, and the crude attempt to model what you consider to be worthy of your time, so that people with money can waste it in just the right way to make you do what they want you to do — watch an ad, buy a product, vote for a policy.

> Nothing, except your time.

For the benefits that it gives you, I don't see that as a waste. I can keep in touch with all my friends around the world, and I can organize trips, parties, dinners, get invited to weddings, see the new baby of a friend, etc... I'm tired of only reading the bad side of this story.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#117

Post by drdeadringer »

mrisoli wrote: post #39

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reac…

I'm finding recently that whenever I am taking a picture or video at a live event I think to myself "I am experiencing this awesome thing through a small screen, what am I doing?". If it's a video I alleviate myself by darting my eyes off and on the screen to make sure the framing is still good until I'm done.

I don't regret the photos or videos afterwards, and I do aim for a healthy balance. The reminder is still there though -- I'm there for the live experience, so I should act like it.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#118

Post by _wp3r »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #69
thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

I don't do a lot of social media as such, but I waste endless hours reading and commenting on Reddit, HN, Rock Paper Shotgun, and so forth. I feel like it actively makes my life worse, but I can't stop. I can never tell if these articles are talking about me or not.

There is withdraw when people quit. I would equate it to something like the emotions after leaving the military or graduating college. It is a lose of a type of identity, manufactured but real feeling none the less.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#120

Post by chickenfries »

vacri wrote: post #112
thinbeige wrote: post #4

I remember one vacation which was the first after many years: I was lying at the beach enjoying the view. I was so happy that I could afford some vacation after years of suffering and watching millions of vaction pictures from my friends on Facebook. Avid for revenge, I took a picture of the stunning beach view and wrote in big letters 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about (…

> 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about I don't do the facebook thing myself, but close friends do, and they use it as a social organiser, not an arena for braggadocio. Want to get rid of a table? Facebook. Shitty day and want to invite friends to the pub? Facebook. Cat memes? Facebook. I'm not fond of facebook, but let's face it; you can't blame the hammer if you make a shi…

Except in this case the Hammer is a finely-tuned addiction machine, engineered by some very smart, well-paid people at Facebook.
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