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Social Media Is the New Smoking

theroamingmind.com

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Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#171

Post by ruc0la »

colept wrote: post #28

In college social media consumed me. Instead of going out and having fun I was watching my friends go out and have fun. It got to such a bad point that I was lurking enviously across random profiles. In 2013 I gave up Facebook and it felt like a deadweight lifted. I stopped worrying about what acquaintances were up to. Friends and I kept in touch through conventional conversation. I endured the same awful feeling wit…

Literally my thoughts on this topic. Albeit, I have not got rid of my account yet due to university. However, I disabled notifications and mainly use messenger. I wiped my pictures, never check in places and occasionally like posts.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#172

Post by hycaria »

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.

Delete your accounts ?

I feel like commenting is a waste of time. I often type stuff I end up not posting / deleting 2 minutes later. I never engage in exchanges more than 2 posts long (esp. if its discussing ideas, by then your point should be clearly made and it's worthless).

I read a lot of comments though, mostly at work. I like new ideas or insight in peoples lives and struggles.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#173

Post by DanielBMarkham »

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…

"...It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were..."

I took a class in photography once, taught by a famous photographer.

About half-way through the course he did a dead stop, turned to the class and said something like "The most important part of photography is learning when to put the camera down and enjoy the moment instead of trying to capture it"

He then took us on a short tour of important life events he had missed out on because he was too busy trying to get the picture.

It was a poignant moment, and a good lesson.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#174

Post by zamber »

dbshshbdbd wrote: post #133
toomanybeersies wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always having to tell people to put their phones away. I purposely have a really cheap phone, because I don't want to sit on my phone and use social media all day. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a group with a few friends, and I'll be the only one not looking at my phone. I have to tell them to stop trying to socialise with people hundreds of miles away, when there's people right here. As for travel, I've never bot…

In many situations I am on my phone so that I don't need to talk to anyone. I'm in the social circumstance for some other reason beyond my control.

This pretty much explains the public transport situation.

I listen to podcasts for the same reason, especially during my commute and in shops.

Once I get to work I ditch my earbuds and put on closed over-ear headphones (active noise canceling would be nice but I'm too cheap for it).

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#175

Post by tempestn »

WD-42 wrote: post #145
grecy wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a dream to open a bar (or hostel) that is a massive Faraday cage so that phones and laptops on wifi simply don't work. I'd call it "The Stone Age" or some similar pun. (Yes, I would put up a sign to that effect notifying people - if they don't like it they can go elsewhere)

I don't think that's really necessary. I frequent a place that makes it very clear that cell phones are not welcome. There is a giant sign at the entrance saying as much. People respect it. I've never seen anyone pull out their phone here, I think the social pressure is enough.

Not as much fun though. The Faraday cage gimmick would be great for marketing.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#176

Post by saiya-jin »

my_first_acct wrote: post #169
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…

General rule of tourist photography: When you look at photos you took 10 years ago, you discover that photos of places are boring. Photos of people you know are precious. Aim your camera accordingly.

That is your perception, but for example not mine. It all depends on quality of the photo, what it covers, what kind of memories it brings back.

I have above my bed a big panoramatic picture taken from 5000m altitude in nepal in 2008, on a hike around Annapurna massif. Not a single pixel covers any living person nor animal. But it means so much to me, brings so many memories that I smile every time I look at it (actually glad I didn't include my ex-gf in it, fiancee probably wouldn't enjoy staring at her every morning :))

The problem I see, most people can't take half decent pictures (ignoring golden ratio, blurry, lack of general composition etc.) so unless the picture captures something extraordinary, it's not that interesting to come back to it.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#177

Post by hycaria »

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.

There was someone in mobile repair who said the other day that some customers insist on retrieving dozens of selfies.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#178

Post by tudorw »

Yes, if you follow the lifecycle from exclusive expensive gadget only the rich can afford down to ubiquitous device which affords no status it would seem likely that conspicuously demonstrating you are beholden to the little box will be avoided by the upper strata, not being busy and not needing a phone because you have 'people' for that will be the new norm. The truly wealthy will be carrying a book.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#179

Post by palerdot »

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…

Great minds came up with great things because of 'boredom' and their ability to reflect during 'boredom'. Now, virtually there is no 'boredom' because of social-media. If you think that is good, it is not. It is similar to mindless eating of junk-food, instead of being in empty stomach.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#180

Post by mrisoli »

mannykannot wrote: post #132
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…

This reminds me of an momentarily disturbing incident quite a few years ago. We were in a gothic cathedral when a large group came through the door. As one, they each raised a straight arm as if at a Nazi rally, and it took me a second to realize they were all using their compact digital cameras (a recent development at the time) to take pictures of the stained glass windows of the apse. We have mostly stopped photog…

For me the weirdest was the Coliseum I think, I took a few pictures myself then started wandering around, looking at the details, trying to see a little bit of what I couldn't get in history books or Google.

After a while, I started noticing people around me, they ported their phones from each of the more popular photo spots and went on to take between 10-60 selfies with slightly varying angles or facial expressions, upon finishing their session not once did they turn back and looked to see where they were.

Also when going to museums saw a lot of people going from display to display, photographing the artifacts/paintings, sometimes they also photograph the description and they won't actually read it.

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