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Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

theatlantic.com

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Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#131

Post by hutzlibu »

I did not read the article, because I usually do not click such titles (only comments section), because obviously, no, the smartphone generation is not "destroyed", just different. Some changes for the better, some for the worse.

The good? The possibilities of smartphones are just awesome. It is amazing to be in touch with people all over the world. And all this huge knowledge .. avaiable in an blink. Who does even remember how it was to not be able to google just something you want to know? You needed to have books, or know expert people, or people to know which book to read. And now? Just go online and if you know how, you will find your information. Or get your amusement, your news, your need to be acnowledged.

But all of this is still brand new. So we still have to learn not to get lost in it. Be still aware that you have a physical body with needs and sensations. And people seem to forget, that doing sports or climbing a mountain is something very different, from watching a video about it. But television is even older and there it was only consumption. Now it is interaction - only, and that is sadly a bad part, mostly controlled by coorporations who wants to distract your attention as a buisness modell. Something there got really out of hand and with kids growing up with tailered ads accustomed to data from their whole online activity ever ... than this is where I see the real danger. But kids are allways much smarter than the older generation thinks they are, so I believe they will be doing fine.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#132

Post by tapland »

merpnderp wrote: post #116
learnstats2 wrote: post #48

This article/researcher makes claims that: a) there is a mental health crisis among teenagers which is not parallel to other comparable generations, and b) that crisis is linked to mobile phones. I'm not convinced by either claim. In my experience of working with teenagers over the last couple of decades, there is a general trend that they are now better at communicating their emotional needs and emotional state. If…

I’d say that since teen suicides are significantly up, yes they are sadder today. And by far the biggest change in young people’s lives today versus previous generations is being constantly connected to the Internet via their phones, more specifically social media.

Suicide rates among young people are down about 1/3 in Sweden since the 90s.

If they are up in the US it might be another cultural issue.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#133

Post by asdff »

mr_toad wrote: post #47
stunt wrote: post #40

It is sad to see what is happening to people. Just take public transport and you will see so many people scrolling social networks and consuming useless content.

When I was young they read newspapers, books and magazines. Nobody made eye contact, let alone talked, unless they were crazy, looking to make trouble, or both.

No one used to whip out a newspaper in the middle of the checkout line or for those thirty seconds in the elevator.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#134

Post by crakhamster01 »

newsgremlin wrote: post #89
learnstats2 wrote: post #48

This article/researcher makes claims that: a) there is a mental health crisis among teenagers which is not parallel to other comparable generations, and b) that crisis is linked to mobile phones. I'm not convinced by either claim. In my experience of working with teenagers over the last couple of decades, there is a general trend that they are now better at communicating their emotional needs and emotional state. If…

My crucial concern is whether the newer generations are expressing themselves in meaningful ways. Social media is ok for talking about ones emotions and sharing experiences through it. But what about expression through music, art, literature? Are they being hampered by consuming media instead of creating or are we just unaware of the vast creative talents that go unnoticed? Given uncertain economic times I'd expect a…

If anything, social media has enabled newer generations to express themselves in "meaningful" ways more than ever. It may not be as a full-time profession, but plenty of people create for hobby. See: the hundreds of thousands of IG/Youtube accounts for musicians, designers, artists, and amateur poets.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#135

Post by asdff »

jperry wrote: post #49
stunt wrote: post #40

It is sad to see what is happening to people. Just take public transport and you will see so many people scrolling social networks and consuming useless content.

This is such an "old man yells at cloud" attitude. The alternative is, what? Striking up conversation with fellow passengers who definitely don't want to talk to me? Staring mindlessly out the window? Consuming useless content via newspaper instead? I just don't understand this position.

The alternative is staring into space, being aware of your surroundings, focusing your thoughts on the things going around in your immediate life, rather than using every available 20 second period of time to stare at a screen. Sure, people read crap on print while on the train before, but people weren't whipping out the paper for those 30 seconds in the elevator or while walking across the street.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#136

Post by jriot »

_nalply wrote: post #19
avinium wrote: post #8

If/when I have kids, I think I'll be doing everything I can to keep them off smart phones (or at least, YouTube + social media + games like Fornite). All these platforms seem explicitly designed to exploit insecurities and encourage a mindless mob mentality. It's the antithesis of individualism and I cannot see how it could possibly improve one's life (at least, before you have the maturity to be comfortable in your…

If you don't give your kids smart phones you cut them off of people. It's a conundrum. You will only be able to keep your kids off smart phones if you live in a community not using smart phones much for example the Amish. I think parents of the one percent could also create such a community for their children if they are diligent and choose the right private school. My 6 year old son will go to a summer camp where sm…

You cut them off from nothing. I'm a 34 old data scientist without a smartphone, and I'm not cut from anything, why would they?

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#137

Post by tuxxy »

gambiting wrote: post #43
tuxxy wrote: post #31

Smartphones and social media have begun to represent this weird post-modern phenomena of the destruction of social relationships. So few social experiences happen through a non-cybernetic medium now. The average number of interactions a person has online now must be higher than those offline. Platforms like Facebook or Twitter don't connect us with more people, they detach us from more people and connect us to their…

On the other hand.....surely there is some value to being able to communicate instantly with people from vastly different geographies and backgrounds? Like, I'm talking daily to two guys from about 4000km away, and I don't even know what they look like - we just help each other on a gamedev group. If I have an issue with my car I can go to a dedicated group for that model on FB and ask literally hundreds of owners a…

This is a bit different, in my opinion. If you're interacting with someone over text message or phone call, things are very different in comparison to interacting over Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

In one case, you're directly interacting with someone. In another case, you're interacting with someone over the context of a Facebook post or a tweet or whatever. The former is an actual interaction (arguably, a simulation), the latter is quite literally a simulacrum of one (or many). Thus my point about this being a post-modern phenomena.

This phenomena was aptly described by The Invisible Committee's call to insurrection in one of their manifestos titled "Now"[0].

> The necessary condition for the reign of the GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) is that beings, places, fragments of the world remain without any real contact. Where the GAFA claim to be “linking up the entire world,” what they’re actually doing is working toward the real isolation of everybody. By immobilizing bodies. By keeping everyone cloistered in their signifying bubble. The power play of cybernetic power is to give everyone the impression that they have access to the whole world when they are actually more and more separated, that they have more and more “friends” when they are more and more autistic. The serial crowd of public transportation was always a lonely crowd, but people didn’t transport their personal bubble along with them, as they have done since smartphones appeared. A bubble that immunizes against any contact, in addition to constituting a perfect snitch. This separation engineered by cybernetics pushes in a non-accidental way in the direction of making each fragment into a little paranoid entity, towards a drifting of the existential continents where the estrangement that already reigns between individuals in this “society” collectivizes ferociously into a thousand delirious little aggregates. In the face of all that, the thing to do, it would seem, is to leave home, take to the road, go meet up with others, work towards forming connections, whether conflictual, prudent, or joyful, between the different parts of the world. Organizing ourselves has never been anything else than loving each other.

0. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/the-invisible-commit...

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#138

Post by MegaButts »

ericd wrote: post #45
MegaButts wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like modern art without the pretension to me.

I personally wouldn’t set the bar for useful creation at modern art.

You might not, but others would. It's a completely subjective criterion.

Re: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (2017)

#140

Post by sideshowb »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #112
sideshowb wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the number of musicians, photographers etc complaining they can't make a living nowadays because someone else is willing to do the same thing for free. Nobody being creative you say? Though I share skepticism on smartphones. Off to read a book to my daughter now.

As a gigging pianist who struggles to get performances, I often think back to before recorded music. There was a musician playing or there was no music. Think of all the functions and events that automation, via recordings, has eliminated. It is not surprising, therefore, that the careers of musicians have been hollowed out and I must code to pay the bills.

True, though the same thing applies even to DJing.
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