Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'? • Hacker News Board

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#31

Post by KineticLensman » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

cagenut wrote: post #23

buboard wrote: post #8

TV was worse. People looking at the box for hours really looked like junkies, motionless, blurred look, mouth open. At least phones are asynchronous in nature and the ~~addict~~ err people can still function. I think the real opium of people nowaday is politics, no matter what politics. People really want to protest the hell out of something. It gives meaning and purpose, it unites, but also makes them very vulnerabl…

you might be interested to dig into who "opium of the people" comes from. he's somewhat political!

Indeed he is ... Karl Marx [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people

[Edit] Note to self - check other threads before posting links?

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#32

Post by buboard » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 2:17 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #20

buboard wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah i think this article is textbook case of shooting the messenger

If the "medium is the message" (that is, the medium dominates and enforces its norms over everything transmitted, e.g. by forcing people to echo bubbles, polarization, and centralized control by its very design regardless of what content is transmitted) then the messenger is the culprit -- and we should shoot the messenger.

the phrase 'dont shoot the messenger' exists for a reason. (the messenger has always shaped the message, even when it was a runner man)

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#33

Post by buboard » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

cagenut wrote: post #23

buboard wrote: post #8

TV was worse. People looking at the box for hours really looked like junkies, motionless, blurred look, mouth open. At least phones are asynchronous in nature and the ~~addict~~ err people can still function. I think the real opium of people nowaday is politics, no matter what politics. People really want to protest the hell out of something. It gives meaning and purpose, it unites, but also makes them very vulnerabl…

you might be interested to dig into who "opium of the people" comes from. he's somewhat political!

Yep, but even Marx must have surely noticed the addictive nature of his theories

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#34

Post by SomeOldThrow » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC

buboard wrote: post #33

cagenut wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you might be interested to dig into who "opium of the people" comes from. he's somewhat political!

Yep, but even Marx must have surely noticed the addictive nature of his theories

As someone currently plowing their way through Capital, I do not share this sentiment in the least.

I’d argue “hot takes” are a better form of what you describe. Or “complaining”, which is frankly easy with politics and always has been in a society with free speech.

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#35

Post by SomeOldThrow » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

fapi1974 wrote: post #27

Watched an interesting Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition the other day. At the time of banning alcohol it was blamed for all kinds of complex social issues, from the breakdown of the family to the loss of moral rectitude. Really, though, it was just a very visible scapegoat for things like changing economic structures (industrial revolution) and social structures (immigration). To whit, my take is that the smartph…

It was certainly eye opening how addicted to alcohol we were before prohibition, and how it was perceived to be linked to domestic abuse (I personally think it was myself).

I wonder sometimes looking around the social scene in SF if more of a abolitionist influence on society today in terms of alcohol would be healthy. Not prohibition but rather being culturally skeptical of drinking in general, especially as we are making strides to legalize marijuana, which can’t kill you and won’t make you beat up your family.

Even as dispensaries opened, the social life still revolves around bars & restaurants which often serve alcohol. The one dispensary I visit which allows consumption on premise is a sterile, retail environment. Bleh. I much preferred the dutch coffee houses.

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#36

Post by cagenut » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 3:07 PM UTC

buboard wrote: post #33

cagenut wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you might be interested to dig into who "opium of the people" comes from. he's somewhat political!

Yep, but even Marx must have surely noticed the addictive nature of his theories

I confess I have no idea what you're talking about. What "addictive nature" is there in Marx's theories?

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#37

Post by buboard » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 3:23 PM UTC

cagenut wrote: post #36

buboard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, but even Marx must have surely noticed the addictive nature of his theories

I confess I have no idea what you're talking about. What "addictive nature" is there in Marx's theories?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#38

Post by jfk13 » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 3:39 PM UTC

rimunroe wrote: post #12

jfk13 wrote: post #2

Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20427323

Yours appears to have been submitted after this one.

Curious - is your conclusion based on the id? (Are those sequential?)

I assumed this one was more recent based on the timestamp that shows on the items. Currently, I see "4 hours ago" for this item, and "5 hours ago" for the link I submitted. But maybe there's more to it than that?

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#39

Post by dondawest » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 3:41 PM UTC

koboll wrote: post #24

cneurotic wrote: post #7

For me, what's missing from the 'smartphone' // 'religion' analogy is — passion. The emotional tenor of my relationship with my phone looks — and, I'm sure — very different from the way people relate to their faiths. Facebook, YouTube, etc don't feel like 'movements' to me, like the article's author said. At least, I don't have the passion that a 'movement' seems to imply. For me, smartphoning is an emotional gray zo…

Phones are the opium of the masses; religion is the methamphetamine.

Boom. Fully agree with this analogy. Religion stimulates, smartphones sedate.

Re: Are smartphones the new 'opium of the people'?

#40

Post by dondawest » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 3:46 PM UTC

cagenut wrote: post #36

buboard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, but even Marx must have surely noticed the addictive nature of his theories

I confess I have no idea what you're talking about. What "addictive nature" is there in Marx's theories?

It’s an inherently addictive thought that “the current system is wrong and there’s another system that would be better if only people would listen.” It becomes even more addictive when there’s other people willing to give you dopamine/affirmation for your beliefs. You see its addictive nature today in the sparse numbers of people who achieve “sobriety” from communism after becoming addicted to its theories.