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‘Luddite’ Teens

nytimes.com

101–110 of 297 posts

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is wholesale rejection of the shitty companies and websites that prey on your attention span to sell adverts in favour of good literature and genuine connection a “fad”? I’ve deleted social media from my phone and it’s been…amazing. I don’t know what to do and end up staring into space instead of giving into my cravings for fresh content. You start to pay attention to your surroundings and think. It’s wonderful.

> fad > /fad/ > noun > an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze.

not a fad: a complete lack of enthusiasm for something, especially things that are short-lived. A contempt for crazes.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#102

I've been experimenting with a "no phone" protocol for a few months now. It has been amazing. Only occasionally problematic/inconvenient, mostly miss the GPS and music. Most things I used to do on phone I simply do on a laptop. But not constantly grabbing for a phone and staring at a screen... priceless.

The next step after this epiphany is to realize you can do this without actually giving up the phone. Just because it's in your pocket doesn't mean you need to pull it out constantly and look at it. It's just a tool, relegate it to that position in your life and don't use it like a pacifier.

I don't think this would work for me, absent some sort of brain surgery. Even if I'm not looking at my phone, my brain still knows I could look at my phone, which colors my experience.

I think these kids have the right idea, going back to a flip phone. (Or maybe the modern variant: go Apple-watch only.)

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#103

It reminded me of one of pg's old essays – http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html . Highly recommended. On a personal note, it's also something that worries me for the day when I'll finally have my own children. I wouldn't want them exposed to modern cyber-addictions from young age, but at the same time, I'm not sure how to protect them, when I can expect that all their peers will be on whatever social app's gonna be p…

You protect them by not giving them a smart phone. My daughter is 2 and she hasn’t seen a screen yet.

Right up to the point where the only highschool in your region forces your child to have a smartphone.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're doing the right thing. w.r.t. "what will you do when they get older and jealous?" , learning to deal with jealousy is a good lesson to teach kids. Giving a kid everything they envy and demand is how you raise an entitled brat.

They aren’t jealous of the tech. They are jealous of not being included. They might not get invited to events or understand their friends jokes because they weren’t part of the group chats. This can make them resent their parents and give them social anxiety. Kids can be very cruel and lack the empathy skills to understand why their friend isn’t allowed a phone. Overdoing it either direction can be a serious mistake.

No post body was provided.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does one always risk a bit of "pretentiousness" if they act/live contrary to the "main stream"? Just by having a flip phone, for example, someone will be called a "hipster" or whatever name. It's like a group social phenomena or something - just by being vegetarian (or being more "pretentious" by being vegan) people experience this sort of stuff

Basically, yes, because a lot of people don't really know what being pretentious or a hipster actually means. The passage of time has lead to both terms being misunderstood and simultaneously conflated. In order for someone to actually be pretentious, there has to be a pretense. Being purposefully non-mainstream doesn't make someone pretentious as much as a more normal individual would like to believe. Hipsters aren'…

I feel "hipster" can be boiled down to something which is leveled only as a mildly pejorative epithet, and frequently by those who are secretly envious of the subject's aesthetic, or their freedom to exhibit it.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#106
post #60
post #41

This is interesting but I can't help but notice how intensely performative these kids are as well, at least how they're characterized in this article. They're wearing Carhartt (an unusual choice for a metropolis like NYC), reading Dostoyevski and gathering to "listen to the wind." I will say most teens are like this and I certainly was myself, but I hope they are careful not to cultivate their own "artisan" brand of…

Didn't read the article, but I wish I had friends who made listening to the wind an activity growing up. There's a lot of performance any direction you take, surrendering time to the elements is a lovely little angle.

Fear of coming across as performative has overall hindered my ability to coexist within certain subcultures. I wish I cared less about this and I admire people who manage to find cultural unity through performance.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Im missing out but Ive never felt the need to spend so much on shoes. There’s countless of alternatives to boots/shows that aren’t name-brand Doc Martens with that aesthetic. Personally, I just shop at the clearance sections or sales (ive never seen doc martens there ime) I always feel like a fool if i drop money on something expensive. From reading On The Road, I just remember that they were always broke, drun…

I've tried some other brands of boots, the quality is hit or miss but I've yet to find a brand that had a durability:price ratio better than Doc Martens. I'm sure such a brand exists, but I'd hate to find out how many pairs of boots I go through until I find that brand by trial and error. I've sworn off sneakers entirely though. Unless you're buying sneakers for a specific athletic purpose, I think sneakers as a defa…

No post body was provided.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#108
post #41

This is interesting but I can't help but notice how intensely performative these kids are as well, at least how they're characterized in this article. They're wearing Carhartt (an unusual choice for a metropolis like NYC), reading Dostoyevski and gathering to "listen to the wind." I will say most teens are like this and I certainly was myself, but I hope they are careful not to cultivate their own "artisan" brand of…

it's the 2022 version of "kill your television" and i love it.

in practice: i wonder how practical it is to survive as an adult without a smartphone. uber has decimated cabs and i don't think you can telephone for an uber.

i wonder what else is unreachable/unworkable/etc...

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#109

I've been experimenting with a "no phone" protocol for a few months now. It has been amazing. Only occasionally problematic/inconvenient, mostly miss the GPS and music. Most things I used to do on phone I simply do on a laptop. But not constantly grabbing for a phone and staring at a screen... priceless.

I have considered a large ipad to replace my phone. Still able to get calls, gps and take pics but with much less convenience than a pocket device.

Somehow we have placed all of our faith in these devices.

Re: ‘Luddite’ Teens

#110
post #108
post #41

This is interesting but I can't help but notice how intensely performative these kids are as well, at least how they're characterized in this article. They're wearing Carhartt (an unusual choice for a metropolis like NYC), reading Dostoyevski and gathering to "listen to the wind." I will say most teens are like this and I certainly was myself, but I hope they are careful not to cultivate their own "artisan" brand of…

it's the 2022 version of "kill your television" and i love it. in practice: i wonder how practical it is to survive as an adult without a smartphone. uber has decimated cabs and i don't think you can telephone for an uber. i wonder what else is unreachable/unworkable/etc...

In Brooklyn now, it's cheaper to use a car service than Uber/Lyft, so I think you could get by fine without those apps. Getting around without Google Maps would be pretty challenging, I think.
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