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Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

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Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#251

Post by uoaei »

salawat wrote: post #215
uoaei wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a "get off my lawn" sort of comment, but: Easy cars are making worse drivers. People rarely check their blind spot now because the little light on their sideview mirror lights up instead. People are less concerned about driving unsafely because their cars are thicker, heavier, and bigger than the other participants on the road. This has been especially troubling to watch develop from the bike lane, as visibil…

Let's not fall into "cager" rhetoric. I've been on the opposite side of that where I've rolled down my window to ask some cyclists to not dwell behind my A pillar when driving in the city, just to be ignored. We're all locomoters, and we have finite road to share, but I do agree that some of these safety systems are probably having a deleterious effect on driving skill and overall awareness in that all the driver ass…

I agree with the rest of your comment, but

> respecting each other's presence. Cyclist and motorist alike.

I truly hate the equivocation rhetoric used in these discussions on mobility because they obfuscate the insurmountable power dynamics at play. Let's fall into cager rhetoric; cars are cages now more than ever.

Cyclists aren't obligated to respect motorists if motorists act with scant care toward the cyclists' lives. Yes, yes, "not all motorists" just like "not all cyclists" but it's hard to overcome the difference between a 1000kg car and a 10kg bike. Reciprocity, man. Have some respect for the power you wield behind the steering wheel.

When I ride, I already do so under the assumption that the cars have absolutely no idea I'm there despite me following all traffic laws to a 'T'. And I'm still right-hooked at least once each way to the gym (20-30min ride on a 4-lane road). Most recently I was riding next to a cop one time when the person in front of him not only overtook me within 3ft but also swerved into the bike lane multiple times ahead of me. I approached him and raised my concerns, and was met with an absolute deadpan stare before he drove away without a word.

My argument is not one that supports cyclists behaving aggressively toward motorists.

It should be mandatory during driving school to spend some time on a bike on busy roads.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#252

Post by Retric »

theptip wrote: post #82
mixmastamyk wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are talking about one from the 80s probably yes, 2009 not so much.

I don't think this is correct. A lot of the new driver assistance technologies are having a significant effect on safety: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/22/new-report-shows-how-many-ac... These features are new in the last 10 years, some are new in the last couple years, and they are continually improving.

It’s not showing up in fatality rates. 2009 had 1.15 deaths per 100 million miles, 2018 had 1.13 but that difference is just noise. With 2014 down at 1.08 and 2016 up at 1.19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...

Of course plenty of older cars are still on the road, but collision avoidance systems have been on the roads for years and don’t seem to be having significant impact.

Granted, driver behaviors may be getting worse, but going back further and you see significant declines which just stall out around 2009.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#253

Post by sharadov »

eloff wrote: post #33
xtracto wrote: post #8

This reminds me of an anecdote a friend told me: This friend dedicates his time in going to very rural areas/towns here in Mexico to implement government programs. At some point in the past he got to a town were the cantina had just gotten the only TV in town... apparently people in the town were generally happy, and they had everything they needed... so in their view they were not poor. But once they started watchin…

Another example, Apartheid South Africa got TV in 1976, six months later the riots started, coincidence? I think as soon as black people in South Africa could see how black people in America lived, they truly realized how bad they had it. Here it contributed to the undoing of an unjust government, so it's not always a force for evil. I think the most dangerous thing to North Korea is western media. I know the South K…

I think a percentage of North Koreans undeniably know what the real world has that they lack, but remember compared to other countries which managed to throw off their shackles, this is a totalitarian regime. There is no contact with the outside world, widespread spying, and brainwashing.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#254

Post by nickelcitymario »

cwivbly wrote: post #135
nickelcitymario wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would, but the position of "snarky internet commentator" has been filled. If only I had pithy quotes that I could paste to make my arguments for me, rather than, I dunno, using original thought.

Sophistry's worse than snark.

Are you saying I must be a liar because I’m in advertising? Or that the arguments I’m making here today are meant to deceive?

Or just a random opinion about sophistry?

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#255

Post by musingsole »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #229
logjammin wrote: post #5

I spent a lot of time in Vermont many years ago. I'd been there a little while, blissfully unaware, before someone told me "yeah, they banned billboards here in the sixties - you didn't notice?" I hadn't consciously noticed, no, but I'd spent my time there until that comment driving around stunned at how beautiful the place was. Now I knew the reason for that (well, partial reason - billboards or not, it's a pretty p…

I've never understood how billboards are acceptable. A giant sign that screams "Look at me, not the road!" seems like a bad idea.

Particularly when areas have laws about cellphone use while driving.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#256

Post by titzer »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #28

I'm gonna take the contrarian viewpoint here. Full disclosure: I'm in advertising. The researcher states that increasing "aspiration" (their term) leads to dissatisfaction and more unhappiness. Sure! But aspiration is also why we invented the wheel, harnessed fire, founded fancy schools like Harvard, try to be good parents, etc. I don't disagree that ambition and aspiration can make a person unhappy. But it's also wh…

> But virtually every good thing people have ever done was because of their aspirations.

I'll think of this comment every time I see an ad that makes me "aspire" to better myself and others by giving my money to someone else.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#257

Post by screye »

One pretty tangential anecdote.

My university enforced a no-laptop-no-internet rule (back in the 2011, 2G internet era in India) for our Freshman year.

It was the single best year of my life.

Me, a person who had grown up on and shaped by the internet, quickly realized how little of it mattered to my happiness after a few days away from it.

It made me realize how subjective things like happiness and satisfaction are. Especially given that I had already been exposed to the opulence of things on offer growing up on the internet. But, the second it stopped being shoved in my face incessantly, my priorities realigned and I started finding happiness and satisfaction in other, more local things.

Coming full circle, the second we entered our sophomore year we got high speed internet and laptops. People just as quickly reverted to their old selves, all while lamenting how they miss how things were in the freshmen year.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#259

Post by UnFleshedOne »

nabla9 wrote: post #13

New animated ads and videos in the street are just horrible. Eyes follow movement automatically. You have to consciously avert you gaze constantly to not look into them. Two hours in the city and you start feeling tired from the cognitive load and the resistance towards impulse buy decreases a little. * Walking on the street looking down is the only defense in the streets. * Online only ad-blockers keep you sane.

Rugged screens that can be built right into pavement are coming I'm sure.

Re: Researchers find inverse correlation between advertising and life satisfaction

#260

Post by r00fus »

creeble wrote: post #143
andyjsong wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I take 280 instead of 101 when traveling to and from SF to South Bay even though it's slightly longer.

Driving 280 in 1983 was one of the most significant events in getting me to want to move here from Chicago. I don't think it was the lack of billboards. But if there were billboards, it sure would feel different.

I've always considered it the "rich man's freeway". No semis allowed, no billboards, lots of either open-space preserves or mansions in the scenery.
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