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Social Cooling (2017)

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Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#31

Post by N_Lens »

ivape wrote: post #29
presentation wrote: post #27

You don’t need some kind of “social score” to have the chilling effect, if anything I think people self censor more because of the fear of getting berated by others for their beliefs—both by those they know and don’t. Interestingly I don’t think it’s really “cooling” that happened - if anything it’s been some people becoming extremely hot, and then the majority of people, myself included, are experiencing cooling. Un…

[flagged]

I wonder if I should upvote or downvote you, and what that will say about my HN profile to “big data analyses”

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#33

Post by sethammons »

I hate being that guy. Scroll is broken on this site.

Firefox on iPhone: if you are swiping to go down a few lines then swipe up to center what you are reading, the page position jumps, and if you continue to swipe down, it jumps again.

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#34

Post by arthurofbabylon »

The Americans (†) who grew up with constant surveillance (social media, cameras everywhere) aim for ordinariness. The entire generation is less likely to express a non-consensus opinion than prior generations. For good reason: with everything being recorded and broadcast, personal errors are both accentuated and persist longer with no corresponding rise in upside. Bold opinions and creative ideas are simply too risky under such an equation.

I find this sad and worrisome. I like chaos and healthy disorderliness. I enjoy skilled conversationalists with fresh ideas. And I worry about a "chilled" populace too afraid to express morality when it becomes socially inconvenient.

(† Footnote: It isn't just Americans but youth coming of age in every culture. The "social cooling" effect is more pronounced among Americans as they exhibit greater variance in expression in the first place and thus have more to move toward the baseline.)

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#36

Post by anal_reactor »

komali2 wrote: post #11

Is the self censoring of big boy and girl worlds like "murder," "suicide," "execution," "Nazi," and "genocide" on videos and posts related to this? It's been driving me crazy. Do not go quietly into that night and whatnot... Do not comply in advance. The idea of changing my speech so my words look nice next to a Toyota advertisement fills me with disgust and anger.

This is how curse words are born. Which is funnily appropriate because English is really lacking in this department.

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#37

Post by rTX5CMRXIfFG »

atoav wrote: post #15
komali2 wrote: post #11

Is the self censoring of big boy and girl worlds like "murder," "suicide," "execution," "Nazi," and "genocide" on videos and posts related to this? It's been driving me crazy. Do not go quietly into that night and whatnot... Do not comply in advance. The idea of changing my speech so my words look nice next to a Toyota advertisement fills me with disgust and anger.

Well this has to do with the simple fact that social media reduces the reach of posts containing certain of those words. So if you want to talk about them and reach people.. I wish those outraged with liberal "cancel-culture" would actually care about free speech, instead of only wh3n it suits their narratives.

There’s a variant of “cancel culture” that’s actually just trial by publicity and I think that’s objectively a bad thing.

But often, people in social media are just looking for attention by deliberately inciting outrage, posting their “hot takes” and making controversial statements—and then when other people with opposing views reply to disagree, the original posters start crying about “cancel culture” when, in fact, it’s just plain old disagreement in public discourse.

What needs to happen here is for people to take accountability in what they post in social media, and to take it as seriously as saying their opinions out loud in a physical, public space. If you’re deliberately inciting anger by saying something that puts a group of people at a disadvantage, don’t be surprised if someone from that group stands up to fight back. Your right to free speech does not mean protection from humiliation for the stupid things that you say in public.

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#38

Post by anal_reactor »

presentation wrote: post #27

You don’t need some kind of “social score” to have the chilling effect, if anything I think people self censor more because of the fear of getting berated by others for their beliefs—both by those they know and don’t. Interestingly I don’t think it’s really “cooling” that happened - if anything it’s been some people becoming extremely hot, and then the majority of people, myself included, are experiencing cooling. Un…

When you think about it, it's not an entirely new concept. Yes, during last 60 years the west developed a strong culture of independent thought, but when you zoom out, strict mind control through social norms has been, well, the norm. Most societies through most of history would severely punish you for even daring to think of speaking up.

Re: Social Cooling (2017)

#39

Post by sethammons »

binaryturtle wrote: post #22
dmazin wrote: post #10

It's important to note that this page is almost 10 years old. I do find myself self-censoring in 2025, but it's for a far more boring reason than surveillance capitalism. It's because leaders on the far right literally said people should snitch on each other and dox each other. Much as I hate to say it, I'm sure people on the right have felt the same way for at least a decade.

I definitely try to avoid any public statement of political nature online. You never know how the tide will turn at some point and who gets into power. And then you do not want to have a record of having said the wrong thing about the new guy(s) at the top in your past.

This could also chill the social pressure caused by knowing other's opinions. Less pressure for conformity, leading to more fringe positions. Maybe.
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