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Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

nytimes.com

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Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#41

Post by boomlinde »

humanrebar wrote: post #31
boomlinde wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem they describe, violent reaction to opposing views, seem present amongst all sides of the political spectrum and it does not seem limited to extreme opinions. On all sides, sure, but saying that "violent reaction to opposing views" isn't necessarily the result of holding "extreme opinions" seems a bit oxymoronic. Or what exactly do you mean by "violent reaction"?

People often violently overreact to relatively minor social or legal offenses. Like when bad parents who get caught on video get death threats. It's not an extreme opinion that kids should have good parents.

It's a normal and widely held opinion that kids should have good parents, but it's not a normal and widely held opinion that bad parents deserve to be killed or threatened with violence, at least not outside self-defense and law enforcement.

It's not "I believe that fair taxation, transparent government and high standard public services" that is the extreme, abnormal opinion—it's "because you don't, you should be sent to death camp".

In a society where the norm is to value individual security, liberty and bodily inviolability, "violent reaction to opposing views" is necessarily preceded by an extreme opinion. Maybe that opinion only exists in a brief, heated moment, and it's certainly not limited to extremists, but extreme nonetheless.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#42

Post by markdog12 »

Dowwie wrote: post #36

To trust information given by someone I trust is probably in my hard wiring. I don't feel dumber because I reacted to shared information. However, more than ever, I try to question the validity of the content and won't go beyond a sensational title if the source is questionable. I used to trust content, but now I take deliberate, mindful steps to question it. At the least, social media has become more exhausting beca…

> If I could wave a magic wand, I would introduce friction to sharing media

Even better, suffuse everyone with that great skepticism you speak of. Unfortunately, your suggestions are infinitely more practical.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#43

Post by ritchiea »

gaius wrote: post #30
Quarrelsome wrote: post #19

Is it not possible we were always this dumb but more that most of us talked less? This isn't beyond the standard "pub talk" but today that "pub" is the online world and published for all to see. Where previously you'd have reporters and sub-editors and editors to publish; today you can just run your mouth off whenever you want and the crowds can all hear. This sort of thing makes us _look_ dumber compared to the era…

This sort of thing makes us _look_ dumber Context is important; your friends in the pub know when you are joking, or not entirely serious, or making a rhetorical point, or playing devils advocate, or are referencing an earlier conversation, or telling an inside joke, or have just misunderstood something. Random strangers on Twitter read everything as an unequivocal statement. And respond accordingly.

My interpretation of the original comment isn't that context is key, it's that the internet amplifies the kind of extremist speech that wouldn't reach very many people pre-internet. For example: a suburban white supremacist in 1985 might feel isolated and alone, the same person in 2018 can publish their hatred on Twitter & Medium find like minded bigots on web forums.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#44

Post by [deleted] »

afpx wrote: post #7

It shows how far the US has shifted to the right when the NYT would describe Pinker as a liberal. Twenty years ago his views were considered more center-right (in the US at least). But, I am off-topic ... The biggest problem with social media is that it massively amplifies radical (and, often ignorant or misguided) opinions. This especially disturbs me, because I sort of helped cause it. As a kid, I wanted the more r…

[deleted]

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#45

Post by smcl »

adriand wrote: post #39

It's become vogue to talk about social media in this manner but the problem is much more generalized. Sensationalist news from mainstream/traditional media outlets does exactly the same thing. And the sensitivity around issues of race, gender, sexuality, and so on, is destroying our ability to engage in civil discourse with one another - not just on social media, but even in our classrooms. Here's an example of what…

I know where you're trying to go with this and your heart is in the right place, but the example is awful and does not help in the slightest. I have a feeling that I'm gonna get "ugh, replies like yours are exactly the problem, smcl!" but to me asking children to come up with some good side of slavery is up there with trying to find the good side of the holocaust. Whether "good" or "bad" is in quotes doesn't really change that it's a stupendously bad way to approach the subject.

It might be an intellectually stimulating conversation for some, but if it's a conversation only occurring in hushed tones in coffee shops or in private then I think that's probably for the best.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#46

Post by zingmars »

cbcoutinho wrote: post #17

This is great time to mention one of my favorite books on the media and public discourse: Amusing Ourselves to Death - Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, by Neil Postman. In the book, the two infamous dystopian novels of the 20th century (1984 and Brave New World) are compared to determine which one our world most closely resembles. The two books differ in how they describe the source of the dystopia. It's…

Thanks for the recommendation, I will take a look at it.

This kind of reminds me how I felt when I was reading both those books. I had already seen all the memes about 1984 not being an instruction manual, and it left me kind of confused, because the direction the west is moving towards doesn't really resemble what was described in the book (at least, not yet). Then I read Brave New World and it certainly read like something more relevant to our current situation. Both are horrifying stories though, and it pains me that US, a nation that once prided itself for being 'free' has 2 conflicting mainstream ideologies, both of which call for a bigger government in an attempt to oppress the other side.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#48

Post by saint_fiasco »

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #6

I’m pretty sure it’s just revealing the dumb, at scale.

It is also spreading the dumb much faster. Used to be everyone would have dumb ideas but they would be different ideas. Now the dumb ideas converge really fast around the latest global outrage.

A single widespread dumb idea is more dangerous to democracy than a million dumber localized ideas.

Re: Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

#49

Post by asabjorn »

boomlinde wrote: post #41
humanrebar wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People often violently overreact to relatively minor social or legal offenses. Like when bad parents who get caught on video get death threats. It's not an extreme opinion that kids should have good parents.

It's a normal and widely held opinion that kids should have good parents, but it's not a normal and widely held opinion that bad parents deserve to be killed or threatened with violence, at least not outside self-defense and law enforcement. It's not "I believe that fair taxation, transparent government and high standard public services" that is the extreme, abnormal opinion—it's "because you don't, you should be sen…

I think this comment is a bit off base as we are clearly not talking about physical violence. The violent intolerance I was pointing out is the pattern of seeking to ostracize and remove the livelihood of people that don’t agree with your view, or question factual statements used to justify it.
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