Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Who Cares Era

dansinker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 765 posts

Re: The Who Cares Era

#61

Post by bitwize »

KronisLV wrote: post #51
bandoti wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I hate to say it because it’s become an annoying topic—but the problem is social media. Full stop. People are so distracted, scrolling ad-nauseam, that the only hope and dream they have is: to become an “influencer.” They’ll sell a view of their children and family life to the highest bidding sponsor. Then, peddling products to a fresh batch of spectators who think, “Ah! Wouldn’t that be the life? I should…

> that the only hope and dream they have is: to become an “influencer.” I might be too introverted for that sort of thing in the first place, but that sounds like hell, having to pretend in front of a bunch of strangers just to get clicks, all for clout. Then again, I did delete Facebook too because I didn’t quite get posting bunches of vacation pics either: if there’s a cool picture or a few I can share those in the…

> I might be too introverted for that sort of thing in the first place, but that sounds like hell, having to pretend in front of a bunch of strangers just to get clicks, all for clout.

There's an excellent movie called Eighth Grade. The main girl in it, as a pastime, records videos for YouTube or similar in which she delivers nostrums to her audience about confidence and being authentically who you are and that sort of thing. Meanwhile, in her real school life, she's plagued by self-doubt and pressured by peers into being something different, something "better" than who she is.

That movie hit so hard, looking back on my xennial eighth grade experience, and it still injected ancillary commentary on modern social media trends.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#62

Post by sharadov »

I think 90% of people did not ever care, this is not new.

They pretended to care because it looked bad if they did not.

But when you started talking seriously about effecting change ( in context to workplace situations), they would diplomatically excuse themselves.

That's why I avoid big corporations where this behavior is endemic.

I mostly worked at smaller companies and left when they got too big.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#63

Post by RamblingCTO »

0_____0 wrote: post #5

I was just kvetching about this to my partner over breakfast. Not exactly, but a parallel observation, that a lot of people are just kind of shit at their jobs. The utility tech who turned my tiny gas leak into a larger gas leak and left. The buildings around me that take the better part of a decade to build (really? A parking garage takes six years?) Cops who have decided it's their job to do as little as possible.…

The reason simply is late stage capitalism, there's not enough upside anymore, so why bother do a good job? That's how I explain it. I noticed that as well with almost all employees, there was a shift. And it feels like it's got to do with misaligned incentives. Why bother working yourself stupid if you'll never own a house if you don't become a slave to the loan? There's no upwards movement/middle class anymore.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#64

Post by agentultra »

It's the bullshit era.

The truth doesn't even matter. It's not factored in. Even liars care about the truth enough to deceive you. Bullshit is worse than lying.

We disagree? Ok. You believe your facts, I'll believe mine. We can scream into the void with our respective audiences.

It's hard to maintain the energy to seek the truth because there is so much bullshit. The peddlers of it are filling every single form of media with it. Every text box on every webpage and in every app is an invitation to add more of it to the world.

I think people get overwhelmed by it. And you have to have the bullshit cop on your shoulder exhorting you to care. It takes time and energy to care. Most people are too tired. So we let things slide. We stop listening to the bullshit cop. We become more selective. We care about the truth in some contexts but not others. It's survival.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#65

Post by potato3732842 »

XorNot wrote: post #13
0_____0 wrote: post #5

I was just kvetching about this to my partner over breakfast. Not exactly, but a parallel observation, that a lot of people are just kind of shit at their jobs. The utility tech who turned my tiny gas leak into a larger gas leak and left. The buildings around me that take the better part of a decade to build (really? A parking garage takes six years?) Cops who have decided it's their job to do as little as possible.…

> The buildings around me that take the better part of a decade to build (really? A parking garage takes six years?) This doesn't happen because nobody cares. It happens because the financing dries up, or labor is straight up not available. And that still comes back to money.

Or the local powers that be sink their teeth in and the project isn't lucrative enough for its backers to let them just leave with a pound of flesh so progress stalls.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#66

Post by sp0rk »

0_____0 wrote: post #5

I was just kvetching about this to my partner over breakfast. Not exactly, but a parallel observation, that a lot of people are just kind of shit at their jobs. The utility tech who turned my tiny gas leak into a larger gas leak and left. The buildings around me that take the better part of a decade to build (really? A parking garage takes six years?) Cops who have decided it's their job to do as little as possible.…

> There's a culture of indifference, an embrace of mediocrity. I don't think it's new, but I do think perhaps AI has given the lazy and prideless an even lower energy route to... I'm not sure. What is the goal?

I think pride in work has declined a lot (at least in the US) because so many large employers have shown that they aren't even willing to pretend to care about their employees. It's difficult to take pride in work done for an employee that you aren't proud of, or actively dislike.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#67

Post by [deleted] »

safety1st wrote: post #50
0_____0 wrote: post #5

I was just kvetching about this to my partner over breakfast. Not exactly, but a parallel observation, that a lot of people are just kind of shit at their jobs. The utility tech who turned my tiny gas leak into a larger gas leak and left. The buildings around me that take the better part of a decade to build (really? A parking garage takes six years?) Cops who have decided it's their job to do as little as possible.…

I think it's inflation. And I don't just mean Covid era inflation. Inflation has been an on-again, off-again problem since the collapse of Bretton Woods. It's because of inflation that slowly and subtly, everything gets shittier all the time. It encourages businesses to cut corners, shave costs, and find cheap labor overseas. It encourages you to not give a fuck about your job because you haven't had a raise in 5 yea…

[deleted]

Re: The Who Cares Era

#68

Post by ferguess_k »

It is just the same mindset dripping down from the top.

For decades after the Cold War, politicians and financiers are gradually moving to the "apres moi le deluge" mindset. Now it drips down to ordinary people because the Cold War generation is dying.

That's it.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#69

Post by chii »

fhennig wrote: post #41

People do care, about their own self interest and making money. Homo economicus, here we are! A critique of this attitude must look at its origins, and I think the reason we see this so much, is because the narrative of the last 40 years or so has been that: If we all look out for our own self interest, the market will balance everything out, and things will be great! Turns out, doing the bare minimum in an almost ma…

> doing the bare minimum in an almost maliciously compliant way doesn't yield great results

this happens when the person paying the money and the person judging the work quality, and the person "punishing" are different entities.

Classic example is gov't work - taxpayers pay money, and has no say. Politicians spend, department beaurocracy spends, and hires, etc. The workers get hired, get paid, but their performance is not judged. The final recipient of the work - specific citizens - get poor service for the taxes paid.

Re: The Who Cares Era

#70

Post by greedo »

b112 wrote: post #40
saltwatercowboy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK real wages stagnated directly in line with the 2008 financial crisis [1]. Enough has been written about 'too big to fail' that I don't need to rehash it, but ascribing guilt to the workers of a chronically underpaid and historically innovative nation doesn't feel right. [1] Office of National Statistics via BBC: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/2560/cpsprodpb/13FD8/p...

Wage stagnation always happens at the start of any economic downturn. However, once over and the economy resumes, typically the stagnation ends, and wages jump. The massive, huge cynic in me says, people make less because all they do is stare at their phones. Yes, I know, I'm overstating things a bit. But the other day I noticed the approx 20 year old garbage collector, was staring at his phone the whole time. I am n…

If you look at the rate of wage growth compared to inflation, it's pretty clear that wages have stagnated for a long time, with periodic bumps. The goal of most businesses is growth and increased productivity. The easiest way to have higher productivity is to constrain wages.
Post reply on HN