People have always been shallow and mindless.
It's not like people were deep thinkers, then suddenly Facebook came out and everybody decided to stop being intelligent.
Anyone not into the whole "social thing" feel like they are missing out?
- Thread starter dsiomtw
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People have always been shallow and mindless.
It's not like people were deep thinkers, then suddenly Facebook came out and everybody decided to stop being intelligent.
Just what i was going to write.
Social Media Gurus are worse than old days SEO gurus.
I have no problem about using any such tool in order to keep in touch. That's cool. Email is better for me than facebook but whatever floats his boat. -What I took exception to was this part:
The vastness of Facebook and specifically the way that the younger generation has flocked to it throwing away important things like privacy make this a horrible view to adopt. Not only are they going to be screwed in the long run, but this will drive a wedge between the generations (already has, really) and the end result is nothing short of a bleak devolution.
Ha ha, 'tis to laugh...
I've never been accused of being anti-tech before today... How ironic.
You'll just have to grow up and see that there are healthy ways to adapt to technology and unhealthy ways to do the same.
Never before in human history (and that's a long friggin' time) has such a large percentage of humanity embraced such an unhealthy adoption of technology.
Evolution doesn't give a shit about what they decide... It's what they DO that is making them more stupid as they practice using their brain less and less.cardine said:
How long does it take you to absorb all of the information in a Shakespeare sonnet? Perhaps a bit longer than a Londoner from the middle ages?
Your brain gets bigger as you use it more. Back in those days everyone had to be everything... They mended shoes, they cooked and cleaned, they had to come up with solutions about 500 times a day more than you do today.
Clearly our reliance on technology to do our thinking for us is having a trade-off. One day the average human won't really have to learn how to do anything more than read. Period.
I'm not saying Facebook itself is taking us there, but it's the biggest single step in that direction that I have personally witnessed, without a doubt. It may not reach as many households as the idiot box did, but the things it asks you to give up are much worse.
I like Facebook because I don't have time to do much more than check in with friends and extended family. I have a very active social life that usually involves play dates and work friends were we talk about "real" things, but Facebook (for personal, not professional) reasons is a lot like Christmas cards.
I can drop a "like" or leave a few words to let someone know I'm thinking about them without having to take the time to write a full email or god-forbid find a few minutes of peace in a busy household to have an extended phone conversation. I also use it as a place to collect people I know and like. I can see what my friends are up to when I wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to them.
I'm 31, female and I'm reasonably sure Facebook isn't sucking my soul away or draining away my intelligence. I can't speak for the masses, but for me and almost every other working mom I know, it's a way to stay a tiny bit connected when we otherwise just wouldn't have a chance to get caught up at all for weeks at a time. Oddly enough, a few of us use Words with Friends for the same reason. It's like a tiny thread to keep us connected when we would otherwise be overwhelmed in our lives of working and raising kiddos.
I can drop a "like" or leave a few words to let someone know I'm thinking about them without having to take the time to write a full email or god-forbid find a few minutes of peace in a busy household to have an extended phone conversation. I also use it as a place to collect people I know and like. I can see what my friends are up to when I wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to them.
I'm 31, female and I'm reasonably sure Facebook isn't sucking my soul away or draining away my intelligence. I can't speak for the masses, but for me and almost every other working mom I know, it's a way to stay a tiny bit connected when we otherwise just wouldn't have a chance to get caught up at all for weeks at a time. Oddly enough, a few of us use Words with Friends for the same reason. It's like a tiny thread to keep us connected when we would otherwise be overwhelmed in our lives of working and raising kiddos.
And how long would it take somebody in the Middle Ages to read Harry Potter? Would they even be able to? After struggling, trying to read modern English they would probably consider magic blasphemy and refuse to read further.
The average 'Londoneer' of the middle ages did very little critical thinking for themselves. They believed in God because they were told to. They believed the Earth was the center of the universe. They believed whatever they were indoctrinated to believe.
By your standards a monkey is a deeper thinker than we are. If that's what you think, then lol.
More information is always a good thing. Giving people the tools and means to think independently is always a good thing. That is what the TV and the Internet do.
They aren't your real friends or you'd call them, write them, etc. You can't be a "passive" friend either your in their life and act like a friend or your not.
Oh wow. You know if someone in the middle ages tried to make that argument I could forgive them.
Smartness is not about accuracy; Wrong information can make you smarter too. In fact I've heard a very solid argument that if you learn something incorrect, (say, the existence of god) then you must use your brain more and learn more overall trying to make the picture in your head make sense... So basically the more facts you have wrong in your noggin, the more time you spend critically thinking trying to overcome the inconsistency. Lots of critical thinking makes you smarter.
That alone means you are more like a monkey than a middle-ager.
Nahh; Monkeys haven't evolved the wetware for it yet. The capacity isn't there but they do try to make things work with what they've got.
Higher quantity of information =/= better. It should help and likely once always did, but certainly not anymore.
TVs and now Facebook relay a lot of really useless info. There is a reason that the TV is referred to as the idiot box.
Think of it this way; two brothers have the same genes and parents but one decides to sit on his bum watching 18 hours of TV a day, while the other goes after a Harvard degree or three.
After 10 years they meet up again. They both spent the same amount of time learning something. Which one is smarter?
Facebook basically excels in relaying the useless facts like a TV does. And it asks for even more of you in return than a TV did.
There is actually quite a bit of research indicating that it can have a negative impact on learning. It has something to do with the brain adapting in a way so as not to store as much information in long term memory since information can be accessed so quickly now, and instead stores more in short term memory (which isn't necessarily "learning"), since it is more easily forgotten. There is a term for it, but I can't remember what it is.
I feel like I'm getting trolled here... How is being told that the Earth is flat, and then therefore believing the Earth is flat involve any critical thinking? You are believing something because somebody told you to believe it, and that requires absolutely no thought or thinking at all.
Information stops this because it gives people multiple viewpoints. Then people can critically think as they choose the correct one. If you only hear one side of the story (and you believe that one side of the story without question) then no critical thinking is going on.
Hey, it worked great for Columbus!
Ok, so there is a line in the sand somewhere, if they are only being told all these things that are false but fit together nicely, then they wouldn't see many clues to get them curious enough to start asking questions.
Clearly we aren't there yet with Facebook and TV but we're headed in that direction.
Your problem is this; you have no fucking clue of what facebook is really like because there's a big chance that you've never regularly used it. Your first post in this thread is indicative of that, "feel like I've been an old Geezer" and all.
Anyone who correlates TV with Facebook (or vise-versa) is either a moron or just ignorant.
TV is entertainment. Facebook is communication. Two entirely different things.
Sure, you can make that case that TV is one of those mind numbing devices AKA "idiot boxes" that may distract people from more beneficial experiences, but Facebook isn't in that category for most people. It's just another medium in which people can communicate. You have face to face communication, voice communication, and facebook with text/group communication.
If someone is using Facebook so much to the point at which they're suffering in other areas, that's survival of the fittest taking place.
Now don't get all radical on me, but from what I've read - and based on the people I know and talk to - people use Facebook for entertainment and games more than any other purpose (this is based on time spent on the site).
Perhaps Facebook was intended to be a communication tool but if you look at how people use it I think we can all agree there is very little MEANINGFUL communication going on over there on the facebook.
Personally I think Zuckerberg is a genius who knows that the majority of people are retards. He knew that 100s of millions of people would just love to waste hours every day using a silly site like Facebook... and he was right.
My experience is quite different. I know, there are a decent percentage of pathetic people who use it as a form of entertainment (fb games, adding "friends" they've never met), etc., but personally out of 300+ friends, there have only been less than 10.
But that's beside the point that I'm arguing with lukep about. He seems to think any usage of facebook at all is pointless, and I disagree.
I use it to communicate and that's it. Is that so wrong?
That is a helluva lotta bullshit for one post! Are you feeling alright after taking that big of a dump?
I've seen the facebook wall. Many peoples' walls. They are almost always full of twitter-like shit, mundane, unnessary, frivolous, and just plain stupid.
Facebook more than any other glorifies this culture of people who now communicate too much about too little.
Are you going to tell me that the average user of Facebook is conducting serious business or doing something important, say, a great work of literature there?
Hell no. It's a lower form of communication. Emails are far more useful and sometimes even formal. I've seen Dissertations emailed. Think you'll see those on someone's fb wall?
You should really shut up now before you realize what side you're on and what you're fighting for.
Edit: this was all in response to post #55.
To address your latest point; If you personally have found it a good communications tool for efficient comms between people you know offline, then more power to you. Don't stop.
It's the monster as a whole that I fear.
I've seen the facebook wall. Many peoples' walls. They are almost always full of twitter-like shit, mundane, unnessary, frivolous, and just plain stupid.
Facebook more than any other glorifies this culture of people who now communicate too much about too little.
Are you going to tell me that the average user of Facebook is conducting serious business or doing something important, say, a great work of literature there?
Hell no. It's a lower form of communication. Emails are far more useful and sometimes even formal. I've seen Dissertations emailed. Think you'll see those on someone's fb wall?
You should really shut up now before you realize what side you're on and what you're fighting for.
Edit: this was all in response to post #55.
To address your latest point; If you personally have found it a good communications tool for efficient comms between people you know offline, then more power to you. Don't stop.
It's the monster as a whole that I fear.
Facebook is a modern day journal for most people. What's so wrong with letting your thoughts out?
Sure, advertisers can use it and there are certain privacy concerns if you're too open and public.. but to make the claim that it's making people less intelligent is, uh, unintelligent.
Oops. Too late for you.... to make the claim that it's making people less intelligent is, uh, unintelligent.
It's a simple concept my band teacher taught me when I was a young nerdling in junior-high school:
"Practice Shit, Perform Shit."
Being 14 years old at the time, using the "s-word" caught my attention, but damn if he wasn't dead-on in his diagnosis.
When we played around while playing, we weren't going through the proper motions and our muscles didn't 'remember' how to go through the motions on performance day.
Bottom line is; smart people are practicing hard at everything they do in life; even just talking to their buds... Fools aren't. If you disagree with that then I have no response for you but to read the sentence over and over again until you get it.