Social media and anixety, un-happiness, etc.

nodle

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I have been wanting to make this post for awhile now. I have even listened to a couple of radio programs going home for lunch addressing this topic. I must say I completely agree. I think there is good things from social media, for example: Catching up with old friends, watching each others kids grow up, keep in contact with friends from all over the globe etc. But there is also a dark side that is devastating from social media. For example: Being jealous of other people's lives. Coveting as they seem to be happy and your life may not be. Instead of turning to help if they have a problem from another person, some people look to social media for help which may or may not be the right advice. I have seen marriages destroyed from it. People getting into contact with old flames that at one time would had never been so easy etc. People see these lives that they all want, only to come back to the reality of their own lives and feel bad about everything. The younger generation will keep being more and more connected like this and never have alone time with their own thoughts and not know how to deal with being alone in a sense. I don't know if humans are made to be like this. When they get disconnected they don't know what to do with themselves. Does anyone else agree with me? I use to always talk about computer addiction become classified as a disease one day, and I think we all see it happening before our eyes. It's a digital addiction. People just can't disconnect and the feelings that come from it aren't good. Who else sees this happening? Maybe not in your own life but in the lives of your friends and the younger generation?
 
Yes, I remember bringing up to people about "Facebook Depression" 6-7 years ago.  Social media highlights peoples lives in a summary, whether the greatest or worst of stuff.  There's not the nice and mellow Sunday drive through others and our own lives, which creates a more rush society or perception and judgement of people.  Again, another thing digital technology destroys. 
 
I agree on most of it. Only thing I disagree a little on is the jealousy of what others have. That jealousy is there with or without social media. Social Media just makes it more readily available. Not sure what else to say about it other than go out and do your best. I have my struggles but going to the gym, being passionate about video games and other such hobbies helps.

Truthfully though I liked things such better before social media and the current state of the internet. I liked it before it became such a "mess". Probably the years between 1998 and into the 2000s.

 
Only thing I disagree a little on is the jealousy of what others have. That jealousy is there with or without social media.
Well this is for something like you see your friends getting a new house, a new vehicle etc. I have seen people say "did you see what so & so got"?

Truthfully though I liked things such better before social media and the current state of the internet. I liked it before it became such a "mess". Probably the years between 1998 and into the 2000s.
This is an interesting statement. I also feel like The early days of the internet were some of the best also. There are some great improvements, but social media really ruined it.

 
Social media is a disease.  Kids born in the past few years are pretty screwed in terms of ever having privacy in their lives.

Even those about 10-15 years younger than myself have a drowning digital addiction and basically no recollection of a time when you didn't get immediate responses from people.  "Dude I texted you over 2 minutes ago."    "Why didn't you answer your phone"    They have no comprehension of a time before cell phones, where you called someone's house and if they weren't there to answer you'd just have to try again later.  They are never more than a foot from their phone.   A small aside, I always heard people claim battery life on the iPhone was so great, yet I see a nephew that has to almost constantly have his phone on a charger.  Seems like if he unplugs it for more than an hour or two the battery is already dead from text/snap chat/whatever other social media and messaging he's doing constantly

Then there's the even younger kids, those so young they maybe don't even have a phone or tablet of their own yet.  BUT kids seem to get these now by age 3, so the dependency on it starts very early on.  These kids probably have parents posting baby pictures, funny (embarrassing) stories of something their little tyke did, etc.  Years down the road, all such kids will be able to go back and find this stuff parents said or showed of their peers when they were younger.  I can't blame the courts for deciding kids would have a right to go back and sue parents over this kind of stuff a while back.

Don't get me wrong, I work on a PC all day.  I mess with my phone a lot.  I play video games a lot.  If that all went away though, I would have some idea of what to do to entertain myself and survive.  I'm not so sure most people 25 would make it....

 
I miss myspace because when you clicked on my profile you had to listen to my song.
 
Daisy Ridley: Social media is bad for your mental health

Ridley explained: "I don't do social anymore. I came off it last September and I will never get back on. The more I read about teenage anxiety, the more I think it's highly unhealthy for people's mental health."It's hard to view the obsessional, self-obsessional  nature of social media as a wonderful thing.
 
Former Facebook exec: "I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. You are being programmed"
 
Facebook: Cracking the Code

Cracking the Code also explains how Facebook uses vast troves of web data to manipulate the way you think and feel, as well as act—all in the sole interests of Facebook, masquerading as “community.” What are the social implications of this—when one company basically controls the insights and experiences of the entire online world, with extremely personalised and targeted social and behavioural engineering on a scale never before seen?
 
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You know between this and the news if you believe everything you hear it will start to influence your life, in reality people aren't that bad and are general pretty friendly with each other. For some reason us Humans really like drama, but if you watch the news it would make the world seem like a horrible place, but maybe it's just not that bad out there.
 
The media is a terrible thing, always focusing on the fraction of the bad stuff that happens. Social media gives us the same sense. Like when your friends are posting all their vacation photos, smiling, and looking happy and it makes others feel a sense of jealousy or bad inside, if even a little. Same thing about shootings, it's really a small fraction done by disturbed individuals, but no, let's ban everything for everyone. Let's ignore the texting deaths (let alone all vehicle related deaths), alcohol, drugs (even legal prescriptions), etc...
 
Your right @ryanator , social media is the upper while the media is the downer drug. They both are swinging your mind up and down. No wonder people have so much anxiety these days, it's a constant teeter totter, no stable platform for the mind.
 
I for one am kinda glad to see Facebook take a dive. In fact I would like to see more of this along with other social media sites.
 
I for one am kinda glad to see Facebook take a dive. In fact I would like to see more of this along with other social media sites.
Doesn't seem like much will come of it. People are too ingrained with their platform. I can only wish of the downage of Facebook, then the internet,then heck, going back to pencil and paper wouldn't be so bad.

 
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