Is social media a waste of time?

JonRGV250 said:
They certainly do, amongst other such incidents.
I have quite a few Murican friends and almost daily they’re asking if what they’ve seen is real, and sadly I have to say it is.

One example from Twitter today (the guy was apparently reported by the Conservative mayor for hate speech)..

Click to expand...

There seem to have been a few of these dubious police visits for non-crimes, ordered by officials now. It's abuse of a law set up for other reasons.

Clearly asking someone to speak English is never going to stand up as a "hate crime" in court.
 
Last edited:
He didn't even say that, he asked someone to "speak clearly".
There's also a few few vids going around of Christian preachers getting harassed whilst the same but Muslim are left well well alone + plus all kinds of other stuff you'd never know about if it wasn't for social media.
 
Pulseammo said:
I think "early" internet was still quite good (for me that's 1998), same reason why I prefer forums like this rather than cesspits of mental disease [twitter, fb, reddit, etc] (I don't necessarily mean the denizens, I mean the propagation of mental disease).

I'm quite glad actually that this forum has managed to stay strong when most have evaporated, it's slightly like a time capsule of old internet before everything became centralised onto bigger platforms.

Edit: GD is still a dumpster fire though :D
Click to expand...

I hadn’t given this too much thought but that’s a really cool point about these forums

To answer the original question yes social media is pretty much a waste of time and its best to limit your exposure

The thing that I think most found it useful for back when it became a thing was the fact you could keep up to date with people (it was like friends reunited but in real time and everybody was on it)

Clearly it shifted massively away from this to just platforms to keep users engaged for advertising and data purposes
 
If there was ever a case for segregation of the sexes social media would be the perfect example.

It disturbs the female to male balance, and by extension encourages generally predatory behaviour in men ie to become bolder and straightforward towards the women.

There is no male peer pressure for other men to keep them in line, and most women don't call out bad behaviour unless it's way out of line.

I'm not sure the current situation can be resolved by social media alone as it's gotten gradually worse since I've been online. At least in the 90s it was easier to control because there wasn't many women online and so they would have personal protection from an Operator/Moderator to keep any hassling guy in line. But because social media is so big these days that doesn't happen.
 
VincentHanna said:
Even this isn't always a good thing though.

What used to be a small local story in a paper now becomes talked about Worldwide, which feeds the culture wars beast.


Facebook in the early days was excellent. Now it's a cesspit
Same with Twitter.
Click to expand...
This is the exact sort of story I was talking about:

Log in to Facebook

Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

A local story about a park bench that was set on fire.

2.1k comments, seemingly many from Americans, saying stuff like "It's ok for democrats to set fire to Tesla's though?" or "They shouldn't push their woke agenda on us"

Most ITV Anglia posts get about 60 comments on average.
 
This forum and LinkedIn is all I use. Though I guess YouTube is too, but it's good for news and science stuff and hobbies and instructionals.

In principle it should be great and was great for keeping in touch with family and friends when it was first launched.

However it's really turned to crap. So much rubbish is spread on these platforms as well as social experiments and using social data to create or influence agendas.

Also don't get me started on "influencers". :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
I use Reddit all the time. It has sections for just about every programming and technology related subject you can imagine and I learn a lot from it. It is also a good way to get other peoples advice on various things. It does have its bad areas but they are easy to ignore.
 
I don't have much of an opinion about it, really.

I don't have any accounts, I'm not really interested in seeing how other people live their lives.

The most interesting thing, to me, is the way these things span borders and the political and social problems that causes. It's like the American obsession with freedom of speech without any concern for the cost of such. Europe is different. Europe supports freedom of speech but also affords some protections for individuals. But the fact that the companies are American is forcing their lack of protection on Europeans, which, I for one, really disagree with.
 
Facebook basically destroyed forums which I much rather preferred.

I only use Facebook and only to Facetime with family and market place.

Never had Instagram or Twitter.

One thing I never understand with Facebook is they always pushing stupid adds that make zero sense. I have the thickest fullest head of hair but constantly get adverts about slap heads and hair replacement stuff.
 
adam cool dude said:
Facebook basically destroyed forums which I much rather preferred.

I only use Facebook and only to Facetime with family and market place.

Never had Instagram or Twitter.

One thing I never understand with Facebook is they always pushing stupid adds that make zero sense. I have the thickest fullest head of hair but constantly get adverts about slap heads and hair replacement stuff.
Click to expand...

Amazon adverts are the same. They constantly try to sell me what I have already bought, or very similar products to ones I have already bought. When they do offer something new, it's absolutely ridiculous.

I think that these companies are polarising people by feeding them the same stuff all the time. In products, and probably politics too. It's one of the things that really worries me about the social giants. You are stereotyped by them, and then those stereotypes are reinforced by what they supply to you - does that mean that you are forced in to a pigeon hole even when you don't fit? Ugh, yes, I would rather stay away from them.

The same is starting to apply to search engines. They aren't responding with what you ask for any more. They are responding with what they THINK you mean, and they are interpreting that in a very stereotypical way.
 
GGizmo said:
If there was ever a case for segregation of the sexes social media would be the perfect example.

It disturbs the female to male balance, and by extension encourages generally predatory behaviour in men ie to become bolder and straightforward towards the women.

There is no male peer pressure for other men to keep them in line, and most women don't call out bad behaviour unless it's way out of line.
...
Click to expand...


Also, the little ladies should not get able to post anything until The Men have finished their conversation. It's just common sense.
 
I don't know I'm enjoying Facebook today.
Local group I commented saying it shouldn't be law that shops shut today just a choice they make of they so choose. Well it all kicked off with people accusing me of denying them one of only two days a year they get off.
Few making out working at Tesco is the hardest job on the planet.

It's hilarious really cured my boredom today.
 
robj20 said:
I don't know I'm enjoying Facebook today.
Local group I commented saying it shouldn't be law that shops shut today just a choice they make of they so choose. Well it all kicked off with people accusing me of denying them one of only two days a year they get off.
Few making out working at Tesco is the hardest job on the planet.

It's hilarious really cured my boredom today.
Click to expand...

I think it should be law that the internet should be turned off on a sunday or the whole weekend :D
 
chaparral said:
I think it should be law that the internet should be turned off on a sunday or the whole weekend :D
Click to expand...
Have a word with the elders.

ET7qdbx.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom