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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 4, 2016 10:37:28 GMT -5
In about 20 years time, the world will become social idiots and lose the ability to interact with each other because of smart phones and social media.They will not know how to read body language and it will become the golden age of the Con artist as a result.
I said it.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 4, 2016 10:39:27 GMT -5
Blasphemy ! There's nothing like the real thing. I know what you are saying here ... but when you have a 450 square feet Studio Condo that you live in - you don't have a whole lot of space to work with. That's why I get my stuff at comiXology because it's more practical for me. There I said it!  A man's got to do what he's got do. Last night I wanted to read a story quickly and without having to dig in my long boxes, so I went to Marvel Unlimited and got the issues that I needed. It got me the info I needed, but it was a cold affair. |
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Post by Spike-X on Mar 6, 2016 3:50:48 GMT -5
In about 20 years time, the world will become social idiots and lose the ability to interact with each other because of smart phones and social media.They will not know how to read body language and it will become the golden age of the Con artist as a result. I said it. Not like the good old days when people chatted away at each other at every available opportunity, eh Grampa?  They said the same thing about stuff like television, the wireless, and freakin' print novels. The sky isn't falling, Chicken Little. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 6, 2016 7:15:45 GMT -5
In about 20 years time, the world will become social idiots and lose the ability to interact with each other because of smart phones and social media.They will not know how to read body language and it will become the golden age of the Con artist as a result. I said it. Not like the good old days when people chatted away at each other at every available opportunity, eh Grampa? They said the same thing about stuff like television, the wireless, and freakin' print novels. The sky isn't falling, Chicken Little. You're right, the sky isn't falling but people are, sonny. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 6, 2016 9:59:30 GMT -5
In about 20 years time, the world will become social idiots and lose the ability to interact with each other because of smart phones and social media.They will not know how to read body language and it will become the golden age of the Con artist as a result. I said it. Not like the good old days when people chatted away at each other at every available opportunity, eh Grampa? They said the same thing about stuff like television, the wireless, and freakin' print novels. I'll have you know comma young one comma that communication hasn't been the same since the telegraph went away full stop!  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 6, 2016 13:05:27 GMT -5
Not like the good old days when people chatted away at each other at every available opportunity, eh Grampa? They said the same thing about stuff like television, the wireless, and freakin' print novels. The sky isn't falling, Chicken Little. You're right, the sky isn't falling but people are, sonny. A statistically insignificant number of people. Like the statistically insignificant number of people who died while walking and reading books and the newspaper. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 6, 2016 14:43:15 GMT -5
An observation.
Those people absorbed in their newspapers were were reading about their world: local, national, and international.
They were not reading about themselves, or checking out pictures of their best friend's breakfast, or sending pictures of themselves in full duck-imitation mode.
And the articles they were reading were Russin-novel-length compared to the tweets (nee slogans) that have become the fabric of communcation today. For too many Americans, for example patriotism has been reduced to the moronic cheer "USA,USA!" "Thoughts and prayers" substitutes for a truly thoughtful message of condolence. Posting an inane meme and asking others who agree with the insipid plea or bumper-sticker statement it's making replaces working for a cause.
One could probably make a cogent argument that we have always been a self-interested species; a healthy dollop of self-interest can often mean the difference between survival and extinction. Ask the men of the whaleship Essex or the Uruguayan soccer team that crashed in the Andes.
However, too much self-interest becomes self-absorption and narcissism, and like an unwary antelope at the waterhole, or a handsome Greek boy or the followers of a demagogue, you can become easy prey and lose not jsut your identity, but your life.
The irony today is that the availabilty of instantaneous communication has made us even more self-absorbed than ever when we could/should be more aware of problems, issues, crises that affect each one of us living on this little blue sphere.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 6, 2016 15:11:14 GMT -5
An observation. Those people absorbed in their newspapers were were reading about their world: local, national, and international. They were not reading about themselves, or checking out pictures of their best friend's breakfast, or sending pictures of themselves in full duck-imitation mode. And the articles they were reading were Russin-novel-length compared to the tweets ( nee slogans) that have become the fabric of communcation today. For too many Americans, for example patriotism has been reduced to the moronic cheer "USA,USA!" "Thoughts and prayers" substitutes for a truly thoughtful message of condolence. Posting an inane meme and asking others who agree with the insipid plea or bumper-sticker statement it's making replaces working for a cause. One could probably make a cogent argument that we have always been a self-interested species; a healthy dollop of self-interest can often mean the difference between survival and extinction. Ask the men of the whaleship Essex or the Uruguayan soccer team that crashed in the Andes. However, too much self-interest becomes self-absorption and narcissism, and like an unwary antelope at the waterhole, or a handsome Greek boy or the followers of a demagogue, you can become easy prey and lose not jsut your identity, but your life. The irony today is that the availabilty of instantaneous communication has made us even more self-absorbed than ever when we could/should be more aware of problems, issues, crises that affect each one of us living on this little blue sphere. Eh, perhaps there was a time when is was less so, but at least within the last thirty years I haven't really noticed a change in the attitudes of people. Rather than technology changing the general attitude, it seems more like a case that it just makes it that much more noticeable. Before people were posting mindless slogans on facebook they were saying just as equally vapid things on their cell phones, or around the water cooler or in the break room at work. The only difference is that before if you weren't in the break room, around the water cooler or on the line with them then you weren't aware, but now because of social media you see it all the time and are thus that much more aware of it. As for the people reading their paper I say yes, there are international sections and op-eds on national and local politics and they may have even been reading those but were they comprehending and retaining it, or were they just occupying their time by scanning over it barring anything else to do? I think we see things like narcissism and ignorance in our modern society and some like to think it something new and that it used to be better but the fact remains that if you look back you see the same complaints about youth culture repeated again and again. There are slight tweaks, but the gist of the message is the same, "It's that darn generation ME! So self absorbed, it's going to be the end of society" they said it in the 50's(and likely before that too) and have been saying it right on down the line and yet society has yet to collapse. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 6, 2016 17:41:06 GMT -5
Ha, I never said the end of society. spike-x countered my statement of cell phone use with a picture of people reading newspapers during a commute and I ask when was the last time you saw 6 people at a restaurant sitting together each reading a newspaper? THAT type of rudeness is what we are seeing on a regular basis, now.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 6, 2016 18:17:47 GMT -5
Eh, perhaps there was a time when is was less so, but at least within the last thirty years I haven't really noticed a change in the attitudes of people. Rather than technology changing the general attitude, it seems more like a case that it just makes it that much more noticeable. Before people were posting mindless slogans on facebook they were saying just as equally vapid things on their cell phones, or around the water cooler or in the break room at work. The only difference is that before if you weren't in the break room, around the water cooler or on the line with them then you weren't aware, but now because of social media you see it all the time and are thus that much more aware of it. As for the people reading their paper I say yes, there are international sections and op-eds on national and local politics and they may have even been reading those but were they comprehending and retaining it, or were they just occupying their time by scanning over it barring anything else to do? I think we see things like narcissism and ignorance in our modern society and some like to think it something new and that it used to be better but the fact remains that if you look back you see the same complaints about youth culture repeated again and again. There are slight tweaks, but the gist of the message is the same, "It's that darn generation ME! So self absorbed, it's going to be the end of society" they said it in the 50's(and likely before that too) and have been saying it right on down the line and yet society has yet to collapse. You make some good points here, wht, as always, especially about the essential similarities between us now and us since time immemorial, which I guess I was less succcessful at making than I thought. The time-honored story about the quote about young people from Socrates always sounds applicable is true, and as someone who taught high school for quite a while, I can tell you that there are actually many aspects of "kids today" that are far more admirable than those of geneartions of their predecessors. I'm sorry if you thought I was aiming my comments at the younger generation; I wasn't. I'm disturbed that every demographic is confusing being able to use a hand-held device with being technologically "literate." The quickness with which we can find information doesn't mean we are retaining it any better than we ever did. I don't think we've lost our ability to focus and pay attention -- that's way too broad a generalization -- but given the way news, movies, television programs, and especially advertising are delivered, it's clear we have become visually restless. I would love to think that our aural abilites have imroved, but I'm not sure that's the case. Virtually every aspect of our culture has changed: speed and simultaneity are far more valuable, even crucial, to us than patience and consideration. All news is now "breaking;" all analysis is instant; multi-tasking is no longer a talent but a basic requirement. Priorities suffer when every stimulus is perceived as of at least equal weight, like controlling several tons of metal moving at 60 mph and answering a ringing cellphone in a car. The latter task is only of importance to the person whose cellphone is ringing; the former concerns everyone on the road as well as every friend and family member of the driver whose life will be adversely affected if he or she causes an accident. As for people saying stupid things, you're right, but as you say, now, everybody has a potential audience of at least thousands, and sometimes just saying something makes us feel as if we are right, and that's not a good thing. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2016 20:53:58 GMT -5
When, I go to Starbucks every morning for my customary 2 cups of coffee - it's never, ever cease to amazed me that people waiting in line don't even move a muscle and when I have a hot cup of coffee that are completely clueless and ignorant when I say "excuse me" in a polite way and trying to get to the cream and sugar station to complete the task of having my coffee and sit down.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 6, 2016 21:14:07 GMT -5
Ha, I never said the end of society. spike-x countered my statement of cell phone use with a picture of people reading newspapers during a commute and I ask when was the last time you saw 6 people at a restaurant sitting together each reading a newspaper? THAT type of rudeness is what we are seeing on a regular basis, now. It seems as if all six people are doing it then it isn't rude. It's the norm for that group. You may not like it, but it doesn't make it wrong. Societal norms change. |
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Post by dupersuper on Mar 8, 2016 5:33:06 GMT -5
In about 20 years time, the world will become social idiots and lose the ability to interact with each other because of smart phones and social media.They will not know how to read body language and it will become the golden age of the Con artist as a result. I said it. Not like the good old days when people chatted away at each other at every available opportunity, eh Grampa? They said the same thing about stuff like television, the wireless, and freakin' print novels. The sky isn't falling, Chicken Little. Reading on a train or bus full of strangers is one thing, but many people can't put the damn phones down when eating out with friends or at home with family. I'm a geeky, comic reading, Trekie/Whovian/Browncoat/Star Wars fan (do they not get a nickname?) who loves science and gadgets, but if I ever start carrying around a phone, just shoot me. Be Captain Picard to my Ensign Lynch. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 12, 2016 1:03:58 GMT -5
Birthdays of dead people
Doesn't the death day over-ride the birth day?
Isn't it like turning the odometer back on a car?
And in the same vein, The Six Million Dollar Man and his birthday
Wouldn't just a small part of him be his original age but mostly everything else is much, much younger?
Morbidly thought out and said
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 12, 2016 7:01:53 GMT -5
I always think it's bad when people keep track of someones "death date". It's a day that makes them sad along with the birthdate of the same person. Maybe it's unavoidable.
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