'Social media is ripping society apart'

[Guest]

@AGRforever said:

@SFVikingFan said:
I have been thinking about this a lot recently.  As great as the Internet is, I honestly think it's also one of the worst things to happen to society in a long, long time.  Between sites like Facebook allowing foreign countries to purchase ads and create fake sites to influence our democracy, to the spread of completely asinine conspiracy theories (Sandy Hook parents being harassed as actors after having their children murdered) and dangerous misinformation (vaccines, etc.), to the spread of ideologies that promote terror, a lot of time I think the internet does more harm than good.

Sadly, it's the craziest/least intelligent of my facebook friends who are the ones who are constantly posting and sharing the political junk and misinformation all over my newsfeed.  God forbid they take 30 seconds and investigate to see if what they are posting is factual or not.

bla bla. the russians are coming!!!!  our democracy is in shambles!!!  im sure your least intelligent “friends” fall outside your political belief spectrum?

maybe just maybe both sides have been feeding us shit for years and are all part of the same washington machine that keeps us all screwed. 

just remember...that left wing and right wing are on the same damn bird. 

I didn't say a word about left-wing or right-wing, but nice assumptions.  I'm registered independent for a reason; there are plenty of people on both sides who I can't stand.

Again, my post had nothing to do with politics, but your reply (at least the first line) helped prove the point of this thread.  I would tend to agree with your latter point.

[Guest]

@SFVikingFan said:

@AGRforever said:

@SFVikingFan said:
I have been thinking about this a lot recently.  As great as the Internet is, I honestly think it's also one of the worst things to happen to society in a long, long time.  Between sites like Facebook allowing foreign countries to purchase ads and create fake sites to influence our democracy, to the spread of completely asinine conspiracy theories (Sandy Hook parents being harassed as actors after having their children murdered) and dangerous misinformation (vaccines, etc.), to the spread of ideologies that promote terror, a lot of time I think the internet does more harm than good.

Sadly, it's the craziest/least intelligent of my facebook friends who are the ones who are constantly posting and sharing the political junk and misinformation all over my newsfeed.  God forbid they take 30 seconds and investigate to see if what they are posting is factual or not.

bla bla. the russians are coming!!!!  our democracy is in shambles!!!  im sure your least intelligent “friends” fall outside your political belief spectrum?

maybe just maybe both sides have been feeding us shit for years and are all part of the same washington machine that keeps us all screwed. 

just remember...that left wing and right wing are on the same damn bird. 

I didn't say a word about left-wing or right-wing, but nice assumptions.  I'm registered independent for a reason; there are plenty of people on both sides who I can't stand.

Again, my post had nothing to do with politics, but your reply (at least the first line) helped prove the point of this thread.  I would tend to agree with your latter point.

Just an fyi, I can't stand Trump.  He's a jackass authoritarian.  I think if you searched my post history you'd find that I've stated many times I dislike the guy.  I do find it awesome that people get SO pissed off just by mentioning his name.  But in reality, I want to get a hold of his damn twitter account and break it.  I'm sure life would go on without it quite fine.

With that said, the whole "russia is coming" media driven circus is nothing more than that.  Hence the comment about it.  The media has spent an entire year deliberately trying to undermine his administration.  Some of his $hit belongs on the front page of the news.  Most of it doesn't.  I've seen so dang many completely made up stories about the guy that its no wonder Americans don't trust "normal media" things and have gone to the far reaches of the internet to find "their" news. 

[Guest]

People seem to accept as true "news" that comes from a friend or someone they know. They do not care where the person learned of this "news." But they tend to believe it more than news reported by real news organizations. (Sorry, I do not buy into all the conspiracy theories that the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, etc., have been systematically feeding us shit for the past 100 years.) And Facebook evidently is a great vehicle for spreading nonsense that passes as real news. That's not good. 
I do not post on FB. It is not a matter of principal. I go on FB and see FB friends' posts of vacations, kids' scholastic achievements, job promotions, anniversary dinners, etc. And I think, who cares? That stuff is important to the person and his/her closest family and friends. That is, the very people who already knew about it without having to read it on facebook. Some people evidently like to live their lives far more publicly than I do. To each their own. It's just not for me.

[Guest]

I have found that most people inside the I 495 loop are liars and idiots:

[Guest]

You dont want to know about my bowel movements?   Because I took a massive Erin Rodgers yesterday. 

[Guest]

I signed up for facebook for a class reunion.  I never use it.  I can't stand social media and I refuse to use it.  

[Guest]

As someone else said, what we're seeing is the symptom- not the sickness.  In my opinion, the "sickness" is relativism has taken hold as an accepted personal philosophy for many people; in other words, "the ends justify the means".  Everything is permissible- as long as it benefits me.  That's what makes it OK to tear other people down- with lies- and feel good about it: because it is for the greater good (and, therefore, justifiably "moral").

[Guest]

@pumpf said:
As someone else said, what we're seeing is the symptom- not the sickness.  In my opinion, the "sickness" is relativism has taken hold as an accepted personal philosophy for many people; in other words, "the ends justify the means".  Everything is permissible- as long as it benefits me.  That's what makes it OK to tear other people down- with lies- and feel good about it: because it is for the greater good (and, therefore, justifiably "moral").

....what social media does mostly is give anonymity. Or at the very least, not face to face discussion (Facebook) and the ability to communicate your every whim to all of cyber space. A forum. So your possible latent racism, homophobia, harsh criticism or other cynicism gets to be displayed unlike it would have been otherwise. Drunk posting. The instantaneous gut reaction to something that you might regret after 5 minutes of reflection. All of the above. There's no repercussion for treating people poorly or without respect as their would sitting next to someone. 

The same toxic feelings/emotions have always existed, they've just never had these kinds of platforms before. 

[Guest]

@StickyBun said:

@pumpf said:
As someone else said, what we're seeing is the symptom- not the sickness.  In my opinion, the "sickness" is relativism has taken hold as an accepted personal philosophy for many people; in other words, "the ends justify the means".  Everything is permissible- as long as it benefits me.  That's what makes it OK to tear other people down- with lies- and feel good about it: because it is for the greater good (and, therefore, justifiably "moral").

....what social media does mostly is give anonymity. Or at the very least, not face to face discussion (Facebook) and the ability to communicate your every whim to all of cyber space. A forum. So your possible latent racism, homophobia, harsh criticism or other cynicism gets to be displayed unlike it would have been otherwise. Drunk posting. The instantaneous gut reaction to something that you might regret after 5 minutes of reflection. All of the above. There's no repercussion for treating people poorly or without respect as their would sitting next to someone. 

The same toxic feelings/emotions have always existed, they've just never had these kinds of platforms before. 

Yes and no,  I think people now have strong opinions (rarely well informed ones) on matters that in the past they would maybe not even have been exposed to. (Both good and bad...mostly bad)

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@StickyBun said:

@pumpf said:
As someone else said, what we're seeing is the symptom- not the sickness.  In my opinion, the "sickness" is relativism has taken hold as an accepted personal philosophy for many people; in other words, "the ends justify the means".  Everything is permissible- as long as it benefits me.  That's what makes it OK to tear other people down- with lies- and feel good about it: because it is for the greater good (and, therefore, justifiably "moral").

....what social media does mostly is give anonymity. Or at the very least, not face to face discussion (Facebook) and the ability to communicate your every whim to all of cyber space. A forum. So your possible latent racism, homophobia, harsh criticism or other cynicism gets to be displayed unlike it would have been otherwise. Drunk posting. The instantaneous gut reaction to something that you might regret after 5 minutes of reflection. All of the above. There's no repercussion for treating people poorly or without respect as their would sitting next to someone. 

The same toxic feelings/emotions have always existed, they've just never had these kinds of platforms before. 

Yes and no,  I think people now have strong opinions (rarely well informed ones) on matters that in the past they would maybe not even have been exposed to. (Both good and bad...mostly bad)

Yep. My Mom takes what she reads on Facebook as the truth and its such horribly false information. Fear mongering. Manipulative.