Spent a morning out on the town on my day off, and everyone is just fucking buried in their phones 24/7. This realization was so absurd to me
Of course I’m not exempt from this shit, but no wonder people are having so much trouble making friends and creating meaningful relationships in this day and age. So fucking bleak
I firmly maintain that phones are a symptom and not a cause. The cost of going outside is much. Many third places have collapsed under the crushing weight of austerity. Our time is ruthlessly regulated. Transport is expensive. Everyone is tired and sick.
Phones, social media, are what’s left.
The cost of going outside is much.
I literally can’t afford to get a haircut right now
Been cutting my own hair for 5 years gang. :bad-haircut:
I resorted to not cutting my hair and asking my wife to trim my bangs. So many split & dead ends
It gets better. I’ve got 10 years experience and I do almost as good a job as any hairdresser ever did.
that’s cool. do you just shave with electric trimmers?
That’s how I started (dog grooming clippers). Now I use scissors most of the time and sometimes touch up with clippers. (when I remember to charge the battery)
This is my stance too as someone who has been trapped in an american suburbs for most of my life. My parents stopped actually “parenting” more or less when I was like 10 so I just turned to xbox and runescape, nothing to do outside beyond my yard since it was just made for cars. When I realized it was a problem there wasn’t anything I could do, everything was still car dependent and my parents pretty much just argued and zoned out in front of the tv. I think my nephew is going through the same thing, except he has an ipad now and pretty much every time I see him he’s coughing.
yeah you can get a phone and internet cheap compared to ]anything else you might want. it’s no surprise people spend all their time online given the material conditions we’re forced to live in
This seems like the most correct take.
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that’s the individual analysis, i’d argue newpapers could occupy a similar function in public spaces of a tentative ‘do not disturb’ sign that phones do. the OP is talking about people in public and it’s a pretty valid observation that people used to have ways to avoid talking to others and making relationships too.
Absolutely everything is literally and exactly the same with no material or sociopolitical differences. The most leftist position is to say this a lot with the implication that nothing can or will ever meaningfully change for better or for worse.
you just made this up, they didn’t say any of that
They posted a picture that contextually implied “this is the same thing as contemporary phone usage.”
To some extent, yes, newspapers were “do not disturb” gestures of their day, but they also lacked the technologically sophisticated engagement maximization strategies used by contemporary devices, among other differences.
they didn’t say it was good or bad, they didn’t imply nothing has ever changed or can ever change?
“people are buried in phones” was met by “people used to be buried in newspapers” then you just assumed the only way to arrive at that observation is through all those ideological offenses, which is a pretty silly assumption to make on a leftist forum. people here criticize more traditional media all the time.
they didn’t say it was good or bad, they didn’t imply nothing has ever changed or can ever change?
So what was the intention of the picture since you have privileged access to that knowledge and are apparently also aware how wrong I am?
“people are buried in phones” was met by “people used to be buried in newspapers” then you just assumed the only way to arrive at that observation is through all those ideological offenses
Considering how often quotes like these below have been posted in the past to dismiss peoples’ concerns about worsening material and personal conditions in ways large and small, from online dating to employment precarity, by way of saying “people were unhappy before about things so being unhappy now is exactly the same:”
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” ― Socrates
“Our Earth is (removed) in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.” From an Assyrian clay tablet, circa 2800 BC.
It did look like more of the same to me, and without additional text, the further implication was a sort of “case closed” message.
what was the intention of the picture
i’m simply reticent to make a sweeping generalizations about someone’s whole ideological outlook from a single datapoint. its justified to call into question the comparison being made, but the distance from there to a fundamental disbelief in societal change is wholly unsupported, which is why you have to bring in all this vaguely related stuff that’s superficially similar. but assyrian old men yelling at the sky don’t have anything to say about newspapers vs. phones in capitalist socialization
Jesus Christ I genuinely don’t know what your problem is. I try to never respond to you because your posting energy really rubs me the wrong way and your 100% commitment to get the last word in no matter what is exhausting, but…
Is this really how you had to respond? You had so many choices. Did you have to assume so many negative things about what I think despite not having any evidence I think those things? Do you really need to choose such a combative tone with a comrade? Did you need to even respond at all?
W/e I’m going back to work fuck this
Agreed. One of my least favorite aspects of this site being so small is the amount of power posters and the debate energy they have.
I also find it ironic that so many users here are going off on smartphones because algorithms and skinner boxes or whatever while having ridiculously active post histories on this platform, which has no profit motive, skinner box behavior, etc, presumably also from a smartphone or some other device.
Destroy that buggo dipshit.
Urging someone to acknowledge that material and sociopolitical conditions can, have, and will continually improve or worsen somewhat is not “destroying” someone, nor is it calling or even implying that that someone is a “buggo.”
I know irony poisoning is your thing, but come on. Save it.
Nah, you destroyed them. No need to be humble.
It’s in bad taste, especially here.
Absolutely everything is literally irony with no contextual or humorous differences. The most good-faith position is to say this a lot with the implication that posts can or will ever not be ironic.
When most of what you post is stuff like this
You also don’t get beat up when handing them a Popeye candy cigarette anymore though. So maybe one thing’s improved in this painful, candy-hating world.
I’m going to read your posts as even more irony.
And even if it isn’t, no, I don’t see that other poster as a “buggo dipshit” and my goal wasn’t to “destroy” them.
People werent chatting up strangers before smartphones. In the 2000s it was exactly as awkward as it is now to start a conversation with a stranger unprompted. Unless you were both smoking.
The only sad thing about people not smoking cigs anymore is you don’t get the great chats that come from people asking to bum a smoke/you bumming a smoke off a stranger. Cigarette chat is easily the best part of being a smoker.
Cigarettes were an easy way to tell people “I don’t give a shit about the things that you’re supposed to give a shit about.” When you saw someone smoking a cigarette, you knew you could talk politics or religion or any number of contentious topics with them. It didn’t mean it would be a good conversation, but the invitation was always there.
Wow, I just realized I hate vaping.
“Can I have a cig?” “yeah sure”
“Can I have some of your vape?” “get the fuck away from me.”
I barely use my phone for anything other than “being a phone”, and I still never leave my apartment.
yeah, I’m gonna need a hospitable world before I bother going outside. that includes:
- places to actually fucking go (third spaces)
- people I’d actually enjoy hanging out with also being there
- convenient for me to actually transport myself there (do not design the whole fucking world around cars you pieces of shit, try 15 minute cities)
until then, I can’t be bothered and there’s fuck all to do in this place anyways.
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It’s a mixed bag; TV for the most part isn’t quite as algorithmically curated to squeeze maximum attention draw and engagement, moment by moment, for each individual watching it.
I’m sure there’s still upsides, but considering the “there’s nothing on, let’s do something else” windows of opportunity of TV’s peak of relevance, I don’t think the new stuff is less harmful.
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I don’t see how algorithms are relevant.
You not seeing it doesn’t mean they’re not manipulating you and everyone around you.
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But I meant, how does that pertain to the content of my comment?
At least they’re reading. They could be in front of a TV instead.
This comment?
You implied in that comment that being in front of a TV is worse and that’s kind of dubious. TV isn’t clearly worse; it’s bad in different ways compared to portable devices that constantly shovel algorithm-driven content at people for maximum attention draw and engagement.
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I just don’t want to bother anyone.
This is the most boomer ass post I’ve seen in a while. “Society is not headed in the right direction” “oh wow maybe he’ll talk about housing or education or pollution or walkable cities or third places” “everybodys on their gosh dang phones!” I fucking cant anymore
This seems to be an issue in more developed countries or richer parts of developed nations. I don’t see this as much in my area. Smartphones do exist and there are a few who become attached to them but the majority still get out and talk with each other. If anything, phones are a great way of knowing when it’s time to leave. You can tell people are ready to go when the majority start looking at their phones. It used to be that people just wouldn’t leave until late at night because nobody wanted to be the first to go and I was never a fan of that.
Another thing is that the previous generations were just as attached to TV’s. The same kids you see glued to their smartphones and throwing fits over them getting taken away probably had parents who were the same way with the TV and their videogames. Doesn’t make it okay but it always bothers me when people assume it’s exclusively a Gen Z/Alpha problem.
- loitering is illegal
- skateboarding (except in designated zones) is illegal
- crossing the road (except in designated zones) is illegal
- being loud is illegal
- going anywhere costs money
- going nowhere costs money (and having a job barely covers it)
- hyperindividualism makes relating to other people hard
- communal living practices are heavily discouraged
- militarized police make any even slightly risky activity potentially lethal
most of these are government policies, so it kinda sounds like the oligarchs in the US are forcing society in a specific direction. not that its “just happening” or some shit
I don’t think most americans realize this is weird. We’re told we’re the freest™ and learn next to nothing about anywhere else. Some of the biggest culture shock for me came from Brits describing their childhoods. Like, I just assumed we inherited a lot of this from them.
I find it much more worrying to see kids constantly on ipads and shit. Like how it’s much more concerning to see a child smoking than an adult smoking.
I don’t blame the parents btw. Everyone is tired, child care is unaffordable. Society atomizes us and keeps us away from our extended families that would have provided childcare in the past. A one-income family is basically impossible for most people.
The lack of observation and curiosity for nature is my main complain. Like think about it, can you identify a single tree?
groot
Well there is Steve
Tree snitches get tree stitches.
