FREE THOUGHT: Social Media

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Novalis, Feb 25, 2015.

  1. Novalis Registered Member

    Messages:
    55
    Hey,

    Let's talk: two straight forward questions, answer 'em any way you feel. Let's go.


    Can social media replace 'true' human face to face interaction?
    Do you think social networking is more harmful than helpful?


    Cheers,

    Novalis

    *************** I DON'T KNOW IF THIS BELONGS IN FREE THOUGHT OR...BUT DO WHAT YOU WILL.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2015
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  3. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    11,888
    No.
    More helpful
     
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  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    It already has.

     
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  7. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    4,885
    The main problem with social media is anonymity. I happen to be 85 and financially comfortable but not affluent.

    I could claim to be a handsome 40-60 year old looking for a companion. With a bit of luck & some lies, it would not be difficult to con some lonely widow, divorcee, or never married women into sending me money. While I look better than most 85-year olds, I could never pass for a handsome 40-60 year old.

    It would be no trouble to send a photo of myself at 40 or find a photo of some 40-year old. The next step would be to ask for travel money in order to meet a lonely female, claiming some temporary problems with an inheritance or with having all my funds invested , or telling some other fairy tale.

    Watch Dr Phil or other TV programs whose guests have been taken for substantial amounts of money by con artists who claim to be searching for a companion.

    Aside from scam artists, there are are basic problems with lack of knowledge if you do not meet a person face to face, see where they live, who their friends are, et cetera.
     
  8. zgmc Registered Senior Member

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    831
    This kind of thing happens all the time. There are scams all over the place. Last week I received a letter in the mail stating that $69 was going to go to the state if I did not take action to claim it. All they needed was my DL number, social security number, mothers maiden name, my address and phone number. Pretty much everything you would need to start using my identity, and wipe out my bank accounts.

    Back to the topic, no I don't think social media can replace person to person relationships. I am not on facebook or any other social media platform, nor do I plan to be in the future. Social networking could be harmful if we forget how to interact face to face.
     
  9. danshawen Valued Senior Member

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    3,951
    Social media as implemented by the likes of Facebook and Twitter are only an advertising gimmick. Your likes and dislikes including details about who you know, have contact with, where you shop, what you buy, what you read, what you talk about, any obsessions or mental or physical afflictions, what you eat or any addictions or bad habits you may have are all of demographic use to somebody trying to sell or promote something, or who may actually wish to do harm to you or to people you associate with. If you were selling information like this, how much would it be worth to you? How much would it be worth to secure such information? You have been robbed and don't even know it. You must have been born yesterday, if you actually use Facebook or Twitter. I don't. Any employer stupid enough to require a Facebook profile of prospective employees is depriving their companies of the employment of a great many folks with better judgement than they have. I would not wish to work for or with such people.

    No. Just no. This does not improve the world. If anything, it just makes it more annoying to live in it with people stupid enough to think this is an improvement. I couldn't care less to know what my friends are doing right now. If you do, you are no friend I would care to associate with. The cost is too great.

    To heck with Zuckerberg and his social media.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2015
  10. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    I enjoy Facebook. I don't have any lofty expectations, but I have a good time chatting with my friends--several at once, which is not easy with e-mail and I wouldn't dream of inviting them to this crazy troll-dominated website! I pick up interesting tidbits that I wouldn't have otherwise known about--music from other countries, political opinions that do not lie on the linear liberal-conservative spectrum that stifles American politics, lots of fascinating photos...

    As to the question about social media's ability to replace face-to-face communication, let me tell you about my grandfather, who was a pharmacist in Chicago 100 years ago. The phone company sent a representative to his pharmacy and offered to install a telephone for free, with no charge for calls. They figured if his customers tried out the technology, many of them would decide to have the service installed in their homes.

    But Grandpa turned them down. Want to know what he told the guy?

    "People will never be comfortable doing business with somebody they CAN'T SEE!"

    So be careful what you dismiss as impossible.

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  11. danshawen Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,951
    Your grandpa (and I'm one of those too) and his opinion of telephones was dead on. Nine times out of ten when I get a phone call either on my landline or my cellphone, and particularly if it is someone trying to sell me something (which, again, is 9 times out of 10 calls), I end up saying nothing and hanging up for EXACTLY the reason your Grandpa mentioned.

    More to the point, most of the time, it is 21st century social media that has prompted those calls in the first place. Buy one item, get calls from a dozen competitors or vaguely related businesses. It is difficult not to buy anything from anyone. What an annoying use of internet.

    On the other hand, the last thing I bought using the internet was a spring loaded hinge for support of a drop leaf of a 100 year old dining room table that had snapped in half. It took about 2 minutes to find an exact replacement (and it was even rusted like the original!). I seem to recall, it was near impossible to do that bit of repair for the first 80 or so years that table was around. You couldn't keep enough parts catalogs in your home to do that and still have room for all the telephone books and dictionaries you also needed.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2015
  12. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    Then I take it that you never order anything from Amazon.com ? You can find practically anything there, usually several brands that you can choose from for quality, features and price. There are testimonials from previous buyers over the full range from ecstasy to "this crap should be taken off the market." Their warrantees are so unbreakable that many vendors have quietly shifted a couple of dollars from the purchase price to "shipping," which is non-refundable.

    I can't remember the last time I was looking for something on Amazon and didn't find it.

    I once posted a somewhat negative review of an appliance that I didn't even buy through Amazon. Within 24 hours, a technician from the manufacturer posted a very respectful and highly informative reply. He explained what I was doing wrong, admitted that it was an easy mistake to make, apologized for my trouble, and assured us that the new model of the product no longer has that problem.
     
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  13. danshawen Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,951
    I use Amazon a lot (but not for the item I mentioned, which was from ebay), and regularly write reviews on the things I purchase there, as well as use the reviews other folks have written, which I have found to be invaluable advice, and usually much better than something like Consumer Reports. Better yet, it requires no subscription to use. This is different from using social media for advertising. Whenever I need something, I usually consult Google about where to find it. Part numbers usually work, for repair parts, but not always.

    I view cataloging and searching over the internet to be helpful and useful. This does not mean I wish to be catalogued and searched also, nor cold called about interests, hobbies, or purchases only vaguely related to my internet activity. Playing a game of solitaire on my mobile phone does not mean I wish to be targeted by online casinos.

    At least using something like sciforums to converse about interests instead of mass social media, one has some control over associations that are developed. I've no complaints about my internet profile since joining, but it's interesting where some of the things we say actually wind up getting quoted.
     
  14. Anew Life isn't a question. Banned

    Messages:
    461
    I personally think that in some ways the networking arenas' have a lot of hype, and anything for social contact issues that often disadvantage people (as social contact is for some a sensual materialistic demand, midst material elixir 'lean as it is for a some many in executive and or underling beggary problems and denials, which refuse to see the cyclicality and error affect mean of our more important representation such as education). personality and often professional issues, of non attractive created plaint, lead, & complaint no matter the risk it seems often, because they like to play and manage their handle, frikken ignorant beings circuiting around whilst common error is often neglected, and therefore has multiplied and escapsim has reached strange means. for some reason it seems politics may really have had life better, and better chance than what everybody has been doing with their involvements (that seem to like illicit representation (illict defined as, invent of educational materials to support sentimental and emotional bucket type reason, and demand that has it's place as a ?value... what ?for really... all one is doing is repeating a demanding past.. that allows deferring as a "?normalcy of life instead of allowing realism) realism is defined as.. what's working works or what isn't exactly right need be repaired, or respectfully let go of, and humans aren't entertainment. anyway maybe the event of the year 2000 really is the millennium of amendment, & repair to what from the 1900's really lost it's place a long long time ago realative to appeasement as detriment that our new adultworld really looks stupid affording itself.
     
  15. Kajalamorth The Doctor Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    76
    Being a child of the internet, I can only see the negatives. See "GamerGate" for example. Not only this but, the internet is a terrific tool for confirmation bias as well as finding fantastic echo chambers. Which often results in a skewed vision of the world around us. Look at any political youtube channel and scroll down to the comments section. Really do this anywhere. Left wing, right wing in any country you'll find a few things.

    Confirmation bias.
    Echo chambers with people praising each other on their "honest views".
    Cherry picking information
    And logical fallacies.

    I haven't used Facebook for two years, and I'm better for it. I don't have to worry about the drama in my family. Nor do I obsess over these new cyber cliques.
    Also as a introverted person, I'd rather talk to someone face to face.
     
  16. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    Being a child of black-and-white TV, I can assure you that even such a primitive tool as that was more than adequate for confirmation bias, echo chambers, skewed vision, etc.

    Frankly I see an advantage in today's electronic media. There were only three networks when my family got our first TV in 1950, so there were only three points of view. Today there are zillions of them. Anybody who wants to make his opinion known (and can write decently or can afford to hire a professional writer like me to do it for him) can do so.

    This results in a much wider range of opinions, and a lot more debate.
     

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