Field Tech Forum

I'm really having second thoughts about using and being on social media. There's just something I find so gross and invasive about it. Well, not just something, really a lot of things: the negativity, the posturing, bickering, and so on. Like what's the point? What am I getting out of it? Isn't part of the point of being a field to not have to participate in social conventions. For lack of a better term, to be an "alternative lifestyle?"

What are your thoughts? Are you on it? Do you use it often? Planning on ditching it?

Yay fo sho. I'm living this cool life, I want to be sharing it with other people. Shake them out of their cages. No excuse to sit there like a lab rat - you can see the alternatives. My life is great, why wouldn't I want other people to see it. Chicks dig a man with a powerful social media presence, a network of friends and an interesting life. Good way to kill some down time and keep up with the peeps.

smokeygreens wrote: ↑December 18th, 2023, 6:11 pm Yay fo sho. I'm living this cool life, I want to be sharing it with other people. Shake them out of their cages. No excuse to sit there like a lab rat - you can see the alternatives. My life is great, why wouldn't I want other people to see it. Chicks dig a man with a powerful social media presence, a network of friends and an interesting life. Good way to kill some down time and keep up with the peeps.

Based on your posts (here and others), you seem to fancy yourself as some kind of rebel living outside the mainstream, but what could be more mainstream than social media? Not only is it intended to be divisive and sow discord, bringing out the worst of everyone in the process, it was originally developed as a surveillance tool and gives the worst kind of actors unprecedented access to everyone's personal lives. It doesn't seem very hippie-ish to me maaaan. It seems much more like mindless serfs playing directly into the hands of their feudal masters by blinding themselves to the obvious reality of what it is.

aldiquarter wrote: ↑December 18th, 2023, 7:39 pm
Based on your posts (here and others), you seem to fancy yourself as some kind of rebel living outside the mainstream, but what could be more mainstream than social media? Not only is it intended to be divisive and sow discord, bringing out the worst of everyone in the process, it was originally developed as a surveillance tool and gives the worst kind of actors unprecedented access to everyone's personal lives. It doesn't seem very hippie-ish to me maaaan. It seems much more like mindless serfs playing directly into the hands of their feudal masters by blinding themselves to the obvious reality of what it is.

I grant you the privacy issues are concerning, but I think at this point people are more or less aware of them and have accepted that. Ultimately, they simply don't care they way you do. Side note - do you use a smartphone? That's a surveillance device too. Real time fine scale geo-surveillance at that.

Whether it's good or bad, people are happy to have everyone know everything about them including the NSA or whatever. It makes them feel like a celebrity or something, or they're self-absorbed enough to think nothing matters more than what they ate for dinner. And most people are more or less law abiding so what are they worried about exactly.

Also, what exactly is the government doing with all this data. Creating dossiers on people? I'd say it's much more about targeted advertising than anything else. You probably don't, but people like that too. They love to buy shit! Having some AI skim through their posts and suggest something for them to buy suits them just fine and satisfies some need for them, actually (in their view) improves their lives.

To answer the question, I'm pretty indifferent. I use it a little bit, but don't look at it for weeks at a time, and I don't use it as a platform for broadcasting my opinion on every subject or to provide hourly updates on my comings and goings. I think there's is a middle ground

Yeah, that seems pretty harsh to me. Yes people abuse it, people use it too much, people introduce negativity, but in that way it reflects real life, no? and what do you do in real life? Tune out the bad vibes! As I've been traveling it's been a valuable way for me to able to keep in touch with people and keep uop to date on what's going on with them. People share pictures of their gardens, or useful tips for stuff around the house. I don't see anything wrong with that. This is actually helping other people

I feel strongly about it because I think it's very destructive, at both the individual and societal level. Many studies have shown it to be addictive and to have other negative emotional effects, jealousy and whatever else. People present these curated (i.e. phony) views of their lives Hell, we know it's intentionally designed to be addictive.

And as for society as a whole. You think that it brings out the best in people? Is it bringing us closer together or creating more division?

salAmanda wrote: ↑December 19th, 2023, 3:36 pm it's been a valuable way for me to able to keep in touch with people and keep uop to date on what's going on with them. People share pictures of their gardens, or useful tips for stuff around the house

Why do you need a 3rd party to keep in touch? These people you care so much about, you can't spare a few minutes to send them an e-mail or <<gasp>> give them a call. If you don't have their e-mail address or phone number, maybe you're not really that close. A lot of these gardeners or whatever are just seeking attention and encouragement; probably because they lack any internal source of validation.

yes, I use a phone (location services off). Mine isn't surgically attached to me. An unfortunate necessity most of the time.

And sure, you're not doing anything illegal...now. (Except for you Smokey). But the whole point is that they can declare something totally innocuous to be illegal tomorrow. That to me implies a lot of trust in institutions that have proven themselves over and over again to not be trustworthy.

I'm appreciating the discussion so far and I find myself leaning more towards the "nay" and ditch it camp. I was watching someone using it the other day. With the sound on it's just this jumble of images and (mostly annoying) noises. I have to think that this behavior is lowering the overall IQ of the western world.

Harsh man! I never claimed to be no hippy! Not everyone who likes to smoke the herb fits in that category. I told you, I rap with the good ole forestry boys.

I don't care about being mainstream or whatever. I'm just doing what works for me and I can tell you that social media is good for me. I don't post any political stuff or look at it, I don't engage in dumb debates. It's just straight up my suite lyphe.