Long-term consequences of social media

I think this is the right place to ask this question, but feel free to move it - if not.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Facebook and other kinds of social media - in terms of the impact it will have on society and human relations as a whole, especially in the longer term.

Positives? Negatives? Impossible to predict?

I think there are many positives in terms of the potential for global communication and understanding that were simply impossible when I was my kids’ age ... but there are also negatives both known and unknown.

I have friends through the internet I have known for more than 20 years yet never met. But our actual depth of ‘friendship’ is not terribly great - it is not much different than high school or university friends on Facebook that I will share things with but have’t seen in person since the 80s.

Kids have a more difficult time adapting to these differences and it messes with their perception of relationships. Adults who started with no internet or smartphones, we had no choice in our relationship ‘types’. I have watched my kids (one in particular) struggle with this when he was younger and had to help.

The reality of social media can be very isolating for many, and apparently has a negative impact on those already dealing with anxiety and depression issues.

In terms of the reality of social media, I will use myself as an example. My year-in-review would be “every high matched with a low” - yet on social media most of what is there are the highs, or the ‘easy to share’ lows of losing our elderly dog or a couple of older relatives and several close friends from childhood and school. Yes, my ‘story’ is curated considerably, so that people don’t know about the downs - they see my wife and I celebrating 25 years, our amazing second honeymoon 2 weeks in Europe, and so on. But the lows - largely related to my kids ... well, those haven’t seen much air time.

And I look at my friends and KNOW that is true for them. Such as close friends at work who have younger kids, and I talk to them frequently and we’re actual friends (as opposed to just work friends) so I know the details, which are different than what is shared. And so on.

So I think there is a mix, but I think it favors the positive, but we need to work harder to deal with the negatives.

@txa

Interesting insights. I think you're more positive than I, but still - interesting

When it comes to social media (and a lot of media in general) I prefer a low information diet.

Too often it’s like a herd of buffalo where a couple beasts on one edge get spooked and thousands of other follow by instinct.

I do like it for keeping in contact with a SMALL circle of old friends and family, as well as its utility for keeping up with local events and emergencies.

Maybe I’m just old.

"Social media" is pretty broad.

I think what's really been hurting lately is the whole give-them-what-they-want attitude. It makes perfect sense on the surface. If I click Wikipedia links a lot when I do Google searches then putting Wikipedia links higher makes a lot of sense.

The problem is when there's information you need to know but don't particularly want to hear. Showing people things they need to know but don't want to face is a real good way to lose a customer. Not doing so, however, can hurt in the long run as people learn not to trust you. Responsible media sources have had to deal with that for centuries now.

Google, Facebook, and the like don't consider themselves to BE a media source. They are in the business of getting the information you want to see in front of you. Yet people keep treating them like they are reliable media sources. The end result being that millions of people are essentially living in a world of propaganda supporting whatever they happened to believe going in. The whole business of actually vetting sources and verifying facts certainly isn't something the social media companies are interested in doing, either, which has allowed Russia and who-knows-who-else to heavily influence public opinion by posting completely bogus news stories.

That has GOT to stop. I haven't got clue 1 on how to stop it, but it's causing real damage all over the free world.

Interesting article here, about regrets of ex Facebook execs.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart

I've never used any of it, and have my friends and family using groups on Riot, which is like an open source WhatsApp.

I remember reading an article that said that nowadays young kids aren’t trained in reading facial expressions and gestures enough. They miss important clues.
Other negatives: bullying, less privacy of course and physical exercise outdoors, even leading to serious eye problems in the long run (yesterdays warning from oculists in Dutch news).

France recently accepted a law btw that says kids younger than 16 need parental permission before their subscription is accepted by social media.

For the negatives I mentioned social media are not the only ones to blame though.

Personally I never understood the attraction of Facebook and the addiction to ‘likes’.

The biggest problem with electronic (instant) communication is people stupidity. They are not able to filter out false from truth; they react instantly instead of with patience and the mob mentality.

These problems existed prior to social media but social media magnifies the issue. People are generally speaking STUPID.

For the negatives I mentioned social media are not the only ones to blame though.

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I wouldn't blame platforms for human behavior - for human behavior

That said, obviously things are done to "inspire" more people to spend more time on social media.

Personally, I used to think it was a good thing that would help people reach out and learn from each other.

Reality, however, seems a bit different from that.

This morning I read an article about muslim girls whose life is destroyed after nude pictures of them were shared on Telegram, along with their names, telephone numbers and address, in special groups called Exposed Bitches, Allround Keggs (keggs = whores) and Real Hyena’s, groups that may have up to (ten)thousands of members.

An article that fits those about misery caused by revenge porn, the fappening, the US marines’ secret group spreading nude pictures of female colleages, and unwanted sexting.
This afternoon I read an article that seems to suggest we have seen nothing yet.

AI-Assisted Fake Porn Is Here and We’re All Fucked
Someone used an algorithm to paste the face of 'Wonder Woman' star Gal Gadot onto a porn video, and the implications are terrifying.

“We need to have a very loud and public debate,” he said. ”Everyone needs to know just how easy it is to fake images and videos, to the point where we won't able to distinguish forgeries in a few months from now. Of course, this was possible for a long time but it would have taken a lot of resources and professionals in visual effects to pull this off. Now it can be done by a single programmer with recent computer hardware.”

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Another quote:

Even for people whose livelihoods involve getting in front of a camera, the violation of personal boundaries is troubling. I showed Alia Janine, a retired porn performer who was in the sex industry for 15 years, the video of Gadot. “It’s really disturbing,” she told me over the phone. “It kind of shows how some men basically only see women as objects that they can manipulate and be forced to do anything they want… It just shows a complete lack of respect for the porn performers in the movie, and also the female actresses.”

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In the near future it won’t ‘just’ be actressess…

Eye said:

This morning I read an article about muslim girls whose life is destroyed after nude pictures of them were shared on Telegram, along with their names, telephone numbers and address, in special groups called Exposed Bitches, Allround Keggs (keggs = whores) and Real Hyena’s, groups that may have up to (ten)thousands of members.

An article that fits those about misery caused by revenge porn, the fappening, the US marines’ secret group spreading nude pictures of female colleages, and unwanted sexting.
This afternoon I read an article that seems to suggest we have seen nothing yet.

AI-Assisted Fake Porn Is Here and We’re All Fucked
Someone used an algorithm to paste the face of 'Wonder Woman' star Gal Gadot onto a porn video, and the implications are terrifying.



Another quote:

In the near future it won’t ‘just’ be actressess…

Click to expand...

In a perverted way, this is actually good news! If its so easy to fake these videos, people are more inclined to not believe the videos. Its "fake" videos! So its easy to dismiss them and their impact are also reduced.

For example, if I received an email 15 years saying "Gal Gadot" nudes photos and I am tempted to click on them. However if I get the same email now, I just delete it straight away since I "know" the photos are fake due to how easy it is to fake those on photoshop!

And yes I am bad person

Also lets not make this about "actressess" since technology is a great equalizer!

lostforever said:

In a perverted way, this is actually good news! If its so easy to fake these videos, people are more inclined to not believe the videos. Its "fake" videos! So its easy to dismiss them and their impact are also reduced.

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If there are fake nude videos of everyone, yes, but if you are the only one at the office in a short video, which seemed to be taken by a phone, being nude, walking from bed to bathroom with the smallest dick you’ve ever seen, I am not sure you’ll like all the covert smiles and open laughs from boss to toilet cleaner, from all you know and don’t know on the first day. Explaining it once, okay that may be doable, but feeling forced to explain yourself each and every time you think you detect a certain look accompanied with a hidden laugh… Like when applying for a job a year later.
“Fake video!”, you cry out, tired of seeing it pop up every time someone has been searching for online info about you.
“Hey? What are you talking about?” you hear them saying, when it becomes clear to you they were not laughing about you.

See lost, it does not have to be you looking at videos involving other people, being either actress or actor, no, you might very well develop a personal tic because of this technology.
I think you deserve one, since being bad!

Eye said:

If there are fake nude videos of everyone, yes, but if you are the only one at the office in a short video, which seemed to be taken by a phone, being nude, walking from bed to bathroom with the smallest dick you’ve ever seen, I am not sure you’ll like all the covert smiles and open laughs from boss to toilet cleaner, from all you know and don’t know on the first day. Explaining it once, okay that may be doable, but feeling forced to explain yourself each and every time you think you detect a certain look accompanied with a hidden laugh… Like when applying for a job a year later.
“Fake video!”, you cry out, tired of seeing it pop up every time someone has been searching for online info about you.
“Hey? What are you talking about?” you hear them saying, when it becomes clear to you they were not laughing about you.

See lost, it does not have to be you looking at videos involving other people, being either actress or actor, no, you might very well develop a personal tic because of this technology.
I think you deserve one, since being bad!

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Hehe good one

However the situation you are describing won't happen if there are too many of these. All I have to do is simply make similar videos of the boss and toilet cleaner and all sorted! We would point at each other and laugh about our small dick if we are all men! What is the female equivalent of small dick? Asking for science where in the future this happens and one of us happened to be a woman!

Anyway I get your main point. It won't be pretty once this tech becomes mainstream. It will be worse than photos. But can we stop this now? I think its too late and no one has ever manged to stop tech.

Part of my concept of a better world society is actually the ultimate edition of "no secrets".

As in, everyone will have access to all true information about everyone at any given moment - including archival of all biostatus information, movement, actions and so forth, and it will be virtually impossible to keep even the smallest detail secret.

The idea is that if nothing is ever secret - there will be:

1. No reason to have secrets
2. Extremely low motivation to deceive or lie
3. Near zero crime rate
4. Vastly superior health care

And so forth.

NewDArt said:

Part of my concept of a better world society is actually the ultimate edition of "no secrets".

As in, everyone will have access to all true information about everyone at any given moment - including archival of all biostatus information, movement, actions and so forth, and it will be virtually impossible to keep even the smallest detail secret.

The idea is that if nothing is ever secret - there will be:

1. No reason to have secrets
2. Extremely low motivation to deceive or lie
3. Near zero crime rate
4. Vastly superior health care

And so forth.

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Have you seen the movie The Circle yet?

Caddy said:

Have you seen the movie The Circle yet?

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Nope. Doesn't seem to have had a favorable reception

Lord save us from D'Art's utopia!

NewDArt said:

Nope. Doesn't seem to have had a favorable reception

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We watched it last weekend ... it is free on Amazon right now. Yeah, it is pretty abysmal. Worse yet - it has an interesting premise based on potentially thought-provoklng topics, played out by a very good cast ... and completely wastes all of it and goes nowhere.

But the concept is important ... because even as we get closer and closer to ‘no secrets’, *someone* is at the helm of the infrastructure and systems that allow us to know all about everyone.

The concepts of privacy and of self become very important in the world without secrets. Because in that concept, you gain the knowledge that everything you encounter is true ... but you lose all ability of self-determination and of self when it comes to your existence.

I think it is problematic at the very least - and comes back to the concept of what price will we pay to get X ... whether X is truth, security, happiness, or whatever.

txa1265 said:

We watched it last weekend … it is free on Amazon right now. Yeah, it is pretty abysmal. Worse yet - it has an interesting premise based on potentially thought-provoklng topics, played out by a very good cast … and completely wastes all of it and goes nowhere.

But the concept is important … because even as we get closer and closer to ‘no secrets’, *someone* is at the helm of the infrastructure and systems that allow us to know all about everyone.

The concepts of privacy and of self become very important in the world without secrets. Because in that concept, you gain the knowledge that everything you encounter is true … but you lose all ability of self-determination and of self when it comes to your existence.

I think it is problematic at the very least - and comes back to the concept of what price will we pay to get X … whether X is truth, security, happiness, or whatever.

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No one is at the helm in my vision of how this works - it's all governed exclusively by technology.

We are very far from a stage of cultural evolution where human beings are capable of governing themselves in a beneficial manner.

That is why we must remove ourselves from that role.

As for why you think you lose self-determination and "self" - I have no idea.

It's a concept that requires a complete reconditioning of our culture - and it's only one part of my vision.

I would like to claim that, eventually, no one will care about secrets or feel the need to have them.

Which, to me, is a huge improvement over our current society - where lies and deceit are the norm, no matter who you are.

Ripper said:

Lord save us from D'Art's utopia!

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That would be a great scifi movie!