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submitted 8 months ago by Hohsia@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net

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

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[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 66 points 8 months ago

Newspapers and what became before them weren't addictive, dynamic skinner boxes with millions of dollars in machine learning behind them trying to map out and manipulate every aspect of your behavior. It was just good old fashioned one way propaganda.

[-] Dolores@hexbear.net 33 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 10 points 8 months ago

Oh, yeah, fair enough.

[-] MattsAlt@hexbear.net 9 points 8 months ago

Eh at least it wasn't so easy. The generation of "meet people or practice socializing in lines" is gone due to phones imo, bit harder to do that with a newspaper at every 'empty' moment

[-] Dolores@hexbear.net 16 points 8 months ago

yeah paper's a bit less conveinient and vulnerable to people seeing what you're reading & inquiring about it. phones have definitely improved upon the "don't talk to me" meta, especially with headphones

[-] OgdenTO@hexbear.net 6 points 8 months ago

Fuckin headphones. Everyone has them on. How do people feel safe biking in the city with headphones on?!

[-] Nakoichi@hexbear.net 5 points 8 months ago

Also with a newspaper, you didn't have a real time comment section and if you are all sitting around reading a paper you're probably all reading the same few papers and it could even foster in person social interaction and discussion. I remember a time where I would come to work and eat lunch in the break room while reading the paper and talking about whatever was in the news that day with my coworkers for example.

[-] HexbearGPT@hexbear.net 13 points 8 months ago

If this is what it sounds like, why isn’t my phone more entertaining? Do a better job, manipulators!

[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 21 points 8 months ago

Something being addictive doesn't necessarily mean it feels good; often it's just the cessation of the withdrawal symptoms.

[-] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 18 points 8 months ago

This is part of why it's called "doomscrolling", because it doesn't feel good but you feel compelled to do it (implicitly because not doing it agitates you or something)

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 12 points 8 months ago

The extension of that take is smugly quoting that one ancient Greek guy that said the children of his time were unruly and disrespectful. smuglord

[-] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 19 points 8 months ago

kids these days can't memorize anything, they just write things down and read them back later

[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 7 points 8 months ago

In the contemporary attention economy, I doubt most people of any age actually remember phone numbers or the like without electronic assistance. I sure don't. There's so much else going on and it takes up headspace.

[-] Commiejones@hexbear.net 8 points 8 months ago

I remember having like 30 phone numbers in my head. What a fucking waste of space. Some of them are still in there even though I haven't used them in decades.

[-] Nakoichi@hexbear.net 4 points 8 months ago

lol still remember the landline number from my childhood home.

Actually I still probably remember about 30 numbers now that I think of it.

this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
109 points (100.0% liked)

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