We've Lost the Plot

I'm not sure if "classic" entertainment (films, games, etc.) is really the issue here. These kind of things have been around for ages, ranging from Star Trek conventions to "Dalekmania".

For many decades feminists have been telling us that entertainment and media have been setting unrealistic beauty standards for women (young women/girls in particular) and that this is unhealthy. By and large, I think the basic premise of this is generally accepted (albeit with disagreement on some specifics).

Social media seems to have done the same, setting unrealistic standards on how your life should be, how you should behave and react, what your personality should be.

Social media is not reality, just as pornography isn't reality. That doesn't mean that either pornography or social media is bad in and of itself – HN is a social media of sorts – but I do think people's relationship with it can be unhealthy, or that some implementations of it can be.

Lmao. I'd argue that adults are growing in the other direction, escaping scarcity and becoming mature enough to feel comfortable in their own skin at a much earlier age.

I'm relieved to see more of my peers, as well as those slightly older than us, expressing themselves with the silliness and levity of well-off retirees. Sure, it can be cringe-inducing at times, but cringe typically says more about the one doing the cringing than the object thereof.

Maybe it's time we all grew up a little more still.

Have you ever seen "The Cable Guy?" The movie with Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick from the 90s?

Jim Carrey's character is one of these dudes who is constantly quoting tv shows and seems to have absorbed his whole worldview from mass media and advertising. The character is taken to an extreme, but this "dude who can only talk in TV references" was a sort of personality type back then out in the real world. They were annoying enough to most "normies" that it was relatable to make a comedy-horror movie about it. There was also a decent bit of "television is rotting people's brains" worry at the time as well driven largely by people's interactions with guys like this.

I think all times and places have this sort of personality type that just doesn't have much of a personality of their own (or the courage to really express one) and consequently just take on the style or posture of whatever popular mass media they're consuming instead. Since it's mass media and popular, surely they too will be popular if they mimic its affect right? TV isn't how taste and culture is made anymore, TikTok and general social media influenceriness is. So this same baseline personality type just ends up expressing itself differently based on the conditions of the present day.

I've had to deal with this kind of weird obsession with folks performing in online spaces like Second Life for a long time. I mean, sure, you can do your roleplay in an explicitly roleplay oriented place, but whenever I'm in what amounts to as a town square I've still found people who would rather play the part of Mean Girls or some other nonsense than being an authentic human being. It seems sincerity and honesty are poison to such folks who would rather live in irony or satire 24/7. I have to wonder that after a while do these people become the thing they're portraying? Is it more like what Oscar Wilde said, "give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth?" Or is it that folks can't actually distinguish their performance from reality? Heck, I've seen the same stuff on Twitter. It just makes my head hurt these days.

For the social media/performative side of the issue: I think that we are seeing the effects of instant online judgement at any moment (who wouldn't want to play it safe), the ability to monetise yourself and sell yourself out in less than a minute from anywhere in the world, and the ability to follow the norm to a ridiculous level with the invention of day in the life and lifestyle videos.

As for movies: I think that since movies introduction into the mainstream they have always played an important role in guiding how people see the world, usually for the better. They normalise scientific concepts, abstract ways of looking at the world, introduce potentially new emotions to the average person, ways of conversing, and used to promote the idea of human ideals and beauty. Generally, when movies have been more genuinely creative and kind to the idea of human greatness society has tended to be happier and more creative. I've seen lots of directors use this for good, and I'm yet to see explicitly malicious use of western cinema (excl propaganda). I don't think it's bad that we're all in different worlds, people have been at different levels of awareness and connection to reality for as long as we've been around, but well executed movies change us more than many of us admit.

As for anime, it's really interesting how animated pictures do something different to me, they almost feel more cerebral, like it's how I really see the world in my imagination.

Quite a bit of normal social interaction is performative. In the same sense that a sneeze is both voluntary and involuntary, ( you can nearly hold in a sneeze, and can certainly choose the audible volume.) so too is much of the emotion and articulation of a social interaction. You may be conveying your genuine emotions, but you’re choosing how pointedly to convey them, and how to convey them in a way such that they land with your audience. You’re looking for the reaction to your conveyance from the “audience’s” face, and adjusting your response accordingly.

Humans naturally mimic the mannerisms and behaviors of those around them. Is it surprising that humans who have had plausibly the majority of their observed interactions from screens mimic what they see on the screen. If the funny character quotes movies all the time, why wouldn't quoting movies be funny to your friends?

There is a reason why psychologists recommend reducing screen time for everyone.

It's socialization/acculturation. Humans learn how to be human from other humans. That's normal. That's what culture is. But when their role models are fake, the humans learn to be broken.

It’s not overstimulation, it’s delayed adulthood that manifests itself as different kind of retardations.

I think about Simulation & Simulacra a lot. Esp. when religious relatives talk about Jesus, and how GOP-Jesus is built on a lot of other interpretations -- themselves dubioubly built on other interpretations -- and wonder how much is actually even vaguely related to what the man might have said or done.

But conceptually I see capitalism embracing it, as each simulation is a way to sell something new, e.g. "social media bubbles", which in turn allow for clickbating, selling of specific merch to specific demos, complete detachment and assimilation into basically different realities, etc. They have every reason to, cuz everything is based on adds and clicks and building consensus via social media likes; those things now drive sales, and that drives stock prices.

Alex Jones comes to mind, with his brand of hyperreality and absurd statements -- lots of clicks, aka lots of money -- as well as his ability to target and shill his MAN-PILLS, FOR REAL MEN. Little wonder why there is a lot of overlap with Q-Anon there...

Honestly, I think this is true. I've noticed ever since I've stopped watching TV since 2007 and avoided most TV dramas (I've been mostly watching youtube videos on various topics like radio electronics, cooking, and the like since with maybe the occasion let's play of Dwarf Fortress or a group of people playing a tabletop campaign) that I've kind of fell out of the loop of the mainstream culture. So many things from pop music to references to TV shows have kind of left me just puzzled. Mind you, I'm in my 40s so I'm kind of "boomer" at this point.

> Watching that video, I did what I often do when taking in the news these days: I stared in disbelief, briefly wondered about the difference between the dystopian and the merely weird, and went about my business. But I kept thinking about those clips

like yes sometimes The Atlantic comes off as pretentious but that paragraph really speaks to me :O

I worry about this when it combines with the inevitable dissolution of trust in truth due to ai generated stuff.

I was gonna say "what about arxiv or Wikipedia" but I'm unsure that nonprofits should count as "industry"

The iPhone, messaging apps, online tax preparation (I do my taxes on my _phone_), Spotify, Dropbox, drones, 3d printing, etc provide no value?

I could agree with this if one carves out an exception for accessibility tech. It's wonderful when someone disabled can communicate more easily.

How do you quantify each of:

- The tech industry - Net positive benefit - Humanity

?

- Sent from my iPhone

Another way to phrase this point: if I had to choose between all of it, so far, or none of it — I’d choose the latter. And as I type here now, I say I would. Pull the plug

Agree. Calling what they do as tech is the biggest joke. Whenever I read Big Tech my brain changes it to Big Shit.

You get a downvote and an explanation!

In order for a negative review to contribute to a conversation you should really make it more than a poorly written 10 word sentence. If you don’t, well, there is nothing at all convincing about why the article is bad. Not everyone will share your opinion that it is bad so if you don’t make a supporting argument then what’s the point of saying anything at all?

Also, I really wish people would leave an explanation about why they are downvoting more often.