Has social Media destroyed the fabric of human civilisation?

You are not alone with these thoughts and opinions.

I also think it has ruined relationships between romantic partners. Why spend time speaking to your partner when you get all the dopamine you need from a little device in your pocket?

Yes 

If everyone was like me, Bezos would still be selling books out of his garage!

I don't understand going out scrolling on phones. I take mine but it is in a pocket. No one would want mine, but to me having it in your hand is offering it to be stolen. I like to see where my feet are going and stop and watch birds pulling up worms. To me going out for a walk is a chance to unwind.

I've never seen it. I can totally believe it though, it's all designed to get you hooked. I only have four apps and they are just for getting discount in certain stores I use regularly.

Cloud44 said:

I feel like everyone is under the spell but me. 

That's exactly how I feel!

Yes, when it was just laptops and computers it was controllable. People would go out and escape it and experience their lives. No one carried their PC in their pocket. Once it became a device that you carried around with us all day it became inescapable and replaced real life. 

All these sites are designed to be addictive. Have you seen The Social Dilema? It explains how apps are designed to mirror a fruit machine with brightly coloured icons where you scroll down from the top to be rewarded, not with money or prizes, but with new status and notifications. 

Yeah Reddit has awards to keep you hooked. 150 consecutive days, 200 days etc, then I realised I was letting an online award that means nothing to no one, keep me on there. Taking back control felt good!

I totally agree about everyone giving up. It would be nice if the internet went back to computers/laptops only. Then it's there for info, something to do to kill a couple of hours of boredom (as it used to be). It became toxic when it became 24/7. 

I also describe it as a mass hypnosis! I feel like everyone is under the spell but me. 

I don't know medium so well, I have heard of it though. 

Cloud44 said:

countryside walks in the sunshine are my favourite thing, it's so calming

I couldn't agree more! I love being out in the countryside, I love sitting at the river, watching the water move and the ducks and swans going about their day. They don't need devices to be happy. 

Reddit seems to have a similar effect on you that Twitter had on me, I became completely addicted to it and the reward of that little blue bubble every time there was a notification, not good. 

I think if everyone gave up social media and smartphones tomorrow, within a week almost no one in the world would miss them. It's like a mass hypnosis that, if people woke up from, they would be baffled how they ever spend their lives on it

I know, countryside walks in the sunshine are my favourite thing, it's so calming. I honestly believe social media is the cause of the current mental health crisis. No one knows how to switch off, constantly comparing lives, online arguments, depressing news in your face all day. When I was on Reddit the first thing I did was check for notifications, yet as soon as I deleted it I found I didn't miss it at all and felt more positive and alert.

I have a limited data on my phone so when I'm away from home and not on WiFi it is pretty much a dumbphone, I'll turn the data on every couple of hours in case of any important messages but otherwise there's no internet active on it, it also means I can turn the data on for a limited time for parking or other times when I'm forced to use an app. I also turn the WiFi off at night, who wants disturbed sleep? People know to contact me on SMS/normal phone call if urgent.

I have planned to check out Substack. I'm already on Medium but I write purely about late diagnosed autism on it so I don't want to mix it up with my rants about the world, so yeah, Substack might be a good one for that.

Have you tried Substack? It's a good place to write your thoughts on the world

I have gone back and forth about owning a smartphone. I don't want one but sadly it is almost impossible to do anything or have a social life without one. Everything from my cricket team to my church organises on whats app. So I have come up with a solution. I have two phones, one a basic smartphone with no apps other than the ones I need for basics like what's app. The other is a basic Nokia that texts and calls and nothing else. I use the Nokia for normal life, I take it out with me and text and call family on it. 
The smartphone stays on my dresser unless I need it to organise something on whats app or get a digital ticket for an event etc. It seems to be working quite well. 

I agree with you about appreciating the world around you. I see people walking through parks or past beautiful lakes filled with wildlife and they never look up from their phones. One day these people are going to realise they wasted their time on something meaningless and they'll never get it back 

Yes 100%. It's actually funny to watch. I go out without a phone all the time, it's so peaceful. I don't feel the need to be validated by online strangers 'liking' my posts. I wouldn't have a smartphone if I had a choice but I feel forced into it by society, you can't even park without needing an app anymore :-( 
I'm quite into online privacy too. I miss the days of being anonymous and appreciating the world around you, rather than desperately trying to take a photo of it! I've written an article about this but don't know where to post it because someone will probably have it censored.

You are not alone. I often feel alone with it too so it's nice to see someone who feels the same! When I go out without a smartphone and I look around me and see everyone mindlessly scrolling, oblivious to birds, nature, even their own kids, I feel like there has been a zombie apocolypse and I'm the only one who hasn't been bitten!

I agree with you about cancel culture too. We seem to have lost the ability to agree to disagree as a society 

Yes, Yes, Yes. I despise it. People are no longer living in the moment and every time I've tried a new platform I've ended up leaving for my own sanity. Reddit was the last one. It's basically an attack on free speech, the ability to debate and discuss, gone. Anyone with independent thoughts are arrested by the thought police disguised as 'mods' or are obliterated by downvotes. I got called misogynistic for referring to myself as female. Honestly, I'm done with it all, cancel culture disgusts me. Everyone should be entitled to personal opinion, there are two sides to a story (with a few exceptions of course). When only one side is shown it influences people to not be able to hear other sides. I also can't stand how autism is portrayed as cool and influencing people to want to have 'the 'tism', totally downplaying the support autistic people need when only the 'quirky' side is shown. I could go on and on... I realise this post is 8 months old but I'm so pleased to see it. I always I feel like I'm totally alone on this.

Yeah I remember you, people say i've got a photographic memory. It's not quite that. But i have an incredible ability to surprise people with things i recall.

Yes . I post on wrong planet. I'm oldish, but not quite that old !! I hope life is treating you as well as possible.

Creating something and then blaming it for subsequent misadventure and pestilence. = golem.

or Frankenstein's monster, if you like.

I doubt anyone will read this due to the way thr forum is structured. Newest first meaning replies to older posts get lost

I think it isn't just stuff by way of tangible objects. It's also the incessant need to constantly be DOING stuff. It wasn't like this 20 years ago. I remember when doing things used to be a treat. Now it's almost like a god-given right. I don't think it's fomo, it's just that more stuff is now available to do and it probably links with the conspicuous way our lives are lived. Via social media. All I'm thinking of now is "Digger World" as an example. I can't keep up with some people who are constantly on the go doing stuff then complaining that they don't have any time for themselves. 

And everything has to be some sort of experience now. You can't have anything normal anymore. Social media has inflated the world we live in all sorts of ways from the language we use, how we express ourselves, how we live our lives and how we react. It's far more than sharing photographs. 

With regards to other people's use of camera phones etc and what they choose to do with their time and hardearned, I'm "live and let live" it's up to other people what they choose to do. It's all relative.

Yes, and you could add mobile phones have contributed to it, as well.

People now seem to be more intimate with their phones, than those they may love or be with.