Has social Media destroyed the fabric of human civilisation?

Sure, but I would say most of the cheap stuff is also low quality I buy things if I really need them. If I don’t need them, I just do t buy them and I often buy second hand things 

The title of this post is brilliantly hyperbolic - but it’s hard not to agree, I suppose one could say that social media has also enabled communities to find each other. But then my feeling is that these communities have tended to harden into echo chambers. I think we could all do well to remember that old maxim of British life: “live and let live”.

Billy87 said:

Most people I see are far more interested in filming and posting their lives to curate a perfect online profile of themselves

It probably p*ss*s people off but my profile on social media is a 'warts and all' one, especially so on Twitter. I have no desire to make out that I'm ppiew. I have comparatively good and bad days.

Billy87 said:

For instance, if you see a beautiful sunset is your first instinct to stand there and contemplate its wonder or to post a picture of it online? 

I personally can't see what the problem with this is. Indeed the problem might actually be that it's seen as being a 'problem'.  People will respond in different ways to such a sunset. There is no right or wrong way to respond. There is no malign intent involved. There are far greater things  to criticise social media for.

I use the block function on Twitter a lot. Polite disagreement is fine. Not being the sharpest tool in the box is fine. Being nasty, and deliberately saying things that are untrue, on the other hand....

For a very short while I also used a supposedly  better alternative to Twitter called Mastodon. For all its shortcomings,especially since Musk took over,in the 10 years I’ve been on Twitter I’ve never been treated as badly there as I was on Mastodon. I was totally naive, and stupid, to buy into the hype about it. When you have several people   having a go at you because you’ve stated that both women and transwomen should be treated decently and respectfully, then without any doubt you’re in a toxic environment. Even more toxic when you point out that being treated as having done something wrong when you haven’t is a major trigger,one that’s due to a childhood experience, and your account gets ‘limited’.

It doesn't need to be sh*t for me to not want it.  There is quite a lot of fine products out there too...all being "pushed" at us all the friggin time from every direction (it seems?)

I just don't want as much, nor of the same stuff, that most people do......so this lack of appetite perhaps help me feel so 'immune' to the tsunami of sales and marketing of "stuff"......plus I do proactively avoid it wherever i can.....I make it hard to target me with stuff that other people think I should want.  F that.

Yes! Even long time ago I laughed, that if all people were like me, most of those big companies selling sh*t would have bankrupted. 

Alien0n3arth said:

I guess this attitude is common in our community

Yes.  It makes us powerful.......and dangerous.

When I see something beautiful- yes, I do take a photo of it. Just for myself. After taking a photo I take a moment to enjoy it - to live the moment! As for social media - except from here I hardly ever use it. I have an instagram account but I don’t use it much. There are some beautiful artworks people show, I also hoped to find some more autistic people in there but it’s somehow not interesting for me. I prefer here. It’s up to people what is most important for them, although not fully, because masses are being manipulated. All the screaming ads “must have” etc. it’s a manipulation. I’m much more immune to that because I don’t care about what is trendy and I don’t need to be or have just because everybody does this. I guess this attitude is common in our community. 

Like many tools, social media can be used for good and bad. A concern for me, and something that I believe leads to a lot bad uses and therefore abuse is the fact that social media posts are largely unattributable and therefore there is no accountability. People can say whatever they want and there is no repercussion. So they do. This also leads to bad actors who wish to destabilise our society using social media to sow disinformation and foment unrest. Newspapers and mainstream online media are attributable and therefore accountable. Whilst they might have a political bias or be controlled by media families, this is known and can be taken into account when interpreting output. So many people rely on social media for their news and opinion and I think this is very dangerous. 

When the internet and mobile phones was first brought in to commonplace usage 40 years ago, questions were raised about who is being even allowed any access to these technologies back then, aside from the costs of obtaining the relevant equipment and some people had even devised a licence system back then to encourage responsible use - many decades later, aside from censorship, the proposed digital ID scheme appears to be fulfilling a similar purpose, yet with the added complication that so many people are now totally dependent on these technologies to live, in so many ways, but the current safeguards on social media are not sufficient 

Social media is largely unregulated and unmoderated. This is why it is so terrible at times.

When everyone has the freedom to say anything, with little fear of it being moderated, then social media becomes a Wild West and is destructive.

Large and lucrative social media platforms will never spend the money required to make sure that disinformation isn't prevalent.

Yes, the commotion in Southport, over the stabbings, I take it.

I was shocked to hear this evening of events triggered by misinformation via social media. That is one of the most concerning things.

You're from wrongplanet, aren't you?. I think i've seen you post there some years back. You're like in your 70's am i correct? Hello, nice to meet you, if thats the case. I think I've even saw your photo once.

Social media isn't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. But it's also nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be. As  an almost housebound autistic person with zero friends IRL, it  keeps me in touch with what's happening in the World at large.It's also good for messaging my chosen family, and they me.

Social media has a massive impact on mental health in my experience. From comparing yourself to others (including friends or family) or having the fear of missing out, it can be overwhelming and depressing at times.

I find Facebook useful to find events both locally and further afield. I don't tend to post on it or Instagram much apart from when I go to gigs or something similar.

Totally agree other than this and occasionally trust pilot I do not touch it.

You are getting my vote

IrishInManchesterUK said:

looking at the state of the world in the decades since, our grandparents warnings and predictions have been vindicated

Well I think a balanced view helps here.

Since the sixties there have been a lot of societal evolutions that would not align with the war generations values:

1 - Homosexuality would remain illegal (legalised in 1967)

2 - The church would still have a rigid hold over the population, denying many freedoms we take for granted now.

3 - The police force and state would be beyond censor so many of the abuses of power that we see get taken to task from a corrupt police force or dodgey politician wound never happen.

4 - Freedom of expression would be restricted to meet societal norms, meaning many people would have to confirm to ways of living they detest.

5 - relevant for us - autists would probably be considered defective and sent to asylums "for our own good".

etc

I'm quite glad we live in times where we are capable of free expression, acceptance and accountability.

Most gay pride parades are like that now too 

The 60’s was when the corruption started where our grandparents generation strongly advocated for a return to traditional moral and social values and they were the first to spot the corruption, which our parents were too blinded and brainwashed to the reality - decades after their passing in the 80’s, looking at the state of the world in the decades since, our grandparents warnings and predictions have been vindicated, which we gradually began to realise as our parents entered their own old age before their own passing and especially during Covid, this was brought into sharp focus

From the 60’s - to the 90’s we, especially our parents generation, became complacent and we dropped our moral vigilance, allowing forces of corruption to corrupt and pollute our society in the background - had we taken the guidance, warnings and predictions of our grandparents generation seriously, taken proper heed of and fully implemented these, we would not be in our current situation today - perhaps 9/11 and Covid among many other things would never have happened in our times