Has social Media destroyed the fabric of human civilisation?

I think we will have to respectfully agree to disagree on this matter. If your ideas were to ever become a possibility, I'm inclined to think there would be a lot of resistance, and not just from the under-21s.

It’s a sign that young people are getting sense because they are coming under the right influences demonstrated by their ditching of social media in increasing numbers 

I’m strongly in favour of putting the legal age for everything back up to 21 which has always been the traditional legal age and to teach young people to love and embrace tradition from as early an age as possible - you do sometimes have to be “cruel to be kind” and “protect them from themselves” “for their own good” in which case they will need “tough love” and it is really all about reversing the changes of the 1960’s in particular and returning to traditions pre-19th century - the natural instincts of young adults to “push the boundaries” must always be carefully managed by the use of strict and strongly enforced discipline at every level and in every way, again “for thier own good” and to “protect them from themselves” of which discipline I am a strong advocate, given my commitment to tradition and given where I have seen and experienced where the lack of same leads 

I do sometimes feel sorry for the younger generations, they have the constant pressure of what the ‘ideal’ person should look like.

There has always been ways of controlling the masses, they are now just different.

For under 21s who are deemed to be particularly vulnerable, I would agree, although I would be inclined to lower the age. Somehow, I can't imagine an 18-year-old who is old enough to drive, vote, drink alcohol, have a bank account, etc, taking kindly to being told they are prohibited from using the likes of social media and dating apps.

Young adults can be particularly headstrong. They are known for pushing the boundaries, and it's like a rite of passage that is part and parcel of growing up. If they really want to do something that they are prohibited from doing, they will find a way of doing it. Admittedly, there will always be some who take it to extremes when pushing the boundaries. However, young adults under the age of 21 can be far more knowledgeable about certain things than we give them credit for, and in some cases considerably more sensible than their elders.

Sporadic Sparkly said:

Yes, I too have heard that many young people are turning their backs on social media

I hope they are. I used to be a teacher and the scale of the addiction to social media among my students was mindblowing. I once asked a Year 10 class to write down honestly the amount of hours on a non school day that they thought they spent on their phones. The average answer was 11

Interesting points. I agree with you that it seemed to start around the time of the Brexit referendum, I noticed that too. Although, I noticed the nastiness very much on both sides. I worked in a school at the time where almost all the staff were passionately in favour of remain and the vitriol towards anyone who voted to leave shocked me, teachers shouting at children whose parents were leave voters and then sitting in the staffroom on their phones "defriending" anyone who voted leave. I guess it was the same both way rounds though, I remember remain MPs having abuse screamed at them in the streets by leave voters on the way to parliament. I dont think as a nation we have ever recovered tbh. 

Interesting points about the Japenese. They were also the first culture to wholeheartedly embrace social media and smartphones as well. Indeed, I read an article that the government of Japan was worried about the population decreasing because people were so obsessed with their phones that they wernt having sex anymore. I wonder why that is 

Where social media is concerned, the inability to agree to disagree started long before Brexit. I feel you should consider yourself lucky that social media has never appealed to you, as I believe you would absolutely hate it with a passion.

Yes, I too have heard that many young people are turning their backs on social media. I guess that only time will tell if it's a trend that will continue.

Aside from the internet and mobile phones per se, I do strongly believe and maintain that no child under 21 should ever be permitted to engage with social media in any form, for any purpose, as the risks of social media on young minds are too great - I also feel the same way about “dating” apps and websites for under 21’s and in all cases, these need to be carefully blocked and restricted - as an older and conservative minded gay man, given my own life experiences, I am a staunch traditionalist and therefore I strongly believe that an immediate return to traditional moral and social values in every area of our society is vital for the continued protection of western civilisation 

Apart from here I don't use it and never have, it's just not something that appeals to me.

I did notice that the inability to agree to disagree seemed to start when the Brexit referendum was announced, it also seemed to split ages groups too, with young people being picked on for wanting to "vote the wrong way", i.e they were more pro European than older people.

I think there has always been a well of nastiness swirling around the human psyche, I once looked at medieval local manorial court records and the things that people complained and dobbed in thier neighbours for was simialr in pettyness, nosiness and bullying as we see on social media today. Police have always had to screen the mail of families who's children have gone missing or had fatal accidents, because of nasty letters.

I wonder why people bother going places when all they do is film it on their phones, if I paid mega bucks to go to Glastonbury or somethig I wouldn't want to spend my time filming on my phone, I'd want to be in the thick of it enjoying every momment. But then the Japanese have done this for years, long before social media, they would turn up somewhere, pile out of a coach, photograph everything in sight and pile back on the coach to be whisked away to the next photo opportunity. I guess it's part of a changing culture, but it seems that there's a growing number of young people who are turning away from social media.

I do wonder if there will end with people who do social media and all the tech stuff and those who don't, or who only use it to do things like buy train tickets and stuff like that?

Billy87 said:

I believe social media has destroyed the fabric of civilisation.

I think social media has made us lazy in our communication, inventing a new language that is easy to convey 'surface' information (emojis, I'm fine, a quick SMS) but the effort to go deeper in a conversation, truly listening to someone else, giving them the space to talk and open up, doesn't happen as much. It is when we dig that bit deeper that we start to process our lives and make meaning of our situations, process grief, etc. It is much easier to bully people, and to express unfiltered opinions and ideas online: you can just create a new profile if that version doesn't suit you any more. Of course it is hard to say that this over-simplification fits all, especially as I don't use much social media these days.

Billy87 said:

We have become extraordinarily self obsessed and narcissistic

There is research apparently which shows that narcissism is on the rise, and it is related to the rise in self-esteem. The thinking is that to increase your self-esteem you have to think yourself better than others in some respect, and this comparison you are putting others down.  I watched a really interesting TED talk that mentioned it in passing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvtZBUSplr4&t=1s

Social media has reshaped societal norms around tolerance, privacy, and happiness, impacting how we engage with real-life experiences.

I agree. It has its good points but it's used and abused-I used it when I was at school but it was so toxic, I wasn't on it for long. I'm much happier since leaving social media, it's improved my mental health. 

it would have to have been the users, no?

Although I think Social Media can be useful, I also think it has done a lot of harm. Back in 2007, when I jumped on the Social Media bandwagon and created a Facebook account, I found it to be a healthier environment than it seems to be now. Back then, I considered it to be a convenient means of keeping in touch with people I already knew (friends, relatives, and acquaintances), but perhaps seldom got to see. Based on my observations, it seemed that people were generally polite and respectful, but when Social Media started to become more popular, the general atmosphere changed... and not for the better.

Some years back, I remember finding it sad when the young adult daughter of a friend, along with her partner, seemed incapable of surviving a day without posting sickly-sweet vomit-inducing declarations of love to each other. There was no doubt about the fact that they were very much in love, but struggled to understand why they felt compelled to share their declarations with the rest of their contacts. They didn't need to prove the intensity of their love to anyone, but that is almost how it was coming across. I just couldn't understand why they didn't seem to want to confine those declarations of love to private text messages, or to love letters exchanged behind closed doors.

During the 12 months leading up to this young couple's marriage, I remember there being a daily countdown. This was then followed with a countdown to their first wedding anniversary. Whilst I felt happy for them, I found their desire to want to share to much of their relationship on social media nauseating. However, I suppose I should be thankful that they did at least keep the details of their bedroom activities to themselves.

Although I can understand people wanting to (for example) capture a beautiful sunset, I do find it sad when the first thing people do is to reach for their smart phones... Why can't they just take a few moments to admire that sunset with their own eyes, before capturing it through the camera lens on their smart phones?

Homebird said:

Your comment about first taking pictures reminded me of something else. I often notice when you see events on TV people have their phones in the air and wonder how much of the actual action they miss or people standing behind them.

Exactly, we have become so concerned with recording and preserving our experiences that we have forgotten to actually expereince them. Its like people at a pop concert or football match recording the event in front of them. They will go home with lots of videos but having not actually experienced or enjoyed the event they went to at all 

Iain said:

Imaging having something like Woodstock festival today - it would be run by greedy corporations with rubbish sanitation, £20 burgers and £5 cans of soft drink. Not to mention it would cost £400 for a ticket...

Indeed, you only have to look at what Glastonbury has become to see that. 

Apart from this Forum I don't use Social Media. When I take pictures they are usually of views for my own use, sometimes as wallpaper on my phone. I tend now to take pictures on my phone as it is easier than finding a camera. I love sunsets and also enjoy looking at clouds, especially when the sun is setting and there is a red glow. However I find that pictures don't really show the true beauty. 

I don't understand some of the things people put on social media about every detail of their day to a lot of people, or why they post pictures of meals. 

Your comment about first taking pictures reminded me of something else. I often notice when you see events on TV people have their phones in the air and wonder how much of the actual action they miss or people standing behind them.

I guess social media can be helpful to share important things, for example in a local area that might be helpful to others.

Billy87 said:

I would say it probably peaked in the 1990's.

I witnessed loads of corruption and greed permeating society through the 80s from the Yuppies to the Thatcher years and the selfishness of the individual becoming ever more prevelant.

The 70s were a difficult time of tremendous social strife so I don't think this would be a peak.

The 60s seemed to be a much more open and accepting era, far enough from the war for the pains to be ever present and in a time when social freedoms were being experienced.

Imaging having something like Woodstock festival today - it would be run by greedy corporations with rubbish sanitation, £20 burgers and £5 cans of soft drink. Not to mention it would cost £400 for a ticket...

Iain said:

Society has a tendency to peak, corrupt and destroy itself at different times in its history. It is hard to say when exactly it peaked - I would think maybe the 60s but it would be hard to pinpoint exactly where and how it is defined.

Interesting question. I would say it probably peaked in the 1990's. We had a period of reletive piece and security in most of the world, unmatched in any of the rest of the 20th century. People seemed to want to enjoy life and be light hearted. We had eridicated a lot of the more extreme prejudice and bigotry of earlier decades but had not yet replaced it with the stifling identity politics and censorship of today and there was an explosion of art and culture across the country. I would quite happily live in the 90s today.

As for social media, I agree that humans would always find a way to destroy our own societies but I think social media has given us the tools to do that in an unprecidented way, creating a virtual echo chamber of our own ideas and self importance that we carry round with us in our pockets all day, whilst at the same time creating complete anxiety and insecurity, seeking to project and curate an image of ourselves rather than live and experience the ups and downs of this beautiful life