# Why Social Media is Broken



## chanteuse (May 30, 2014)

I really like this blog posting on Social Media because I agree with what was put in the post

Living Stingy: Why Social Media Is Broken


What do you think? See it the same way or have some other takes?


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

chanteuse said:


> I really like this blog posting on Social Media because I agree with what was put in the post
> 
> Living Stingy: Why Social Media Is Broken
> 
> ...


:laughing: i agree 100%
outside of PerC i am not on any other sites
people at my work site [all males 40+ in age] are constantly on f.b.
i have no use for it
more like anti social in my case
besides, who da fuq really cares anyway
are these people so desperate for attention they must post their daily activities


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## chanteuse (May 30, 2014)

Vinniebob said:


> :laughing: i agree 100%
> outside of PerC i am not on any other sites
> people at my work site [all males 40+ in age] are constantly on f.b.
> i have no use for it
> ...


I enjoy Mr. Bell's analysis on why SM is broken. I happen to see it along the same line, too.

PerC is not a deep think tank and has its share of asinine OPs and postings. But it's a decent place to find something to think about or to share experiences.


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## flummoxed (Jun 29, 2015)

I'm not big fan of social media, by the link in the OP is a bunch of sanctimonious bull crap. We can have a real discussion about how social media degrades real life human social interactions, but the article doesn't even make that point it just calls everyone who uses Twitter and Facebook stupid based on a few cherry picked examples of people acting stupid. It's also terribly ironic to be attacking social media on your personal BLOG, lol.


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## UraniaIsis (Nov 26, 2014)

It's not the medium, it's the ID10T using it. I might as well blame a hammer for my injuries due to my poor aim while I'm at it.

Every time I hear people *itch and gripe that technology is making us antisocial I just think about the olden' & golden days of yore...


















Everyone had class, your eyes scanned your environment and not staring at the ground like an unsociable. No one was looking over your shoulder at what you were reading, and they socialized about what was going on in their community while on the way to wherever. People had class, not gossiping about nothin'. _/sarcasm_


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## nonnaci (Sep 25, 2011)

Social media is quite effective at propagating the differentiated desires of others which is what value comes down to... Engineered desires.


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## flummoxed (Jun 29, 2015)

UraniaIsis said:


> Everyone had class, your eyes scanned your environment and not staring at the ground like an unsociable. No one was looking over your shoulder at what you were reading, and they socialized about what was going on in their community while on the way to wherever. People had class, not gossiping about nothin'. _/sarcasm_


At least they dressed nice. :laughing:


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## bender477 (Aug 23, 2010)

I like social media. I've organized a few campaigns thru it & had some really good energy helped ppl think they were making a difference, and maybe made a difference as well.

that article lost me at 'awfulizing'


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## EndsOfTheEarth (Mar 14, 2015)

I've never participated in social media because right from the start it just appeared to be an internet fuelled form of gossip and bragging. And frankly, who the hell can be bothered with that? That article hasn't done anything to shatter my first impression of social media. It doesn't bother me everyone wastes their lives checking facebook updates and gives away more information about themselves than many sane people would. That's their business but I've found no call to jump on the bandwagon.


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## mushr00m (May 23, 2011)

The social media crowd. They are all around us. It's quite a sucky culture of this day and age.


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## Schema B (Aug 9, 2015)

Social media has its uses. I can meet others in my vicinity with relative ease without having to actually go out and do extroverted activities. Keep track of the people I know in real life without picking up a phone and calling.

That said, I'm kind of the oddball among my FB friends. I post things most people don't give a hoot about and get bored really quickly because most of them are just living on different mental tracks. PerC is the most stimulating interaction with other human beings I've had online in a very long time, and I've only been on here a few days. 

Can/should it substitute face-to-face interaction? No, but the onus is on me to get off my ass and figure that part out. I won't blame FB or anything else for my choice to be a hermit.


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## AriesLilith (Jan 6, 2013)

Social media has good and bad sides, and it depends on the people behind each community.

The good thing is that it can provide a sense of belonging and exchange of information. Connecting to long lost acquaintances has never been so easy (imagine an emmigrant connecting with past friends and classmates, relatives, and being able to share news about their lives); and sharing information has never been so fast.

With social media, one can find information and people with similar interests in a few clicks. Interested in game development? Look at all the Twitter users you can follow. Wondering how to raise guppies? Join some forums and ask for help. Wondering how everyone else you know that lives far far away are doing? Check a few Facebook posts, or even message them via Facebook. Need a career network? LinkedIn profile and there you are.

I've seen companies building their own social brand and having more success coz what they do to get visible has been very interesting and focused on helping others. Bits of news in social media helped others know what they are up to, what they could do to help themselves and so on.


Social media is a way to connect and exchange information. It can be misused but it can also be well used.


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## Toru Okada (May 10, 2011)

It's not 'broken' if it's doing its job, which is to bring people together and promote leftist propaganda.


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## Schema B (Aug 9, 2015)

Gore Motel said:


> It's not 'broken' if it's doing its job, which is to bring people together and promote leftist propaganda.


bring people together
bring people together around ideas
group people together around similar ideas
introduce advertising to get people comfortable with outside influence
-- introduce "trends" --
actively promote SOME of those ideas
let others just... disappear

I'm nearly apolitical, but I appreciate what you said. Social media can promote information at will with zero accountability. Can anyone find available data to back up what might be identified as a trend? 

FB is not exactly an atmosphere that promotes critical thinking or curiosity. People are satisfied being spoon-fed the new ideas they take in every day, but I'm not too sure why.


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## bender477 (Aug 23, 2010)

I don't really use social media for the usual reasons I guess; my irl fb friends I mostly ignore because find too vapid and self-promoting. honestly all the ppl I know thru that site now are ~20-30 years older than I and we connected over political stuff (note: NOT leftwing propaganda).

twitter can be something of an iq test, but everyone I read there is like superbrilliant and interesting but that's because I follow superbrilliant and interesting people. you can choose another path and get an entirely different result. I'll agree there's a lot of spam.


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## Lelu (Jun 1, 2015)

Usually, a broken system means that it either doesn't accomplish its function or it is easily exploited beyond intended use.

I was honestly expecting to hear how if you have enough money and know-how/ connections, you can create and manipulate aggressive movements through a combination of sensationalism, pathos, and incomplete information, in order to influence laws and social norms. This is what I expect from when someone uses the term, broken.

Kinda disappointed that the article is all hearsay and opinion on the state of social media.


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## Schema B (Aug 9, 2015)

Lelu said:


> Usually, a broken system means that it either doesn't accomplish its function or it is easily exploited beyond intended use.


I'd rather see a study or concrete data, agreed. But what you said just supports my own claim that that information could not be made available because the system has zero accountability. All those failed FB protests are about the most anyone can do against this system. What we're left with is hearsay. 

Broken is in the eyes of the beholder.


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