Social Media is making people crack

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

It still bothers me though that some of the biggest virtue signallers and self promoters seem to get a lot of positive attention.

It happens in other realms of “social media” as well. I see self promoters of different variations getting a lot of attention and stars on ATS.

Life seems to be one big popularity contest on or offline, and those who don’t play that game are the winners in my eyes.

a reply to: Sheye

I feel like ATS is very different from Facebook/Instagram etc, because we are anonymous here
(or at least we think we are)

originally posted by: Lab4Us
Personally, I don’t think it’s social media. After all, hundreds of thousands have accounts with no issue. My hypothesis is that it’s the “everybody gets a trophy” mentality. If you didn’t “like” my post, I didn’t get my trophy. Even here at ATS you’ll find posts from people whining about their posts lack of stars or how it’s unfair someone else got stars.

Full disclosure, ATS and a couple of other forums are the extent of my social media, so maybe I just don’t get the need to have folks “like” or “upvote” what I’ve written or pictures I’ve posted. Guess I’m just a slacker...

I have to agree. It does seem that if one keeps a healthy balance, social media can be a good thing. Unfortunately, many, including myself, find the addictive dopamine high can easily override their sense of balance.

Social media is addictive. I had my eyes opened by listening to the following video regarding how to deal with Millenials in the workplace. It is very motivational. It is 15 minute excerpt...but believe me...even if you are no longer nor in corporate environment...this guy's wisdom is unmistakably helpful for all in today's world.



I wish more will recognize that they need to have balance with social media and perhaps they would not 'crack'.



Edit add: a reply to: TheRedneck

Still catching up on the thread. Seen your post and want to make sure others go back a page and read it it, even if they already did!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Hahaha, I wore bell-bottoms!

The 70s were one hell of a decade. I know because I woke up on January 1, 1980, rubbed my eyes, and they happened to lock on my closet. There hanging up was a lavender double-knit, bell-bottomed, polyester leisure suit, right next to the lime green double-knit, bell-bottomed, polyester leisure suit. And they were both in my size!

TheRedneck

a reply to: toysforadults

I blame that on the (lack of) public education... but yeah, you're right. It's hard enough moving out, much more so when you don't know how to live on your own.

TheRedneck

I think especially youngsters who have never known a world without social media may take it all too seriously, and it is possible to extend bullying from real life to the virtual world.

I just read again about a teen in Ireland who committed suicide over social media bullying, or being solicited to send nude pics which are later used for blackmail.

As Scott Lawrence wrote in: The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of being in the Digital World (2016), sites like Facebook also create unrealistic points of comparison.

All those old friends had a party, and you weren't invited.
Everyone posting about how happy they are and well they're doing, when you had a nasty day, and feeling depressed.
People spying on each other all the time to see if somebody is comparatively happier or worse off, just like a peep-hole in a door - one eye looking out, while another is looking in on you.
But once you realize a lot of it just pretense, it helps.

Of course in SA I had to tone down the politics at a stage (that can get you locked up).

Instead I became a bit silly.
It just becomes problematic when I began confusing ATS with Facebook on some nights, and there would be reams of photos and whatever one-liner thoughts in one thread as I toggled between the two sites.
I'm not sure I'll ever cure that mishap completely, but I think I'm doing better.

What still floors me is how I was locked out of a Germanic heritage site, although they claim I was never banned.
But now I think that was actually run by German state agents to keep an eye on the "Nazis", and once they realized I was actually gay (despite some conservative views, and liking some of the bombastic historical music), and not intent on committing any hate crime, they decided I was dead wood and kicked me off.