Venting Am I the only one who doesn't understand the hate of smartphone and social media use?

[KillingPain267]

With smartphones, tablets and the internet I can watch nearly every movie that exists, read every article, book and I can call distant family and friends within seconds all from my bed.

People say it's a meaningless life to just consume media, but if the inhernet didn't exist people still wasted time on meaningless things. Being in the gym the whole day is meaningless because your body will deteriorate anyway eventually no matter how much you exercise. Socializing with friends is meaningless activity too because everyone is selfish and will eventually betray you and/or die. Some have friends only because they are rich and famous. If they were poor, all the friends would leave. I don't need such fakery.

As someone with severe back issues I am in pain after just 2 hours of activity outside the bed. If I had to go to a movie theatre to waste my time with meaningless entertainment I would feel very debilitated. So it's awesome to watch movies from bed. But there is so much more on the internet. I would not be as smart if it weren't for the internet. I have a hunger for knowledge. If I had to go to the library to study, again my back would severely limit my patience.

As someone with severe social anxiety and nearly no friends, I don't feel comfortable being outside where people judge me for how I look or act. In my bed I can watch social interactions online from a distance without them seeing me. I can interact with strangers in text just fine. But not in person. So the internet has given me ways to be social without straining and feeling painfully awkward.

But people will say all this is "unhealthy" and "depletes my dopamine". So what. Should I just watch grass grow instead and get joy out of that? What is the point then if all we do is find things to pass time before we die? Why not be as fully entertained as possible?

I tried a few weeks living with only 90s technology (except for my work), and I quickly found myself bored as shit. It felt like life is only work and sleep. Nothing to look forward to.

I guess they just want us to work all the time.

Thank God for the internet!

 

[taysontheory]

When I wake up, I don't use any electronic device, I take care of my skin for half an hour, and I eat for half an hour. This keeps addiction away from me. In any case, social media apps distract the human mind a little from the reality of depressing existence.

 

[Mirrory Me]

Oh, so there will still be these people in 2025? Using smart devices does not have to be passive, you can work with them in a very versatile way on different things.

 

[fallingtopieces]

It can be beneficial for some, but there is no denying the link between skyrocketing loneliness/isolation and technology on the whole. No denying smartphones are harming student learning with constant distraction. Social anxiety also will increase because people will simply not have the practice of socializing more, interacting with people irl. It's like a muscle, if you don't use it, you don't develop it. Talk to an ophthalmologist and they'll tell you of the nearsightedness epidemic amongst children as they grow up staring into screens. I won't even begin to talk about how tech has destroyed privacy, commoditized our clicks, our attention, us as a whole;the enshittification, everyone trying to sell you something, loads of snakeoil/hucksters. Or how it has been weaponized with misinformation/disinformation/conspiracy and torn apart the social fabric. Even the grass, it's not about watching it grow. Being in nature has positive effects on mental health. But I completely understand how you find it helpful as an individual and within your context.

 

[Mirrory Me]

It can be beneficial for some, but there is no denying the link between skyrocketing loneliness/isolation and technology on the whole. No denying smartphones are harming student learning with constant distraction. Social anxiety also will increase because people will simply not have the practice of socializing more, interacting with people irl. It's like a muscle, if you don't use it, you don't develop it. Talk to an ophthalmologist and they'll tell you of the nearsightedness epidemic amongst children as they grow up staring into screens. I won't even begin to talk about how tech has destroyed privacy, commoditized our clicks, our attention, us as a whole;the enshittification, everyone trying to sell you something, loads of snakeoil/hucksters. Or how it has been weaponized with misinformation/disinformation/conspiracy and torn apart the social fabric. Even the grass, it's not about watching it grow. Being in nature has positive effects on mental health. But I completely understand how you find it helpful as an individual and within your context.

They should just create some formal "public school app" with ai that anyone can download (no more need for lots of expenses and other bullshit...):

The top 10 reasons why mobile learning is the future of education |

Mobile learning has grown significantly in recent years. Not just because of the rise of smartphones and handheld devices, but also due to the increasing

training.safetyculture.com

There is also digital notebooks nowdays.

 

[TheHolySword]

sometimes i wish i wasn't connected to every aspect of every thing at all times. but there's more issues in my life than just social media and a phone.

 

[KillingPain267]

It can be beneficial for some, but there is no denying the link between skyrocketing loneliness/isolation and technology on the whole.

Cause and effect. The increase in loneliness may be what is CAUSING more people to become shut-ins only being chronically online. I know it is in my case. I was lonely before smartphones were common.

Social anxiety also will increase because people will simply not have the practice of socializing more, interacting with people irl. It's like a muscle, if you don't use it, you don't develop it.

I developed social anxiety before social media. And pushing myself never helped develop that "muscle". It only gave me more anxious experiences that made me want to isolate even more.

Talk to an ophthalmologist and they'll tell you of the nearsightedness epidemic amongst children as they grow up staring into screens.

I literally did and she told me that newest science shows that risk of myopia is caused by lack of outdoor light rather than staring at things near. They said the same thing about reading books, which turned out to be a myth. So in China they put it to the test. They made one group of children read and do homework outdoors and the other indoors and found that the indoor group developed more myopia, accounting for how much time spent on reading and homework. This is literally what my eye doctor said. Nothing to do with social media and the internet.

I won't even begin to talk about how tech has destroyed privacy, commoditized our clicks, our attention, us as a whole;the enshittification, everyone trying to sell you something, loads of snakeoil/hucksters. Or how it has been weaponized with misinformation/disinformation/conspiracy and torn apart the social fabric.

Correlation, man. These are issues with capitalism and power, not the inernet itself. You mentioned what the problems are: destruction of privacy, commodification, aggressive advertising, product scams, misinformation... all these things existed in other mediums like TV, movie theatres, radio, even newspapers and public parks. The internet had much less of these things in the beginning. The problem was commodification and centralization, not the technology itself.

 

[EternalShore]

it's because we want friendships and stuff irl~ smartphones and electronics take away people from talking to people near them as they don't talk to you at all instead irl and just focus on their phones! :( with friendships and stuff, doing older stuff was more enjoyable too! :3 because everything is more fun with friends! :D
ofc, people will be selfish and awful regardless but perhaps, without these things, they could be less so~ We can be glad in a way that we have neat things like that tho to distract us from all the loneliness~ :) because internet friends are a thing! hehe~
and well, I don't mind pre-90s stuff, but the early 2000s was when everything was at its best imo at least! ^_^

 

[KillingPain267]

Being in nature has positive effects on mental health.

A new study has shown that this effect also exists by merely watching photos of green sceneries.

it's because we want friendships and stuff irl~ smartphones and electronics take away people from talking to people near them as they don't talk to you at all instead irl and just focus on their phones! :( with friendships and stuff, doing older stuff was more enjoyable too! :3 because everything is more fun with friends! :D
ofc, people will be selfish and awful regardless but perhaps, without these things, they could be less so~ We can be glad in a way that we have neat things like that tho to distract us from all the loneliness~ :) because internet friends are a thing! hehe~
and well, I don't mind pre-90s stuff, but the early 2000s was when everything was at its best imo at least! ^_^

With friends we often became bored, and actually had to debate on what activity to do next because we had already played with whatevrr we had planned. The early 2000s only feel better to you and me because we were children. I'm happy to see how the internet has progressed. There are issues with it, but it has so much more stuff on it now that I would be distracted for the next 1000 years.

 

[dragonofenvy]

I'm one of those people who thinks that social media is pointless, but not necessarily device use. Most activities are pointless, we're just trying to find ways to pass the time until we die. That's it. If you wanna doomscroll YouTube all day, who cares in the end? I do it because I don't have anything better to do. I don't have friends to hang out with and never have. I don't do anything meaningful that changes anybody or the world in any form.

The reason I think social media is pointless is because of how you interact with others. Rather than writing them messages in a messaging app, you're simply posting random stuff out there, and to me most of it seems to try to be braggy or flex, but sometimes humorous or informative. Most people I knew would just send snaps on snapchat to keep the streak up, or post pictures of their pets or of food. That was it. Then they'd spend hours online trying to find reasons to make themselves angry from whatever political buzz there is they don't like to some tragedy somewhere, and then go down the rabbit hole of making themselves angrier and angrier. I think there are better things for you to do than to intentionally make yourself angry. But that's coming from someone who is completely detached, so maybe I don't understand.

Science has told us how technology use makes many people unproductive and uncreative. You spend so much time on technology that you procrastinate doing basic things like cleaning, applying for jobs, etc. This is something I'd have to make an entire thread about and break out those academic journals that are only barely readable and I don't feel like doing that considering I've written so damn much already.

Without technology, I would have ZERO interaction with others. At least I can play games with some people on rare occasions and talk to them in a call about random nothings. Video games have been my escape since I was 3. For me, technology is a net positive. But I use it strictly for entertainment purposes.

 

[untothedepths]

i feel like being as 'old' as i am the internet is an incredibly beautiful thing sometimes. i dont downplay some of the negative effects social media has on a populace but i think that is largely due to a lack of discipline and oversight for minors/users. i think the social cohesion was better in the late 90s/early 2000s. the web was a big landscape where people could find niche yet compassionate groups to belong, but you dont see that as much with a deliberately homogenized and market influenced situation.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I'd personally feel lost without the internet certainly. Plus, it also fills a gap for my social need seeing as I also struggle in real life.

However- I do understand the many concerns about it also. Is it 'healthy' for children to spend countless hours indoors playing computer games to the exclusion of most other things? Probably not. It would likely benefit them to play sports, get some exercise, socialise as well. I imagine the increase in obesity and other health related issues, especially in childhood are linked to less physical activity and eating junk.

It may well contribute towards it being much harder for them if they do need to work around others in future. Not all jobs can be done remotely. Not all parents can support their NEET offspring forever either. Most people will have to earn in their lives and having little to no practice being around others may make that experience that much harder for them.

I've rather shot myself in the foot there. I've pretty much indulged my 'need' to be alone for years. So much so now that I'm likely to turn down better job opportunities because I can't face working with others! Maybe I would have done that regardless of the internet. Not sure.

Also, while online friendships are great, I don't know. Maybe I'm old fashioned but, they're not like being around a person in real life. Maybe we are losing the skills to make friends in real life because, we're not being forced to.

The internet is an incredible resource. It's almost amusing to think the lengths we'd have to go for knowledge when I was growing up. We'd have to physically go to the library! Maybe call a helpline. Now, most things are seconds away. I think that's more good than bad.

It's weird though. The whole instant gratification thing. We're so impatient now. We hear about a film and we want to stream it instantly. We'd rather not pay for music. We take it for granted we should have these things. To the extent, some think we should even be able to copy things and benefit ourselves. No real thought to the artist behind the work. As a culture, I don't think that's great. It leaves people open to being massively exploited. I expect AI will only make that worse. Getting it to write essays etc.

Plus, I think it's totally f*cked up our attention spans. It's actually no real wonder to me we hear so much about ADHD these days. Maybe it is heredity or trauma related but I also think- things like YouTube and TikTok where we're watching seconds to minutes worth of high intensity action- one thing after the other, it's no real wonder people are struggling to settle on one thing. How many times do we watch a video to the end or, even bother with clips 20 minutes long? I just think all of that also affects what we expect from the world and, how we interact with it.

I don't think social media is all that healthy necessarily either. Obviously, there's the very serious bullying side of things. And the confidence cowardly POS feel that being annonymous, they can be utterly vile and get away with it. But, also the intense pressure to look beautiful, be successful, compete, big yourself up. I always hated social media for that.

That all said, it's like anything that has positives and negatives. Probably moderation is likely the key for it to remain a healthy asset. I think that's where we likely struggle the most though. Me included. You either need to really moderate yourself and judge whether it's a good use of your time in the long run and I suppose, parents have to do the same for their children.

For people who are incapacitated though- absolutely. I'm sure it's a window on the world. Just like anyone though, would they rather do that so, put off doing exercises they've been given to do? Will it delay meal times? The problem with it- I suppose for everyone is it can become addictive.

 

[KillingPain267]

I'd personally feel lost without the internet certainly. Plus, it also fills a gap for my social need seeing as I also struggle in real life.

However- I do understand the many concerns about it also. Is it 'healthy' for children to spend countless hours indoors playing computer games to the exclusion of most other things? Probably not. It would likely benefit them to play sports, get some exercise, socialise as well. I imagine the increase in obesity and other health related issues, especially in childhood are linked to less physical activity and eating junk.

It may well contribute towards it being much harder for them if they do need to work around others in future. Not all jobs can be done remotely. Not all parents can support their NEET offspring forever either. Most people will have to earn in their lives and having little to no practice being around others may make that experience that much harder for them.

I've rather shot myself in the foot there. I've pretty much indulged my 'need' to be alone for years. So much so now that I'm likely to turn down better job opportunities because I can't face working with others! Maybe I would have done that regardless of the internet. Not sure.

Also, while online friendships are great, I don't know. Maybe I'm old fashioned but, they're not like being around a person in real life. Maybe we are losing the skills to make friends in real life because, we're not being forced to.

The internet is an incredible resource. It's almost amusing to think the lengths we'd have to go for knowledge when I was growing up. We'd have to physically go to the library! Maybe call a helpline. Now, most things are seconds away. I think that's more good than bad.

It's weird though. The whole instant gratification thing. We're so impatient now. We hear about a film and we want to stream it instantly. We'd rather not pay for music. We take it for granted we should have these things. To the extent, some think we should even be able to copy things and benefit ourselves. No real thought to the artist behind the work. As a culture, I don't think that's great. It leaves people open to being massively exploited. I expect AI will only make that worse. Getting it to write essays etc.

Plus, I think it's totally f*cked up our attention spans. It's actually no real wonder to me we hear so much about ADHD these days. Maybe it is heredity or trauma related but I also think- things like YouTube and TikTok where we're watching seconds to minutes worth of high intensity action- one thing after the other, it's no real wonder people are struggling to settle on one thing. How many times do we watch a video to the end or, even bother with clips 20 minutes long? I just think all of that also affects what we expect from the world and, how we interact with it.

I don't think social media is all that healthy necessarily either. Obviously, there's the very serious bullying side of things. And the confidence cowardly POS feel that being annonymous, they can be utterly vile and get away with it. But, also the intense pressure to look beautiful, be successful, compete, big yourself up. I always hated social media for that.

That all said, it's like anything that has positives and negatives. Probably moderation is likely the key for it to remain a healthy asset. I think that's where we likely struggle the most though. Me included. You either need to really moderate yourself and judge whether it's a good use of your time in the long run and I suppose, parents have to do the same for their children.

For people who are incapacitated though- absolutely. I'm sure it's a window on the world. Just like anyone though, would they rather do that so, put off doing exercises they've been given to do? Will it delay meal times? The problem with it- I suppose for everyone is it can become addictive.

Internet addiction doesn't exist. Despite attempts there has never been identified any pathology by psychiatrists.

 

[billie]

watching tiktok videos helps me distract myself

 

[fallingtopieces]

They should just create some formal "public school app" with ai that anyone can download (no more need for lots of expenses and other bullshit...):

The top 10 reasons why mobile learning is the future of education |

Mobile learning has grown significantly in recent years. Not just because of the rise of smartphones and handheld devices, but also due to the increasing

training.safetyculture.com

There is also digital notebooks nowdays.

At this point if we're reading "The Top 10 Ten Reasons blah, blah, blah" posts on the internet... Someone is selling you something, has a financial interest in those reasons, if not outright affiliate linking. Even that post is about adult learning. It would help to understand childhood learning and development, and that just "make an app" would not work, and it would be disastrous for kids and on a societal level. Homeschooled kids are often the result of conservative, religious folks and are deprived of one of the most basic, positive aspects of school. That is to learn alongside peers of your own age, developing in a social environment instead of a bubble. One analogy is the difference between only children, and those with siblings. The former gets all the attention, never divided. The latter has to learn to share time, space, material and attention.

Small aside, you can read up on how Silicon Valley/Tech parents send their kids to expensive no-tech schools with incredible student to teacher ratios. But they are ready to sell you an app for learning for other people's kids for their profit.

Internet addiction doesn't exist. Despite attempts there has never been identified any pathology by psychiatrists.

Internet addiction doesn't exist is not yet recognized by the DSM. Again, there are positives to the internet, but there are most certainly problems. Social media has had many negative effects, especially on the younger folks. Research shows connections to isolation, loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and social anxiety. Lastly, it works for me therefore it must work for everyone approach is of course inherently problematic.

 

[Mirrory Me]

At this point if we're reading "The Top 10 Ten Reasons blah, blah, blah" posts on the internet... Someone is selling you something, has a financial interest in those reasons, if not outright affiliate linking. Even that post is about adult learning. It would help to understand childhood learning and development, and that just "make an app" would not work, and it would be disastrous for kids and on a societal level. Homeschooled kids are often the result of conservative, religious folks and are deprived of one of the most basic, positive aspects of school. That is to learn alongside peers of your own age, developing in a social environment instead of a bubble. One analogy is the difference between only children, and those with siblings. The former gets all the attention, never divided. The latter has to learn to share time, space, material and attention.

Small aside, you can read up on how Silicon Valley/Tech parents send their kids to expensive no-tech schools with incredible student to teacher ratios. But they are ready to sell you an app for learning for other people's kids for their profit.

Internet addiction doesn't exist is not yet recognized by the DSM. Again, there are positives to the internet, but there are most certainly problems. Social media has had many negative effects, especially on the younger folks. Research shows connections to isolation, loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and social anxiety. Lastly, it works for me therefore it must work for everyone approach is of course inherently problematic.

Well, if child can learn to play piano with with basic app, then why can't child learn other information, if there's ai or some other assist that basically is there to hold hand while going trough it independently. Have you tried to talking to ai- they are bassicly made for people who are interested to discuss and learn new things... And imagine if it was more child friendly, like making it more playful and interactive , having some cool themes like being at the hogwarss, and that sorta. Use your imagination and don't think things always has to be same... Or do you, it's your choice after all, just saying...

Edit: Thinking about it, we could be one of those last generations, who would tell younglish that "when we were young, we used to go to to school...- ".

 

[KillingPain267]

Well, if child can learn to play piano with with basic app, then why can't child learn other information, if there's ai or some other assist that basically is there to hold hand while going trough it independently. Have you tried to talking to ai- they are bassicly made for people who are interested to discuss and learn new things... And imagine if it was more child friendly, like making it more playful and interactive , having some cool themes like being at the hogwarss, and that sorta. Use your imagination and don't think things always has to be same... Or do you, it's your choice after all, just saying...

Edit: Thinking about it, we could be one of those last generations, who would tell younglish that "when we were young, we used to go to to school...- ".

AI will likely replace teachers at some point.

 

[ForgottenAgain]

I think that, as with everything else in life, balance is key. There are pros and cons to everything. As for social media, I think it lost its original purpose and just became an interactive marketplace. Pretty much everything one interacts with is an ad in some form or another, all social communication is extremely short and superficial, it's all about inflating ones ego. Then there's the issue of training ourselves that we should always be entertained at all times, to the point that our attention spans suffer. Some level of boredom is important, some level of being uncomfortable is what makes comfortable moments feel better.

Personally, I see social media as incredibly damaging and just pointless. There's no social connections to be made, it's incredibly hard to meaningfully engage with people. It's the feeling of being alone whilst in a crowd, for me at least. After years of quitting social media, my mental health improved in several aspects, I felt like I got rid of an addiction.

I still use internet a lot and still use certain apps that have algorithms like facebook, youtube, etc, but I've starved those algorithms so I only see an empty home page and search what I want to watch myself. Besides that, I use the internet a lot for learning about things, but still use the local library for borrowing books, printing things when needed, etc. I like the feeling of going to the library, the silence, being surrounded by books, the act of borrowing books, I think all of that is quite perfect to be honest. It takes a toll on me to walk to and from the library as I have back problems (most probably not as severe as yours) so it takes some effort on my part, but at the same time the book feels more rewarding. I feel like I spent my time meaningfully. I feel like some effort being needed to acquire something just feels right with my brain.

I get more lasting satisfaction from doing some physical activity to acquire some knowledge than when I don't. Even if it's just getting up to get a book from the bookcase. I think our bodies were meant to move and our brains were meant to get satisfaction from doing something when that something takes some effort.
I just think society normalises social media/internet addiction too much, simply because everyone's addicted.

 

[fallingtopieces]

Well, if child can learn to play piano with with basic app, then why can't child learn other information, if there's ai or some other assist that basically is there to hold hand while going trough it independently. Have you tried to talking to ai- they are bassicly made for people who are interested to discuss and learn new things... And imagine if it was more child friendly, like making it more playful and interactive , having some cool themes like being at the hogwarss, and that sorta. Use your imagination and don't think things always has to be same... Or do you, it's your choice after all, just saying...

Edit: Thinking about it, we could be one of those last generations, who would tell younglish that "when we were young, we used to go to to school...- ".

First I'm going to make an assumption that we don't have children, and likely not even been around children as adults, including having friends that have children or extended family (e.g. nephew, niece). Nor do we know any teachers. I don't understand how just because a child can learn to play piano from an app, we can thus extrapolate to a child's entire development and education from kindergarten through upper/high school?? How are we suddenly experts on complex problems even though we know little about the subject/idea/problem? A good education is not simply learning information, unless you're a conservative or capitalist. Children are not robots. We're completely skipping over the part about childhood development, social and emotional learning, and learning in a social environment. We want the isolation to start even earlier, in childhood now?? Sounds to me like we're taking our life and circumstances, and deciding it should be for everyone and even every age. Meanwhile we're on a pro-choice suicide forum where many people suffer from isolation and loneliness. AI does not solve these problems, and technology and social media is absolutely tied to creating them.

AI will likely replace teachers at some point.

Yes, you both paint a good dystopian picture. In which AI might replace teachers but only for the poors. Just as now one of the greatest aspects of inequity in education is teacher to student ratio.
Personally, I don't understand how people are so enthralled by large language models.

 

[KillingPain267]

As for social media, I think it lost its original purpose and just became an interactive marketplace. Pretty much everything one interacts with is an ad in some form or another, all social communication is extremely short and superficial, it's all about inflating ones ego.

True, but in the "real world" you are also bombarded with ads everywhere, and people interact with each other only if it benefits themselves, whether that be for ego boosts, getting monetary help, looking cool etc. Every negative thing in social media exists in real life, or in other mediums. The depravity of humans has just become more visible with the internet, but it has nothing to do with the internet itself.

Personally, I see social media as incredibly damaging and just pointless. There's no social connections to be made, it's incredibly hard to meaningfully engage with people. It's the feeling of being alone whilst in a crowd, for me at least. After years of quitting social media, my mental health improved in several aspects, I felt like I got rid of an addiction.

And yet you are here, on a social media type site having meaningful conversations and contributing to the forum. This site has given me more open meaningful social interactions than I ever have with friends and family and strangers. Nowhere can I share my suicidal feelings than online.

I still use internet a lot and still use certain apps that have algorithms like facebook, youtube, etc, but I've starved those algorithms so I only see an empty home page and search what I want to watch myself.

See? You have a lot of choice with the internet.

Besides that, I use the internet a lot for learning about things, but still use the local library for borrowing books, printing things when needed, etc. I like the feeling of going to the library, the silence, being surrounded by books, the act of borrowing books, I think all of that is quite perfect to be honest.

The libraries near me all have sudden groups of kids barging in making noise. Or just anyone suddenly coming in startles me because I have social anxiety. Also, these libraries have far less scientific information than the internet. It's more difficult to look up information from racks of books, so with the internet I learn like 10× faster.

I get more lasting satisfaction from doing some physical activity to acquire some knowledge than when I don't. Even if it's just getting up to get a book from the bookcase. I think our bodies were meant to move and our brains were meant to get satisfaction from doing something when that something takes some effort.

I physically move my fingers to click on information I need for knowledge with the internet. Lol

I just think society normalises social media/internet addiction too much, simply because everyone's addicted.

Internet addiction doesn't exist. Despite many efforts, psychiatrists have never been able to prove a pathology. It's like saying humans are addicted to clothes because society normalises being covered up. Lol