Social Media for those of a certain age?

[Tiki Tom]

Well, it is a start, I suppose...

https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech/1487788/iphone-listening-ios-14-update-microphone-active/

But may give a false sense of security. No doubt the real spooks will be able to turn off the little orange light.

 

[Zombie_61]

Well, it is a start, I suppose...

https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech/1487788/iphone-listening-ios-14-update-microphone-active/

But may give a false sense of security. No doubt the real spooks will be able to turn off the little orange light.

Oh, please. Nearly that entire article is a lie. The orange light will probably come on to let you know some street-level amateur hacker has accessed your phone, but the real authorities would have the proper "backdoor" codes to access your phone without being detected. That's the real reason cell phones were created and sold to the public anyway--so "they" can listen in any time they want to.

 

[Tiki Tom]

As the old gag goes: “just because you are paranoid does not mean they are Not out to get you!”

 

[LizzieMaine]

When "cordless phones" first came out in the '80s, I was amused to discover that I could tune them in on the old "police band" found on many pre-WWII radios, such as the one on my bedside table. I spent many enjoyable evenings falling asleep to the unedifying conversations of my downstairs neighbors.

Then, along came cellphones -- the earliest iterations of which could be tuned in on any good police scanner. Or, if you had an old TV set where the UHF channels were tuned in on a slide-rule-style dial, you'd find them up north of Channel 70. Taking cell service to digital eliminated all the good clean fun that came from listening to a local selectman making lovey-talk with a woman who was not his wife. Ah, happy days.

 

[Beresford]

Longtime from time to time lurker, but this is one of my first posts. I have to admit that I really miss life from before the internet. You actually talked to people and went out and did things. You weren't bombarded by the "news" and politics and emails 24 hours a day. Do others have the same feeling?

 

[GHT]

Going out socially is the first step to meeting people. Sharing interests is the catalyst for new friendships. But you have to make an effort. One of the fellows in my social group admitted to me that the dance floor was a place that filled him with dread. On the contrary he envied the men who could jive. One of our mutual pleasures is that of the music of the era, and interpreting it through dance. At 60 years old he learned to jive, and very good at it he is too. He made an effort, his reward is that not only can he now dance, he no longer has that dread when all his friends are out on the dance floor.

The current lockdown, more like house arrest, has all but destroyed socialising for the time being, it's the collateral damage of Covid 19. The basic human desire for interaction with others has come under pressure and to compensate people look to social media. The problem there though is that we don't physically meet one another.

I love The Lounge, the members feel as much as friends to me as the actual people in my social group, but despite the friendliness it's still only a forum. There are those who will say, that the more I get to know people, the more I love my dog. You can't blame them when you witness the selfishness of today's society.

However, meeting up with others who share a love of a common interest is often enough to override our differences, especially the more contentious differences like religion and politics. The internet has it's place but it needs to be controlled, or it becomes too easy just to sit in front of a screen, where you can be bombarded with everything from fake news to lurid websites. The addiction to social media sites is evident all around us. Just count, the next time that you are out shopping, how many times you see someone staring at their phone screen.

By making a similar effort to that of my friend, and I'm not advocating that we all become jivers, but making the effort to avoid the likes of Twitter et al, and by getting out again, the sense of pessimism will recede. There's nothing like the noisy forum of a busy bar, beats the internet every time. What fun if The Lounge had a real bar instead of a virtual one.

 

[Zombie_61]

Longtime from time to time lurker, but this is one of my first posts. I have to admit that I really miss life from before the internet. You actually talked to people and went out and did things. You weren't bombarded by the "news" and politics and emails 24 hours a day. Do others have the same feeling?

First, welcome to The Lounge!

Second, yes, most definitely. I'd guess there were people who felt the same way about the advent of television, or perhaps even radio--people who felt those technologies were an intrusion in their lives rather than an improvement. "Glenn Miller? Again? How can you listen to that stuff all day long?" For most people, I think, if it (whatever "it" is) wasn't a part of your life before a certain age it never really became a part of life. I can remember a time when "home entertainment" consisted of AM/FM radio, seven television stations, possibly a turntable and some albums/singles, and maybe a daily newspaper. It's probably more convenient to carry 1,000 books around on an electronic device of some sort, but that's nothing like holding a book in your hands or experiencing the musty aroma of the used book store where you bought that book.

The Internet didn't exist when I was a child; not that I was aware of, anyway. But I once had a job that required a lot of time using computers, so I got used to the 'Net being there and saw it as a useful tool. I still do, from a certain perspective. But like any tool, it depends on why and/or how you use it and I can see how easy it might be for some people to lose themselves in a device that gives them access to nearly everything the world has to offer. Even the World Wide Web needs limits. So, yeah, sometimes there is so much technology surrounding us that the sensory overload seems ridiculous. And it's only going to get worse. Maybe if more people learned how to use the "off" button...

 

[Beresford]

Yes we have been on lockdown off and on since March. Now it's almost total. No public or private gatherings, no association with people other than those living with you in your immediate household, no work or shopping other than essential. Most stores and all restaurants are closed. Must wear masks any time you are outside your home. Streets are also getting increasingly dangerous, especially around my workplace. We also have roving gangs of COVID police looking for people to cite or arrest if they are breaking the rules--there is a hotline where you can report people. I and my family are pretty scrupulous about following the rules, but it is still wearing.

I am looking forward to when this ends, but frankly my feeling right now is I'm disgusted with it all and want to check out of modern society.

 

[Beresford]

First, welcome to The Lounge!

Second, yes, most definitely. I'd guess there were people who felt the same way about the advent of television, or perhaps even radio--people who felt those technologies were an intrusion in their lives rather than an improvement. "Glenn Miller? Again? How can you listen to that stuff all day long?" For most people, I think, if it (whatever "it" is) wasn't a part of your life before a certain age it never really became a part of life. I can remember a time when "home entertainment" consisted of AM/FM radio, seven television stations, possibly a turntable and some albums/singles, and maybe a daily newspaper. It's probably more convenient to carry 1,000 books around on an electronic device of some sort, but that's nothing like holding a book in your hands or experiencing the musty aroma of the used book store where you bought that book.

The Internet didn't exist when I was a child; not that I was aware of, anyway. But I once had a job that required a lot of time using computers, so I got used to the 'Net being there and saw it as a useful tool. I still do, from a certain perspective. But like any tool, it depends on why and/or how you use it and I can see how easy it might be for some people to lose themselves in a device that gives them access to nearly everything the world has to offer. Even the World Wide Web needs limits. So, yeah, sometimes there is so much technology surrounding us that the sensory overload seems ridiculous. And it's only going to get worse. Maybe if more people learned how to use the "off" button...

 

[Beresford]

The loss of physical books is one of my sadnesses. In the city in which I live there are about 400,000 people, but for the entire city we have one remaining bookstore in one of the shopping centers (a Barnes & Noble--now both the store and shopping center are also closed because of Covid). All the others have gone out of business, first the independents driven out by Borders and Barnes & Noble, and then Borders going under. But who needs books when you have the internet?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Internet didn't exist when I was a child; not that I was aware of, anyway. But I once had a job that required a lot of time using computers, so I got used to the 'Net being there and saw it as a useful tool. I still do, from a certain perspective. But like any tool, it depends on why and/or how you use it and I can see how easy it might be for some people to lose themselves in a device that gives them access to nearly everything the world has to offer. Even the World Wide Web needs limits. So, yeah, sometimes there is so much technology surrounding us that the sensory overload seems ridiculous. And it's only going to get worse. Maybe if more people learned how to use the "off" button...

I draw the lines at cellphones, smartphones, mobile phones of any kind. I drew that line in the '90s, and I've never seen any legitimate reason to erase it. Yes, the internet is a tool, and a valuable tool at that -- but you don't break out your tool box and start fooling around with it when you're standing in line at the grocery store. The day that I have to carry it around with me to survive is the day I choose not to survive.

"The internet of things" is another non-starter for me. Star Trek technology is fine if you're living under the benign "we live to better ourselves and humanity" rule of the Federation, but not when the Bezoses and the Musks and the Theils and the Zuckerburgs and the rest of the Silicon Valley parasites are looking for new ways to monetize every step, breath, and crap you take.

 

[Hercule]

Wife and I don't do social media, and when asked why I tend to answer "because I'm not an 8th grade girl." I suppose the closest I come are the various forums I participate in (wife refers to them as my "faux friends), and I'm content with that. I do miss the days before we had cell phones, which at this point is a little more than 10 years ago, and before we had internet at home (necessitated by having a kid in school). We both sit in front of one all day so not doing computer at home was a nice dichotomy. Sadly, I find that now I can't be without it. It has become a necessary part of life as both a tool and toy.

 

[Zombie_61]

Wife and I don't do social media, and when asked why I tend to answer "because I'm not an 8th grade girl." I suppose the closest I come are the various forums I participate in (wife refers to them as my "faux friends), and I'm content with that.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but forums like The Lounge are simply earlier forms of social media, a stage of their evolution. The only real differences are that "forums" are usually targeted towards a specific subject matter and, as such, have a smaller membership base. Well, that and the lack of nude photos, but once you've seen one nekkid Grandma you've pretty much seen 'em all.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yahhhh, you kids today with ya forums an ya what nots. Usenet, now, that was the real action.

 

[Bushman]

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but forums like The Lounge are simply earlier forms of social media, a stage of their evolution. The only real differences are that "forums" are usually targeted towards a specific subject matter and, as such, have a smaller membership base. Well, that and the lack of nude photos, but once you've seen one nekkid Grandma you've pretty much seen 'em all.

Personally, just from a formating POV, I've always considered message boards superior to other formats of social media like Twitter or Facebook. Primarily, because message boards allow for a more blog style posting format, while Facebook is dependant on a text box over image grouping format.

But these days, messaging apps are basically self contained IRC chatboxes.

 

[Hercule]

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but forums like The Lounge are simply earlier forms of social media, a stage of their evolution. The only real differences are that "forums" are usually targeted towards a specific subject matter and, as such, have a smaller membership base. Well, that and the lack of nude photos, but once you've seen one nekkid Grandma you've pretty much seen 'em all.

Hence the sentence "I suppose the closest I come are the various forums I participate in (wife refers to them as my "faux friends), and I'm content with that."

 

[Old Mariner]

Longtime from time to time lurker, but this is one of my first posts. I have to admit that I really miss life from before the internet. You actually talked to people and went out and did things. You weren't bombarded by the "news" and politics and emails 24 hours a day. Do others have the same feeling?

I recall when I used to attend WWII living history events, that there was no smartphone to take, no laptop, no tablet, no kindle...etc. The internet was "anchored" at home on the PC. The last time I was at an event was 2011.

This whole matter was something that I had reflected on recently. I enjoyed not being bombarded by media. I think the phone I had was a basic non-internet flip phone.

As it is now, I feel jammed between being cooped up at home (due to the pandemic) and being "done" with the internet with the exception of online bill paying, email - for bills/medical/voting/shopping, and shopping (as there is little I want or seek, so it is easier to get online).

 

[Old Mariner]

Personally, just from a formating POV, I've always considered message boards superior to other formats of social media like Twitter or Facebook. Primarily, because message boards allow for a more blog style posting format, while Facebook is dependant on a text box over image grouping format.

But these days, messaging apps are basically self contained IRC chatboxes.

One of the reasons why I like forums as well, and the old NING networks I used to belong to. I cannot abide with these new forms of social interaction where you really cannot have an "in depth" discussion. I am an "in depth" type of person and not this "shallow blurb" type. Even when I had been on Facebook years ago specifically for groups (I rarely, if ever, had friends), one could not really interact on a more complex level. Good posts would be buried quickly, for one thing. One other thing that really incensed me was how link sharing was done. If I tried to fit more than one link in a post, people would only really go to the one link that had a preview and no others. This forced me to have to "spam" any links I wanted to share. This very feature is what got me kicked out of a spiritual network earlier this year. There was no way I could create a post or page and simply list the links.

Just stupid....stupid...crap.

The way the social networking is "designed" anymore is the main reason why, aside from places like this, I don't use it. I think that with the lack of formats like this, or in the NING networks, and with blurbs for posts and tweets, the attention spans of many have been severely shortened...which isn't good.

I have had to deal with people commenting on a link without having read the article or making assumptions about me after a few words I have said.

Pretty much sums up why I gave up.

 

[Tiki Tom]

This can only be a bad thing. Stanford University Prof says he has developed a facial recognition algorithm that can identify your politics based on your facial features. No good can come of this. It should be banned immediately. Not that that has ever stopped anything.

https://gizmodo.com/a-new-stanford-study-uses-facial-recognition-to-figure-1846052406

 

[Haversack]

How fine does it parse one's political leanings? Judean Peoples Front or Peoples Front of Judea? Free Market vs. Tariffs? Is an Absolute Monarchist liberal or conservative?