Yeah, that's what we ultimately should do and would be off much better. Maybe we'd even learn again to say hi and talk to strangers on the street... but instead we'll all be zombies completely absorbed by our "gadgets". What a ****ed up society. I'll see myself out...
Not really, just telling what i honestly think. People get more and more isolated and don't know anymore how to interact socially. Has nothing to do with having a bad day. But i know it's stupid to write this... usually people don't like to be told the ugly truth.
Actually had a conversation with the lady at the cash register in a gas station yesterday about this. She complained how she has to force her two kids off of their mobile phone screens every day to have a possibility to spend at least 15 min talking to them, if she wouldn't do that the only interaction would be hello and goodbye in the morning and evening.
Another conversation with a turkish guy who went back home to his country for holidays recently. He said he expected in their culture they would still be very social and talk to each other when going out, but things would have obviously changed nowadays, as the normal thing he encountered back in his country now would be teenagers sitting at the table in the club burrying their faces in their mobile phones instead of talking to each other.
You may laugh now, i may exaggerate, but just wait a few more years until most people are left lonely and isolated behind their screens.
Enjoy your smart watches controling your smart phones and shit...
(it's all tongue in cheek with a bit of truth behind it... don't get offended because i attacked your cosy "bubble")
Only thing I'm wondering here, is how did the jibber I knew from the old days turn in to such a sad cynic that your posts here lately have shown.
Protip: Smartphones/tablets/watches don't turn people in to being anti-social, those people have always been like that. And this discussion is horribly offtopic for this thread.
To be honest, i was always cynic like this, i just restrained myself from showing it i guess. Recent life events have brought me to the point where i don't care anymore and tell it into peoples faces what i think (my ex partner lied to me about pregnancy, etc... i guess you could see that as a "bad day"). I'm still nice most of the time tho and people i talk to IRL would tell you i'm a pleasant person to have a conversation with.
Again, not trying to attack you Toni, just saying what i really think of todays society burried in social media, smart phones and materialism, and yes, i believe this is a new trend since a few years and indeed turns people into anti-social zombies.
We're offtopic in a "show off" thread, so i think it's not the end of the world to discuss this here.
The type of anti-social issue that you're describing, is pretty much always the result of poor parenting. Adults aren't really any more anti-social than they were before all this technology came around. I still greet and talk to people IRL just the same as when cell phones were the size and weight of bricks.
But kids and teenagers that get all the toys and gadgets from their parents, and use them with no limits? Sure, that kind of thing is obviously going to have an effect on their social skills and life behaviour. It's not the technology that should be blamed here, it is the care-free parenting of the modern day.
See, i am not so sure about this. Media and marketing teaches most people otherwise.
A few years ago when people still had sony erricsson phones and black berries... phones that you couldn't conveniently use to access the internet... i remember how people standing in line at the airports used to talk to each other (flew to other countries quite a bit for work). Then about three or four years ago it started... you saw 95% of the people waiting in line staring at their smart phones, totally absorbed.
In September i went to pick up my car from repair, i took the bus... You know how in some busses a few seats in the front face backwards? I sat in one of those, and guess what... the bus was full, but none of the people made eye contact with me the entire ride (i was facing them), they all were too busy looking into their smart phones.
This is normal today... you can't tell me all those people had bad parenting. It's todays society, facebook, always connected, etc. It's a fact people who are most active on facebook are in danger of getting lonely and depressed, a fact, not a myth.
Anyway, i guess it's really far off topic, so my appologies.
There has always been ways to be antisocial. Just because kids are using their phones doesn't mean they are alone or antisocial. They are probably more connected than ever and with all kinds of ways to communicate the kids are probably more connected with friends than ever. Those devices do not just mean more ways to communicate but more people to communicate with.
Imagine being a lonely kid today and how much easier it is compared to 20 years ago. While others are playing you can at least do something instead of just being alone. Does that mean more people are alone? I don't think so.
Those people standing in queues talking to each others. Probably asking about when or how something is done on the flight. And getting wrong info and missing their flights. Now they can just check the info online and and not miss their flights. I don't remember standing in queues and things being any more social than they are now. Of course this is coming from finnish pov but still if you want to talk with people in the queue just open your mouth and start talking.
Phones can be used in many ways. If I get bored even for one minute I can always take my phone out and play some games or pretend to be busy and very important. Just because I'm not sitting there with blank look on my face watching the minutes go by doesn't mean I'm more or less available. I'm just doing something instead of nothing.
Those kinds who need to have their smartphones taken away just so their mothers can talk with them... What about the parents 20 years ago who hide behind their morning newspaper. Or god forbid listen to some radio show and not pay attention? Even in caves you could play with some rocks and be totally antisocial to the max.
I'm not saying things are better or worse. Things are different.
