The spark for this rant came from this piece on Oprah.com called “The New Midlife Crisis.” Though this one focused specifically on Gen X women, I’ve seen the details before in articles about millennials of both genders, about working people, about teenagers (Gen Z or whatever the heck we’re calling them), on and on: people are stressed. Diagnoses of depression and anxiety are at all-time highs. Humanity is in crisis, be it mid-life or quarter-life or whatever. Everyone is unhappy and no one knows why.
I don’t deny that people are more stressed, depressed, and anxious. I’ve witnessed it firsthand. I’ve experienced it personally. Every article has a different theory: it’s because of the economy, it’s because of white supremacy, it’s because of capitalism, it’s the damn Republicans’ fault. But I think I know the answer and, in fact, I can almost guarantee that my theory is right.
IT’S THE INTERNET.
There are a lot of hand-wringing articles about younger millennials and the next generation growing up on the internet and spending most of their time on it. But no one seems to acknowledge the fact that older people use the internet too, you know. I am a millennial but I’m a bit of an older one (1985), so my family didn’t have a PC until I was in around fifth or sixth grade; we had no internet until freshman year of high school, and there was no such thing as smartphones until I was already out of college.
I did spend quite a bit of my formative years on the internet, but it was in the “Web 1.0” era. Slow internet speeds, basic web pages and no social media. I made a lot of friends online, but the settings were very similar to those at Glib: we all interacted under screen names. Very few people knew my real name or what I looked like. I spent time on fandom message boards, LiveJournal, fanlistings and the very occasional IRC chat room. We’d leave comment threads pertaining to a specific topic, such as whether those who watched dubbed anime should be burned at the stake or not. (Full disclosure: I am a dubbie, not a subbie. Feel free to shun the nonbeliever.) The friends I made in those places didn’t know every single detail of my life—we’d just talk about Sailor Moon or video games or whatever. It was an escape from reality, a nice way to de-stress when I got home from school. Building fanlistings was a fun way to teach myself web design and Photoshop as a creative outlet. It was a more innocent age.
Since the rise of MySpace and then Facebook, the internet has evolved, and you can easily see that the ways it has encroached more and more steadily into our lives is a recipe for stress overload. Moving away from the previous online culture of anonymity and limited sharing, social media has encouraged us to SHARE MOAR! SHARE MOAR! SHARE EVERY SINGLE DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE!
People live on social media, blurting out every little thing that comes to mind. Status updates for every second of every day. Everyone knows the second you start dating someone, the second you break up, when you get a job and when you lose one, what time you get up in the morning and what time you go to bed. Photos of every meal, every drink from a bar or a coffee shop, every outfit, every haircut. Family drama gets aired like dirty laundry. And don’t even talk to me about people with kids. Every milestone in life gets a professional photographer involved. Proposal photos, engagement photos, wedding photos, anniversary photos, pregnancy announcement photos, shower photos, gender reveal photos, photos with a chalkboard saying whatever week you’re at in your pregnancy, BIRTH photos—women are literally having someone glam them up while they’re in the damn hospital and posing with the baby on their naked chests. I could make a collage of these. They all look the same. And then once the kid’s popped, it’s annual family photos, holiday photos, first-day-of-school photos, the photo cycle never ends.
People get on Facebook Live or Instagram Stories or myriad other video sharing platforms even while they’re driving their damn cars and fill the empty space with the sound of their voices. It’s performance art. People are building an audience, whether they are looking for strangers to become their followers or just subjecting their family and friends to it.
Every second of everyone’s life is on display. And it seems like the general public is only acknowledging that this as a problem for the teens and young millennials. But I’ll tell you what, these Gen X women? I have gotten to know a number of women around ten to fifteen years older than me since I started publishing, which means that I’m seeing a bunch of moms whose kids are graduating high school and going to college, and HO-LY SHIT. These women have the millennial moms with the toddlers beat. They won’t shut up about their kids, and they’re tagging the kids in the status updates. One woman the other day posted a public Facebook post calling out a girl her college freshman daughter was friends with, shaming her for being ‘a backstabber’. AND SHE TAGGED THE DAUGHTER IN IT, so now all the daughter’s friends will see it.
This is just one example of the pervasive oversharing that’s going on thanks to social media. But it’s not just the cringe factor that’s the problem. From all these pro photo shoots for every moment of someone’s life to the professional networking aspect of social media, social media is encouraging unhealthy levels of competition. I’d be the first to admit that some competition is a good thing, as it encourages people to excel; but there needs to be some moderation. Before the internet, competitiveness was limited to face-to-face interaction or specific tasks. With the internet, it’s 24/7. People are lying in bed trying to sleep at night looking at their phones and seeing Sally Supermom coifed and made up like a model in a hospital bed with baby number three posed tenderly on her bare chest. #blessed #wokeuplikethis
When everyone around you seems like they’ve got their shit together and you feel like you don’t, it can be very difficult to ignore feelings of helplessness or desperation that ensue.
For me personally, it’s very, very hard for me to be around other authors. Especially with the rise of indie publishing, there are a lot of Type A personality authors who are obsessed with maximizing productivity, and they can be overwhelming. “I wrote 50,000 words this week but I think I can get it up to 75,000 if I use dictation software so I can ‘write’ while I do chores and use my exercycle.” “I’ve been feeling a bit drained recently, so I’ve been doing thirty minute bursts of mindful meditation after every 5000 words, and I’ve found it lets me get my productivity up even higher—I’m averaging 30,000 words a day!” “You’re never going to make it in this industry if you don’t put a book out at least once every three months, so you need to focus on ways to write faster while also maintaining a well-balanced social life, running five miles every day so you’re not a fatty, raising 2.5 children and experiencing spiritual enlightenment through the teachings of Zen Buddhist monks!”
And you’ll notice I’ve not even mentioned politics at this point. Because I think we all know what the state of politics is like thanks to the internet. It would take a whole separate article to talk about that trash fire.
My point is: I’m not surprised at all that stress, depression and anxiety are at all-time highs. And there’s a solution, as difficult as it is to accept—if you want to feel better, you’ve got to get off the internet. I know it’s hard. And sometimes you don’t have a choice, especially if you have a job that requires social media marketing. But we as individuals all need to make a conscious choice to cut back. If you can’t deactivate Facebook entirely, use it sparingly, and don’t be afraid to unfollow every person who says something stupid. Same thing goes for Twitter, Instagram, and every other form of social media. I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my mood since blanket-muting just about every author on Twitter and only having exposure to William Shatner, Emergency Kittens and my local branch of the National Weather Service. The other day, I took the day off and did nothing but play video games and comment on Glib, and I felt so relaxed and unstressed afterwards (probably because it was a day that Derpetologist didn’t post).
Want to solve the “crisis” crisis? Be you man or woman, a Gen X-er, a millennial, or someone older or younger, try cutting out or cutting back on social media. I can guarantee you that you will feel much better in a very short amount of time.
Comments
362 responses to “Maybe It’s the Internet”
First on my own article? Anyway, just wanted to say I’m following my own advice and getting off the internet today (going to the coast with milady), so I won’t be around to respond to comments. Thanks to the editors for publishing it!!
Running away? But, but then I’ll have to do work!
Can we really call them editors?
“if you want to feel better, you’ve got to get off the internet. I know it’s hard.”
Good article, Mythical. I shall take your advice. Fair thee well, Glibs.
“Fuck you, lying asshole”
– John-ism
Goddamn it’s hard to relate to all of that. Never been on Instagram or Twitter for even a second. I had a facebook page for like half a semester of grad school, but too many dipshits from my past found me and tried to friend me so I killed it.
Glibertarians is my social media.
So cheers to all you drunken misanthropic curmudgeons. I think that SOME of you probably aren’t serial killers or child molesters so I’d say it’s a reasonably healthy social circle.
#blessed
Pretty much the same for me. Never felt any need to social media, have zip, zero, nada plans to ever social media.
You don’t even have a fake facebook account so you can stalk hot chicks from work?
That’s proprietary information.
Glibs is my sole social media presence. A more wretched hive of humanity is not known elsewhere in the known universe. In other words- why would I lower myself to enter those other sites?
So…we’re like this?
or this?
Needz moar socks.
#blessed
we’re honester.
#metoo
^This is why we love this internet.
*stands to begin prolonged and thunderous ovation*
Same here. I have this site and a Reddit account I infrequently use to get tech support questions answered, but no social media aside from that. I find I’m much more sane that way.
This and gun.deals. Damn you Vhyrus! I was richer without knowledge of cheap gunz!
The advantage of the Internet/Facebook/Snapchat/whatever is that no-one from Gen Z will ever be able to be president.
False. This is how the Mormons will take over America.
And the Amish
This scares me.
What is actually going to happen is that the overton window for public decency will shift dramatically. Remember the whole ‘grab her by the pussy’ thing? Kids 20 years from now are going to read that and go ‘I don’t get it… why is that a big deal?’
“Well…did he?”
“Cool!”
“Sounds like a plan to me, brah!”
Well given that the trend is every other generation gets 2 Presidential terms at most they probably wouldn’t have anyway
Born between 1865 and 1884 – 32 years in office
Harding, College, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman
Born between 1885 and 1904 – 8 years in Office
Eisenhower
Born between 1905 and 1924 – 32 years in office
Johnson, Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy, Bush Sr, Ford, Carter
Born between 1925 and 1944 – 0 years in office
Born between 1945 and 1964 – 25 years (and counting)
Trump, Bush Jr, Clinton, Obama
Born between 1965 and 1984 – 0 years in office (so far)
Born between 1985 and 2004 – 0 years
First eligible election is 2020 first election where they are likely to have a chance 2028
Shit, Trump needs two terms just to make sure us Boomers match the Reconstruction Generation or whatever the fuck they’re called. Still, I think we’ve got a good shot at ruling until 2040. Maybe more with life extension technologies and regular blood transfusions from Generation Z (and later) “donors”
Well said and good advice.
this is great.
I saw the same mom facebook things happen with friends of mine.
“When everyone around you seems like they’ve got their shit together and you feel like you don’t, it can be very difficult to ignore feelings of helplessness or desperation that ensue.”
I gave this advice a week ago to someone who complained to me that he thought he was nuts.
“Oh, relax. Everyone else is not as sane as you think they are.”
It actually seemed to help the guy.
Simplified: Stop worrying about other people.
I don’t do social media either. Internet for me is streaming music, streaming Italian zombie films, Glibertarians, reading about music, films. Some real estate stuff.
Don’t care about my friends cats, your vacation to the Grand Canyon, what Trump tweeted today, or how sad you are for dead Indian girls, or Vegas Strong.
#dontcare
The dirty secret is NO ONE cares. The just want you to think they care.
both genders
Both… genders? mid-2016 called, it wants its outdated provincial attitudes back.
I spend a lot of time on the internet and I’m a pretty happy person overall. I think the trick is that I don’t do facebook or any of the other social media stuff. Just Glibs and a gun forum or two. Once in while I’ll check out what Iowa Hawk has tweeted, but that’s it.
Still, the article is good advice for people who do a lot of social media stuff.
Iowa Hawk is about 80% of the reason I have Twitter on my phone.
I read twitter in a browser.
The internet is a way to waste time without actually realizing that you’re wasting time.
Before the internet, if you spent all day doing nothing, you knew you were a lazy pile. People today don’t know that they’re lazy and worthless. They think that signing a change.org petition is an accomplishment. It’s not.
Human beings need to work hard and gain a sense of accomplishment. If you don’t, of course you’re going to get depressed.
May I come in your one true hole?
Go home. You’re drunk.
100% agree. 10000% agree, actually.
I’m the very end of Gen X (born in ’78) but was lucky enough to have nerds in the family with a little bit of money, so I grew up with computers. First one was a Commodore 128, if that means anything to anyone. Anyway, my first experience with what would eventually become social media was BBS’s. I was on AIM, had a Juno email account, the works. MySpace was the first thing I actually got on where I would be talking to people I didn’t personally know. The idea of sharing deeply personal information that I wouldn’t necessarily want everyone to know was anathema then, and I’ve never been able to understand it.
Cut to today, and I’ve got a Facebook account I use mostly to talk to family and to remember birthdays. At one point I was pretty active on it, and it just got to the point where it was either a huge waste of time or, at worst, absolutely infuriating. It played to my worst instincts and exposed the ugly side of a lot of people I know. Disengaging from that was hugely beneficial. The rest of those venues seem even worse, but thankfully I’ve never taken the time to use them, and since I’m reaching that age where new things confuse and frighten me, I likely won’t try.
The ugly side of most people is their most attractive side.
Also, if you want to be a happier person, limit your exposure to news media. For real. Most things in the news don’t matter to your day-to-day life. It can be immensely therapeutic to ignore the news for a few weeks. If you go back, you’ll be surprised at how much is just recycled crap, political propaganda, baseless opinions, pretty much a ton of bullshit that will not make you a happier, more successful, or more informed person.
Also, if you want to be a happier person, limit your exposure to news media. For real.
So much yes to this, as well. I’ve starting asking people who are all wrapped around the axle about what’s going on in DC why they care about palace intrigue, and what earthly difference they think it will make to their life to follow it. I’ve run into a handful of people who have really cut back on their news consumption, and they all agree they are better for it.
I agree. I’ve cut myself off news media so hard lately I don’t know who the sec. of state is. For real. I can’t name him. I mean, I say, “Oh yeah!” if I heard his name, but I literally can’t name the office holder.
It’s that guy…you know, the one who…um…?
A tougher one is ignoring the Jones. Be happy with your own life, forget what everyone else is doing.
I pretty much ignore the news period. (not just for a few weeks)
Now I mostly get news only by accident, mostly by stumbling across something here.
Media companies will be the last to figure this out, if they ever do. Several news sites – mainly sports – have ditched written articles completely because they can get more money for ads embedded in videos and podcasts. Only problem is they’re getting fewer clicks and therefore fewer eyeballs looking at their videos. This is because enough people just want to skim an article for the pertinent information which takes 5-10 seconds versus the 3 minutes wasted watching a video.
Commodore 128
Commodore 64 or GTFO!
Amiga.
AmigX you gendering shitlord
2nd the Amiga.
Jesus, look at Mr Privileged Upbringing here!
Dad worked for Sperry/Univac when I was a teen. So we got an IBM clone when I was 13 or 14.
Lisa, you fucking proles.
No love for the TI99-4A?
Nobody needs 3 mhz.
Bernie Sanders approves of this reply.
I had one, even started writing some games for it before realizing that the collision detection available in BASIC was slow and missed far too often.
The Texas Instruments Story: We invent everything but make such crappy products with our innovation that no one gives us credit for anything.
Atari MegaST4. With a 220 Megabyte SCSI HD.
I still miss that machine.
TRS-80 here.
I loved the old BBS’s, and remember when I thought the internet wouldn’t be able to kill them. Then there was Alt groups, and ICQ, and e-mail. One of the keys in all of those was the pseudonymous nature of it all. It was rare that anyone would use their real name, or any clear identifying information about themselves. You’d have trolls, or idiots who would flame out, lose all respect but still want to be a part of that community. They’d change handles, come back, and would usually do better then the time before. I think that chance of being able to rebuild yourself and your reputation helped a lot.
On the social media side, I’ve still never wanted to reveal too much of my personal information online. I created a MySpace page because a girl I met at a concert said it was the only way she communicated with people, and logged into it… twice I think? I’ve got a Google+ page, but I don’t put much on their but brewery and beer pictures.
alt.conspiracy was the BEST!
…or was it?
That’s just what they wanted you to think.
alt.religion.scientology was better. They got Helena Kobrin to file a lawsuit against The Internet.
And of course, alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk
MySpace was the first thing I actually got on where I would be talking to people I didn’t personally know.
Not Usenet?
Yeah, it was IRC and Usenet for me.
I think IRC came first even
I’m willing to stay up drinking if you guys wanna talk.
Nomihodai!
I love the internet.
How else would I know Fats Domino was still alive and is now dead?☹
You’d get it from Edward R. Murrow tonight while sitting in front of the wireless, like all real Americans.
“sitting in front of the wireless”
Look at Mister Big Shot here with his comfy chairs and no wires cluttering up his parlor!!
Best (non-technical) article I think I have seen on bitcoin:
https://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.hr/2017/10/the-bitcoin-boom-asset-currency.html
thanks for that.
Thank for the link. I’m aligned with the 21st Century Tulip camp on this one.
Considering the underlying blockchain technology, I am not sure if I am in your same camp. Though, obviously it is not a proprietary technology so there is always the opportunity for something newer and better (etherium for example) to displace it.
I am more in the “gold for millenials” camp, but wouldn’t be surprised if it got to the “global digital currency” level or “tulip” level.
Interesting. I’ve got a couple hundred bucks worth of Bitcoin and a couple hunge in other cryptocurrencies. I do think there’s some value in the technology that hasn’t been fully exploited yet, but I don’t really “invest” in it. I buy some Bitcoin here and there when the price is low and see what happens, but I don’t think of it as an investment vehicle.
Really great article, well written and I agree with you too.
One other thing I add, is that the Internet and texting have given us all very short attention spans. We are constantly looking for that quick dopamine hit, and switching from app to app. It’s very hard for most people to sit down and concentrate on one thing for a while, without their mind racing all over the place. That produces a lot of stress, too.
I get most of my stress from work, where I’m in front of a computer all day and I have a boss with ADD who keeps changing my priorities.
the Internet and texting have given us all very short attention spans.
No question my attention span has been damaged by the internet and the way email, texting, etc. has turned broken everything up into small, fragmented, rapid-cycle decisions. The next time I run into somebody at work who asks me “Did you see my email” (typically one sent within the hour), I may just have to punch them.
Author Neal Stephenson called it “Constant Partial Attention” and that was like in the early Aughts.
This mythical libertarian woman uses one weird trick to avoid stress. Facebook HATES her!
*applauds, hands over commenting trophy*
So the Vegas shooters brother was just arrested on child porn. Coincidence? NOT BLOODY LOIKELAY!
Yeah, they’ve been watching the fuck out of his internet.
Theyve been watching someone fuck out of his internet, thats for sure. OMWC, please call your office.
*narrows gaze*
I didn’t think that could get any more fucked up.
I was wrong.
Maybe my tinfoil hat is on too tight, but whenever I see anyone busted on child porn these days I just assume that the feds want to railroad them with illegally obtained evidence or some other legal bullshit and they don’t want the media or any grassroots groundswells to stick up for the guy. Once you’ve tarred someone with the child porn brush the government can do literally anything to the guy and no one will say a word.
The war on child porn destroyed what was left of the constitution that wasn’t already destroyed by the war on drugs.
+1 Alvin Kurtzweil
My first thought too. How hard is it to make it look like someone is watching child porn, when they aren’t?
They don’t even have to be watching child porn. Just anything that looks like it might possibly be child porm.
I’ve seen 18 year olds who look 14 (in real life, not porn although I’ve probably seen them in that too) unless you can positively identify her and the date the video/image was manufactured it is a slam dunk that you can convict someone on possession of child porn with it.
this was a popular tactic of the soviets. and is still used by the Russian state.
i think most of the creeps busted for kiddie porn in the US are in fact creeps. but i do think the charge is used as a bullshit way to justify invasive surveillance of everyone.
It wasn’t the brother that I was expecting.
Now, the only way this can get even more screwed up is if they find evidence that corroborates ISIS’ claim they are behind it.
… or if there is some link to Harvey Weinstein.
I stand corrected.
For all you whipper snappers, some free advice. Make sure to take those photos/videos of your rug rats because they do grow up fast. You don’t have to put them on Facebook, or other social media, but make sure to archive them somewhere.
I am in the middle of a project where I am consolidating all our photos from various media into one cloud drive. I can’t believe how cute my kids used to be. Sure they are fairly well adjusted young adults now, but when they were kids they were so cute.
And not only kids, but you mutts too. I cried my eyes out a few weeks ago when I came across some pics of my old dog and my son sharing a pillow in their favorite hiding spot behind a couch.
I miss my kids from when they were babies. You know, when they didn’t talk.
My mom used to cry at every single milestone thing I had- first communion, first day of middle school, first school dance, day I got my license, etc. Always used to seem so weird to me.
Doesn’t seem weird anymore. I got choked up merely by a series of pictures that came up on a digital frame last night, both because my kids have gotten so big and I’ve gotten so much older.
Bah. I rent out my 3 year old grandson to polish the monocle of a local Glib.
OMWC lives near you?
This is excellent advice. The old cliche ‘they grow up so damn fast’ is scary accurate.
I was watching a video of one of the first times my oldest son went deer hunting with us. Just listening to his high pitched kid voice is amazing because I’m now used to his deep adult voice.
I was putting a couple of new pics in my office the other day. I tend to keep a few of the older ones to compare. There is one of my son when he was probably 5 or 6 at one of the apple orchards on the Crow. Just awesome and seems like yesterday.
I enjoy him as an (almost) adult, but damn was he a cute little kid.
My dad spent a good portion of this year converting slides to a digital format. He’d actually started in 2013, but mom’s dementia and a forced change in computers put the kibosh on that — the slide converter wasn’t compatible with Windows 8/10.
We used to take one picture and look at it a thousand times.
Now we take thousands of pictures and never look at them again.
– James Lileks
I don’t get all the hate. Troll on your FB, Twitter, and Instagram. You’re going to post that post that changes all of human interaction? This is your battle. You didn’t sign up for it. You didn’t want it, but you aren’t going to be burned at the stake for shoving people’s BS back in their face. Maybe I’m the most anti social scumbag that isn’t in prison. I’m loving every minute of this. #Metoo.
I actually enjoyed the #metoo thing. It was entirely predictable, and one of the finer examples of mask slippage I’ve seen yet.
By the end of the day, girls were sharing stories of how an ugly guy tried to kiss them once back in college #MeToo. Um…. I thought this was about victims of sexual assault, Whoops.
Why not enjoy it? They are flooding the medium that reaches virtually everyBODY. We’re going to sit back all high and mighty and not take pot shots at them? #Metoo is asking for it, if you ask me.
But getting goosed by a wheelchair-bound GHW Bush is totally sexual assault!
I was on a facebook thread last night where someone posted a fetus as #metoo, as in a victim of assault.
And there was all this shit about ‘hijacking’ their movement
I considered posting a picture of spilled milk with the #MeToo hashtag, but I think I’ve caused enough trouble this week.
That would be some world-class trolling, right there.
then the same people go in public
Twitter, Snapchat, this place, MyFitnessPal… and I just recently made an Instagram so I could follow my sister’s previously hectic life. I turned all the push notifications off, so I’m only using those things when I actually want to.
I used to have a Facebook but it just made me hate everyone on the periphery of my life. Getting rid of that made a huge difference; the other social media doesn’t seem to be nearly as fatiguing, even all together.
twitter and instagram seem easier to filter all the noise out. I follow my friends, and instagram is basically for car and ski porn. Snapchat is the same. Sometime the stories can fall into MLW’s ‘better life’ argument, but if they are closer friends I think it can be fine.
I think if I could just add only very, very close friends and family to Facebook, it might be worthwhile. But! There’s always that person who wants to be on your list who takes offense when you don’t add them, and for me, that’s most of the extended family. Family gatherings can already be so contentious, it just doesn’t seem worth it.
x100000
I just don’t care, I reject friend requests all the time.
It’s funny you mention Instagram. My wife was giving me shit the other day that I don’t have an Instagram, prompted by my stepdad opening an Instagram account.
I just recently made an Instagram so I could follow my sister’s previously hectic life.
Is this a Lauren Southern scenario where your sister is actually the hot one?
Not as wild about her face, but I doubt that would ever come up…
this is why Lauren is the way she is.
When I was in high school, all my guy friends wanted to know whether my hot older sister was coming home for this holiday or that weekend, so we could move the LAN party from one of their homes to mine. She is (and always has been) very good looking and in stupidly good shape. Like, ridiculously good shape. She’s got the highest PT score in her entire 253-person company, and she’s 34. Up until about two, three years ago, I was pretty pudgy. It was well-proportioned pudge, but still.
We have similar facial structure and mannerisms, but if she’s your type, I’m probably not. And vice-versa.
Apple getting into video content creation biz, a la Netflix and Amazon.
Is Apple conservative? Or just SJW-safe?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-25/apple-s-billion-dollar-bet-on-hollywood-is-the-opposite-of-edgy
They have to put cash somewhere.
I only posted it because it’s funny how the SJW/proggie grievance industry is now getting looked at the same way the Moral Majority did 30 years ago. Companies don’t want to do anything to trigger grievance mongers so they purposely try to make the most bland, boring, shit that will entertain almost nobody.
I hope the results are equally funny.
I used to babysit for an ultra religious family when I was in high school. The only show they were allowed to watch was 7th Heaven. Unbelievably hilarious.
There was one episode where the minister’s son joined a gang. All of a sudden, the kid was wearing a blue bandana and doing drive-bys. You know, just like real life.
I was hoping the blonde one was going to go, “straight G for life, nigga” and c-walk away
The blond one, Simon, was the one who ended up joining the gang much later in the series.
It’s a good thing — more entertainment options for more people.
Ever read Winesburg, Ohio? It was published in 1919, long before the internet, but it’s themes of unfulfillment and depression resonated for a reason. People leading lives of quiet desperation is nothing new. What the internet did was remove the “quiet” part.
What the internet did was remove the “quiet” part.
So much this.
You hit the truth button. Awesome.
*logs on to fb to change status*
“It’s complicated”?
“it’s bacon-ated!”
I still have a facebook, but rarely use it. It’s mostly so my family doesn’t get pissed at this point.
my girlfriends have always been pissed when I won’t change that shit. I never will, “people who know me know we’re dating. it’s not a show.”
I use facebook to buy and sell high end knives and silver. I rarely see a post from friends/family.
Sales is a good part of facebook. Forgot about the marketplace.
High end silver?!!
*consults Big Book O’ Alchemy*
(that’s why I brought the gifts…I figured food and booze was covered, wanted to make it rain silver on my fellow glibs)
Much better than a golden shower
“They can’ts haves me gold!”/little leprechaun in bacon-magic
Where does one buy low end silver?
ebay
I am a millennial but I’m a bit of an older one (1985)
*spits into palm, smooths hair*
Hey, there.
Shit. That was the yer I graduated from high school.
Punks.
*laughs*
Speaking of social media, Mike posted some Doom porn over at MU.
Ooo!
Ugh, you’re not going to offer us ribbon candy, are you?
The fuck is ribbon candy?
It’s what was in that baroque ornamental coin holder your grandmother kept on the coffee table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_candy
Oh, I get it.
No, I’m not going to offer you ribbon candy, but some good natured groping cannot be counted out.
/old guy privilege
You get older, but they stay the same age?
Alright, alright, alright!
I joined the Army in 1985
*shakes fist, insists everyone get off lawn*
1983, young man.
I got ya by 5 years kid!
I just don’t like people, so I don’t use any Social media, FB for 1 day many moons ago, but Fuck That,
Just the Glibs. As far as news, RCP, RCD, RCW, And Wretchard.
Insty is my homepage (1 of 5)
Diagnoses of depression and anxiety are at all-time highs.
Something something more of what you reward.
that’s something too. It’s a little like the “every kid has ADD” thing. I was and am a pretty distractible, but back in the day it was because I wasn’t interested in whatever was being taught that day- not in general.
giving everyone who’s a little down happy pills can’t be the answer.
The spark for this rant came from this piece on Oprah.com
I’m out.
Like Kramer in ‘the Contest’?
even faster.
And a really good article MLW, i enjoyed it
Just received this notice from the Art Institute of Chicago:
Chicago Humanities Festival: The Russian Revolution as Utopian Leap
“Exploring inequality, power, resistance, justice, and ideas about possibility and the future, Steinberg talks about events in ways that speak to our times.”
I didn’t figure they would get around to that in my lifetime. Who’s next? How long before Hitler comes back into good graces?
Speak to our times, my ass. The Soviets were spouting the same gibberish that the proggies are now. They aint calling themselves international for nuthin’.
Hitler’s name has really been dragged through the mud now that he’s associated with Trump.
Hopefully they’ll display a hundred-foot high Skull Pyramid at the Art Institue
I’m taking this as my monthly reminder to get off some mailing lists.
Charlie Brown moment when I clicked – we just purchased (offer accepted today) a condo in downtown so were excited about upcoming exhibits.
“NKVD execution ethics”
“GULAGS as housing alternatives”
“Purge, or simply life outsourcing“
“Recycling”
Fuck these people. I’m gonna start sending this stuff to my Russian friends. They can go and provide some ‘boots on the ground’ color.
I traveled to Moscow 19 times between 94 and 97. So right after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was a pretty grim place to visit.
Anyone that thinks the Soviets had the right idea are complete fucking idiots.
I went to the USSR with a student group in 1984…
I joined the US Army in 1985.
The Manchurian Officer Candidate
On one of my trips, the Russian mob murdered a guy in the parking lot of my hotels.
One of the bell hops said it was nice that they did it in the parking lot instead of in the lobby like previous murder downtown.
Willfully ignorant, at the very least.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/10/post_280.html#incart_river_home_pop
Sounds like he’s doing a good job of robbing taxpayers for over a quarter mil already, and then get elective surgery also on the taxpayers’ dime before getting out. Can’t wait for the lawsuits from actual female inmates that placing a male in that prison violates their rights.
WTF would any inmate get curling or flat irons?
“Lets give a mentally unstable inmate hot electrical appliances!”
What could possibly go wrong?
“My point is: I’m not surprised at all that stress, depression and anxiety are at all-time highs. And there’s a solution, as difficult as it is to accept—if you want to feel better, you’ve got to get off the internet.”
I use a slightly different solution. I just don’t give a fuck about what people say on social media. I use it to gather information, but not to disseminate it. I almost never post anything on Facebook. I do find it useful in figuring out which of my family members are suffering TDS – most of the ones in MD (shocking, I know).
My field of fucks is fallow. I feel no desire to plant more.
My field of fucks is fallow. I feel no desire to plant more.
Pure poetry.
Stealable that one
My decision to avoid all these “virtual town squares” like the plague is once more vindicated.
American politics
Not enough smoke, or dead bodies.
No way. That would give it gravitas and intrigue. A dumpster fire is perfect.
How about that scene from Dark Knight where joker is setting a 15 foot pile of cash on fire?
if you want to feel better, you’ve got to get off the internet.
What do you do if your office is a microcosm of the stereotypical Facebook feed?
Sleep with all her friends?
Wear 3X as much Axe body spray as you think is tolerable. Trust me, if your eyes aren’t watering, its not working.
Try this.
*Edit Fairy to the rescue!*
Do you even link, brah?
I guess not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnXtuQdJxVg
With that build, I cannot imagine those wings are functional.
She flaps them hard ‘n’ fast.
Why does she have a bra but no panties?
Q,
You know the answer.
*unzips*
Why ask why?
Sweet.
There’s a mouse gamboling around in here today. I’ve missed the little fucker three times with the Clodhopper of Death, so far. My boot-tossing skills aren’t what they used to be. Hopefully, he’ll find his way into the mouse zapper soon.
Daisey – Red Rider.
Put a dollop of peanut butter on the floor in the center of the room and kick back with a good book. It wont take long.
I guess I should post pictures of me hand-feeding the mouse a cookie, and rack up some likes. I’d need a social media presence for that.
The cat, meanwhile, is snoozing peacefully in a sunny spot on the bed.
of course.
Cats have life figured out.
The cat is a metaphor for… me?
If you give a mouse a cookie…
Ostensibly, that is where the boot was aiming? Get that lazy ass cat up and to work.
I agree completely. Social media in particular I think is to blame for this. People filter their Facebook/Twitter/Instagram to only show carefully selected things to make their life look awesome. You see your friends/peers whose lives look so awesome and get a little depressed. So you post stuff to make your life look even awesom-er while at the same time getting just a little more depressed that it’s a lie. Your friends see your post and do the same. Rinse and repeat. Pretty soon everyone is mondo depressed because they’re convinced that their life is boring and shitty while everyone else’s is super mega ultra awesome.
I’m a millennia of sorts too (1984). I like how sociologists haven’t decided on where to classify us.
Wee bairn.
1986. I’m annoyed by the shifting definition. I’m pretty sure when I first started hearing about “millennials,” they were much younger than I: people born in the 90s and developing cognitively at the turn of the century. Then it crept up to people a little younger than I am. Then it included me. Now it’s people a little older than me. It seems like a term of art for people who annoy people, like how boomers are anyone over fifty who suck up all the entitlements.
A friend of mine (1983) has a theory on it. They can’t decide where to put us because were just old enough to not resemble a stereotype millennial but young enough to not need remedial training on basic PC functions.
Same thing happened with those of us at the tale end of Gen-X (late 70’s). I’ve seen some people claim the late 70’s as millennials.
Oh nonononono, they’re not lumping me in with those motherfuckers! (1976 here)
No shit. If you remember Reality Bites in theaters, you’re not a millennial.
Yep. Can make a whole Jeff Foxworthy type routine like that.
If you remember watching the video for Thriller…..if you had a Cabbage Patch Kid…..if you had parachute pants and pegged your jeans…if you wore Vision Street Wear…..if you had a Hypercolor shirt……if you waited in line for fucking HOURS to see the Tim Burton Batman when it opened……if you remember when Nirvana became big out of nowhere….if you’ve ever worn anything that was black and teal…..
Looks over list… nope, I didn’t have a Cabbage Patch kid, my sister did. I had the Garbage Patch kid stickers though.
There is a college that puts together a list like this every year, and has been since the college class of 2002. Behold, the Mindset list. And that old list is referencing kids born in 1980, and what they would remember.
My mom wouldn’t let me have Garbage Pail Kids 🙁
Said they were too vulgar.
3rd edition garbage pail kids were pretty crude.
“if you remember when Nirvana became big out of nowhere”
I saw them OPEN for Mindfunk.
Mindfunk holy fuck. That was the Youth Brigade guys and some other punks that took acid and found slap bass?
Actually liked that album. I was a dope.
I’ve heard 84 onward.
My sister was born in ’84 and she’s very insistent that she’s not a Millennial. She subscribes to the version that there’s a Generation Y in between the Xs and the Millennials, years being something like 1978 to 1990.
Whatever. (see, my apathy means I really AM Gen X all the way!)
My youngest was born in 79.
87 is my cutoff. a few years older than me.
I was born in 1963, not Boomer, not an X, since all kinds of men my age are dying, even some friends, I call us the Lost Gen
You are a boomer, deal with it.
The baby boom is a demographic that runs from the end of WWII (1945) to 1964. It was determined by birth rates spanning 19 years, not culture.
Stupid AP – don’t they know that VOTE FRAUD NEVER EVER HAPPENS!!!!
I know better than to click on twitter, and I damn well know better than to read comments.
But, yet, I did it.
ugh.
Fats Domino dead – Ron Howard hardest hit.
A very special performance that I’m sure Ron would approve of
Daisey – Red Rider.
I concerned about ricochets. Too many windows. I don’t have a Red Ryder, and my bb pistol is deucedly inaccurate.
I think I have more fun with my bb gun than any gun I have.
I once built a bullet trap out of newspaper and tried to load 38spl down low enough so that the bullets wouldn’t go through 12 inches of packed newspaper. Turns out if you load it up enough to go all the way down the barrel it comes out too fast.
Oops. Left this off…Put a tenth of a grain less and it sticks in the barrel.
Get a new bb pistol. I’ve brought down many rats with my cheap one from Walmart.
I concerned about ricochets.
But not about proofreading.
What u say?
You’re a daisy.
I’m your huckleberry.
I’ve got a fence that needs painted.
Wait… aren’t you one of the glibs I follow on Twitter?
One more in total agreement. The only social media I have is LinkedIn, and I only did that for a job. (Which I didn’t get)
I was briefly on FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. I nuked everything when I realized the group of people I wanted to communicate with was really, really small.
That said, the targeted social media stuff is fun. A few of us are on DriveTribe, which is specifically for automotive geeks.
Come to think of it, there are no women there, either…
Instagram is worth it for the cars, too.
You spelled ‘tits’ wrong.
https://www.instagram.com/sami.kayy/
That’s what you call multitasking.
I met her through my friend https://www.instagram.com/miss_shift/
subie chick!
Lesbaru?
Loads of trannies, I bet.
Yes. More than Salon, even.
groan
I don’t know if that qualifies as “dad joke”. Maybe I will go as high as “expectant father joke”, but it was more quality than the usual.
Yeah, you’re probably right.
The group of people I want to communicate with is really small too, but Facebook is pretty convenient for it since we all are pretty spread out across the country.
BTW, since we talked about it before, the daughter’s Indian Princesses, I mean Y-Princesses, campout was last weekend and was excellent. They actually went more in the Indian direction than last year.
Haha! Awesome! I’m glad they haven’t caved to the PC freaks. I really enjoyed Indian Guides.
It’s called Adventure Guides now.
Depends on your local Y. Some call them Adventure, some just Y-Guides/Princesses, some still use Indian Guides.
It’s good to know that somebody somewhere still has some balls. Not here; it’s been called Adventure Guides for several years..
Indian Princess
http://www.socialbliss.com/assets/user_images/pic_139_1355232720.jpg
Indian Princess
http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Disney-Indian-Princess-belle.jpg
They did change the name here to Y-Guides/Princesses, but that was the only change. They’re still the Chippewa Nation, still have tribes (Navajo, Sioux, Mattaponi, etc.), still use drums to start the ceremonies, and so on. Last year the Y liaison guy tried to push us away from the Indian stuff, but the dads weren’t having it.
Shiva H Vishnu!
We actually talked a bit about that. Apparently the national Y organization has actually caved and has requested that local Ys stop using Indian names, but due to the way the Y is structured, they have no means to actually force them to do so. It’s up to the locals, and ours is very committed to keeping things the way they’ve always been.
Which means there’s an awful lot of drinking around the campfire after the girls go to bed. Score!
There’s the one that does the news, with the tattoos and the nose ring.
I’m not sure that would count as social media, as much as a community. If you want to count those, I’m on both RateBeer and BeerAdvocate (surprising many here I’m sure). Less RateBeer since they allowed ZX Ventures to invest in them, and didn’t tell anyone about it for several months.
Razorfist on Flake:
https://youtu.be/VIzps759Ago
He seems to have stuck a nerve with the LDS crowd.
So now He’s free to be honest since he doesn’t have to lie to get re-elected?
What a fucking scum
AZ most conservative state of in the union? Not sure about all that.
*cough* McCain *cough*
Wyoming is way more conservative.
It looks like Oklahoma was the only state that had no counties go to Clinton (not that that’s dispositive).
Yes, Oklahoma is the one that leaps to mind when I think of which is the most conservative state.
People rag on us about McCain, but….
…okay, there’s no excuse for that but at least we’re not like Nevada. Who’s largest city is the most blatantly, unapologetically capitalist place in the country and kept re-electing Harry Reid.
And ran Sharron Angle against him.
Lord do I ever love that guy (Razorfist not Flake).
I killed all my social media three years ago, was the best decision I ever made. And thanks to some Americans and a particular Englishman my existence is effectively wiped from search engines.
I was already annoyed with the useless, stream-of-consciousness drama crap people posted, couldn’t imagine what it would be like post-election.
If I could have one with I think that would be it – to be wiped completely from every database everywhere. I cant understand why people SEEK attention.
wish…not with
It’s worse if your last name is fairly unique. There are times that I’m jealous of those who have common surnames.
Agreed. However, there’s a semi-famous athlete who shares my name, so he totally sunk any online presence I have. Nice.
Well, la-de-da, Mr. I’ve-got-a-time-machine-and-can-wipe-my-tracks!
Keep it up and Granddaddy Servator is going to get a swift kick in the balls in 1934. You can’t legislate time abortion!
+1 Like
nice.
we should have an orphan scale system or something here.
+8 orphans carrying a sedan chair
Decisions like this are why I hate the overreaching federal judiciaries. This is the ultimate end result of what happens when legislatures, which are supposed to be the most powerful branch of government, don’t do their job and instead divert their authorities to the unelected courts. If an Article V Convention ever becomes reality, a major focus needs to be put on putting the check on federal courts and abolishing, in writing, the power of federal judicial review, which was never in the Constitution to begin with.
“The girl, whose nationality has not been disclosed, entered the United States without any family in September and was immediately detained by U.S. authorities and placed in a shelter in Texas for unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors.”
Sounds like the supervision there isn’t very good.
Pregnancy predates her entry to the US. But remember folks, anchor babies are something rightwing racists invented out of thin air.
If she had gotten pregnant while in the shelter, I would want every male staff member cheek swabbed.
Yeah, the math checks out.
So… who pays for illegal immigrant abortions?
Same people who pay for 50% of all births in the US.
*looks into wallet and nods*
sloopy?
He just causes 50% of them.
Isn’t this the case where the attorneys asserted informing her parents violated this minor’s “rights”?
The girl, whose nationality has not been disclosed, entered the United States without any family in September and was immediately detained by U.S. authorities and placed in a shelter in Texas for unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors.
I just don’t understand abortion is even an issue in this case. Why wasn’t she either 1) immediately returned back to her home country or 2) pushed back into Mexico from whence she came?
Instead, I’m forced to pay for a shelter and medical care because she stepped over an imaginary line? This why the open borders argument doesn’t make sense to me. All I can see is more and more of the bread I earned working being taken from my children to be transferred to third world denizens,
“All I can see is more and more of the bread I earned working being taken from my children to be transferred to third world denizens”
To even think such a thing is racist beyond the pale. To the re-education camp with you!
On a serious note: this is why I’m insistent that if you hold open borders as an ideal, eliminating the welfare state should be the priority. Continued abuse of property rights by the welfare state only gets exacerbated by unlimited immigration. Get rid of all government assistance and transfer payments, then throw border open for all I care. The situation as it stands right now, however, has bound my private property rights up with national sovereignty and I’m going to prioritize my own private property every time.
To me, getting rid of the welfare state is a priority, but not a higher priority than opening immigration. I see them as independent of each other.
To me, the argument that we should make ending the welfare state a precondition to opening the borders is really an argument that we should maintain closed borders in order to slow down the inevitable collapse of the welfare state. The critical mass of people aren’t going to stop supporting the welfare state based on theoretical arguments. The welfare state will only end when the pain of its maintenance overcomes the benefit people perceive that it provides. If anything, open borders gets us to that pain point faster. The danger is that people will decide that the problems of welfare are really due to the immigrants and not due to the problems of welfarism.
That’s not to say that I prioritize opening the borders over ending the welfare state. I believe that he guys who do so are either very confused or are hoping for more workers to sustain the welfare state and more dependents to further entrench it.
The dangers of open borders is i have to live 8o IQ savages that think fucking 9 year olds is OK. And. Have. No. intention of assimilating. Fuck open borders.
I’ve had this theory for a while, that there is going to be a backlash against social media and being plugged in all the time. Sounds like a lot of you are already starting that. I also saw an article recently where people are buying “dumb phones” that only text and make phone calls. It’s not widespread, but I think it might be in the next 5 or so years.
I was thinking of going back to something like the ol’ flip phone I had. It had an industrial case so it could be knocked about, and only needed to be recharged once a week.
The backlash has already started. Some of the 20-somethings have realized that documenting everything and putting it online isn’t the best idea. Others are disconnecting from Facebook because that’s what their parents and grandparents are on.
^THIS^
🙂
My screen is broke om my smartphone right now so I’m using a new (old) flip phone, and it’s quite peaceful while still texting and making calls for work.
Ok, what the fuck is going on with the Vegas shooter story? First, the guy’s brother is arrested on child porn charges. Now it’s revealed that the laptop in Paddock’s hotel room was missing its hard drive. What the actual fuck?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/las-vegas-shooters-laptop-missing-hard-drive/story?id=50709285
The hard drives are making them do it! When oh when will we have common sense hard drive control? No one needs more than 6 platters.
Edit fairy, help! Last para shouldn’t be in the blockquote.
Thank you kind fairy!
Shit like that makes me at least consider the possibility that MK-ULTRA (or some form of it) still exists and the CIA still experiments on unwitting civilians and occasionally loses control of them.
Not saying I 100% believe it, but like I said, it at least makes me consider the possibility. Because literally none of this makes fucking sense.
If the guy was nuts someone would have noticed. What doesnt make sense to me is the lack of information and answers.
No one needs more than 6 platters.
If I pay for the lunch buffet, I get as many platters as I damn well please.
Who’s next?
Nixon. I can’t wait for the inevitable longwinded Michael Lewis piece in Vanity Fair about how Nixon, a truly Great But Frequently Misunderstood Man, made America a better nation by bringing about such progressive wonders as the EPA, OSHA, and the fiat dollar.
On the last point at least, Nixon just put the last nail in the coffin. Weren’t we only at a 10% gold backing by that point?
Liberals absolutely should love Nixon. For the reasons you listed and probably a dozen more. Except he’s been their example of Republican corruption for so long that they can’t see that they should hold him in higher esteem than Kennedy.
I’ve always been somewhat amused by Nixon being public enemy #1 for Dem types when he was a big-government guy who instituted wage and price controls, rationed gasoline, created the EPA, ended the draft, eased the US out of the LBJ-created Vietnam War, took the US off the gold standard, etc.
Hitler’s name has really been dragged through the mud now that he’s associated with Trump.
Nice.
I think that’s a symptom, not a cause. Social media provides an avenue for LOOK-AT-ME!!! types to wallow in their insecurities rather than dealing with them. It’s a giant circle-jerk of second-hand self-esteem where everyone wants to be loved by people who don’t love themselves. It used to be you’d buy a fancy car and bask in the imaginary admiration of people you don’t know, or you’d join a clique and pat yourself on the back for being the sort of person who could join a clique where people pat themselves on the back. Like everything else, the internet just makes it easier.
Huh. I am glad the heat is gone but it makes me sad that I just picked my last tomato and I haven’t seen a humming bird for over a week.
It’s 95 right now. It’s a miracle that some asshole hasn’t gone full arsonist in the hills yet.
I just thought it was amusing to put a Facebook style post on an article about needing less Facebook.
We dont really have that problem here except in the hottest parts of droughty summers. Our fires just burn off surface leaves. There all you have to do to set the world on fire is look at it hard enough. I remember hiking around in those hills as a kid. One look at that grass and brush and I could see why.
We had record breaking rainfall this winter, which means much denser brush.
They push the “red flag” warnings really hard, which is basically begging the arsonists to come out of the woodwork.
Cooling trend coming right now, rain for Halloween maybe
I’m getting a real kick out of the media saying that we need to ignore proven collusion with Russians to focus on what actually matters…Trump’s alleged collusion with Russians.
It’s like the only reason to have a facebook today.
They seem quiet so far.
Here’s a fun bit from Ace of Spades….. CNN’s main pee-pee dossier reporter and Glenn Simpson of FusionGPS infamy have a rather chummy history:
Great article. It also seems to be the perfect place to post this little gem that showed up in my feed today:
https://imgur.com/a/5pIzs
“technology in a capitalist society sucks”
I feel the need to use my Henry Kissinger voice.
I’m not sure which I enjoyed more – this or the claim that they took better care of an inanimate object than their own children.
BTW, this was from a rabid Bernie Sanders supporter if it wasn’t already obvious.
This reminds me of a guy from college. I tutored a girl in chemistry, my major, and her boyfriend got jealous of the time I spent with her. One day he came stomping in the dining room where we were studying and he just blurted out ‘Science is for fooooooools!” very dramatically, then stomped out of the house. We just sat there stunned for a moment and I said “That guy is nuts. Like really nuts. You should find someone else to spend your time with.”
I spoke with her a few years later and she told me that she had had him arrested and he ended up in the loony bin. A lot of the Bernie people I have seen remind me of that guy.
I was really hoping you were gonna say that you fucked her later that night, but your ending was good too.
I’ve found my experience to be very similar. They seem to skew white male, they’re socially hyper-competitive and hold a very narrow world view and understanding of everything around them. They also seem to get very agitated over the most trivial things that go wrong in their lives. It’s unsettling, to say the least.
Obvious from the capitalism part, or the failure at life part?
Whenever I see a Bernie bumper sticker I interpret it as “I’m not capable of feeding myself”.
Holeeey shit.
That person was deprived of protein as an infant.
the complaint about modern stuff almost being designed to break does resonate with me.
not that I blame capitalism.
Also that person freely admits they are a bad parent.
I do remember a few things from history classes. One of the things that struck me was how often, as far back as you care to go, people complained a lot about ‘shoddy goods’.
It’s almost as though mechanical devices aren’t magical and wear down over time.
Fucking capitalism hasn’t figured out how to defy physics. What good is it for?
Dumbass. You have to hold the lock, home AND the down volume button to restart it.
/father of iphone users
You let your kids have smartphones? How old?
Senior and sophomore in HS.
And I thought my friends were dumb.
Because the Soviet Union created the kind of environment for Apple to thrive.
Everything the Soviets produced was sub-par to say the least.
This looks totally legit:
Capitalist tech is designed to break. Communist tech is not designed to break but does anyway, faster—and was far less capable than the comparable capitalist tech in the first place, to the extent that communist tech comparable to capitalist tech existed.
Or something.
So boo hoo
Someone I worked with at an older tech startup had a great saying: “Never compare your product against your competition’s marketing.” I think this applies to Facebook/Instagam/Snapchatwitter/whatever as well.
I’ve always been somewhat amused by Nixon being public enemy #1 for Dem types when he was a big-government guy who instituted wage and price controls
Thank you. I knew there was another big one I was leaving off. He and Bernie could be their own caucus, if he was still around.
My wife is the GM of fast food restaurant, and she has been telling me that her customers, even the regular ones, have been a lot more pissy than normal in the past year. People are even calling the 800 complaint line more often, and usually about really petty stuff (her store usually ranks nationally as one the best in this regard). Just last week, a customer asked a special needs employee if he wanted to “take it outside”, then threatened to call the cops because the employee had put too much ice in his fucking cup of iced tee. Then he had the balls to call the complaint line to report it.
Our theory is that it’s a combination of too much social media, outrageous outrage of the day, and TDS.
Yes, ND went 60+% for Trump, so why would TDS affect us? Because every fucking day we turn on the news we are told how horrible, bigoted, and racist we are, because Trump. Everyone’s FB is bombarded with shit from friends/acquaintances that implies they must be horrible people because of their political beliefs.
Everyone is either righteously pissed that Trump was elected, or they are sick and goddamned tired of hearing those people complain about it and call them names. Either way, everyone is pissed off.
Your theory is probably not entirely wrong. For a certain type of person the obsession with social media probably IS ruining their lives and it is for some of the very reasons you mention.
That said it clearly is not the entire problem.
About 3/4ths of Americans Adults use Facebook and about 3/4ths of them use it daily. That leaves 45% of Americans NOT obsessively checking social media and even among the 56% who do check it at least once a day there is a significant percentage who does not post every detail of their lives, does not air their dirty laundry, and mostly ignores the need to competitively “keep up with the joneses” online instead just using it to share funny cat videos or keep in touch with cousin Cleetus.
Realistically while the kind of person you describe absolutely exists and is common you are still looking at somewhere between a third and a quarter of Americans and anxiety and stress levels among them are still higher than in the past.
Honestly I think a lot of it comes from a Janis Joplin song
“freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”
Over the last three decades the American worker has seen a broad erosion in their financial security and now while people as a general rule are not poor the overwhelming majority of them are maintaining their lifestyle with debt and the prospect of them losing everything they have and becoming poor is a very real specter that simply did not exist for the majority of Americans from 1960 – 1990.
I just started a Twitter that is basically an alter ego who would reply how I would really love to reply on most Facebook posts.
I JUST started a Twitter account that is basically my alter ego if I replied how I really want to reply on most Facebook posts.
SQUIRRELZZZZ
Relevant.
Here’s the thing. To get off social media is good advice for people with happy, fulfilling lives outside of it—but those people have happy fulfilling lives outside of it. For the others? Get off social media and do what? I agree, they should find hobbies, be more appreciative and grateful at being. But all their friends are ‘plugged in.’ They don’t want to be left out. What makes us think they’ll experience less FOMO, less ‘loneliness,’ offline than they do online?
It’s good advice for anti-social / asocial / sub-social types, like a lot of Glibs. But these Gen X women under the microscope—I don’t think it’d help.
I mean, if you want to argue that most people aren’t like the antisocial Glibs, then that will have been consistent over generations pre-internet. All the busybodies/extroverts in years past managed without the internet, and, if the shrinks are to be believed, did so with lower rates of depression and anxiety. So… they don’t need the internet to be happy. They’ve just convinced themselves they do.
But nobody had online social networks then. All social networks were offline, and you can’t cull and cultivate a certain image for other to see IRL (although it still happens, just not as starkly).
I think if *everyone* ‘logged off’ it’d work out, but if one person does it for her sanity while all of her peers and friends don’t, she’s going to feel left out.
I don’t mean to seem critical though. I liked your article and it’s a topic that interests me a lot