Social Media and Mobile phone usage

[Remmie]

It seems there is increasing evidence that the usage of Social media, especially on portable devices like mobiles is causing a negative affect on people's mental health and social skills.

 

Have you noticed how it changes you and if you've made any steps to reduce your usage? If so, how did you find it?

 

For me it just seems we fear boredom more and more, for instance when was the last time you had a shit without your playing with your phone? Sometimes there is a genuine conflict of talking to someone on whatsapp who may be closer to you or giving full attention to the person you happen to be talking to at the time. Now there is a safe outlet or escape if you are amongst strangers, rather than talking to them and getting that genuine social interaction. I'm also conscious of being that sneering I'm better than you type, lecturing others on their naughty toys - for most there are real positive benefits of these tools - I'm not sure I would be with my wife and therefore have my daughter without the vital role Facebook played in our burgeoning relationship. 

[Remmie]

 

[Pureblood]

I rarely go on Facebook and never go on twitter.  However, twitter is so pervasive that I end up reading a lot of tweets shared on this forum.

 

My weakness is this forum and YouTube.  I am a happier and more productive person when I'm away from this place during a flouncey phase, but I always come back because my fans demand it.

[SasaS]

I cheat, I don't have social media on my phone.

[Mudface]

TL/DR

[tokyojoe]

Don't use social media, and only use the phone for what it is meant for. i.e. a bloody phone.

 

I agree with you Remmie, this lark is really fucking peoples lives up.

[Bjornebye]

 It has definitely got its good and bad benefits. I do think the internet is an absolutely wonderful invention for the ease of access to information, music, films etc. The social media side though has unearthed an even bigger cunt mechanism in humans than we thought we had before.

 

 I love this forum. It makes me laugh on a regular basis. I also find Twitter brilliant. Mainly because most of the accounts I follow are either funny or informative. I’m also a fan of Instagram but more for storing my own stuff and experiences there as opposed to getting jealous about the fake lives people lead on there.

 

 I rarely use Facebook for anything these days. Used to use it a lot and have a lot of good mates who I rarely see on there so its always good to keep an eye on how they are but tbh I don’t have many people I care too much about that aren’t a Phone-Call/whatsapp/text message away from me just asking them. Facebook is usually best during the holiday season for reasons most can imagine.

 

 I’ve had many a lay off social media interaction to be fair though so its far from all bad. YouTube is a gift from the gods as well. 

 

 Oh and I have met (and have the honour) of being able to call a number of you cunts off here mates away from the forum.

 

Remmie – Get naked and Skype me.

[Bjornebye]

2 minutes ago, tokyojoe said:

Don't use social media, and only use the phone for what it is meant for. i.e. a bloody phone.

 

I agree with you Remmie, this lark is really fucking peoples lives up.

[Anubis]

Other than this site I don't use social media (well apart from an unused Facebook page so that I can admin the work Facebook page).

 

I'll check certain Twitter accounts via browser that mainly relate to football, but mostly stay off it and I deleted my Twitter account.

 

Biggest pain in the arse is that I get work email to my phone, so I get regular doses of all sorts of shite.  To be honest, once I'm done with this job I think I'll be getting a basic key phone to stave off the temptation of looking at it.

[Bjornebye]

Just now, Anubis said:

Other than this site I don't use social media (well apart from an unused Facebook page so that I can admin the work Facebook page).

 

I'll check certain Twitter accounts via browser that mainly relate to football, but mostly stay off it and I deleted my Twitter account.

 

Biggest pain in the arse is that I get work email to my phone, so I get regular doses of all sorts of shite.  To be honest, once I'm done with this job I think I'll be getting a basic key phone to stave off the temptation of looking at it.

Keep the old one as a burner phone and be a fucking pimp. 

[tokyojoe]

I never thought of this site as social media. OK, so I use this one. Watching people walk across the road gawping at the phone (as I did yesterday) is surely not healthy.

[Tony Moanero]

I’m addicted to the internet and use it for hours on end. TLW, YouTube, Twitter (although I rarely post anything), IMDB, nostalgia, old football photographs, etc. First thing in the morning, last thing at night. Any problems with Wi-Fi and I have a meltdown. 

[Pureblood]

6 minutes ago, tokyojoe said:

I never thought of this site as social media. OK, so I use this one. Watching people walk across the road gawping at the phone (as I did yesterday) is surely not healthy.

Let Darwinism do its work.

[Pureblood]

This is well worth a watch whether you're considering quitting social or not, if you skip the musical interludes.

 

 

[Anubis]

21 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Keep the old one as a burner phone and be a fucking pimp. 

 

Ok, how much are we going to sell you for by the hour?

[Section_31]

1 hour ago, Remmie said:

It seems there is increasing evidence that the usage of Social media, especially on portable devices like mobiles is causing a negative affect on people's mental health and social skills.

 

Have you noticed how it changes you and if you've made any steps to reduce your usage? If so, how did you find it?

 

For me it just seems we fear boredom more and more, for instance when was the last time you had a shit without your playing with your phone? Sometimes there is a genuine conflict of talking to someone on whatsapp who may be closer to you or giving full attention to the person you happen to be talking to at the time. Now there is a safe outlet or escape if you are amongst strangers, rather than talking to them and getting that genuine social interaction. I'm also conscious of being that sneering I'm better than you type, lecturing others on their naughty toys - for most there are real positive benefits of these tools - I'm not sure I would be with my wife and therefore have my daughter without the vital role Facebook played in our burgeoning relationship. 

It's a really good question. 

 

Was listening to an egg-spert on the radio a while back saying young people are no longer 'able to deal with boredom', and that boredom was a fact of life. 

 

Think back to your own childhood. If it was raining out and you couldn't play out it was hard shit, you just had to deal with it. These days there's a million and one things to do, be it online gaming, YouTube or whatever else. 

 

It's definitely done significant and widespread damage to society. Because of the web, because of clickbait and shortening attention spans, people were and are less likely to read a 1,000 word in-depth feature about Donald Trump than they were to retweet a video of him in a hat shouting 'lock her up'. 

 

 

[3 Stacks]

Don't want to say it's just girls because it isn't, but girls in my age group (mid 20's) especially and also younger now are absolutely obsessed with Instagram. It's like crack.

[Lee909]

I'm on social media alot. 

But mostly because it's the best way to connect and discuss MMA and boxing. There are not many great forums for them and mist of the good stuff and funny points are on twitter and a couple of Facebook groups I'm in. 

[Section_31]

4 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Don't want to say it's just girls because it isn't, but girls in my age group (mid 20's) especially and also younger now are absolutely obsessed with Instagram. It's like crack.

 

Read a thing a while back saying that it's becoming the 'done thing' in silicon valley to ditch social media. 

 

The  bloke who designed the 'like' button was saying these things are all done in cooperation with psychologists and that apparently when someone shows you social media approval it releases the same drug in your brain as when you get parental approval. 

 

So you're bascially subconsciously chasing approval all the time with your images and what not. It's impacted things like even how we go on holiday, with spots that are 'instagramable' now trumping traditional places like Magaluf or whatever. 

 

That's interesting in itself because, it says to me, this generation as opposed to mine are more concerned with how they look rather  than how they feel. My generation would go to a shit resort wearing shit clothes and drink shit booze because they wanted to get drunk and shag - because they're both fun.

 

This generation want to be approved of for being somewhere - even if they don't actually want to be there in the first place. IMO  this is probably why you get people following trends, whether they be political or social - which they don't actually genuinely care about, the rise of slactivism. People are putting their faces on the line but not their soul. 

 

 

 

 

[3 Stacks]

9 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

That's interesting in itself because, it says to me, this generation as opposed to mine are more concerned with how they look rather than how they feel.

I would say that's spot on in general. Perception is everything nowadays and there's nothing that makes someone's life look incredible to others than by them posting a facetuned picture of themselves at a resort in Mykonos with perfect lighting it took 3 hours to get just right.  

[ZonkoVille77]

I only use Twitter. It's great fun.

 

But I do find I'm addicted to the internet on my phone. The sheer amount of info available at your fingertips makes it impossible to put down even though I know I should. Adddicted. 

[Bjornebye]

23 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

I only use Twitter. It's great fun.

 

But I do find I'm addicted to the internet on my phone. The sheer amount of info available at your fingertips makes it impossible to put down even though I know I should. Adddicted. 

Yes but are you finding it difficult to masturbate to this thread? 

[Bjornebye]

1 hour ago, Anubis said:

 

Ok, how much are we going to sell you for by the hour?

For one thousand pennies. You can work it out That's four pounds, three and four slightly under four guineas - Knocked down from seven guineas - Three pounds, ten shillings. 

 

[ZonkoVille77]

6 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Yes but are you finding it difficult to masturbate to this thread? 

 

I wasn't until Tony's post. Ruined it for me. 

[VladimirIlyich]

44 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

 

Read a thing a while back saying that it's becoming the 'done thing' in silicon valley to ditch social media. 

 

The  bloke who designed the 'like' button was saying these things are all done in cooperation with psychologists and that apparently when someone shows you social media approval it releases the same drug in your brain as when you get parental approval. 

 

So you're bascially subconsciously chasing approval all the time with your images and what not. It's impacted things like even how we go on holiday, with spots that are 'instagramable' now trumping traditional places like Magaluf or whatever. 

 

That's interesting in itself because, it says to me, this generation as opposed to mine are more concerned with how they look rather  than how they feel. My generation would go to a shit resort wearing shit clothes and drink shit booze because they wanted to get drunk and shag - because they're both fun.

 

This generation want to be approved of for being somewhere - even if they don't actually want to be there in the first place. IMO  this is probably why you get people following trends, whether they be political or social - which they don't actually genuinely care about, the rise of slactivism. People are putting their faces on the line but not their soul. 

 

 

 

 

Arent you in your thirties? I'd probably consider you 'this generation' if you are. When I think of generations I probably consider 20-40 the generation of the day.