Texting and Social media = damaged people
 

Have texting and social media damaged this generation's ability to communicate in person?

https://media4.giphy.com/media/unFLKoAV3TkXe/200.gif

I don't use social media sites, and I text as little as possible, but I find that I have to look up a lot of abbreviations that most people seem to just know what they mean.

Come on, you can't be that old.

Re: Texting and Social media = damaged people
 

Re: Texting and Social media = damaged people
 

I am not going to say they are damaged, per se...but I do notice that Gen Z aren't as comfortable sitting around a room and shooting the shit as previous generations seem to be. I always see a good portion of them on their phones for a majority of the time, and some of them even tend to want to text each other while sitting right next to one another (!!!)

You think this is silly but this way they can call you names without you knowing.

Like the total wimps that they are...yea, that makes sense! ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZs0GJYNng

Re: Texting and Social media = damaged people
 

Like most things it's better in some ways, worse in others.

Can it be dumb? Yeah. Most new things go too far/are dumb for awhile. Then everyone sort of "figures out" how they work and they reach an equilibrium. We just haven't reached that yet.

I doubt it. First there are usually no absolutes, so all one could really say is that some might be damaged. But even without texting and social media I think society (at least in America) would be moving more towards indirect communication...as you and I are doing right now...thanks to computers and the internet. The recent pandemic helped reinforce direct physical isolation too.

A lot of people do seem to be 'addicted' to their phones & texting & social media. They would be best to remember the adage, everything in moderation.

Re: Texting and Social media = damaged people
 

I don't think it's damaged forms of communication. But I do think it has severely damaged people's mental health. The amount of people that strive to be the next influencer or youtuber or something is dangerous. Posing for selfies vainly in the hope that they get 30 likes more than their friends. It's awful.

I even see it in my own kids, and I've tried to steer them away from that sort of thing.

Hugely damaging.

One of my elderly friends tells me his granddaughter texts him to please fetch her a glass of water. And she’s in the next room to him. :rolleyes:

When I do my daily 2 hour walk literally everyone I see is looking at their iPhone screen.

What I find a tad sad on Twitter is people’s desperate need for followers. (I’m happy with what I have.) People have 5,000 followers e.g. & are frantically looking for 6,000 followers because “it would make them very happy”. :rolleyes:

If you're growing a brand and that's your livelihood then fair enough but yeah the levels of delusion are off the scale. I saw someone only yesterday with 32 followers and they pay for a blue tick! Then they said that one day soon they'll have "Twitter Gold". Dude that's for like Microsoft and Pepsi!

I also hate the way people talk to each other on Twitter. I've abandoned several accounts now as people have no filter on there, just tend to abuse and think nothing of it. I mostly just tweet and forget.

Texting seems to be one of a few mediums by which stalking is acceptable.

the only good phone is a dead phone

I am totally addicted. I have a lot of free time and social media very ably filled it. But now it has become my main form of entertainment. I really feel like it has taken over my life. I am trying to ween myself off it to some extent.

I like Twitter, but I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. I’ve met some very nice people there, mostly because of our shared hatred of animal abuse. Anyone who is mean to me in any way is blocked forever. I have no time for this.

The blue tick costs $11.99 to start per month. I suppose if one has only 32 followers it is tempting to join.

I think the addiction aspect is a definite and real problem. (I'm inclined toward it myself sometime and I'm still chained to a desktop which is probably a good thing because it limits my time to some extent on the Internet)!

I've been hearing ads on the radio lately from law firms offering to sue various websites and companies for damages from tech addiction and other forms of device-related social decay!

When I was younger I posted a lot more that I do now (not on social media), so I can see the additive nature of it. These days posting is a 5 minute break from work, which I'm on right now. When mobile phones and texting/social media addition comes up I always thing of the Star Trek TNG episode:eek: It's literally coming true.

Wow and double wow! That's the first time I've heard of that. I wonder if in the near future phone companies & social media sites will have built in 'time governors' to limit people's on time usage.