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Tech and social media are making us feel lonelier than ever:
You've had a social day. Two hundred Facebook friends posted birthday messages, your video of Mr. Meow shredding the toilet paper stash got dozens of retweets, and all the compliments on your latest Instagram selfie have you strutting with an extra swagger. Still, you can't help but notice an ache that can only be described as loneliness.
That we feel this way even when hyperconnected might seem like a contradiction. But the facts are clear: Constant virtual connections can often amplify the feeling of loneliness.
"Internet-related technologies are great at giving us the perception of connectedness," says Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford University psychiatrist who's written about the intersection of psychology and tech. The truth, he says, is the time and energy spent on social media's countless connections may be happening at the expense of more rooted, genuinely supportive and truly close relationships.
If virtual socializing cannot substitute for the real thing, will social media prove out to be nothing more than a fad of the late 20th and early 21st centuries?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday June 19 2020, @02:17PM (9 children)
Not entirely true. Internet relationships can also be build on the quality of the content that is viewed.
I'll give you an example that blew my mind today:
Sunblazer - Drunk (live session) [youtube.com]
How to Play Music With a "Drunk" Feel [youtube.com] - a dissection of the above.
In the total of 20-something minutes of the two clips, I didn't feel alone or depressed, just... mind-blown.
If you are saying that "well, that's an exception", I'll offer you heaps of exceptions which, albeit not that mind-blowing as experience, keep me in a "not alone or depressed" state. Here, some of them: EEVBlog [youtube.com], and Mathologer [youtube.com], and Standup Maths [youtube.com], and JSK-koubou [youtube.com], and Rex Krueger [youtube.com], and izzy swan [youtube.com], and Pask Makes [youtube.com].
Now, tell me honestly that's not how the Internet should be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by VacuumTube on Friday June 19 2020, @04:11PM (1 child)
Thanks for the YouTube links, Colo. Two that I like are Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/user/lexfridman [youtube.com] and ThisOldTony https://www.youtube.com/user/featony. [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:36AM
Thanks. ThisOldTony is among the many others that I didn't mention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @01:38AM (2 children)
Your first link goes to something labelled as Sungazer, whatever you meant.
Listened for one minute. Horrible shit. Worse than rap, which isn't even Music.
Why did you link to that? Some kind of joke? Mind Blown? By what, crappy performance of horrible noise? There is enough noise pollution in real life without people purposefully creating more.
Oh, wait. Was that a clever allegory about the 99.99999...% of the Internet that is horrible, pointless, aggravating, mind-numbing noise?
Oh, I get it.
Mind Blown.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:42AM
You may be one that like better 2/4 march tempos.
If still curious how they came with that and why is mind blowing (for some), watch the link that follows in my comment and this one [youtube.com]. Fair warning: prepare yourself for the horror of being exposed to sheet music [wikipedia.org].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday June 20 2020, @03:13AM
I would characterize it as an aharmonic syncopated study of variable timing. Far better than rap.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @01:58AM (3 children)
Right. you were engaged and receiving a variety of stimuli from the music and its discussion. Often a positive, enjoyable and sometimes even useful experience.
However, physical, interactive human interactions while similar, as they also provide a variety of stimuli, are far richer and more satisfying than passively viewing the actions and interactions of others.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:32AM (2 children)
As I enjoy making things, that watching is far from passive.
As I don't have friends in woodworking, interacting with the wood in an increasing skillful manner becomes more important that interacting with friends who observe social distancing (as do I, can't afford to get infected while caring for parents over 80yo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @02:56AM (1 child)
You completely misunderstand me.
I'm not claiming that folks shouldn't be social distancing at this time. I rigorously practice it myself.
All I said was that, as a rule, interactive physical interaction provides a richer experience than virtual ones, especially passive ones (like the youtube videos you linked).
That folks are strongly discouraged from those physical interactions right now, doesn't mean the lack of same isn't negatively impacting (loneliness, depression, etc.) people. We are, after all, a social species.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday June 20 2020, @04:10AM
And I said that's a rather weak rule which depends on lots of factors, and my reactions to the youtube I linked are anything but passive.
I'd somewhat agree if you were contrasting with non-interactive experiences, but the term of passive brings a too high meaning of non-participation. E.g. I can not describe reading a book as passive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford