I don't use social media because there's nothing of interest for me, everything I want to know I can specifically search for on the internet. I don't feel the need to digitally "stay in touch" with people I can't stand in real life, anyway. When I'm on the train, I rather read, think about stuff, or talk with the old lady next to me than play Angry Birds. Luckily, I'm also pretty good at picking up girls.
I grew up during a time when people were talking with each other to waste time, instead of staring at their mobile devices. In my opinion, people have become so "connected", they don't even realize how sad and lonely they appear when they stare at their phone in the middle of a crowd.
Generally, I think it's pretty concerning that we have reached a point as society where people have to defend themselves, can be accused of lying or hiding something just because they deny social media to be part of their lives. Call me a radical if you like, but I do value privacy as much as I value freedom or human dignity.
Exactly, it's utterly ridiculous.
We live in a world where parents give iPads to toddlers who haven't even learnt to read and write properly - it's an absolute joke.
Yesterday I was waiting on the train platform, and as I was looking across to the opposite platform I noticed a bunch of people on their phones. I decided to count for the heck of it - out of 15 people standing on the platform, 12 of them were staring at their phones (completely oblivious to the world around them).
It's kinda disturbing to be honest.
My biggest worry is with kids.
When I was in senior high school I was using ICQ and MSN chat, and things like MySpace and Facebook had only just started to become fads, and even then it was enough to be a distraction to me.
I distinctly remember staying up late in my room on my laptop chatting to girls and friends on ICQ/MSN when I was supposed to be asleep...and pretending I was studying every time my parents walked past, then ALT+Tabbing to the chat windows every time they walked out.
Before the days of electronics that would never really have been a problem. It would have been very difficult for me to step out of the house to meet with girls/friends without my parents knowing, or even to talk to them on the phone without my parents hearing that I was on the phone. But with the internet, the potential for distractions for kids is huge, and the more things go in the 'technological' direction, the harder it is to keep tabs on what your kids are doing.
Hell, these days we have kids who can't even read and write properly, but have no problems knowing how to who use an iPad. That's just ridiculous.
Technology is an amazing thing, but the whole idea of it is that it's there as a tool to support us in our daily lives. These days we depend so much on technology that it takes control of our lives, and we become a slave to it. THAT I am not a fan of.
Perfect example - take a look at auto braking in cars. New 'safety' feature that's started to become big lately, yet I've spoken to people who have cars with that feature and they tell me it's highly inaccurate and borderline dangerous, because it always functions when you don't want it to.
The internet is a great resource. I think things like Viber (allowing you to use the internet for free multi-party messages) is a great resource. I think Virtualisation is an amazing technology, which can introduce massive cost savings and huge reliability improvments for organisations. GPS navigators allow people to drive somewhere they have never been, without having to take their eyes off the road to look at a map.
There are a lot of amazing technologies out there, but in some cases I feel we just take it too far - social media is (IMHO) one such area.
But hey, that's just me.
Topic: Do you find it sketchy if someone doesn't have social media or barely uses it? (Read 14388 times)