Thread: Cell phones and internet -- hurting human relationships?

Originally Posted by Tned

Cell phones and internet are the worst thing to happen to society since soap operas.

They even open access to soap operas.

Originally Posted by King87

I don’t understand if my post is incongruent with this one, but I’m also tired and hungry.

Yeah, your statement about help people and support system, I think we might be saying the same thing.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

Yeah, your statement about help people and support system, I think we might be saying the same thing.

I think we might.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

While the issue of their place in society has been settled, the issue of any particular person's proper use of them has not been settled. For example, I'm struggling with how to prepare my 10 year old for lifelong happiness among devices and social media.

Their proper use will likely never be settled. It's unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all answer anyway. Also, if it weren't devices and social media it would just be something else. Finding happiness across history has been an exercise in adaptation and circumstance.

I don't mean to seem like I'm talking down to you, I know you know all this, just thought it was worth saying aloud, so to speak.

One of the things that stuck out to me from the article that Abe posted was that social media and Adolescent well-being seems you have a strong negative relationship

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

One of the things that stuck out to me from the article that Abe posted was that social media and Adolescent well-being seems you have a strong negative relationship

I'm not sure I follow, can you elaborate?

Originally Posted by King87

They even open access to soap operas.

True, all the evils converging together.

How many people can, or do, turn off the cell phones and go dark vs. by choice or work requirements, have it on 24/7?

I don't really think cell phones or the internet in general are a negative thing for kids today, but I do think social media is. I don't have kids obviously, but I feel like if I did I'd rather them sit and play video games for hours a day (the previous culprit of the eventual downfall of society) than spend even 10 minutes a day on social media. I remain thankful that I was out of school by the time social media became the monster it is today.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

I don't really think cell phones or the internet in general are a negative thing for kids today, but I do think social media is. I don't have kids obviously, but I feel like if I did I'd rather them sit and play video games for hours a day (the previous culprit of the eventual downfall of society) than spend even 10 minutes a day on social media. I remain thankful that I was out of school by the time social media became the monster it is today.

I think the one positive it has in this regard is that it's still a form of communication. If it's raining outside, or if other kids in general just aren't out, it's a way for them to still interact with each other. When I was younger, I was a typical teenager in that I spent hours and hours on the phone with my friends. Communicating via facetime or other social media outlets is really just a more modern way of talking on the phone. My 10 year old does it quite a bit and in all honesty, I'm glad that she spends that time communicating and building up relationships with her friends. There are certainly a lot worse things kids could be doing today than communicating with each other.

Originally Posted by CoachChaz

I think the one positive it has in this regard is that it's still a form of communication. If it's raining outside, or if other kids in general just aren't out, it's a way for them to still interact with each other. When I was younger, I was a typical teenager in that I spent hours and hours on the phone with my friends. Communicating via facetime or other social media outlets is really just a more modern way of talking on the phone. My 10 year old does it quite a bit and in all honesty, I'm glad that she spends that time communicating and building up relationships with her friends. There are certainly a lot worse things kids could be doing today than communicating with each other.

The communication aspect is great. I think it's just the aspect in which everything you do is public and out there for the world to see is the big negative. That along with the self esteem issues that can come from seeing the highlights of everyone's life that you know plastered everywhere then comparing that to the negative issues in your life.

The scenario you laid out in which a group of friends use it just to chat with each other is a great use of it. Keeping in touch with various people is basically the only reason I keep social media. It's all the other bullshit that comes with it that's harmful.

Just like any other tool, they can be used for good or ill. The more powerful the tool, the more dangerous it becomes if abused or used carelessly.

There's certainly dangers here, but I think there's a boogeyman in every generation. In mine it was video games. In my parents it was Rock n' roll. This generation's seems to be social media.

I just want to skip ahead to robot sex slaves already. I'm eager to explore the potential abuses therein.

Originally Posted by wayninja

Just like any other tool, they can be used for good or ill. The more powerful the tool, the more dangerous it becomes if abused or used carelessly.

There's certainly dangers here, but I think there's a boogeyman in every generation. In mine it was video games. In my parents it was Rock n' roll. This generation's seems to be social media.

I just want to skip ahead to robot sex slaves already. I'm eager to explore the potential abuses therein.

This is fair. We might me looking back in 20 years realizing how ridiculous it was to blame social media for things the way we blamed video games for things 20 years ago.

Just seems right now like the negatives of social media really can eff up kids lives the way things of the past really didn't. Maybe this happened and I just missed it, but I don't think kids were committing suicide after losing a video game the way you hear about kids who kill themselves or at least attempt it due to being bullied on social media.

I'm only on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with my ever-growing family. I have 6 brothers and sisters, who have combined for 32 or so nieces and nephews (that number includes my 4 kids). With all of them having children now, there are over 70 kids in my immediate family. Those mediums are really the only way to keep up with all the going's on with them and their families.

That said, I think social media is dwindling. None of my 4 kids are active users on any social platform, and only occasionally post. Facebook messenger with video/facetime from Apple has been a godsend with my oldest living 90 minutes away. We get to talk to and see my granddaughter nearly every day, although I think she thinks we live in a little black rectangle! When they come to visit, I am thinking of getting a black frame so the wife and I can frame our faces when she's here! LOL.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

This is fair. We might me looking back in 20 years realizing how ridiculous it was to blame social media for things the way we blamed video games for things 20 years ago.

Just seems right now like the negatives of social media really can eff up kids lives the way things of the past really didn't. Maybe this happened and I just missed it, but I don't think kids were committing suicide after losing a video game the way you hear about kids who kill themselves or at least attempt it due to being bullied on social media.

I would agree that social media is by far the more powerful tool compared to generations past. It is still a tool though.

When I was a kid, we spent hours learning safety in shop class before we were allowed to use the tablesaw and arc welders. Maybe we need safety classes for what seems to be just as powerfully dangerous a tool.