The Twitter Generation

[CaddmannQ]

Is it a lost cause? I really hate Twitter more and more.

OTOH, It is very easy to like this place; & mostly because, despite what you would see on MSNBCBS, FOX or Youtube, gun owners are 99% friendly, intelligent, and reasonable people.

I know that if some rookie who has never owned a gun (or smoker) shows up looking for advice, the folks here will bend over backwards to help, because they really care.

If the same new gun owner goes to Tweet (or visit many websites,) populated by citizens raised on a steady diet of Facebook, commercial TV, and The Popular Myths of the Twitter World Citizen, he can generally expect to endure serial text-floggings, in 140 cryptic characters or less.

Now people are getting stuck on Twitter (!) and I am afraid masses of people will soon be unable to communicate ideas requiring more than 140 characters in a spurt.

But Mossberg Owners exists on a level that those people are becoming increasingly less able to access, both mentally and emotionally: The world of sequential paragraphs connecting ideas into a logical chain.

While Twitter increases our ability to communicate in cryptograms, it's reducing the tolerance for logical and time consuming tasks in communication.

I remember in the sixties, older folks talking about how Society had lost the art of polite conversation. It seems that with Twitter we have now devised a particularly sharp tool to pry ourselves permanently away from that art.

I sure hope we see some backlash on this trend.

 

[Scoop]

The way Twitter is being used really sux. It is basically a forum that people use for self-aggrandizement. They can't wait to brag about how many likes, retweets and followers they have. They actually buy accounts to follow them so that little number in the corner is bigger!?

I have had two Twitter accounts since about 2005. Except for test messages my total send count is 4. One message to Mike Huckabee to answer a question. One smartass retort to a liberal, and 2 answers to people about my account. I established the accounts just to keep up w/ the digital society. For the most part, I'd estimate out of every billion tweets only about 5000 are positive contributions to the universe.

Firearmsspeakingwise, what I hate most about FB, Twitter, Snapchat, ... yadda, yadda, yadda, is that the addicted ones have had their universe shrunk to the 12 inches between their eyes and their screen. Awareness is something they are not aware of. [Tautology?]

Twitter, along with most other social media sites, is a net waste of time.

I have little hope that there will be any improvement.

If Heaven has Twitter it isn't Heavenly.

Edit: spelling

 

[Bobster]

Now people are getting stuck on Twitter (!) and I am afraid masses of people will soon be unable to communicate ideas requiring more than 140 characters in a spurt.

And will these masses be able to orally communicate without questioning themselves? (ie: "upspeak")



Like scoop, I have twitter accts. that go unused. I tried turning the app on and following a few people but it just became too much of a distraction so the app was uninstalled from my phone. I have facebook and facebook "lite" (messenger) installed but apps and notifications turned off. Some people don't have a phone and that is their only way of communicating (FBM). But I generally keep wifi, data and gps OFF... Can't get a hold of me on fbm? Then borrow a phone or make your way to a pay phone and call me the "old"-fashioned way!

 

[John A.]

I imagine that since I don't have any of that garbage at all, I'm probably seen as a threat or menace to society in some circles, and an old fogey in others.

But all honesty, I don't want none of that mindless crap. I have enough business of my own to mind without having anyone else in it, nor do I want to know every elses'.

And you can tweet that as word to your mother.

 

[nitesite]

Good thread CMQ.

What does home air conditioning have to do with TWITTER?

Serious question.

 

[MikeD]

The way Twitter is being used really sux. It is basically a forum that people use for self-aggrandizement. They can't wait to brag about how many likes, retweets and followers they have. They actually buy accounts to follow them so that little number in the corner is bigger!?

^^^ This. Social media had created a level of self important narcissism that has been unseen until this generation. From the time kids pick up their first phone or tablet they have access to the entire world. it feeds their ego, their self esteem and their self worth. The reality of what a person is or does does is not as important as the virtual perception of how great the experience was, how happy or sad they were going it and how many people around the world react to it.

This is actually leading to a lot of depression as everyone is trying to be more awesome hand happy then the next but the reality is that it is all fake. Kids today have better tech skills than I had at that age but they cannot communicate or handle rejection at all. It's easy to block something you don't like online and filter everything to your liking but the real world doesn't really work that way. You have to learn to live with things you hate, coworkers you want to stab neighbors you want to run over and situations that make you uncomfortable.

As a side I spent the entire weekend digging 70 foot trench in my front yard to replace a root clogged drain tube for my sump pump. I snapped a pic at the end of day one and at the end of the job. My nieces and nephews would have spent more time snapping selfies and posting about how much work they were doing to actually do any work. I was actually joking about this when I was done. I actually have problems documenting build along projects as I frequently forget to stop and take pictures. It slows down the process a lot.

This has to be the best documented generation of kids ever with the least amount of actual stuff getting done.

 

[ripjack13]

#homeairconditioning #staycool #winwin

 

[ripjack13]

when cavemen first started using tools to write with, they used a birds beak, hence the term, tweeting...

 

[Bobster]

The way Twitter is being used really sux. It is basically a forum that people use for self-aggrandizement. They can't wait to brag about how many likes, retweets and followers they have. They actually buy accounts to follow them so that little number in the corner is bigger!?

Farcebuk is the same way. Everybody wants you to "friend" them. I know some people on FB with 1000s of friends and I doubt they even know 10 of them. I have exactly ZERO friends on FB and that is exactly the way I like it!

 

[John A.]

Wha-choo tawkin' about ? no friends. That's about how many I have in real life bobster. U got sum katchin' up to-do.

 

[MikeD]

From a high level perspective, all of these are the biggest and most successful product tracking, advertising and information mining tools out there. Its genius, people just "like " the products they like and it instantly goes into a marketing database.

 

[OhioArcher]

60 Minutes did a piece on how the tech world is "reprogramming" people's brains to release Dopamine by tweaking Twitter, FB, and the rest. A former Google manager wrote a paper and tours explaining how they do it and the pitfalls. Pretty interesting. Basically, it "hooks" the user just like heroin or other narcotics. Disconnect them, even for a short period of time, and anxiety and withdrawal symptoms set in. The tech world is basically acting like your neighborhood pusher and they are getting extremely good at what they do.

I joke about us already being in a Zombie Apocalypse. This 60 Mins piece reaffirmed that. Here's another article on it:
https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/feeding-the-addiction.aspx

 

[MikeD]

Several years ago my brother took his kids up to our cabin in upper MI. There is no cell service there. The literally spent the first half of the week in a depressed stupor staring at their phones. It was sad. They were fine the rest of the week. On the way back home as soom as the first device beeped with a signal they fall back into it and never set them down the rest of the trip home.

I admit to spending too much time on my phone. I don't play games, use twitter, instagram, snapchat, facetime or any of those types of those things. I primarily use it for email, forums, a little facebook with close friends and family. Everything else is utility such as ballistics apps, webcam security monitoring.

Back after Trump took office I went tbrough my FB and removed anything and everything political from my news feeds. The constant barage of negativity over Hillary, Trump, and everything was really bringing me down, esp after that election cycle. Now I just check the news a few times a week and call it good. It's really easy to get sucked in to everything. They make everything a crisis but most of it is nothing I can controll or influence in any way.

Who doesn't want instant recognition and only hear about the things youstrongly believe in? The truth is none of it really matters. Nothing I post there or the number of likes I give of receive really change anything.

I guess being born when I was and having grown up without all of this technology I find it easier to unplug when I need to. Kids today cannot even conceive of a world free of smart devices, GPS navigation, 24 hour tv with unlimited channels, video vames, 24 hour stores/restaurants, wi-fi, internet, etc. They will never have driven a manual transmission, used a land line or a wired phone, used the phone book, used a library, used a film camera, math without an electronic calculater ... lived life without a smart phone teather.

At least on the forums most of the talk is constructive and helpful, even if to only the the person asking a question.

 

[ripjack13]

Nothing I post there or the number of likes I give of receive really change anything.

Truth in text right there ^^^^

I guess being born when I was and having grown up without all of this technology I find it easier to unplug when I need to. Kids today cannot even conceive of a world free of smart devices, GPS navigation, 24 hour tv with unlimited channels, video vames, 24 hour stores/restaurants, wi-fi, internet, etc. They will never have driven a manual transmission, used a land line or a wired phone, used the phone book, used a library, used a film camera, math without an electronic calculater ... lived life without a smart phone teather.

My wife just yesterday, was calling me on my mobile phone repeatedly...I didn't hear it. I had turned the ringer notifications off the night before, (motorola screwed that one up big time, but that's another story) a few hours later when i did look at my phone,( I was in my happy place, my shop) i saw all the missed calls. Yet, we have a house phone. I called her from that, just to make a point.
I was happy as a clam without the phone.
I only have this dumb phone to check in on here and the wood forum I mod at. If I didn't run these 2 forums, I'd be happy with the old flip phone at the most, at the least, my house phone works for me.

 

[Scoop]

... I'd be happy with the old flip phone at the most, at the least, my house phone works for me.

I've got 2 dumbs and 1 smart. I have NO apps downloaded to smarty. The only thing I use it for besides calls and text is a quick google lookup for some obscure fact.

 

[Bobster]

I admit to spending too much time on my phone. I don't play games, use twitter, instagram, snapchat, facetime or any of those types of those things. I primarily use it for email, forums, a little facebook with close friends and family. Everything else is utility such as ballistics apps, webcam security monitoring...

I was a late adopter of a cell phone. Then a late adopter of a texting phone. Then a late adopter of a smart phone. Now I wonder how I got along without them... (jk!) I use the phone as a tool and as a phone but more and more hate talking on it, especially someone who is verbose. I communicate with my kids via text and I like that because they are more likely to text me back than return a voicemail. A typical text convo will go like this: "weryat?", "Joe's, b home at 9", "k". I use the smart phone as place to keep and view shop manuals, etc. (on .pdf), a camera (instant "copy" machine!), camcorder, picture viewer, mp3 player, timepiece, credit card processing device, calculator, flashlight, and occasionally a GPS device. But rarely as a social media device or for Emails. That and most web browsing still gets done on a desktop computer... Data, wifi and GPS remain OFF most of the time. I do play an occasional game while waiting for someone...

...They will never have driven a manual transmission, used a land line or a wired phone, used the phone book, used a library, used a film camera, math without an electronic calculater ... lived life without a smart phone teather.

My daughter learned how to drive a stick (by me). She is taking her driver's ed road test this afternoon, as a matter of fact. This waives the roadtest at the DMV. I told her "if you want to drive any of my cars, you'll need to learn how to drive a standard transmission" and she is quite good at it. Her first car will be my hand-me-down 04 Jetta 1.8t 5-speed and she has already claimed it as "her own". My son will also learn a stick next year, same deal...

I agree with some of the other things you list, especially the film camera--what's that?

 

[Daryll]

Never had a twitter, snapchat, or myspace account.... I do use Facebook, (or Stalkerbook as we call it in the office!), just to keep track of what the kids are up to...I started that when they were at University, which wasn't always a good thing!

 

[CaddmannQ]

It used to be that when you really needed judging, 12 men would judge you. Not the court of public opinion.
(And with the World Wide Web that court has become very proud indeed.)

It's an awful thing where people learn to judge their self worth based on the opinions of thousands of strangers they don't know. I am afraid that soon mankind will judge themselves by a computer rating number like Dow Jones or NASDAQ composite.

"Our Little Johnny A hasn't been tweeting very much and that brings his composite happiness index quotient below the normative averagegoal for pre-college education seekers. The school pharmacist thinks we'll have to cheer him up chemically...."

They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps, but throughout my life I've kept more company with machines and books than with people. Because of this I can be sort of an odd bird. In fact, I declare that this practice has not been a boon in my relationships with other people.

I did not take to this stuff until the late sixties because it wasn't available ....it didn't exist! But for my children it did and my grandchildren were born into the web-baby generation. They have not known a time before the age of fingertip research and instant mass communication.

Once I split my lip open. I cried and there were 6 cubscouts plus my mother who knew about it.

Now, if somebody gets a bad cheeseburger at Applebee's 17,000 tweet followers all know about it.

It's like we've given ourselves this big microphone, and when we cry or laugh we push that out upon the whole world, like it's their duty to be concerned about our emotions and keep tabs on them.

How disappointed and depressed are people going to be when they grow up to find that the part of the world that really matters has nothing to do with all of that?

 

[CaddmannQ]

By the way my grandchildren are the first children to be born into a world that has always had robots.

We're moving towards the society where so much work is done by robots and automation, that human beings will not have to do physical labor and will not have to do much thinking or remembering either. We've really already been there quite some time for the upper classes and the better-off of the middle class.

It was a very difficult thing for me to recover from. Computers did so much of my work for me, it was nearly fatal.

I recovered my senses before that point, and mostly by realizing that motorized Transportation was a huge part in of all of this decline.

I quit spending so much time on my motorcycle and started spending it on a skateboard. It paid off handsomely too. I also pulled the plug on PC games, and I really don't play them anymore. I'm certain that I own over 200, but they gather dust.

I belong to a few forums which I frequent but otherwise I use the smartphone for research & communication with my family. It's a camera and calculator. I use the calendar.

Sometimes I use it to play music through Bluetooth devices or external speakers. But I have other music Hardware dedicated to that business.

I use the phone to navigate sometimes, but not on the skateboard.

Too fragile!

The most important thing about this phone is it lets me and my wife keep in touch with each other. That fact alone has saved us enough money and wasted time and gasoline to pay for the smartphones.

 

[meanstreak]

I do like the radar app on my phone, especially when on the bike.