

How Social Media Is Ruining Your Life, And How To Fix It - zeedotme
http://www.regator.com/blog/?p=613

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derefr
> At the risk of sounding like an old-fogey, when you [ignore people in favor
> of your mobile], you are telling the other person that they are not
> interesting enough to hold your attention[...]

Good. We are telling them this because this is the truth. Some people are
boring. It's time that society learned this, stopped encouraging us to be
patronizing of such people, and instead started encouraging _them_ to _be more
interesting_.

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madmanslitany
I don't know if I'd put it like that, but I do tire of this statement as well.
I agree that it's rude to hold an extended conversation in front of someone
else, particularly if you two were alone and you've left the other physically
present person to just twiddle their thumbs, but quickly answering a question
of a friend over a cell phone during dinner is hardly something I'm going to
apologize for.

I could just as easily say, "What makes you feel so self-important and selfish
that you think anyone who spends time with you must shut out the rest of the
world?"

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roc
I think the distinction is 'quickly'.

In your example, you're clearly still showing respect for the other person's
time. In the article's example, he's clearly talking about the tarts who have
prolonged trivial conversations that do -not- respect the other person's time.

Like most everything in life: there are right and wrong ways to do it.

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frossie
I can see why this kind of article will annoy people, but I think there are
some fair points. In particular, it is quite obvious to me that certain (by no
means _all_ ) users are really over-immersed in social media, to the point
where it is reasonable to start talk about addictive behaviours. I don't
necessarily buy the neurological fears, but when you have people literally
consumed by activities that are not truly productive, it is not unreasonable
to ask them to see if they can take the odd day off.

It's like the difference between a drinker and an alcoholic; the drinker can
take a week off the booze and still be fine.

As the Greeks used to say: pan metron ariston: In all things, moderation is
best.

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stinkytaco
If social media is making you gullible, then why would you believe this? If
you think a couple of tricks and some neat Web 2.0 tools are going to save you
from becoming a social media outcast, then you are probably already a social
media outcast. It drives me crazy all these people making totally
unsubstantiated claims about how the internet makes people stupid. I suppose
because we grew up with TV we're stupider than our parents. Does anyone really
believe that?

Since citing some popular books and Times articles apparently means I've got a
point, I'd like to refer you to this fascinating article by... a real doctor:

[http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/05/on_the_information_a.h...](http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/05/on_the_information_a.html)

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chanux
I have to agree with most of the facts. For nothing but the fact that "I too
am starting to suffering from those."

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jojoleflaire
Quote: "If you’re over, say, thirtyish, you grew up in a world where a good
chunk of what you read was true."

What kind of moron writes this crap?

~~~
pg
I agree that is a pretty silly statement, but your rebuttal doesn't add a lot.

