Attention Addiction

[down2earth]

I remember years ago the two commonly recognized additions were alcohol and drugs. Today we have a varied menu of addictions. "Attention Addiction" seems to be the most popular. So many people are obsessed with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, Snapchat, etc. They splash their face (and bodies) all over for the world to see. And when they don't get enough "hits" on social media, they create intense drama in their lives. Who cares??? There seems to be a national epidemic of personality disorders and dysfunctional behavior. Narcissists dominate the news. Personally, I find attention seeking people exhausting.

 

[Beezer]

I always tell my girls, "Try to be behind-the-scenes successful in life." But of course it might be a challenge. You might turn out to be so wonderful you can't help but be famous.

I'm schizophrenic. Most of us just want to hide behind the couch. The kindest thing you can say to a schizophrenic is, "Dude relax, you're a nobody."

 

[Naturally]

... my friends will like this post

 

[Been There]

I post pictures occasionally, but try not to include myself, unless I am wearing sunglasses and a cap. That changes a person's look fairly well.

 

[Tish]

You can keep social media, it bores me.

 

[Della]

I thought this was social media.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I thought this was social media.

It is. It’s an international forum for socializing. How is it not a social media?

 

[Ronni]

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a mental health condition marked by intense, unstable emotions and a distorted self-image. The word “histrionic” means “dramatic or theatrical.”

For people with histrionic personality disorder, their self-esteem depends on the approval of others and doesn’t come from a true feeling of self-worth. They have an overwhelming desire to be noticed and often behave dramatically or inappropriately to get attention.

HPD Is one of a group of disorders called Cluster B personality disorders which involve dramatic and erratic behavior.

 

[Ronni]

You can keep social media, it bores me.

Well, you’re on a social media platform here @Tish. Are we boring you?

The terms “social media” is now a dictionary definition.

From the Oxford Dictionary : “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking”

So, yes. This forum definitely falls under the social media umbrella.

 

[JustDave]

I get anxious when I lose my internet connection for a couple of days. I had a facebook account, but I thought it was stupid and closed it. Never been on tic tock or twitter. I don't see how they could be any better than facebook, especially when hearing about all the jerks that are on it. No doubt there are good people on it too, but I don't really need them or their friends.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

People have been wandering around the planet for over 250,000 years, and I don't think we've made up any new mental disorders since the beginning. We've always had them. It's that we live in the information age. We love to tell others all about ourselves, and in the information age, we can tell thousands. It's not that social media causes addiction, it's that social media enhances the addictive behavior that was already there.

 

[JustDave]

People have been wandering around the planet for over 250,000 years, and I don't think we've made up any new mental disorders since the beginning. We've always had them. It's that we live in the information age. We love to tell others all about ourselves, and in the information age, we can tell thousands. It's not that social media causes addiction, it's that social media enhances the addictive behavior that was already there.

It may be that we are finally identifying long standing mental disorders.
It may be that the digital age presents a whole new environment to create new disorders.
It may be that we now label emotional issues previously overlooked as serious mental disorders.
There could be other explanations too.

But as I look about, I am aware that something significant has changed about human society, at least in America. I see unstable people coming out of the woodwork, and leaders who feed off of them, leaders who are either unstable themselves or pretend to be to garner the support of selected groups. I never thought I would see an America that has become so dysfunctional.

 

[davey]

Agreed!! - it is sad

 

[Geezer Garage]

This is it for me, other than tech forums. Just don't have the time for it, "I'm very, very late, for a very important date."

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I get anxious when I lose my internet connection for a couple of days. I had a facebook account, but I thought it was stupid and closed it. Never been on tic tock or twitter. I don't see how they could be any better than facebook, especially when hearing about all the jerks that are on it. No doubt there are good people on it too, but I don't really need them or their friends.

I’ve never had a Facebook, Twitter, instagram, tictoc or any other generalized social media account. I’m not great at interacting so don’t see the sense. It would just emphasize my lack of social skills.

 

[David777]

I thought this was social media.

It is. It’s an international forum for socializing. How is it not a social media?

Well, you’re on a social media platform here @Tish. Are we boring you?

The terms “social media” is now a dictionary definition.

From the Oxford Dictionary : “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking”

So, yes. This forum definitely falls under the social media umbrella.

This was just discussed a few months ago so will again post what I wrote then about this web forum NOT being post smartphone social media. The term "social media" as used today began with Web 2.0 in 2004. Older web forums like this predate Web 2.0.
--------------------
https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...tform-do-you-use-the-most.79136/#post-2395308

The term "social media" is somewhat vague and did not become an understood term or much used until the widespread rise of smartphones that was well after early World Wide Web Internet arose only when higher bandwidths became available. What has evolved as "Social Media" as used today is different from earlier era lower bandwidth WWW image poor Internet web forums just as web forums were different from the earlier Usenet text only era. So difference followed the rise in available bandwidth for the masses.

Because this is a vague issue, trivially debated, when I use the term to be clear, it is usually qualified as "post smartphone social media". As such IMO narrowly, do not consider this forum "Social Media" as the term has evolved to become though others, especially those that only began using the Internet in this later era after 2005, tend to disagree. Although web forums today now support imagery and multimedia that has been a slow late stage development. All this has also followed the evolution of personal computers that even when the first smartphones and social media sites like Facebook arose about 2005 including first generation Apple iPhone, were still not widespread in use beyond workplaces and the technically savvy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

And NO despite being involved in all this in my career am not interactively on any post smartphone social media.

 

[Tish]

Well, you’re on a social media platform here @Tish. Are we boring you?

The terms “social media” is now a dictionary definition.

From the Oxford Dictionary : “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking”

So, yes. This forum definitely falls under the social media umbrella.

Well in that case I love it!

 

[Packerjohn]

I get anxious when I lose my internet connection for a couple of days. I had a facebook account, but I thought it was stupid and closed it. Never been on tic tock or twitter. I don't see how they could be any better than facebook, especially when hearing about all the jerks that are on it. No doubt there are good people on it too, but I don't really need them or their friends.

I agree. I also think my Facebook account was stupid with photos of cats in washing machines going around and dogs driving cars. I decided I have a life and rose above these stupid posting and left Facebook almost 3 years ago. Don't miss it at all!

Perhaps Facebook is good for families being in touch but for me it was a complete wasteland of idiotic postings from people that had no life!

Senior Forums is the only "social media" form I ever look at. I like the wisdom and the sense of humour here. Sometimes, I even learn something. Ha, ha!

 

[PeppermintPatty]

This was just discussed a few months ago so will again post what I wrote then about this web forum NOT being post smartphone social media. The term "social media" as used today began with Web 2.0 in 2004. Older web forums like this predate Web 2.0.
--------------------
https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...tform-do-you-use-the-most.79136/#post-2395308

The term "social media" is somewhat vague and did not become an understood term or much used until the widespread rise of smartphones that was well after early World Wide Web Internet arose only when higher bandwidths became available. What has evolved as "Social Media" as used today is different from earlier era lower bandwidth WWW image poor Internet web forums just as web forums were different from the earlier Usenet text only era. So difference followed the rise in available bandwidth for the masses.

Because this is a vague issue, trivially debated, when I use the term to be clear, it is usually qualified as "post smartphone social media". As such IMO narrowly, do not consider this forum "Social Media" as the term has evolved to become though others, especially those that only began using the Internet in this later era after 2005, tend to disagree. Although web forums today now support imagery and multimedia that has been a slow late stage development. All this has also followed the evolution of personal computers that even when the first smartphones and social media sites like Facebook arose about 2005 including first generation Apple iPhone, were still not widespread in use beyond workplaces and the technically savvy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

And NO despite being involved in all this in my career am not interactively on any post smartphone social media.

Think what you like, this IS a social media forum but we can change the name to suite your preferences if you like. lol

 

[David777]

Think what you like, this IS a social media forum but we can change the name to suite your preferences if you like. lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum

Whether pre smartphone era style web forums are social media or not is a trivial tech term dated discussion that was debated many years ago when Facebook rose. And most made that clear distinction as what was then being called "social media was different. so when I and other older tech savvy persons state this forum and other message board Internet forums are NOT post smartphone social media, that makes that clear distinction.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum

Whether pre smartphone era style web forums are social media or not is a trivial tech term dated discussion that was debated many years ago when Facebook rose. And most made that clear distinction as what was then being called "social media was different. so when I and other older tech savvy persons state this forum and other message board Internet forums are NOT post smartphone social media, that makes that clear distinction.

… if you say so. I’m ok with it being called social media. I’m ok with it being called Fred. It’s a none issue for me .

 

[Ronni]

This was just discussed a few months ago so will again post what I wrote then about this web forum NOT being post smartphone social media. The term "social media" as used today began with Web 2.0 in 2004. Older web forums like this predate Web 2.0.
--------------------
https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...tform-do-you-use-the-most.79136/#post-2395308

The term "social media" is somewhat vague and did not become an understood term or much used until the widespread rise of smartphones that was well after early World Wide Web Internet arose only when higher bandwidths became available. What has evolved as "Social Media" as used today is different from earlier era lower bandwidth WWW image poor Internet web forums just as web forums were different from the earlier Usenet text only era. So difference followed the rise in available bandwidth for the masses.

Because this is a vague issue, trivially debated, when I use the term to be clear, it is usually qualified as "post smartphone social media". As such IMO narrowly, do not consider this forum "Social Media" as the term has evolved to become though others, especially those that only began using the Internet in this later era after 2005, tend to disagree. Although web forums today now support imagery and multimedia that has been a slow late stage development. All this has also followed the evolution of personal computers that even when the first smartphones and social media sites like Facebook arose about 2005 including first generation Apple iPhone, were still not widespread in use beyond workplaces and the technically savvy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

And NO despite being involved in all this in my career am not interactively on any post smartphone social media.

You’re splitting hairs.

As technology has evolved so too has nomenclature and the lexicon for same. Few folks are going to relate to or understand “pre-and post smartphone” social media. The term “social media” has long since become an umbrella term for a website (senior forums) or application to enable a user (you, me, the rest of us here) to share content.

On the other hand, if you feel that you must make the clarification for your own peace of mind, go for it. You do you. Just be prepared to go into a similar lengthy explantation each time.

 

[caroln]

This was just discussed a few months ago so will again post what I wrote then about this web forum NOT being post smartphone social media. The term "social media" as used today began with Web 2.0 in 2004. Older web forums like this predate Web 2.0.
--------------------
https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...tform-do-you-use-the-most.79136/#post-2395308

The term "social media" is somewhat vague and did not become an understood term or much used until the widespread rise of smartphones that was well after early World Wide Web Internet arose only when higher bandwidths became available. What has evolved as "Social Media" as used today is different from earlier era lower bandwidth WWW image poor Internet web forums just as web forums were different from the earlier Usenet text only era. So difference followed the rise in available bandwidth for the masses.

Because this is a vague issue, trivially debated, when I use the term to be clear, it is usually qualified as "post smartphone social media". As such IMO narrowly, do not consider this forum "Social Media" as the term has evolved to become though others, especially those that only began using the Internet in this later era after 2005, tend to disagree. Although web forums today now support imagery and multimedia that has been a slow late stage development. All this has also followed the evolution of personal computers that even when the first smartphones and social media sites like Facebook arose about 2005 including first generation Apple iPhone, were still not widespread in use beyond workplaces and the technically savvy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

And NO despite being involved in all this in my career am not interactively on any post smartphone social media.

Wow. This is a very convoluted description of a very simple issue, IMO.

 

[davey]

this is what most people do on social media come to talk about anything and everything or sometimes just watch? - it has something for everyone with the boundaries of good sense and rudeness. it waxes and wanes ; never stays the same ; even has games etc etc - them too! should there even be rules - well sure for the same reason we have traffic lights and police forces!

 

[Remy]

I was raised by a borderline personality disorder. I could not even explain my mother's insatiable need to attention and control.

The internet has really done it for those needing attention. Yet there are things on the internet that have been very helpful to people. From finding out that you are not alone in something to figuring out how to do something with a YouTube video.