Tired of social media

Keith9010*

Keith9010*

New Member
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
 

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Welcome along, Keith. You will find we are a broad spectrum of differing views but we most agree to disagree when we have to. You can dip in and out as and when the mood or subject matter takes you.

The social media sites that you mentioned seem to attract, court even, controversy, after all it gets you in the newspapers and to mis-quote P.T. Barnum, "There's no such thing as bad publicity, as long as they spell your name right." Maybe that's why Twitter changed it's name. It's hard to misspell X.
 
horseless carriage said:
Welcome along, Keith. You will find we are a broad spectrum of differing views but we most agree to disagree when we have to. You can dip in and out as and when the mood or subject matter takes you.

The social media sites that you mentioned seem to attract, court even, controversy, after all it gets you in the newspapers and to mis-quote P.T. Barnum, "There's no such thing as bad publicity, as long as they spell your name right." Maybe that's why Twitter changed it's name. It's hard to misspell X.
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That's true and cool, That's why I left. I'm not sheep and think independently. I don't follow trends.
 

Keith9010* said:
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
Click to expand...
Never accessed any others except a temporary attempt @ Facebook (it was too political & my kids were too argumentative). Quit it in 2016.
This is my only social site since.
 
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welcome-from-london.jpg

I've been here 10 years.. I'm just starting to settle in now... :D
 
Keith9010* said:
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
Click to expand...

Social Media is a virus infecting society. It's a vile and discordant space where lies become truth, and people get to live in their own echo chambers - or as I'd call it, their own reality. It had potential to do great things, but it has been hijacked by the usual miscreants (profit). I am a member of this forum, but I don't have a Social Media presence.
 
During COVID I became more active here on SF after being a member for about 4 years prior to the pandemic. Since then I only visit FB every 7 to 10 days. I don't want to leave the site because I stay connected with friends and many family members who reside in several states, Puerto Rico and Germany. I manage a family photos group and a group for those of us who were members of the now defunct Boomerville. There is also a group for those of us who were also on Eons more than 15 years ago. For many of us Eons was the start of our foray into social media and we felt like fish out of water when it closed down abruptly. We then migrated to FB. I still value those connections very much.
 
Keith9010* said:
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
Click to expand...
That Facebook is dreadful! I have been lurking about on this site for a month or so. I decided it looked pleasant enough.
 
I have an X, Facebook, Me-We, Reddit, Youtube, Senior Forum, and Tik-Tok accounts. Each one is very different. I keep an very low profile on all of them. I am most active on the Senior Forum. You have many different options to use each platform. It is up to the user to define how they use it. I know that they are not that big a deal if people don't want them to be. How you participate is entirely up to the user.

That said, we started this whole thing with the World Wide Web years ago. Since then the technology has kept advancing, and it will continue to do so. It is still under the users control, but one's personal information has become more easily gathered by tech companies. My strategy is keep a very low profile, revealing as little personal info as possible. I do take a few chances occasionally, and on occasion they have come back to bite me. That has happened on the Senior Forum, the least intrusive of the lot.
 
I really tried to fit in and like the major social media platforms, but OMG, if you express a contrary view there you often get trashed and bashed, sometimes by old "friends" you have not seen in 40 years and they are disappointed you're not the same as you used to be at age 17.

IDK - are most people exactly the same as they were at 17? Much has happened since then. How could I or anyone still be the same?

Then I read that TikTok is a potential spy tool for the government of China, Meta bought Instagram, and oh - YouTube. If you have a problem at YouTube they will not help you! Not unless you are someone who gets a big load of views and makes them some money. But I have had problems there accessing an old account and I cannot get a human being to help me. I have not tried for a few years.

I guess I should see if YouTube has hired any people to help the scumbags like me that didn't make YouTube any money. (How can a company work that way? They take your content and then lock you out of access to it? They can only work that way because we have no laws to govern them.)

Then I read Zucked. Great book. Explains how it all works, this data collecting, and how Congress won't do a darn thing about it.

I can still use an ad-blocker here and while I'm sure they are "borrowing" all our data and opinions, that is the way it all works until Congress passes some new laws.

That's the thing about FB - is it so great to keep in touch with everyone from high school and college, or shall we all be allowed to move on and GROW and leave the past behind? Initially when I used to post there I was comfortable :"This is me. This is me now and this is what I think." Then, as I got push-back and NO LIKES I began to worry that I should not say certain things. Those LIKES are very much a kind of social engineering. Then I learned from reading that is the whole point of FB - to get those Likes. That's why newspapers and stores are always BEGGING you "Please like is on Facebook".

I guess the Likes are the currency of Facebook, right? The more Likes a business gets the more likely it is to rise in the news and ad feed, correct?

It's a platform where everyone is competing for popularity, which means it is just like some very toxic high schools. NO THANKS.
 
VintageBetter said:
I really tried to fit in and like the major social media platforms, but OMG, if you express a contrary view there you often get trashed and bashed, sometimes by old "friends" you have not seen in 40 years and they are disappointed you're not the same as you used to be at age 17.

IDK - are most people exactly the same as they were at 17? Much has happened since then. How could I or anyone still be the same?
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17 ?... good grief if I look back to when I was 17 it's like looking at a different person..it's literally like looking back at someone I once knew.. far removed from the person or life I am today 50 years on....
 
VintageBetter said:
I really tried to fit in and like the major social media platforms, but OMG, if you express a contrary view there you often get trashed and bashed, sometimes by old "friends" you have not seen in 40 years and they are disappointed you're not the same as you used to be at age 17.

IDK - are most people exactly the same as they were at 17? Much has happened since then. How could I or anyone still be the same?

Then I read that TikTok is a potential spy tool for the government of China, Meta bought Instagram, and oh - YouTube. If you have a problem at YouTube they will not help you! Not unless you are someone who gets a big load of views and makes them some money. But I have had problems there accessing an old account and I cannot get a human being to help me. I have not tried for a few years.

I guess I should see if YouTube has hired any people to help the scumbags like me that didn't make YouTube any money. (How can a company work that way? They take your content and then lock you out of access to it? They can only work that way because we have no laws to govern them.)

Then I read Zucked. Great book. Explains how it all works, this data collecting, and how Congress won't do a darn thing about it.

I can still use an ad-blocker here and while I'm sure they are "borrowing" all our data and opinions, that is the way it all works until Congress passes some new laws.

That's the thing about FB - is it so great to keep in touch with everyone from high school and college, or shall we all be allowed to move on and GROW and leave the past behind? Initially when I used to post there I was comfortable :"This is me. This is me now and this is what I think." Then, as I got push-back and NO LIKES I began to worry that I should not say certain things. Those LIKES are very much a kind of social engineering. Then I learned from reading that is the whole point of FB - to get those Likes. That's why newspapers and stores are always BEGGING you "Please like is on Facebook".

I guess the Likes are the currency of Facebook, right? The more Likes a business gets the more likely it is to rise in the news and ad feed, correct?

It's a platform where everyone is competing for popularity, which means it is just like some very toxic high schools. NO THANKS.
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That makes perfect sense, good post. I agree. I have those accounts so that I can check how trends are developing, and the direction they are taking. I only post about 1% of the time, usually something I am very aware will be an "identifier". There are search functions on each of them, so you can research this type of inquiry. I guess Quora is like that also. Also, occasionally there is an important post about the subject I am interested in, and I couldn't of thought of finding any other way.

Another thing that I have avoided is getting into the response icons. The "like" clicks for me are very selective. Every move you make on these sites is being monitored. But, this is also true with our physical environment. It is being monitored also. In general, the personal freedoms we felt decades ago, have faded into a closely monitored society. Maybe it has to be this way because we have so many people. The world is smaller in this way. Both by technology and volume of people, we have morphed into a society that tends to designate our actions as some kind of group activity.

The pressure one feels by wanting to have there posts liked, are a popularity attempt. There is no reason to stay with that model while engaging. I have a choice to use these platforms without them becoming a burden. It can be done.
 
officerripley said:
You might also like a book I recently finished: The End of Reality; it was also great.
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Is it "The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto" I just read the synopsis on amazon.

I would agree that social media has been involved in the downturn in economic equality. But, there are many factors involved also. Examples ... Outsourcing of jobs. Automation and improved technology. Tax policies. Education. Racism, to name a few. It would be nice if it were as simple as fixing just one of those. But, that isn't going to happen. Best we stay informed, and start voting for the well-being of each other, rather than having a battle between opposing ideologies.
 
Keith9010* said:
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
Click to expand...

oh gawd yeh...
 
Nathan said:
Yes, most of us are too, but you know what...we can just look away, whereas the Gen Z and later generations are trapped in that universe, social media is what defines their entire worldview and existence.
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I find that MSM are more like gossip mags and also newsreaders must be bored sh!tless repeating the same old stuff all day long....
 
Keith9010* said:
I've been looking for a relaxing place for seniors for awhile and tired of the standard sites like facebook, X and others. I just want a cool place to go without the drama, politics, media advertising and self centerness. A place where people just share tips and information with a little fun. I gave up the regular social media a few years ago.
Does anyone feel the same?
This is a decent forum.
Click to expand...
I cleared my FB accounts (art one too) a few weeks ago. I did get off several years ago but went back when I thought it had calmed down. It did, but found I no longer enjoyed it and my art webpage was enough for me.

I enjoyed Reddit for a long time as it was more like “Dear Abby” but my partner said as of late I was getting too frustrated with the absurdity of the questions and the answers were normally filled with adolescent comments and guttural language so it went too. Much happier for it and am able to concentrate more on my designing.

I did keep my Instagram account (daisy_hill_studio) for my art.

My Webpage is: Daisy Hill Studio

C.D.
 

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