The social media addiction

[AJ_Radio]

This winter I am currently taking a course in social media and it’s presence on society. 

 

This course is part of a program I am slowly working towards. There are a few older people, a couple of whom haven’t taken a college course in over 20 years. But there are some students as young as aged 16 - 18 who are in there with me. 

 

And honestly? Even with computers right at our seats they cannot get enough of their smartphones. They text, they check their Twitter, they’re probably saying “this class is boring I wish I was hanging out with you”. A bunch of tripe filled nonsense. 

 

I truly feel that I am one of the last few kids in modern society who grew up without the presence of social media, and I’ll tell you guys why. 

 

I’m going to go back to the years 1996 - 2001 here for a brief moment. I, myself, who I can sort of picture being somewhere in the middle of a group of 16 - 50+ year old guys on this website who trophy hunt regularly, grew up out in the country. I went to a very small school of 120 - 130 students, kindergarten through 8th grade. Nobody, not even the teachers had a cellphone. I still remember the Windows 95/98/2000 computers we had at this school. To even get access to social media you had to do the old dial up Internet process and go on Yahoo or some other website to interact with others. 

 

During this time I made friends with a kid my age who was raised in a very poor, neglected family. His mom was an alcoholic, and I felt sorry for him because he was often the punching bag in his class for being different. Over the course of the years I listed I became closer to him, and finally in late 1998 - early 1999 I invited him to my house. 

 

We spent hours playing Goldeneye 007 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Those were some of my best days being a kid. But unfortunately because he was abused and neglected, I wasn’t able to play more physical activities with him like using Super Soakers or playing with NERF guns in the house. 

 

We kept in contact with each other for over five years, until a certain incident occurred which caused us to break up. I won’t say what it is, but it was bad to say the least. 

 

Why did I tell this story? Because I consider me and him to be some of the last kids who were able to experience being an actual kid without any worry or fear of social media. We had slumber parties. We watched cartoon shows on Saturday mornings. We had the time of our lives playing various video games, and actually going outside. This kind of bonding experience is slowly going away thanks to technology and social media being in our everyday lives. 

 

I honestly cannot relate to these 16 - 18 year old kids at all. They are so ingrained with the internet and social media today that I seriously have to wonder if they’ve gone a few days without going online. 

 

The fact is, everything is going online. Not just physical media, everything. Nobody seems to give two shits about heading into an all digital future, and the consequences will be far more than just the loss of physical media. The way we interact will be judged through being online, and it will only get worse. 

 

I don’t want to stereotype kids into being those who can’t speak too well. But since things like Facebook and Twitter I have noticed a lot more kids and teenagers who have great difficulty talking in a public environment and have no real skill communicating. But guess what, they have no problem whipping out that smartphone and texting at rocket speed. It annoys the living crap out of me. And it happens every single day. 

 

What is the point of this rant? To get something off my chest that has been bothering me for a long time now. You can’t go anywhere anymore without somebody with a smartphone. And since the first Apple iPhone came out, the usage of cellphones have increased exponentially. The first cellphone I had was a Cingular flip phone in late 2002. You couldn’t do as much on it, texting was slower because you had to use the numpad. 

 

I feel social media had more of a purpose 10 - 15 years ago. People have taken Facebook and Twitter completely for granted. 

 

Facebook turned into a political battleground. Twitter is nothing more than a giant internet meme. I had to block a lot of people on Facebook because I could no longer stand their bullshit. Twitter is a platform for kids and 20 something’s who post a walk of crap, it’s more important to them than talking in person. 

 

My smartphone is automatically set to receive social media feed and political news feed. The amount of times I hear news on Donald Trump is sickening. Oh look, the Russians are going to try to hack the Pentagon or some important facility. The amount of fearmongering and trending news is set in a way to attract attention. Today’s headline news is a reflection on the social media culture in which we live in.

 

I almost want to drive to a secluded location (probably a less visited national park), toss out the fucking smartphone and any electronic device that picks up news feed, and spend an entire week enjoying Mother Nature. 

 

TLDR - Many kids can’t communicate too well in my opinion because of social media. Social media entering our everyday lives and changing the way we think about everything. Social media feeds becoming more abundant. Social media a reflection on modern society.

[Metal Slime King]

If you plan on moving to a national park you better make sure it's not one of the ones Trump gave away to the oil companies for fracking but I'm sure you've already heard about that.

[GT__Jedi]

Personally, the amount I hear about the Kardashians is sickening, like any of us care anyway.  

 

Guess I'm off the grid; I don't have FB, Twitter, Instagram or any of that other crap.  

[You]

I remember back in 1998 getting way too addicted to IRC and the Internet in general, but I knew I could stop when I turned off the computer. Now it's in your hand, at all times, and people have grown up only knowing what life is like WITH the Internet, I worry for the next gen and the damage social media is to them.

Why worry about the Zombie apocalypse, it's already here, except the zombies walk with one arm in front of them, instead of two.

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by enaysoft

[Ojama_Country]

Turns out people get fucked up in the head when they always carry around a small box that constantly alerts them whenever a stranger either approves or disapproves of something they said five years ago. Smartphones were a mistake and social media is probably the #1 cause of anxiety disorders nowadays

[Bloodytears1666]

I believe that people who like to communicate in general will find time, will have the need to interact with each other in real, others, like before in any other given era will be sitting at home dreaming, reading book, watching videos and etc.

[TheYuriG]

1 hour ago, Dorroile said:

social media is probably the #1 cause of anxiety disorders nowadays

Yeah, human brain isn't meant to be requested attention as often as a smartphone with notification does. It drives people crazy slowly. Put it away for a month and it changes your routine incredibly.

[Asvinia]

I completely agree with everything you say here. But food for thought might be that kids on a social media course might be thinking that the course involves just using social media a lot and won't be much more than just more consumption of the stuff they use anyway. When I was on my veterinary care course, half the kids dropped out because they thought most of the course would involve cuddling puppies, and bailed when it came to shoveling lizard poop or doing any of the 'dirty work'. Turns out none of the course involved cuddling puppies unless you took the optional dog grooming unit. Which nearly everyone did.

 

But I remember as well, the days when kids were kids, they played with toys, they only worried about bullying when they were at school. Attention wasn't being constantly demanded by a jingling unit telling them that randomstranger their photo. People, and kids especially are addicted to the dopamine rush that that or +1 releases, mobile games work entirely on exploiting that dopamine addiction. Mobile phones have their uses, but they've been a bane on society at large due to people's easy exploitability and irresponsible usage. Too many times I see a kid no older than 2 being given a tablet with flashy colours on screen just to keep them quiet.

The rise of social media also gave rise to extreme social anxiety, depression, and the trivialisation of illnessess that kids self diagnose themselves with to appear trendy. Attention spans are shorter than they've ever been, patience is almost non-existant. We live in a world of instant gratification and the kids behave accordingly. Whereas we grew up in an age of delayed gratification of working to make or do something. Even our video games demanded that we were half decent at them to progress.

 

I had a similar childhood to you. I had sleepovers, went to the library, and if I wanted to talk to my friends I either had to go to their house or wait until the next school day. It was inconvenient perhaps, but it was healthier in the long run and we weren't so worried about all the shit that kids seem to be constantly worried about now.

 

In short, it should be revealing that people like Steve Jobs (in the past), Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and all the people who created these platforms forbid their own children from using them.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Asvinia

[damon8r351]

I had Facebook for a week, then I remembered that I was a 36 year old man and took everything down. Facebook was originally started for the college-age audience; that is, in fact, what a "face book" is. It's a directory of people's names and photographs published at the beginning of a school year so that when you see someone, then you can look up what their name and get to know them. Sounds like an excellent tool for stalkers to me, but then again, college-age people aren't widely known for making sound decisions.

 

In regards to social media: Whenever you see a service online that is ostensibly free, meaning all you have to do is register a screenname and you're in, ask yourself one question: "What is the product?" It's still a business, how are these people making money if they're not selling you anything? For lack of anything else that's apparent, that means you're not the customer, you're the product. Businesses wishing to use the service for advertisement are the customer, and you and your data are being sold to them so you'll see the ad and possibly give them your business.

Edited January 26, 2019 by damon8r351

[AJ_Radio]

8 hours ago, Metal Slime King said:

If you plan on moving to a national park you better make sure it's not one of the ones Trump gave away to the oil companies for fracking but I'm sure you've already heard about that.

 

The amount of times I've argued with supporters is staggering, to say the least. It's one of the reasons why I deleted my Facebook account, and unfortunately a number of people I used to follow on Twitter have taken to tweeting about Trump and posting a bunch of trivial, superficial horseshit instead of focusing on the real issues.

 

It's sickening. Everybody eats it up.

 

Thing is, social media is NOT my go to place whenever something happens. I don't know, that's just me I guess.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Spaz

[Lava_Yuki]

I use social media to keep in contact with old friends as I have friends all over the world, like in Japan, US, Ireland, germany etc and find Facebook great to share stuff easily, message and also call via there messenger app. I don't really post much, only when I go to a big event I might post photos but certainly not someone who does status updates. I use Twitter for occasional news on things like gaming, anime etc, never post though. But love Instagram as I like taking photos. 

 

I'm overall a pretty light user of social media, just use to to keep in contact with people as I don't have time in real life to meet as an adult with my job and things. But I don't care about likes and popularity etc that most kids these days seem to be obsessed with these days. Im 26, and most people around me use facebook at least

 

 

[AJ_Radio]

On 1/31/2019 at 0:52 PM, Lava_Yuki said:

I use social media to keep in contact with old friends as I have friends all over the world, like in Japan, US, Ireland, germany etc and find Facebook great to share stuff easily, message and also call via there messenger app. I don't really post much, only when I go to a big event I might post photos but certainly not someone who does status updates. I use Twitter for occasional news on things like gaming, anime etc, never post though. But love Instagram as I like taking photos. 

 

I'm overall a pretty light user of social media, just use to to keep in contact with people as I don't have time in real life to meet as an adult with my job and things. But I don't care about likes and popularity etc that most kids these days seem to be obsessed with these days. Im 26, and most people around me use facebook at least

 

I tend to see Instagram as a website for someone to jerk off to an attractive woman.

 

The thing is though is that when you were younger, popularity contests were probably something that you or someone you knew was into. When I was younger it was Myspace, practically everybody in my high school had an account or at least went on there a few times every week. I used to be pretty active on Myspace and was a member of a lot of groups.

 

I absolutely cannot stand Facebook at this point. After all the crap regarding privacy issues nobody seems to give a fuck. Twitter is now a giant internet meme and as I said before, people I used to follow on there have taken to writing bullshit about Donald Trump and showing their narcissism.

 

The reason I mentioned that story growing up is because I truly feel I was one of the last kids who was really able to experience actually being a kid without worry of the internet. Back then the internet was something me and my friends went on to enjoy what was on there, rather than have to use it on an everyday basis and be concerned with shit like Trump and Russia and all that crap like everybody has to be into nowadays.

 

I cannot see anybody born in 1994 or later to know what it was like before the internet, because MySpace, Facebook and YouTube were already here by the time they reached middle school age.

 

It's sad, because I come across a few kids every day who absolutely cannot communicate in person or at the least, have no real skill in doing so. I will admit, I was a shy, awkward kid growing up who was an introvert, but even I feel I was a lot better in talking to other kids because back then that was the only way to really work as a group.

 

Kids these days just go on their Twitter accounts and post bullshit.

[tjoe1bkhjtqxm]

I don't have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, WhatsApp (I use Telegram) and any other social media platform.

 

I luckily healed myself by Facebook addiction (started from May 2015  to February 2016): I was used to stay on facebook at least 7 hours everyday, I was going to bed at 2-3 a.m and waking up at 8 a.m., back on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp chat groups.

I just healed myself by understanding the huge sh!t I was inside, screwing my duties and ignoring my family.

When I have been finally able and got the freedom to delete all my accounts, I think I gained 300 litres of oxygen in my lungs, 20 years more of life and all the heavy chains on me finally removed (something like Kratos' Blades Of Chaos free lol)

[AJ_Radio]

On 2/5/2019 at 7:40 AM, tjoe1bkhjtqxm said:

I don't have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, WhatsApp (I use Telegram) and any other social media platform.

 

I luckily healed myself by Facebook addiction (started from May 2015  to February 2016): I was used to stay on facebook at least 7 hours everyday, I was going to bed at 2-3 a.m and waking up at 8 a.m., back on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp chat groups.

I just healed myself by understanding the huge sh!t I was inside, screwing my duties and ignoring my family.

When I have been finally able and got the freedom to delete all my accounts, I think I gained 300 litres of oxygen in my lungs, 20 years more of life and all the heavy chains on me finally removed (something like Kratos' Blades Of Chaos free lol)

 

Facebook started out okay. It was initially intended to be a website for college students to interact with one another. That was how Mark Zuckerberg had it back when he was just a kid going to university himself.

 

Today Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in existence, and without any real competition they can get away with bullshit. Like all these privacy issues people have brought up and complained about in recent years. I want no part of that. 

 

In the past few years I found myself getting into petty little arguments with people regarding politics and then President Barack Obama. Since Donald Trump won the 2016 Elections and taken office Facebook has become a whole lot worse.

 

After several years I finally decided to delete my Facebook account. Facebook is nothing more than a hot bed of hate. I'm not saying everybody on there is an asshole, there are plenty of good people on Facebook. But I can no longer stand what the website has turned into. I came to the realization that a lot of people go on there after a long, hard day at work to release their anger and steam. That's no different from here really, but when you have old farts and delusional idiots talking down to you just because of your political stance and opinions regarding today's politics, that pisses me off.

 

My entire generation eats it up. I'm just grateful that we didn't have this shit when I was a kid.

[AJ_Radio]

On 1/26/2019 at 0:08 PM, Asvinia said:

I completely agree with everything you say here. But food for thought might be that kids on a social media course might be thinking that the course involves just using social media a lot and won't be much more than just more consumption of the stuff they use anyway. When I was on my veterinary care course, half the kids dropped out because they thought most of the course would involve cuddling puppies, and bailed when it came to shoveling lizard poop or doing any of the 'dirty work'. Turns out none of the course involved cuddling puppies unless you took the optional dog grooming unit. Which nearly everyone did.

 

Yeah well I mean, kids aged 16 - 20 may think this course is mostly about how to further use the features on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. History is part of our studies. You remember Myspace?

 

On 1/26/2019 at 0:08 PM, Asvinia said:

But I remember as well, the days when kids were kids, they played with toys, they only worried about bullying when they were at school. Attention wasn't being constantly demanded by a jingling unit telling them that randomstranger their photo. People, and kids especially are addicted to the dopamine rush that that or +1 releases, mobile games work entirely on exploiting that dopamine addiction. Mobile phones have their uses, but they've been a bane on society at large due to people's easy exploitability and irresponsible usage. Too many times I see a kid no older than 2 being given a tablet with flashy colours on screen just to keep them quiet.

 

I was bullied for being a biracial and for being considered different. This wasn't anything tragic or extreme, but it contributed to the fact that I became a loner for a very long time. I was socially awkward, an introvert and had trouble speaking in front of class. I have a slight case of Asperger's Syndrome. Still, I had to learn to communicate with other kids and to grownups. I also didn't spend most of my time sitting in front of a computer or texting on a smartphone like so many kids do these days. I actually played outside, and in recent times fearmongering and smartphones have made us afraid to let grownups in general interact and have physical contact with the kids. 

 

It's sad that NERF Guns, Super Soaker Guns and Trampolines are considered too dangerous and risky for a lot of kids. They're left with shitty toys they got from China and crap that came out of a McDonalds Happy Meal.

 

But until 2004 or so there was never a time in my life where a random person giving me that like on that social media website determined how I was going to view content. I couldn't give a shit about that , I appreciate those who do view my content and offer a comment or two, but I don't live off of them.

 

The worst thing was someone on MySpace writing down nasty comments to you. We didn't have smartphones constantly giving us updates on the White House or Vladimir Putin, we had to actually go to a personal computer and log in. Flip phones in comparison were rather primitive.

 

The internet was fun when I was growing up. It was a way to relax, discover people, discover new websites and have fun. Today it's the primary cause of our desire for instant gratification.

 

You can live your life today entirely on the internet. Groceries, bills, taxes and virtually all the essentials can be done online. You no longer have to drive 20 - 40 miles to a grocery store in some places. You no longer have to go to a video game store to buy a game, or Blockbuster to rent that movie that just came out from theaters. Live streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime if you have good internet these days is almost instantaneous. Why the fuck would I ever wait for a physical release?

 

It's going to get to the point that robots with artificial intelligence are going to do most of the work for us, we're just going to have to look after them. It sounds like I'm just pulling a bunch of bullshit right now out of my swollen ass and taking from classic science fiction, but you just wait. People are already working on developing robots that are going to be doing a lot of physical labor and other duties, which will eliminate a lot of jobs that once depended on people. If shipping jobs overseas to China and other locations wasn't enough, robots and instant gratification off the internet will further kill them.

 

On 1/26/2019 at 0:08 PM, Asvinia said:

I had a similar childhood to you. I had sleepovers, went to the library, and if I wanted to talk to my friends I either had to go to their house or wait until the next school day. It was inconvenient perhaps, but it was healthier in the long run and we weren't so worried about all the shit that kids seem to be constantly worried about now.

 

That's the thing. I went to slumber parties when I was very young. I had a friend who had sleepovers at my house, and we generally exchanged Nintendo games or whatever we wanted to borrow from each other.

 

Because we had no cell phones back then we had to call each other on landlines to schedule our bonding time. That is pretty much a thing of the past now.

 

I don't see people born after 1994 - 1996 to have any experience of what it was like to live in a time before social media went mainstream. I grew up during the Tech Boom and later the Dot Com Crash, and even with the internet growing exponentially many of my family members and relatives did not use the internet on a daily basis. It used to be something they would go on to check their e-mail once or twice every week. Although part of this may be because buying a Windows 95/98 computer was very expensive, minimum wage was significantly less back then.

 

In my experience, I was happy with what I had as a kid. What kids today will not see is we actually used to have to tune in our televisions at certain times to catch our shows. Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Magic School Bus were two of my favorite kid show programs. Mister Rogers Neighborhood came out regularly, even Barney and Friends was a bit entertaining to watch.

[MMDE]

Often bullies don't actually care about what you look like etc, it's more about your personality. If they hadn't bullied you for x, then it would have been y instead. They will however usually try to hit you at your weakest.

[AJ_Radio]

20 minutes ago, MMDE said:

Often bullies don't actually care about what you look like etc, it's more about your personality. If they hadn't bullied you for x, then it would have been y instead. They will however usually try to hit you at your weakest.

 

I went to a school out in the country that was almost entirely White. That's not me being racist, that is the truth.

 

I was one of only a few biracial kids who went to this school. I was screened and teachers discovered that I learned in a different manner from other kids. I had to get a mentor for the first several years until I was able to start overcoming the social awkwardness I had that I suffered from in the early going.

 

This was the early - mid 1990s. Times were different back then. From what I've seen kids would bully and taunt if they saw others as different. There were quite a few rather prejudice kids, whose parents were also prejudice. The very notion of being gay, let alone transgender was highly looked down upon.

 

These days people are much more accepting of biracials, gays and transgenders.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Spaz

[Lillia]

I deleted my facebook back in 2017, and even before I deleted it I wasn't so active. I used to be extremely active when I was in highschool but I grew tired of it. 

 

Today I use social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr but only to look at nice things, find new artists for inspiration and keep in contact with a few friends. I don't post much either but I like scrolling and finding funny memes and videos and that's about it. 

[AJ_Radio]

On 2/9/2019 at 6:54 AM, dropsofjupiter said:

I picked up only PSNP in the last few years because of gaming and thus got my first taste of social media. I am glad I stayed away from the other sites because the negative and harmful effects on people have become painfully obvious over the years. I have seen the effects on myself from the overstimulating addictive tendencies while participating here. But I will say that I have also learned a lot about myself while chiming in that I really didn’t see w/o the digital social interaction.  I come from a background of denial.  If allowed I would have deleted so many of my posts here out of embarrassment.  But. We. Can’t.  SO, I’ve been forced to get to know myself and FACE it.

 

Like with anything, there has to be moderation.

 

I see too many kids and young people these days put social media above everything else. We are entering a time in history where interpersonal communication isn't valued as much as it was in the past.

 

I wouldn't delete any of posts. Maybe delete posts from ages ago on other websites if I had such an opportunity. But they are there because I thought of something at the time those posts were made and decided to share them for others to see.

 

On 2/9/2019 at 6:54 AM, dropsofjupiter said:

Iron sharpens iron. We all learn from our experiences with one another. I have grown quite a bit just from posting here. I have seen the OP grow as well. You have toned your opinions down somewhat. You have learned more of the give and take and respect that goes with relationships. You may not have had those opportunities in real life, esp. with Aspergers. Nor would I.

 

I speak much better now than I did growing up. Naturally this comes with aging and maturity.

 

I'm still vocal, but I haven't posted here as much due to work and studies.

 

What we should and need to understand is Aspergers wasn't as understood when I was growing up in the 1990s. Even in the 2000s a lot of people weren't quite familiar with what Aspergers really was or why some kids would always look down when they were speaking to somebody. This however soared in exposure around 10 - 15 years ago, and a lot more kids were diagnosed with Aspergers when previously it was just something that was passed off because they were being a bit awkward.

 

The good thing is a lot more people are aware of the disorder and are more accepting of it. That is progress, better understanding the human mind and how to cope with differences.

[Alantor32]

Social media is both a blessing and a curse. And I agree with you, @Spaz

 

My former friend believes anything regarding Trump and he's joined in on the fearmongering and his hatred of Trump (Which I am neutral on the whole thing) is what ended our friendship. All because he was taken in by the social media craze.

[thepeaguy83]

I only use facebook under a fake name to host social events as part of my job without having to deal with stalkers in the process. If I could, I would delete it immediately. It is a time waster.

I also deleted my twitter account after Tom Leykis decided to stop livestreaming his content. 

As Spaz says, social media is predominantly a load of wank. It's filled to the brim with narcs.

[AJ_Radio]

13 hours ago, MMX20 said:

Social media is both a blessing and a curse. And I agree with you, @Spaz

 

My former friend believes anything regarding Trump and he's joined in on the fearmongering and his hatred of Trump (Which I am neutral on the whole thing) is what ended our friendship. All because he was taken in by the social media craze.

 

This is a result of years of media manipulation from the likes of FOX News, MSNBC and CNN. 

 

I advise you to watch the documentary The Brainwashing Of My Dad. It is a 2015 documentary going into detail how a woman’s elderly father goes from a mellow Democrat to a bitch talking Republican. 

 

People like Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly did a lot to put hysteria into people and this attitude is reflected in today’s social media. Donald Trump is the poster child for everything that is wrong with America. If Hilary Clinton won, we would of seen a slightly different angle of everything that’s wrong. 

 

People eat this shit up. I had to block a lot of people on Facebook and disfollowed those I once supported on Twitter. 

 

I am at the point where I couldn’t give two shits about most people in social media. Partly for reasons I just mentioned. 

 

11 hours ago, thepeaguy said:

I only use facebook under a fake name to host social events as part of my job without having to deal with stalkers in the process. If I could, I would delete it immediately. It is a time waster.

I also deleted my twitter account after Tom Leykis decided to stop livestreaming his content. 

As Spaz says, social media is predominantly a load of wank. It's filled to the brim with narcs.

 

I have a few fake profiles I still have that I plan to delete fairly soon. 

 

I keep nothing out in the open.

[SilkyJay86]

I graduated high school in 04' and facebook was out around that summer.  Feel like i'm one of the last too.  It's a sick feeling, my intuition that I see what social media has done. And become bc, even at 33 now, my fellow classmates seem to seek out instant gratification from people they barely know.  Just a circle jerk of empty 'likes' pardon my french.  Im so grateful for my childhood, sports, friends and family.  I remember having a land line my bro I used.  Kids will never know what it's like to go creek walking, dirt biking, bridge jumping, just having competitive interaction with learning how to win/ take a loss.  We just went at it, our creativity and imagination was in full blast, not being "plugged in" 24 7.  I rember mountain biking down vail with a buddy on my soccer team, at a tourny in colorado.  Our parents didnt shield us from. The. World.    I remember eating up zelda , and goldeneye too.  And talking about at school.  No yt, no fb, no bullshit.  I cant imagine being a teenager in this world right now.  Nice read, thx 4 sharing.

 

[SilkyJay86]

P.S.  Did you watch the state of the union  :()   Trump is the Modern day Lincoln.  Some gumption to say that hes everything wrong with America.  Be your OWN best journalist.  It's like people aren't taught actual, 20th century history.  Oh, wait, they aren't bc the left controls academia, hollywood, the deep state, and the msm.  Theyve altered history.  You know the nazi's essentially took the dnc, jim crow laws and replaced black with jew.  Hence National "socialist" movent.  And Mouss, from italy was a huge fan of marx.  And yeah Mao, Stalin.  I'll just stop.  If you think the communists would have you better off right now I have clue what to tell you, nor will I fight your ideology, bc a lefty ideolog is impossible to talk with.  They don't believe in facts or that discussion can take place bc of the tranical patriarchy.. So much oppression.  Geez, if sucks, please tell me where you'd prefer to live?  And maybe even try a socialist country or go to the middle east or, illegal immigration infested eu.   Trump saved the west man, Have a nice day.  

[AJ_Radio]

11 hours ago, SilkyJay86 said:

I graduated high school in 04' and facebook was out around that summer.  Feel like i'm one of the last too.  It's a sick feeling, my intuition that I see what social media has done. And become bc, even at 33 now, my fellow classmates seem to seek out instant gratification from people they barely know.  Just a circle jerk of empty 'likes' pardon my french.  Im so grateful for my childhood, sports, friends and family.  I remember having a land line my bro I used.  Kids will never know what it's like to go creek walking, dirt biking, bridge jumping, just having competitive interaction with learning how to win/ take a loss.  We just went at it, our creativity and imagination was in full blast, not being "plugged in" 24 7.  I rember mountain biking down vail with a buddy on my soccer team, at a tourny in colorado.  Our parents didnt shield us from. The. World.    I remember eating up zelda , and goldeneye too.  And talking about at school.  No yt, no fb, no bullshit.  I cant imagine being a teenager in this world right now.  Nice read, thx 4 sharing.

 

 

I know the feeling. Thank you for taking the time to read this topic and make your opinion. I know I have a reputation for making long posts that some people probably can't be bothered to read through, but it means a lot to me when someone can relate to the discussion.

 

I had some older friends when I was growing up so I know exactly where you're coming from.

 

The cartoons we watched were a reflection of what we enjoyed too. Shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Mighty Max, Gargoyles, Goof Troop, Animaniacs, and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog were not only entertaining, they served as life lessons. They gave us the message of helping stay safe and it wasn't forced on us.

 

Where are shows like that today? I used to love The Magic School Bus and waking up in the morning to see Bill Nye the Science Guy. Even Barney and Friends didn't feel completely dumbed down like the shows I see now.

 

It's sad we can't have kids playing with NERF guns, Super Soakers and jumping on trampolines. I've talked to a lot of parents who are older and younger than I am and they feel they have to shield their kids from things like that because it's simply too dangerous.

 

I jumped on the trampoline (of course with adult supervision) when I was 7. You can't have that today.

 

I've seen kids as young as age 2 use iPhones and iPads. Pretty depressing.