https://www.axios.com/2024/01/05/pre-internet-pay-phones-digital-online-cellphones-vintage-nostalgia

  • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
    ·
    6 months ago

    there's a pop-sociology book written in the 80s, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, that convincingly argues against the dominance of mass media. It has some major flaws, which I will allow you to discover for yourself, but its conclusions are very compelling and I think it provides some useful tools for evaluating the deluge of "informative" content.

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      6 months ago

      Maybe out of favor now as the media landscape has changed, but it used to be standard reading in high school media literacy/criticisn section for English class.

    • Notcontenttobequiet [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I remember reading it when I was in high school (early 2000s) and not liking it, but I was dumb and I'd consider reading it again.

    • WithoutFurtherBelay
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      So some boomer argued things weren’t boring enough? Have they ever had a job?

      If people actually had the standards for being entertained they should we would have global communism already. Spending 8+ hours straight where you aren’t allowed to do anything you want to and are expected to subvert all of your brain’s resources to your cash overlord is the most boring experience known to man.

      “Ohhhh I’m bored now at work, the world is ending, the woke agenda has transferred the boredom mind virus” welcome to being under stimulated fucker, wonder how people with ADHD feel when you tell them they’re penalized for fidgeting or looking at their phone?

      Certainly there’s a factor of problematicness with how social media is constantly designed to be as addictive as possible, but for some reason these fuckers always focus on how kids these days are listening to music (a REAL, ACTUAL communist writer unironically claimed this was caused by hedonic treadmilling and not enough organizing, and not just having fucking ADHD) or reading Wikipedia instead of working or while being at class. Maybe blame the boring ass work conditions instead of the technology that’s finally made you realize you deserve more from your time?

      “Why don’t I enjoy looking at a spreadsheet for 70% of my life? My phone has infected me!”

      • Dessa [she/her]
        ·
        6 months ago

        Being bored at work is different than being bored at leisure. I don't know why, but it just is.

    • CTHlurker [he/him]
      ·
      6 months ago

      Is that the one that got posted all over the "normie" internet back in 2011-2012? That makes a half-brained argument against TV and saying that 1984 was too obvious and that people would rebel, and that the real dystopia was Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451? Because I remember reading that title on 9gag back then and wondering if my english skills were failing me, since I could not make sense of that at all.