Real life friends who are idiots on Facebook

[ER_STL]

I have a LinkedIn account as a professional. I might have a Twitter and/or Instagram account that I opened years ago when asked to evaluate the platform(s) as a work-related assignment. Otherwise (discounting PF.com) I have no presence on social media as I don’t have any other use for it. My wife and kids are on it quite a bit however so I experience the drama and other nonsense second hand. I’ve noticed that most but not all users of the medium fall into a few categories.

The first category I suppose are business owners. For the most part these are people who appear to be using the platform as an avenue to advertise their products, and their content reflects that. Then there are those who are using it for personal reasons but for the most part they restrict their content to that which is useful for connecting with other friends and like-minded people. Overall their usage is probably mostly benign. Finally, I've seen a few exceptions where the medium is used as a way to bring encouragement into the lives of anyone who reads it.

That seems to be where the positive use ends as far as I can tell. From there the rest of the types of users swirl down into the cesspool of the Internet, where self-aggrandizement, narcissism and virtual-signaling rule the day. Some people appear to see each day as an opportunity to find their next social media post, and they live virtual lives that are staged just right to sell an image of success, happiness and prosperity. Others just need attention and every post reflects that. Then there are those who take a break from their busy lives to lecture the rest of the world on a moral or political issue. Finally is the incessant propaganda and fighting over politics.

I'm not sure if someone has claimed a name for it yet, but there's a very apparent relationship between the degree of physical and logical anonymity that a person perceives and their willingness to post nasty and vile content. Even on the NextDoor app, where people's names and addresses are often available, you'll see conversations that would probably never occur in person, either because of the propensity to avoid people who act like that in person -or- of the possibility of having your teeth knocked out in response. When almost total anonymity is available - such as in the comments section on a political site for example - well, let's just say that "love your neighbor as yourself" is absent.

[Joe in PNG]

Sometimes it's your friend's friends who are the idiots. Like demented, mentally ill "the sky is a potato" people.

[ER_STL]

Hoping not to thread-drift too much here, but one of the most amazing things I've observed during all of the protesting and rioting this year is the number of people walking around with their phones recording everything - with the intent of posting and commenting on it on social media I assume. One such example that continues to resonate is a video that was posted by some wannabe gangster in Atlanta after the shooting started. He had been walking around "reporting" on what he was seeing when a group armed with rifles and a few pistols walked past. They ended up running into another group further on down the road and shots were fired. As he was hiding behind a car while trying to record what was happening, a stray shot skipped down the road and hit a girl standing in the street next to him. His first and immediate response was, "DAYYAM - I ALMOST GOT SHOT! I ALMOST GOT SHOT! HEY....HEY EVERYONE, THAT ALMOST HIT ME" while the person who actually got shot lay in the street.

He probably represents a lot of people on social media I suspect.

[Default.mp3]

I'm not sure if someone has claimed a name for it yet, but there's a very apparent relationship between the degree of physical and logical anonymity that a person perceives and their willingness to post nasty and vile content. Even on the NextDoor app, where people's names and addresses are often available, you'll see conversations that would probably never occur in person, either because of the propensity to avoid people who act like that in person -or- of the possibility of having your teeth knocked out in response. When almost total anonymity is available - such as in the comments section on a political site for example - well, let's just say that "love your neighbor as yourself" is absent.

It's an age old observation:

[ER_STL]

It's an age old observation:

I was hoping to put my name on something and get all famous...

[willie]

I joined FB to facilitate family research. Reading all the bullshit horrified me. That plus misinformation. I told a young cousin that she should not post her many health problems because future employers might examine her posts. Her mother called and chewed my ass out. I asked her mother why the girl would post about her female problems, back surgeries, and depression? No reply.

[JDD]

...

Honestly, Instagram is better now. While it's equally obnoxious with ads, it seems to have somewhat of a tech entry barrier to boomers who post 25 memes a day on Facebook.

I don't use "the 'gram" or whatever folks call it, but my aquaintances who do fall exclusively into two camps: tactical gun people (with maybe just a hint of gucci tactical posing), and yoga ladies who talk about their "aesthetic" and who drink kale smoothies while picking out "live laugh love" wall art in their free range leggings... I don't know what actually goes on there, but from the outside it sounds like a wild time.

[willie]

I don't use "the 'gram" or whatever folks call it, but my aquaintances who do fall exclusively into two camps: tactical gun people (with maybe just a hint of gucci tactical posing), and yoga ladies who talk about their "aesthetic" and who drink kale smoothies while picking out "live laugh love" wall art in their free range leggings... I don't know what actually goes on there, but from the outside it sounds like a wild time.

Somewhere in this mix must be neck beards and guys who shave their balls. I think this last group is called metrosexuals. Man buns may fit somewhere too.

[TDA]

I don't use "the 'gram" or whatever folks call it, but my aquaintances who do fall exclusively into two camps: tactical gun people (with maybe just a hint of gucci tactical posing), and yoga ladies who talk about their "aesthetic" and who drink kale smoothies while picking out "live laugh love" wall art in their free range leggings... I don't know what actually goes on there, but from the outside it sounds like a wild time.

It’s trash. Pat Mac gets a lot of workout out of his driveway and not much else, but mostly Instagram, you could leave it.

[peterb]

From an article I was reading today:

“Although Twitter and Facebook have become more active in removing or flagging misinformation, inflammatory and divisive content is too essential to their business models for them to fully root it out.”

Sounds about right. More outrage = more views = more advertising revenue. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.