posted in Technology
Social media addiction affecting boomers, BBC hears
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly4z33kzl3o
Replying to @Mustachius_Grumpius@thelemmy.club
“Water is wet”.
This is based on my personal observations. The Boomers in my own family distrust all doctors because of what ever adolf1488 or whoever is posting on Twitter. And they seem to be entertained by some of the most obvious AI slop videos that feels like the digital version of jingling keys in front of a toddler’s face.
The same people that told me that “TV will rot my brain” seem to have no information literacy.
Replying to @stephen@lazysoci.al
Yeah, I am a millennial, 39 this year, and my dad is far more addicted to his computer than I am, I even work in IT.
He used to sell railroad safety systems (and was a brilliant sales person who actually knew and still knows the technical details of the system)
You and me are pretty similar ages.
I do have some Gen X friends who I think are not doing much better.
I wonder it being a “digital native” gives some level of defense against this kind of stuff versus people who were born when information was newspapers, radio, and the TV news one hour out of the day.
Replying to @stephen@lazysoci.al
Digital natives know to be more skeptical. These people lack basic literacy and don’t understand that people can lie on the internet. In fact, it’s mostly lies, always has been.
Replying to @cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works
Agreed. They also in many cases remember when the Internet “was good.” When every single website, tool, or product wasn’t tracking every microinteraction, when your email spam was Re: Re: Re: Re: forwards, when social media was a microcosm of what it is today , and when bots didn’t make up like more than half the user traffic. So the shit purpose built to engage kids and boomers falls flat.
And to your point about lying on the Internet, they forget (or flatly refuse to acknowledge) that like a corporation or government can and have easily create user accounts that look like normal people to convince people of things. Just because the name “John Goodbrown” sounds like a down to earth American and his picture is of him and his truck and cowboy boots doesn’t mean it’s not one of thousands of bot accounts created specifically by the FSB to cause chaos and stir opinion.