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We have had many many many such revolutions for example Industrail Revolution to quote one,which really changed the people lived and thought.It caused some side effects like Imperialism and World Wars.
I chose the word PARTIALLY TRUE because , remember we are EVOLVING. Our Evolution is no more influenced by only Mother Nature but also from within and human deeds.
This shit breaks fast, and will break more. Twitter with 5000 to wade into? Yeah. It's like that cliche psychic in comics when she can't shut them all out any more.
"rate me" "compare me" "top friend" WTF?! weirdo outcasts - at least all those I called my friends back in high school - would never willingly create an app that produced this kind of social behaviour (social behaviour that is, to a for-real outsider, entirely undesirable). This stuff is entirely anti social in the look-it-up-in-the-DSMV anti social sense.
Which is why I'd argue it's VERY key to make a distinction between the true innovators and early adopters and the late majority users (who were just a glint in the bong water back when our boomer web creators were dreaming up these ideas).
The people who started the social revolution (a long, long time ago) had something very different in mind. Nothing short of collective self actualisation. But enlightenment and self actualisation are antithetical to a consumer market that depends on the constant production of insecurity, competitive behaviour and meanspiritedness. Which one makes money?
That's the why all the new social apps are productive of insecurity and social illness. Because it's profitable.
Yes, no, maybe. Does it matter? What about wannabes? Ton of those. The question is not who are the early adopters, but who are the best adopters.
The folks that just start making it part of their lives and quit talking about it. Those folks are the tipping point type folks, the ones that carry these bright shiny tools into the mainstream.
In the US we are still talking about the oohs and ahhs of cell phones and digital cameras. Many many folks still can't just get past that and ignore their existence. Likewise, even the most geeky among us can't get past it. Honestly, it's the less techy folks that bring about main stream adoption. Those that can just adopt a new technology and move on, they have the real talent. Most folks just can't stop ignoring the bright and shiny things.
So yeah, maybe a lot of us have problems and that's why we early adopt, but we're not special. Interesting topic for sure. And fun.
I wonder about the mental health of my social media classmates, too. I find myself respecting the ones that aren't as accessible, but that is a form of self-hate. It is possible that we are living the way most people will live in the near future, when establishing online relationships will be considered a healthy part of life.
As for the short attention span thing, people have been barking up that tree for centuries. It is the standard argument against any educational progress. I feel that Twitter's 140 character limit forces a fine efficiency in communication rather than diminish our concentration abilities. RSS feeds teaches mental filtering. Video sites help our presentation skills. These are the new basics. Acute organization and attention to detail will arise from social media use.
is it possible? no, it is inevitable. the question is not whether but how.
at northern voice, there was a whole workshop about techies with ADD.
and as you mention, the question is not only about the connection between being a techie and having ADD or some such three-letter thingy but also between being an early adopter and ADD. i myself have to say that i am a sucker for anything new and out there (surprise, surprise, i also like science fiction). i score high on an ADD diagnosis as well as on bipolar scales, and i know i'm not alone with that here on the web.
normal? do you want to be normal?
It seems to me that the free apps need to target the co-dep, workaholic types. They need the scale and these types of folks (hey I may be one of them) are the ones who create the buzz and spend tons of time on these services.
It's not a web thing though. It's a people thing. Chances are that the web is not causing anyone to be obsessive. People already have these foibles and they just transfer them to their web activity.
Am I amplifying/projecting/whatever the hell the psych term is? Probably. And yeah, there are others way worse.
To the social media point, I'm a huge attention whore so USING the services is easy because it satisfies that part of self; however the magnitude of my att-whoring is relative to my need, which is rather low. Also, I have a huge ego but not a destructive one, hence-- and if you've observed me for a long time-- I'm only periodically an asshole, whereas others are full time assholes. :-)