happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 15, 2023 8:58:39 GMT -5
What is it good for?
Listening to a guilty pleasure true crime show this AM and heard how armchair til tok detectives flood TikTok with asinine guesses and conspiracy BS, hounding innocent people in their attempt to solve murders, and its hindering the real detectives, as well as making innocent people miserable.
Then saw that an avalanche of posts on another social media site might have helped cause the SVC bank run that shut it down.
And we all know how different sites have fuel every political problem from Covid to J6 to QAnon.
I’m on one site - Facebook- which I use to see pictures of relatives kids and a couple of my towns Facebook pages (library and a charity/donation site). I also see a bunch of cat videos for some reason. And lately Facebook thinks I like to see videos of English people on horseback running around damp fields, for some reason.
Are these sites more harm than good? Why is it the people who should most stay away - the ones who can’t seem to tell truth from Chinese bot posts - are the ones most drawn to them?
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swamp
Community Leader
Don't be a fool. Call me!
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 16:03:22 GMT -5
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Post by swamp on Mar 15, 2023 10:17:57 GMT -5
I have so many thoughts on this, but I just can't seem to get them together, it's like herding cats today.
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bean29
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 22:26:57 GMT -5
Posts: 9,887
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Post by bean29 on Mar 15, 2023 11:42:33 GMT -5
I am really fed up with Facebook lately. I also am on it mostly to see pictures from family and friends. I also stalk the marketplace, but I am disenchanted with that too. Last week I got a religious message from DH's aunt (Which I seem to see a lot of courtesy of my Mom and another Aunt), and responded Pray (very unlike me, I usually ignore, even if my Mom posts it)...so I immediately got a messenger message that had Chinese characters, so seems maybe it was a bot generated message. I immediately blocked person, but how in the world would I make my Mom or my Aunt understand the risks. I see more stuff they seem to be pushing, than stuff my family or friends are posting.
I have had many thoughts about deleting it entirely. My SIL and family post such cute pictures of the grandkids, that I keep it just so I can enjoy them.
I think the US could do a lot better job of protecting citizens for Scammers and Bots with an unknown agenda, but I think the politicians have a dark use for the unregulated internet, so nothing will change.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Mar 15, 2023 12:12:37 GMT -5
I use to use Facebook to see what fun family thing extended family was doing along with pictures of the kids and pets. But, extended family is using Facebook less and less. I think they may have switched to Instagram or TikTok? I have followed quite a few pages on Facebook that I still find entertaining. Facebook seems to feed off my Youtube viewing and Amazon searches to fill up my feed often with stuff I'm really not interested in. Youtube is a weird place too... The Google has lost some of it's utility too. It's difficult to do a deep dive or an obscure dive on Google these days. I think the "gotta have it now" and "what's the next big thing" frame of mind these sites encourage is making me feel "bad". I feel like I have too many things going on and that I can never keep up. I feel like I should be doing "more" or that tasks/things I want to accomplish should happen faster. I think social media and how in real life people make small talk about "pop culture" stuff where I have no idea of what they are talking about...makes me feel even more "behind" and "out of touch". People always ask me "what's new? What are you doing? " And I'm like nothings new I'm still doing or working to complete the same stuff as I was 6 months ago. I can't start something interesting today and finish it today. I can't keep up. And I don't want to make small talk about conspiracy theories
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billisonboard
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 22:45:44 GMT -5
Posts: 37,386
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Post by billisonboard on Mar 15, 2023 15:29:43 GMT -5
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
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mollyanna58
Junior Associate
Joined: Jan 5, 2011 13:20:45 GMT -5
Posts: 6,652
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Post by mollyanna58 on Mar 15, 2023 15:37:35 GMT -5
Well, I put this message board into the category of social media.
I spend too much time on Facebook. Lately I have been going to linked articles about "Am I The A***ole" and reading about some truly terrible people. I should stop, because it's depressing to see all the abusive people out there.
OTOH, I have also reconnected with family and old friends that I don't see in person due to distance.
The rescue group I volunteer with uses private FB pages to communicate.
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pulmonarymd
Junior Associate
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Post by pulmonarymd on Mar 15, 2023 15:47:40 GMT -5
Like most things, social media is both good and bad. But, that has more to do with the people using it, rather than the medium itself.
This is from someone who does not use Facebook, instagram, TikTok, etc
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djAdvocate
Member Emeritus
only posting when the mood strikes me.
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Post by djAdvocate on Mar 15, 2023 19:04:52 GMT -5
i could not be more negative on social media. but that is because i pretty much had my life destroyed by one singularly vindictive and possibly mentally ill person in 2015. i didn't even go out in public for six months.
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swamp
Community Leader
Don't be a fool. Call me!
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 16:03:22 GMT -5
Posts: 45,295
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Post by swamp on Mar 15, 2023 19:24:00 GMT -5
Well, I put this message board into the category of social media. I spend too much time on Facebook. Lately I have been going to linked articles about "Am I The A***ole" and reading about some truly terrible people. I should stop, because it's depressing to see all the abusive people out there. OTOH, I have also reconnected with family and old friends that I don't see in person due to distance. The rescue group I volunteer with uses private FB pages to communicate. I love the AITA
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Deleted
Joined: Mar 29, 2024 8:53:44 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2023 19:30:44 GMT -5
In my community, the threats by my "neighbors" on local social media aka NextDoor are the reason I invested thousands in surveillance cameras and a new alarm system, and never work in my front yard without a weapon at hand.
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Opti
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Post by Opti on Mar 15, 2023 20:21:12 GMT -5
Well, I put this message board into the category of social media. I spend too much time on Facebook. Lately I have been going to linked articles about "Am I The A***ole" and reading about some truly terrible people. I should stop, because it's depressing to see all the abusive people out there. OTOH, I have also reconnected with family and old friends that I don't see in person due to distance. The rescue group I volunteer with uses private FB pages to communicate. I love the AITA I agree it's not the most positive thing to read, but it is nice to see the support some posters get from Reddit which is a surprise to me.
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 15, 2023 21:01:41 GMT -5
i could not be more negative on social media. but that is because i pretty much had my life destroyed by one singularly vindictive and possibly mentally ill person in 2015. i didn't even go out in public for six months. Wow - I would have figured you to be the last person on the board who would attract a vendetta! That must of been horrible.
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
Posts: 20,781
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 15, 2023 21:03:52 GMT -5
In my community, the threats by my "neighbors" on local social media aka NextDoor are the reason I invested thousands in surveillance cameras and a new alarm system, and never work in my front yard without a weapon at hand. Gee what kind of community do you live in? Or maybe I don’t want to know what’s going on in my neighborhood - maybe it’s not as quiet as I thought. Ignorance is bliss.
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djAdvocate
Member Emeritus
only posting when the mood strikes me.
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Post by djAdvocate on Mar 15, 2023 21:48:44 GMT -5
i could not be more negative on social media. but that is because i pretty much had my life destroyed by one singularly vindictive and possibly mentally ill person in 2015. i didn't even go out in public for six months. Wow - I would have figured you to be the last person on the board who would attract a vendetta! That must of been horrible. it was. it was so random and shocking that i will literally never feel comfortable with anyone that i am not pretty deeply acquainted with, again. it converted me from an open, gregarious person to someone who is far more guarded. which is not without it's benefits. but i would happily trade my old me for the new one.
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happyhoix
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Oct 7, 2011 7:22:42 GMT -5
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 16, 2023 7:37:04 GMT -5
Wow - I would have figured you to be the last person on the board who would attract a vendetta! That must of been horrible. it was. it was so random and shocking that i will literally never feel comfortable with anyone that i am not pretty deeply acquainted with, again. it converted me from an open, gregarious person to someone who is far more guarded. which is not without it's benefits. but i would happily trade my old me for the new one. That’s another thing social media enables. We’ve all run into possibly mentally unbalanced people who either took an intense dislike to us or an intense interest in us (I had both, a girl in first grade who mysteriously wanted to kill me and kept trying to shove her desk into me and pin me against the wall, and a guy I meet my first day in college who mysteriously thought we were dating after one walk back to the dorm after French class. Easy to shrug off both back in the Iron Age when we carved our messages on stone tablets, but I’ve heard some hair raising stalking stories like yours in the age of social media. I heard a comedian say yesterday that we ought to be able to tattoo warnings on people’s foreheads like ‘May be the next Hitler’ as a warning to anyone else they meet. Too bad we can’t color code people’s text on the internet- yellow typing for ‘stalking someone’ and bright green for ‘conspiracy addled’ and bright purple for ‘adult trying to solicit minors.’ Life would be so much easier for the rest of us.
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pooks
Familiar Member
Joined: Mar 11, 2017 16:45:43 GMT -5
Posts: 625
Today's Mood: Angry
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Post by pooks on Mar 16, 2023 12:06:14 GMT -5
I gotta admit, I think social media has been an experiment that failed. People kind of suck and social media put that right in your face. I am happy for those of you who have family that aren't nutty, but can't relate. So many of our(my family) relationships have been ruined, because now we know what things other people believe.
On the plus side, I like the groups or marketplace stuff. I follow a group that turns minivans into campervans, and got so many ideas from it. Dh belongs to groups for his motorcycle and car. I found our rescue dog, because I followed the rescue's Facebook page. I bought DD's dresser off Facebook marketplace. So there is good stuff in there, but the family stuff has been awful.
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mollyanna58
Junior Associate
Joined: Jan 5, 2011 13:20:45 GMT -5
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Post by mollyanna58 on Mar 16, 2023 13:47:57 GMT -5
And then there are the FB scammers. The ones who comment on posts saying they like my posts , and they can tell from my profile picture that I am a sensitive, caring person, and they have tried to send me a friend request which didn't work, so would I please if it's not too much bother send them a friend request. Their FB page always have pictures of middle-aged men in battle fatigues because they are always retired military.
My profile picture is a rock painted to look like a frog.
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Deleted
Joined: Mar 29, 2024 8:53:44 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2023 15:46:36 GMT -5
I often say that social media is educational. Within the last two years we learned that two members of my husband's family were openly racist and so far right they make Hannity look like a lib. I also learned to unfriend them before they make headlines for getting arrested in connection with some crackpot conspiracy. Seriously, it was quite sad that some of his few surviving relatives were kooks with whom even a casual relationship wasn't possible.
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Deleted
Joined: Mar 29, 2024 8:53:44 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2023 15:48:01 GMT -5
Wow - I would have figured you to be the last person on the board who would attract a vendetta! That must of been horrible. it was. it was so random and shocking that i will literally never feel comfortable with anyone that i am not pretty deeply acquainted with, again. it converted me from an open, gregarious person to someone who is far more guarded. which is not without it's benefits. but i would happily trade my old me for the new one. People always say I'm naive but I was happy being that until I had to start looking over my shoulder every day and seeing the evil behind the mask.
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busymom
Distinguished Associate
Why is the rum always gone? Oh...that's why.
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Post by busymom on Mar 16, 2023 16:01:34 GMT -5
it was. it was so random and shocking that i will literally never feel comfortable with anyone that i am not pretty deeply acquainted with, again. it converted me from an open, gregarious person to someone who is far more guarded. which is not without it's benefits. but i would happily trade my old me for the new one. That’s another thing social media enables. We’ve all run into possibly mentally unbalanced people who either took an intense dislike to us or an intense interest in us (I had both, a girl in first grade who mysteriously wanted to kill me and kept trying to shove her desk into me and pin me against the wall, and a guy I meet my first day in college who mysteriously thought we were dating after one walk back to the dorm after French class. Easy to shrug off both back in the Iron Age when we carved our messages on stone tablets, but I’ve heard some hair raising stalking stories like yours in the age of social media. I heard a comedian say yesterday that we ought to be able to tattoo warnings on people’s foreheads like ‘May be the next Hitler’ as a warning to anyone else they meet. Too bad we can’t color code people’s text on the internet- yellow typing for ‘stalking someone’ and bright green for ‘conspiracy addled’ and bright purple for ‘adult trying to solicit minors.’ Life would be so much easier for the rest of us. The MAGA hats helped us identify some of the trouble-makers. But yes, it'd be great to at least have a website to check out the level of "crazy" of some folks. But then, I might not like what I end up reading about myself.
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tallguy
Senior Associate
Joined: Apr 2, 2011 19:21:59 GMT -5
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Post by tallguy on Mar 16, 2023 16:39:42 GMT -5
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Good God, y'all
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tallguy
Senior Associate
Joined: Apr 2, 2011 19:21:59 GMT -5
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Post by tallguy on Mar 16, 2023 16:49:18 GMT -5
I have a FB page that I use for basically nothing other than to see what my GF posts, since I happen to show up on some things there. After my HS reunion I added a group for the class too. That's about it, and I'm perfectly happy with it that way. Who needs more than one FB friend? Besides the giant waste of time it is disheartening to have confirmed for you how many people are just...stupid. Or bad.
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hurley1980
Well-Known Member
I am all that is wrong with the world....don't get too close, I'm contagious.
Joined: Dec 23, 2010 17:35:06 GMT -5
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Post by hurley1980 on Mar 16, 2023 17:00:13 GMT -5
I have FB, and I mostly follow pages, and animal sites. I have friends on there, but I just really don't care what they are up to. I don't care about the 8 kids of the woman I was in ballet company with 25 years ago.
What really bothers me, is not just the pages shilling conspiracy theories and fake news, but also the crap products that they allow to be sold on there. I have seen so many ads for weight loss pills, waist trainers, cellulite removing cream, etc, that are marketed to insecure women, and don't work at all. These poor women are throwing money away on this crap, and FB doesn't monitor these scams at all. I feel bad for them! If there was a pill that allowed you to lose 15 lbs in one week without diet or exercise, there would literally be no more overweight people anymore.
I also tried to hide as many of these ads as I can, but because I did a search of some weight watchers info....well, now all the ads on my FB are about weight loss! What's the term for that? I know there is one...
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I Am Caine
New Member
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Post by I Am Caine on Mar 19, 2023 3:58:03 GMT -5
Absolutely nothing. Say it again, y'all
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