[rawr]

I found this PBS story this week very interesting about FB, other social media, and how they are monetising user data:

Generation Like | FRONTLINE | PBS

It's all quite depressing really. Reminded me of the scene in the Matrix, where Neo looks out and sees multiple vast towers holding people with their nervous systems wired up to the Matrix, whilst floating oblivious to reality in their goop-filled feeding pods, all the while tended to by sinister looking machines.

[condor27596]

Yes. Your generation actually is that narcissistic. I'm reminded of the phrase
don't hate the player hate the game.

FB is stacked against normal thoughtful people like yourself.

I do have some insight into this (my now ex wife is your age and used FB for nothing but
gossip and finding new male "friends") so yeah, I do hate FB LOL
But for the most part your generation is not introspective. They never look back into themselves
to see if they are intrinsically wrong.

I am not talking about somebody like you, somebody that accepted responsibility early on, and learned early
on that the world does not rotate around them.

I'm 50. Been to the Army, put myself through college, worked my whole life.
Like you.
But there is an entire generation maybe now two, that live at home and do nothing but
complain well into their upper 30s if not longer.

[severalsnakes]

Yes. Your generation actually is that narcissistic. I'm reminded of the phrase
don't hate the player hate the game.

FB is stacked against normal thoughtful people like yourself.

I do have some insight into this (my now ex wife is your age and used FB for nothing but
gossip and finding new male "friends") so yeah, I do hate FB LOL
But for the most part your generation is not introspective. They never look back into themselves
to see if they are intrinsically wrong.

I am not talking about somebody like you, somebody that accepted responsibility early on, and learned early
on that the world does not rotate around them.

I'm 50. Been to the Army, put myself through college, worked my whole life.
Like you.
But there is an entire generation maybe now two, that live at home and do nothing but
complain well into their upper 30s if not longer.

Good thoughts, and not to take this thing totally off-track, but... who is responsible for this generation of people with massively distorted senses of self worth and self importance? Where did these kids fail to learn a work ethic and sense of humility? You can't spoil your child and give them a sense of preciousness, tell 'em all their dreams are gonna come true, if they just believe it, and act confused when the kid has no idea how to deal with the "real world" that doesn't care if they succeed or feel emotionally fulfilled. (I just wanted to rant a li'l. I don't mean to offend anyone, and my opinions are just opinions.)

[DeadJohn]

SNIP... But there is an entire generation maybe now two, that live at home and do nothing but
complain well into their upper 30s if not longer.

I'm 46 but have friends in a wide age range. People in their 20s started their adult lives during a bad economy. It's hard to move away from home without a decent job. I was lucky entering a booming job market out of college. It's not as easy today.

[condor27596]

Correct and I agree.

I entered the job market in two I repeat two recessions or depressions. However you think of it.

Once with HS and some college and another with a full technical top 10 or so engineering degree.

I've reformulated my thoughts some. You do not get to have what your parents worked together over a lifetime
to have, in the first 2-3 years of working. Which seems to be the expectations.

You can not expect to be prosperous with $80000 in student loans for a BA in psycology or business adminstration.
I mean by that, prosperous with no consequences your first year out.

I realize many people are scammed into the lie of massive student loan debt.
Again, hate the game, but not the player.

This recession or depression is not the first in our history.
But these kids are raised with the idea of expecting a $100/hr lifestyle on a $15/hr market.

Again, I am not slamming you, but agreeing with you.

I'm not even shy about it. I work on a top secret government project. I am one of three people in the
world that does what I do. It does not pay 6 figures. It actually does not pay 80k.
Think about it. How can you expect to make $200k with a BA in art history?

The entire world changed. It's not the players. It's the game. And a lot of it has been grossly unfair.

[Sagitta]

This is probably going against the general grain of thinking among photographers, but once released 'into the wild' you really have no control whatsoever over a photo.

If the photographer released a high-resolution, high-quality, non-watermarked image to a client they should pretty well assume someone's gonna be posting it to Facebook and sharing it with their friends.

This isn't 1974 any more where you need to actually work to violate copyright. To prevent that kind of stuff from happening, you need to be proactive about it and not allow yourself to be too upset if a client wants to share your stuff.

If you're THAT paranoid about copyright theft, the only advice I can give is to stick to releasing analog product and avoid digital release altogether.

---------- Post added 07-22-14 at 09:26 PM ----------

And I recently came across the perfect metaphor for that:

"Just because I park my car in a public parking lot doesn't mean it's there for you to take."

Double posting (but only because I spotted this after the fact) but with Facebook its more of "If I park my Mercedes in the ghetto with the windows down and the keys in the ignition, what am I expecting is going to happen?"

[monochrome]

I've reformulated my thoughts some. You do not get to have what your parents worked together over a lifetime to have, in the first 2-3 years of working. Which seems to be the expectations.

Unfortunately for them, our (generation's) mid-twenties children behave as we did in our 40's. Since many of us partied like it really was 1999 . . . . . .

Unless of course we made them do their homework before watching television (the secret is to have only one television); made them eat with us every night in the dining room on real china with real flatware and . . . . TALK . . . . about things; made them do small chores; gave them a liberal allowance, but they had to buy clothing and gasoline and CD's and everything else they wanted from it (and we gave clothes and books special thins like a used Pentax or framed artwork as presents); told them if they had time to work they had time to study - they didn't need 'extra' money; made them go to the college that gave them the best Merit Aid (so be careful where you apply), and if they wanted a Student Loan they could only get it from us (I will not co-sign your government loan) and executed REAL loan documents (one did - she paid it off); etc.

Funny thing - raising children is an active sport, not someting you leave to the school or the Village. You do it yourself. And it takes 25 years.

When they earned the opportunity to do an intense B&W Winter Term in Abiquiu, NM tracing Ansel Adams or spend a semester studying in England and singing at Canterbury Cathedral or a semester at Trinity College, Dublin to study James Joyce or a semester in New York as an intern on the Today Show - well, we found the money to pay for success.

Did you know a 24 year old graduate student can buy a used KIA and live alone in a small apartment and eat well on a $21,000 stipend and babysitting? Millennials today can do what they need to do if the investment was made when they were young.

Most of them will turn out fine, just like we did.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 07-25-2014 at 06:21 PM.

[condor27596]

I agree. Most will turn out fine

I once read a book that gave this advice. Give this super amount for an allowance but let them know they do not
get more, ever. And it was like EVER, into adulthood, and it started in HS or even Jr. High. I forget the amount but
it was a lot a hundred or two a month. But they had to make EVERYTHING work out on that much, OR, generate
more income. And income was not to be generated within the household.

[magkelly]

If you're THAT paranoid about copyright theft, the only advice I can give is to stick to releasing analog product and avoid digital release altogether.

That still wouldn't help much in an era where everyone has a scanner. They'd just scan the print on you and ul it anyway. I hate to say that, but it's true.

[p38arover]

My allowance was sixpence (5 cents) a week.

[Parallax]

Rupert's was beads and beaver pelts. He's so old that money hadn't been invented yet.

[Racer X 69]

And regarding why FB - as much as I hate it, it really is the easiest way to stay connected with people, and with how spread out my contacts have become as a combination of the Army and my travels, it's worth it.

I have heard many people say they like Facebook because it makes it easier to stay connected or to stay in touch with friends and family. What ever happened to calling each other up and having a nice conversation? These days cell phones make long distance calling a thing of the past. And if you both have the same carrier the call is essentially "free" as many plans allow mobile to mobile calls without consuming those precious minutes of airtime.

And if the issue is international roaming or international calling, there is always e-mail.

Or how about sitting down at the end of a busy day and writing a letter to someone?

What I don't understand though is the chronic posters who detail their every detail and emotion. Is my generation so inherently narcissistic that we believe others actually care about that and how I just arrived at my favorite restaurant is important enough to broadcast?

It would seem so. Even though I do not participate in the Face Plant Hash-brown Bird Chirping thing I am aware of the endless current of inane blather that spews forth on those venues. It causes me to wonder how is it the people who devote so much time to that sort of thing find the time to lead a regular life.

I understand that's the better solution, but still...I would have been 100% welcoming of the same were the roles reversed...

I have been in similar situations many times. Still I have failed to remember that not everyone sees things as I do.

And I recently came across the perfect metaphor for that:

"Just because I park my car in a public parking lot doesn't mean it's there for you to take."

Unfortunately the world is full of those who seem to think it is OK to help themselves to anything and everything, no matter what the circumstance. Like those women on the beach in Florida recently who decided they would just walk off with some guy's stuff, even though they knew it did not belong to them.

Kudos to the guy for posting the video on YouTube!

[p38arover]

For international and long distance calls, I use a VoIP phone. The cost is minimal. I don't use my mobile phone for that stuff as I'm on a pre-paid plan because I make very few calls and I don't do SMS if I can avoid it.

I never ring family (apart from my wife and daughter) and I have no friends so it is very easy to keep my phone costs down.

[Racer X 69]

Good thoughts, and not to take this thing totally off-track, but... who is responsible for this generation of people with massively distorted senses of self worth and self importance? Where did these kids fail to learn a work ethic and sense of humility? You can't spoil your child and give them a sense of preciousness, tell 'em all their dreams are gonna come true, if they just believe it, and act confused when the kid has no idea how to deal with the "real world" that doesn't care if they succeed or feel emotionally fulfilled.

Latch Key Kids?

[JibbaJab]

When you choose to participate in a community - be it PF, FB, the military, or otherwise - you're entering into a domain where certain implicit rules are expected to be followed to maintain good relationships among members of the group. To not follow those rules is to risk being ostracized.

You broke an unspoken rule by calling this person out in public on something that was important to you, but to her might not have been important enough to have made a public example of her. This rule is no different in face-to-face relationships; the difference is that you know outright whether someone's unfriended you on FB, but you can only guess whether someone in real life is intentionally giving you the cold shoulder. I assume this isn't the first time this has happened to you, because every single one of us has experienced this in some way. It's just part of being human.

Were you wrong to speak up? No. You spoke truth. Was she wrong to unfriend you? No. That was the risk you took when you posted on her wall. Bottom line is, don't expect to be able to maintain relationships with people whose feelings you can't empathize with.