Spent a morning out on the town on my day off, and everyone is just fucking buried in their phones 24/7. This realization was so absurd to me

Of course I’m not exempt from this shit, but no wonder people are having so much trouble making friends and creating meaningful relationships in this day and age. So fucking bleak

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I firmly maintain that phones are a symptom and not a cause. The cost of going outside is much. Many third places have collapsed under the crushing weight of austerity. Our time is ruthlessly regulated. Transport is expensive. Everyone is tired and sick.

    Phones, social media, are what’s left.

    • This 100%. I also maintain that heavy social media usage is a coping mechanism just as much as it is a cause of mental health problems. You wanna talk about an opiate of the masses? I watched my parents exhaustedly zone out in front of the tv to deal with their shitty fucking jobs for decades. Now I’m doing the same thing except with my phone.

    • Cromalin [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      yeah you can get a phone and internet cheap compared to ]anything else you might want. it’s no surprise people spend all their time online given the material conditions we’re forced to live in

    • Grebgreb [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      This is my stance too as someone who has been trapped in an american suburbs for most of my life. My parents stopped actually “parenting” more or less when I was like 10 so I just turned to xbox and runescape, nothing to do outside beyond my yard since it was just made for cars. When I realized it was a problem there wasn’t anything I could do, everything was still car dependent and my parents pretty much just argued and zoned out in front of the tv. I think my nephew is going through the same thing, except he has an ipad now and pretty much every time I see him he’s coughing.