No social media or no smart phones?

1980Miami

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If you somehow had the power to go back to the mid 2000s and permanently prevent one from being invented, which would you choose? A world with social media but no smart phones, or a world with smart phones but without social media? I think this is an interesting thought experiment as these are the two things people really point to as negative influences on our world
 
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IlluminatiPirate

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If you somehow had the power to go back to the mid 2000s and permanently prevent one from being invented, which would you choose? A world with social media but no smart phones, or a world with smart phones but without social media? I think this is an interesting thought experiment as these are the two things people really point to as negative influences on our world
Definitely no social media without a doubt. Social media has been detrimental to the internet and society, its all about branding and selling us shit through their algorithm. Keep the web decentralized and have people scattered around in forums.
 
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FAILSAF_12

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I would have to say goodbye to social media. some are pretty great, like YouTube, but I could forget about instagram etc pretty quickly. smartphones are such cool, important tools to us nowadays. we could totally get along in our lives just fine without them, but its pretty neat having such powerful machines on us at all times.
 
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Why not both? i would have destroyed both, damn, if i could i would even destroy the concept of arpanet.

but meh, if i don't have a choice, then social media, a lot of lifes has been destroyed because of social media, friendships, relationships, reputation, everything gone just for a single post, social media basically ruined internet.
 
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We had social media in the mid 2000s. Smartphones easily
100%. We had social media already but what really allowed it (and the internet) to invade every aspect of our lives was the smartphone.
 
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1980Miami

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100%. We had social media already but what really allowed it (and the internet) to invade every aspect of our lives was the smartphone.

This is kind of how I feel. Social media of the 2000s was less pervasive because it was in it's infancy but also because we could only use it at home. My issue with the smartphone is the way it facilitates addiction by allowing social media access no matter where you go. To be fair 2005 social media was a lot less nefarious and not nearly as optimized for addiction like it is today
 
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SomaSpice

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For me its smartphones.

I mean yeah, social media is pretty bad, but I think what's gotten us to the point where most people are dopamine junkies is the fact that smartphones connect us 24/7 to the net. That, and the fact that smartphones don't allow much for complex interactions. Things must be super streamlined in order to be readily consumable on phones and that spread to the rest of the web.

If smartphones weren't invented, the internet might've retained some of its soul. Maybe.
 
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smartphones. the texture of the internet took a nose dive when generic processes connected: contect consumers, who click on likes, and retweet outrage from the toilet. the silent majority has a voice and the voice says "moo", the pitch matters, you might be from a different herd.
 
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social media for sure, most of the issues i have with smartphones come from social media, people wouldn't be such dopamine junkies if smartphones were less used for social media and more for actual useful stuff
however, i do have some nostalgia for flip phones so i wouldn't mind if the smartphone got obliterated by a time traveler
 
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Smartphones are what made normies become addicted to the internet. Without them, social media would be a lot better. Internet sucks because your grandma, your father, and Karen are using smartphones. If they had to use computers, they would still be hooked on television.
 
Smartphones are a useful tool though. I conduct stock market trading entirely from the porcelain throne, the only appropriate place for such matters.

So far I've made a tidy profit.

Social media should definitely go the way of the dodo for how corrosive it is to society at large. By giving a platform to the official narrative and also all the crazy hairbrained conspiracy theories they directly undermine the stability of the country. Lies get around the world entirely based from social media.

It encourages the scientifically illiterate to get their information from those who are just as illiterate or worse. I would be okay with them explaining the controversy since science is not a consensus based formula, but when they peddle an official narrative on scientific matters thats where they screw up. Not too long ago asbestos was a great and safe item, and lead paint helped remove molds, and leaded gasoline was an excellent fuel additive to reduce engine knocking.

They also fudge their algorithms to encourage addition to the platforms by feeding their users a steady dopamine drip of outrage to keep them hooked. Some of these people have been hooked up so long that you can't even unplug them anymore or they will literally go insane.
 
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NeoTokyo Tempo

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Social media can be a problem, but smart phones are way worse. Smart phones can be very useful, but I don't think it's worth it. The problem with smart phones is the exact thing that makes them useful; they fit in your pocket. People wouldn't have nearly the addiction to social media that they have if they had to use an actual computer to access it. Even a laptop isn't really that convenient. You generally wouldn't take one with you if you didn't have a specific task to complete with it outside your house. Even then you couldn't just pull it out whenever you wanted. I'm a bit extreme on this because I think even dumb phones were a mistake. I remember complaining about how addicted people were to texting when I was a kid. Having advanced technology with you at all times disconnects you from the moment more than Myspace, or Friendster ever could have. Even beyond that, people don't realize how much having a camera with practically unlimited film takes away from the moment. Some people I can't take on hikes because they have to stop and take a picture of every little thing as if they're going to look at all of it. You used to have to buy expensive film and go get it developed at a lab. This reserved pictures and video for important memories like birthday parties, or family reunions, but now pictures are just trash data of random shit that nobody has any emotional attachment to. Bobby Allison, a racecar driver, lost his two sons to the very sport that brought him fame and success. Now he keeps a picture of them in his wallet and sometimes looks at them and cries. That was something worth taking a picture of and keeping forever. It's not cheap like a picture of your food on Instagram. I remember people thought it was quite queer that practice when Instagram first came out because they were still in the mindset that you took pictures of important things. It's all narcissistic that anyone would give a shit what you're eating; and after you look at it once, it becomes junk data. It doesn't become an important memory in the family album like your daughter's wedding photos. Does anyone even make family albums anymore? Where can you even get a picture printed; digital, or otherwise? Anyway, the point is, these people couldn't even enjoy a fucking meal without pulling out their stupid phone and taking a picture of it that no sane person would give half a shit about.
 
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Social media can be a problem, but smart phones are way worse. Smart phones can be very useful, but I don't think it's worth it. The problem with smart phones is the exact thing that makes them useful; they fit in your pocket. People wouldn't have nearly the addiction to social media that they have if they had to use an actual computer to access it. Even a laptop isn't really that convenient. You generally wouldn't take one with you if you didn't have a specific task to complete with it outside your house. Even then you couldn't just pull it out whenever you wanted. I'm a bit extreme on this because I think even dumb phones were a mistake. I remember complaining about how addicted people were to texting when I was a kid. Having advanced technology with you at all times disconnects you from the moment more than Myspace, or Friendster ever could have. Even beyond that, people don't realize how much having a camera with practically unlimited film takes away from the moment. Some people I can't take on hikes because they have to stop and take a picture of every little thing as if they're going to look at all of it. You used to have to buy expensive film and go get it developed at a lab. This reserved pictures and video for important memories like birthday parties, or family reunions, but now pictures are just trash data of random shit that nobody has any emotional attachment to. Bobby Allison, a racecar driver, lost his two sons to the very sport that brought him fame and success. Now he keeps a picture of them in his wallet and sometimes looks at them and cries. That was something worth taking a picture of and keeping forever. It's not cheap like a picture of your food on Instagram. I remember people thought it was quite queer that practice when Instagram first came out because they were still in the mindset that you took pictures of important things. It's all narcissistic that anyone would give a shit what you're eating; and after you look at it once, it becomes junk data. It doesn't become an important memory in the family album like your daughter's wedding photos. Does anyone even make family albums anymore? Where can you even get a picture printed; digital, or otherwise? Anyway, the point is, these people couldn't even enjoy a fucking meal without pulling out their stupid phone and taking a picture of it that no sane person would give half a shit about.
I think its fucking hilarious that most of the internet is just junk data.
 
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shae

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smart phones are a tool and I think if they weren't directly associated with social media usage, by now we could have figured out ways to make them even more useful than they already are. the few people who own social media platforms are powerful enough to control what the public sees or doesn't see, so there's gotta be technology out there greater than what we have now that's being withheld from us. maybe that makes me a crazy conspiracy theorist. rambling aside, I'd definitely get rid of social media.
 
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Plasmawiz

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Hard decision but I'm gonna have to say smartphones.
Sad because the tech is great, but ultimately the ultra portable computer was the gateway to what we have today. Keep people on laptops or even tablets/phablets and that problem goes away somewhat. Social media is something that can be managed given the right environment, and that environment is ultimately the hardware people use to access it.
 
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After some thought, I'd have to say down with the smartphone. The smartphone is what ruined social media, by making it accessible at all times. The days of sitting down at the computer to post on socials are gone. People say it's great to have all this information at your fingertips, but is it really necessary? Sorry to sound like a boomer, but smartphones have made society brainwashed narcissists who only think about using their pocket-supercomputer to post a photo of themselves or tweet every little thing that comes to their minds, as long as its non-controversial. Smartphones have eliminated phsychological diversity from our society by giving virtually anyone a platform to become connected and brainwashed along with everyone else.
 
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