At what point did personal technology start changing our lives for the worse?

[Cole train]

About 2005 to early 10s was peak

Early youtube was awesome lol

 

[Evbo]

Back to when phones were not able to access the internet. I feel like a massive luddite saying that, but since then, the majority of time that would previously have been spent thinking to oneself, processing events/conversations and just generally taking a view of the days events is gone. I can't think that's a good thing.

You now basically have a 'boredom remover' in your pocket in a time when people are bored way too quickly

 

[Thepaintbucket]

I'd say degeneracy started to really kick in with social media platforms.

A lot of the younger generation aspire to be social media influencers and frankly I don't blame them. Easy access to money with a low entry barrier. It sure as hell beats working at McDonald's for minimum wage.

 

[10000yearsold]

The moment you became a jaded curmudgeon.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

In your opinion —- what era of technology would you go back to?

You know.. personally I would say like 2010 ish —- we had YouTube, had smartphones that could play music and we could access information on the go. GPS

that’s all good

But now these companies are trying to creep into every moment of your life. For what?

Fuck you. Let me have my walks in nature.

AI art.. video generation.. Im putting my head in the sand with regards to all
that shit. we have enough entertainment man. I’m cool with the dopamine I get from watching UFC highlights on YouTube.

Around 2010 with the smartphone and widespread use of social media. Keeping in touch with people and being reachable doesn‘t require a smartphone.

I think the rest of upsides doesn‘t balance the downsides, like humans being glued all day to a small screen and caring about stuff as vain as likes from strangers on a screen.

And yes, I am seeing a huge problem for humans to be glued to small screens all day. We are not wired for that.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Back to when phones were not able to access the internet. I feel like a massive luddite saying that, but since then, the majority of time that would previously have been spent thinking to oneself, processing events/conversations and just generally taking a view of the days events is gone. I can't think that's a good thing.

You now basically have a 'boredom remover' in your pocket in a time when people are bored way too quickly

I think this is a good point. Dealing with occasional boredom is normal. It‘s part of being a human. What‘s not normal is the addiction to being entertained at all time. The human brain is not made to be visually stimulated all the time. I think it is well established now that constant screen stimulation is correlated with stress levels and cortisol, and the growing mental health issues we have in society is first and foremost related to stress. To think we can replace real in person human interactions with screens is misguided imo.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

I would return to the 1990 - 2007ish period.

 

[ezikel315]

Since we developed agriculture

 

[Streeter]

Obvious answer is Social Media. My answer would be Video games - PS1 level an beyond

 

[Lycandroid]

John Carpenter had the solution

 

[Spounman]

In your opinion —- what era of technology would you go back to?

You know.. personally I would say like 2010 ish —- we had YouTube, had smartphones that could play music and we could access information on the go. GPS

that’s all good

But now these companies are trying to creep into every moment of your life. For what?

Fuck you. Let me have my walks in nature.

AI art.. video generation.. Im putting my head in the sand with regards to all
that shit. we have enough entertainment man. I’m cool with the dopamine I get from watching UFC highlights on YouTube.

I'd also say around 2010 or a little earlier. I remember about 5 years before that, texting my girlfriend in college with our flip phones. We'd text each other answers during tests

 

[Ima5starman]

Cell phones made life easier but smart phones have ruined it.

 

[badascan]

About 120 years ago? But probably way before that...

 

[philcrow]

Smart phones win. I think facial recognition tech is the next to win. And why does everything need a wi-fi signal now? Fridges, washers, doors, probably clothes soon enough.

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

Smart phones win. I think facial recognition tech is the next to win. And why does everything need a wi-fi signal now? Fridges, washers, doors, probably clothes soon enough.

It’s funny how the companys are way more excited about this shit then we are

They had me selling charging port integrated into countertops. No one gave a shit. Still have those samples sitting in my car

 

[Other]

Smart phones and social media.

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

Chat gpt can be a cheaper more readily available alternative for a psych for some people. (I know someone who quit seeing their psych and uses it instead). They said it works for them..

It has access to every meaningful academic paper / publication / book on psychology. So it can be pretty effective at using it’s language models to package advice. I’m not saying it’s better than a psychologist now, but if someone is having an issue and asks it, it could be helpful. Psychology services are expensive and it can be hard to get an appointment.

I don’t use it for that personally, but in just mucking around with it a bit, seems to give decent practical health / mental health advice.

There’s great uses for chat GPT

When I was ordering some gear, I asked chat GPT the likelihood that a person could do jail time if they got caught for a controlled delivery. Given my city and state

The advantage is like you said all the resources.. and also the fact that it can break it down into a clean percentage. It’s helpful to know exactly what your odds are in a given situation

Now that being said.. the 2nd time I used it for advice. not as helpful

it was just telling me what I want to hear.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Definitely smartphones

Having the internet in one central place in the house that you'd visit for an hour or two a day was fine. Having it in your pocket at all times is too much.

The never ending push to centralize your daily life around apps (aka, your phone) kicked this into overdrive.

 

[Neck&Neck]

High speed internet
And the smart phone

 

[Little Mac]

Social Media.

Especially when it comes to the dating market. It gave majority of people an Inflated Ego.