I think this varies from place to place. In some places, I’ve definitely felt like going out and interacting with physical people was too dangerous, since the culture was along the lines of “everyone for themselves” and “don’t trust anyone”. That being said, I’ve also lived in places where the people around me were extremely friendly, so for many people that opportunity still does exist.
For the people who feel like going out and interacting with strangers is dangerous, I think it might help to go to specific places where the kinds of people you want to meet would also go to (and the kinds of people you want to avoid wouldn’t go to), although that can be hard to find.
Yes it should, but modernity also made us less reliant on the group and I think it made use more introvert and more social risk averse. This is something that can be worked on with reasonable cost.
Human experience isn’t just hanging out with other people. It includes going to other places, experiencing what the world has to offer. You can’t do much of that, if any, when you’re living paycheck to paycheck like most people.
so many people are getting to the point that they can identify that capitalism has caused human society to self-digest and go to shit, yet so many will give the most asinine dog-brained reasons as to why. It’s reassuring to see people starting to wake up but frustrating to see them groggy, incoherent, and still half-asleep. 95 times out of a hundred they’ll blame “corporatism” or welfare queens or race mixing or overpopulation or some shit and it’s just exhausting
so many people are getting to the point that they can identify that capitalism has caused human society to self-digest and go to shit, yet so many will give the most asinine dog-brained reasons as to why
It’s because of crony capitalism! Because there’s a magical different one that would go better, trust me! morshupls
And when they say "corporatism", rather than the capitalist aspects of corporations draining the life from society, they'll instead be referring to whenever a company does something they consider "woke".
Not a fan of capitalism myself, but I’d take western (somewhat) liberal capitalism over the authoritarian alternatives (kleptocratic, imperialist oligarchy in Russia or fake-communist dictatorship in China) that are being pushed here on Lemmy.
I don’t think anyone is pushing modern capitalist Russia, although kleprocratic, imperialist oligarchy describes the US and western liberal democracy at large as much as it does the Russian Federation.
China though has a better democracy than the US. Calling it a dictatorship is pure western brainworms.
Edit: Why do you think the US is not a kleptocratic, imperialist oligarchy? And why do you think liberal democracy is more democratic than full process democracy in China?
China is the only country that is on track to hit the goals stated in the Paris Agreement.
China has invested trillions in combating climate change.
75% of people alleviated from poverty are chinese citizens.
China has a higher life expectancy than the US.
China has a higher median wage than several european countries.
The US has the largest prisoner population in the world.
Slavery is legal in the US as a punishment for a crime.
The leaders of the riots in Ferguson were all murdered. Several political leaders have disappeared or died mysteriously over the years in the US.
The US “used to have” a project by the name of COINTELPRO which focused on suppressing political dissidents.
Why exactly would you take the western system over China?
What makes China authoritarian, yet the country with the largest prisoner population in the world and a proven record of suppressing and murdering political dissidents not authoritarian?
I don’t like how you make it seem like the US is the average western country.
It is one of the worst in terms of everything except money and military.
If you compare China with an actual average western country, like France or Spain. Then China looks a lot less hospitable. With its giant face tracking infrastructure, the anti-privacy devices and apps, the genocides of Uyghurs and castrations of Muslims.
I like how China is improving massively, but it still is closer to the US than it is to Finland in terms of population happiness and freedom.
As a European, we’re definitely leagues ahead of the US, but we also have giant face tracking infrastructure, anti privacy devices and apps, and we just recently did massive invasions resulting in the deaths of millions of innocent civilians in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. And at least hundreds of thousands of those deaths are actually provable and well-documented.
The whole point of government is to be authoritarian. That authority is what separates tax collectors from muggers. That authority is what allows for public good such as welfare programs and public bad such as a militarized police force that brutally defends the capitalist class and their capital. Under “liberal” capitalism, that authority is concentrated in the hands of the dictators that own the means of production.
It’s been far too long since the sociopaths were put in their place. Now they have all the money in the world and can hire sycophants to be their personal armies.
The constant revamping of the production process, the uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, and the everlasting uncertainty and agitation of society distinguish the bourgeois era from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relationships, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away. All new-formed relationships become outdated before they can solidify. All that is fixed melts into air, all that is sacred is profaned, and people are at last compelled to face with sober senses their real conditions of life, and thier relations with each other.
I’ve found that disconnecting helps. Leave your phone at home and go out. Chat with the guy you see every day at the grocery store. Go play chess or pétanque in the park with a friend. You don’t have to do this too often, and you’ll feel less like a product yourself.
Especially the elderly in my experience. The generation that used to tell us not to believe everything we see on the internet is now glued to Facebook.
Well, at least on facebook, you can have various ideologies (at least until Suckerberg decide to ban you). On Wechat, it’s only whatever the govermment allows.
Sometimes it’s fun to try doing things differently, but I sort of agree with you. As time goes on it’s harder and harder to break ourselves of our habits
Everything under neoliberalism is assessed primarily in terms of money. It thrives on selfishness. Doing things to improve climate and reduce carbon emissions doesn’t have immediate profits and is therefore ignored. The wealth inequality results in the more wealthy thinking they deserve the wealth and seeing the poor as inferior thus destroying social cohesion.
Liberalism does not seem to seek any kind of cohesion, rather it focuses on maximising each individual’s desires regardless of the resulting sum of these individual fulfillments.
I did the same thing. I still am on social media such as lemmy and discord but its mostly to talk to people. And I havent watched the news since I was a child. Important things come your way eventually and I dont see it as being ignorant. Now I only receive information I can actually do something about if I want to.
More like “don’t stick your head in a pile oft shit”, ignoring these platforms is not ignoring the world, it’s changing your point oft view, you won’t miss anything of importance.
That’s may be true for you, but a lot of these type sites are a great source for news and information about the world. Ignorance is bliss as they say, but the world keeps spinning whether or not you pay attention to it. I’m not saying you HAVE to get news from social media, but that’s what I primarily use it for.
If it doesn’t cause you to act, then the news is just entertainment
Covid vaccines made available was the last news that actually changed my behavior. That was like years ago. The rest is just entertainment written to make people scared and angry
Bullshit. Responsible news consumption is how we make informed decisions about the world. It’s a critical part of any democracy which is why Burke called it “the fourth estate.”
this. A lot of news is kind of inactionable too; what are we supposed to do from knowing about some dictatorship half way across the world having a coup? The thing that actually started lifting me out of passive observation and into action was reading political analysis and political theory. Strongly recommend some introductory political theory for anyone who feels a responsibility to keep up with the news but then finds that all doing so does is make them exhausted and depressed.
That sounds like a ‘you problem’. I change my behaviors and my attitudes accordingly based on what I intake and digest. When McCain first ran against Obama, he was a moderate with decades of experience who had seen the dark side of war and wouldn’t thrust us into one senselessly.
Thanks to the news I saw the rapid conversion of a formerly moral politician into someone who would say anything for power.
When the situation in Maui came up I donated as I have in the past to people affected by disasters.
Should you assume information that doesn’t affect you personally is irrelevant or are you willing to step down from your Main Character title card?
Social media is for social interaction. There are better alternatives for news. I’d rather invest some money in good journalism than picking relevant news in the flood of garbage click and rage bait articles. There is also good, free of charge journalism out there. For example the guardian
This is so honestly so true. Once I moved my news sources onto an RSS app and left my social media interactions for my hobbies or catching up with people my pessimism decreased dramatically.
News on social media is filled with bad actors, misinformation, and bots deliberately to drive up engagement through outrage. 99% of the time it’s not worth the mental blowback.
Sorry in advance for the unsolicited advice, but if you’re a news junkie (like me), try out an RSS feed reader (Feedly, Inoreader, Newsblur is a FOSS option).
You get to bypass the comment section of social media while still being aware of what is going on around you. I use Ino because it’s cross platform. It makes it super easy to subscribe to anything from Nature to Vogue to my local news affiliate, and it has a trending section, as well as curated groups for hobbies/interests and your work industry as well.
You don’t have to stop caring about the world in order to live without social media.
I’ve considered fishing, but the equipment is expensive, and all the closest locations are pretty far. When I need to chill I just play a game or go for a smoke.
I appreciate the concern and know about the potential negative consequences. But with all due respect, you don’t know me or the type of news I seek out or how I feel about it. I prefer to know what’s going on around me and the world so I can work towards making impactful changes. That doesn’t mean everyone else has to but it works well for me.
A healthy diet, if you will. Fastfood is okay once in a while but eating it all the time just as tiring to one’s body as clickbait information to one’s head.
Is not being on most social media sticking your head in the sand now? I still read the news and try to stay informed. It’s just not in my face as much anymore. I would consider that a win.
Arguably that's one of (though not all of) the reason for so many people not voting. They think if they disengage, then that'll fix the problem. When in reality they're just allowing the problem to get worse and pretending there isn't a problem.
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