Cons of the digital revolution.

Alleykins

Hey all,
If I'm posting in the wrong section, I apologize. I am writing a piece on the rise of digital entertainment. I am trying to gauge what the public think are the cons of the digital revolution. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.

chin_grin

Main point would be that human evolution hasn't caught up with the increasing speed of change in technology. We are being bombarded with information and cannot process it all.

ScumLord

chin_grin wrote: »

Main point would be that human evolution hasn't caught up with the increasing speed of change in technology. We are being bombarded with information and cannot process it all.

I don't know about that, children seem more than capable of processing it all as is the way with humans. It changed rapidly on our generation but the children being born now are born into this and have adapted to it the problem is our generation is still reeling from the change. Within another generation it will just be normal and people will have adapted.

I don't think we can fully tell the negative side effects yet but I don't think their really there, it's all good.

You could argue it makes you less social but I think that's more a side effect of the individualistic society we're trying to build. We simply don't value community these days and if anything the internet gives people a community of peers they could never have in the real world.

Chuck Stone

Young people and privacy.

Everyone has a little camera in their pocket these days. When I was a teen they didn't so you could make a fool out of yourself and it remained a story.

Alleykins

What about ownership of material on social networking sites, is that a pro or a con?

formysins

Alleykins wrote: »

What about ownership of material on social networking sites, is that a pro or a con?

I'm sure it's a massive pro if you happen to be the social networking site in question. To be in control of that much data has (whether they like to admit it or not) HUGE financial value. Customer profiling has been taking place in one for or another for decades but social sites take it to a whole new level.

Let's face it (and I do generalise here), if you're stopped in the street by a well turned out stranger, sporting an ID badge from a well known company who happens to be carrying out a survey on our latest shopping habits, a lot of us are pretty reluctant to disclose that sort of info.

Yet trawl the masses of public profiles on social media sites, web forums, networking websites and the like and it's plain to see that some are more than happy to disclose far more information about themselves than would be considered safe.

I think there's a certain element of everyone wanting their fifteen minutes of fame. In a one to one or a small audience situation (like in the staff canteen), there's no great "reward" to showing a photograph of your new car, your latest holiday snaps, your relationship status etc - stick any of this info up on a social site and within seconds you have a long line of 'friends' cheering you on and patting you on the back, praising you on your latest accomplishments. I wonder just how many of those 'friends' would be there to bail you out if the s**t hit the fan.

I suppose my point is that one huge con of the social side of the digital revolution is that it could potentially breed a generation of isolated extroverts.

ScumLord

formysins wrote: »

I suppose my point is that one huge con of the social side of the digital revolution is that it could potentially breed a generation of isolated extroverts.

That's down to the people using the technology though. It's possible to build a house using a hammer while the next guy might use it to beat some ones head in.

There's some very interesting use of social technology in some places. I think there's a football team in the UK that's owned and run through a community that operates through a social website. they collectively run the team and are the shareholders of the team.

We could be using technology to develop local communities that are more involved in the running of their area but I don't think governments want people involved in the running of their country.

The technology is just that, technology. It can be used for good or bad it's up to the people.

The internet could change everything overnight it's just not going to happen as the people in power now are afraid of it taking away their unnecessary positions in society.

Alleykins

Thanks everyone. You have all helped me out a great deal. I guess this is a pro for social technology. I have gotten advice for my research while you guys remain totally anonymous. There is protection and safety in that while you are helping a body out.

Nichololas

Alleykins wrote: »

Thanks everyone. You have all helped me out a great deal. I guess this is a pro for social technology. I have gotten advice for my research while you guys remain totally anonymous. There is protection and safety in that while you are helping a body out.

Except for the tens/hundreds/thousands of posts made by people with which you could at best identify them out right and at least have a sizable store of usable data .. Boardsies with lots of posts probably give away more personal information (gender, likes/dislikes, political opinions, geographic area, interests, hobbies, tastes, what they thought of the new Tayto marketing campaign, etc) than anyone on Facebook. Harder to process and data-mine certainly, but then again there are no pesky privacy controls on here either .. This is not to say that the boards powers-that-be would actually sell user data to marketing companies, but web-scrapers do exist..

Khannie

txt spk