Are We Falling Away from Reality?

ClovenHoof · 26-07-2016 12:58PM #1

I think it was at the Roger Waters 'The Wall' concert in Dublin a few years back when I noticed this for the first time. About 75% of the stadium were watching the concert though their ipads and smart phones while the actual real Roger Waters was right in front of them. Most of the crowd were completely wasted on booze and about a few hundred people in the Arriva were actually watching a concert with their own eyes and listening with their own ears. To the rest of the Arivva stadium, there were not involved in the process directly.

I go around town and people are walking and 'socialising' constantly staring into their smart phones like it is some kind of scrying device or orecle waiting for it to reveal secrets of the world around them, if they only open their eyes and look up from the iPhone or Android.

My cousin works in a mobile shop and she regularly has to deal with grown adults, often men in their 30s, crying in the shop because they can't get on facebook or instagram and are completely traumatised by it. They have no concept of life without the drip-feed narcisscism of social media. It is a very real drug to them.

and now, we have Pokemon Go. Millions of people running around chasing the imaginary phantoms and spirits of the electro-magnetic specturm in public parks filled with flowers, people and bird song all of which they are oblivious too as someone sights a Pickachu in the empty bandstand where no live music is played.

califano · 26-07-2016 01:01PM

If people of previous generations had these types of devices they would be doing the very same thing.

ScumLord · 26-07-2016 01:02PM

I think it's a fad. I'm sure social media is here to stay and may be somehow formalised in the future but this obsession is just because it's a new thing. Smartphones are most peoples introduction to the wonders of technologies that have been around for decades, it's just that now it's been simplified to the point that even people that have no clue what's going on can take part.

The next generation could very well turn around and want everything to be real experiences. They'll have grown up with social media being well established by their parents and something to rebel against.

26-07-2016 01:03PM

Get off my lawn

RikkFlair · 26-07-2016 01:04PM

We have become comfortably numb.

ClovenHoof · 26-07-2016 01:07PM

califano wrote: »

If people of previous generations had these types of devices they would be doing the very same thing.

What a pointless and trite statement. Congradulations, you have passed your civil service exam.

VinLieger · 26-07-2016 01:16PM

Oh look another luddite worried about society changing cus of the new thing everyone is doing with technology.

Cus until now parks and public transport had nobody reading books or newspapers in them or people out taking pictures and videos at concerts.

Maybe if you took your head out of your ass you might notice the countless stories out there of people talking about how they went to a park they had never been to before and discovered how beautiful it is, or the other stories of how it gave people with crippling anxiety the courage to interact with others for once, or the stories of how children with autism and other similar issues are now interacting with others like they never have before all because of Pokemon Go

No of course not, its awful that people who would otherwise be sitting inside on couches are outside exercising and interacting with others cus they arent doing it the correct way your view of the world demands.

Get over yourself, your not original with this tired faux outrage just cus you don't understand it.

ClovenHoof · 26-07-2016 01:25PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Oh look another luddite worried about society changing cus of the new thing everyone is doing with technology.

Cus until now parks and public transport had nobody reading books or newspapers in them or people out taking pictures and videos at concerts.

Maybe if you took your head out of your ass you might notice the countless stories out there of people talking about how they went to a park they had never been to before and discovered how beautiful it is, or the other stories of how it gave people with crippling anxiety the courage to interact with others for once, or the stories of how children with autism and other similar issues are now interacting with others like they never have before all because of Pokemon Go

No of course not, its awful that people who would otherwise be sitting inside on couches are outside exercising and interacting with others cus they arent doing it the correct way your view of the world demands.

Get over yourself, your not original with this tired faux outrage just cus you don't understand it.

Let me guess. You are some delicate hipster with some fashionable fibromyalgia symptoms trying to launch an app? This is your only option in life as you cant do much else really, and even with that beard and lumberjack shirt you'll never be able to catch a fish for dinner?

Am I right!

VinLieger · 26-07-2016 01:34PM

ClovenHoof wrote: »

Let me guess. You are some delicate hipster with some fashionable fibromyalgia symptoms trying to launch an app? This is your only option in life as you cant do much else really, and even with that beard and lumberjack shirt you'll never be able to catch a fish for dinner?

Am I right!

LOL poor attempt at baiting.

Its sad really that you cant open your mind that some people might enjoy things that are different than what you do and to hide your fear of change must insult them instead of simply accepting "hey things change".

Sky King · 26-07-2016 01:35PM

That grey matter you are so proud of is nothing but a fun house mirror broadcasting distorted signals from a reality forever beyond your grasp

Your Face · 26-07-2016 01:37PM

Itsa not lika the old country.
These bambini, always with the smartphone.

Speedwell · 26-07-2016 01:38PM

The last time I checked, technological devices like computers and smartphones were real things, and the people you interact with through them were real people, and the games you play on them are no more unreal than the kings and queens in a chess game.

Alf Stewart. · 26-07-2016 01:43PM

ClovenHoof wrote: »

I think it was at the Roger Waters 'The Wall' concert in Dublin a few years back when I noticed this for the first time. About 75% of the stadium were watching the concert though their ipads and smart phones while the actual real Roger Waters was right in front of them. Most of the crowd were completely wasted on booze and about a few hundred people in the Arriva were actually watching a concert with their own eyes and listening with their own ears. To the rest of the Arivva stadium, there were not involved in the process directly.

Flamin Norah. I'm not known as a technology God nor nothin, but even I know they were probably recording the gig, so as to relive the show at another time.

Move over Gates, ya flamin mongrel.

Dyr · 26-07-2016 01:44PM

ClovenHoof wrote: »

hundred people in the Arriva were actually watching a concert with their own eyes and listening with their own ears. To the rest of the Arivva stadium, there were not involved in the process directly.

You're deffo falling away from reality if you were watching that gig in the Arriva stadium

I think technology is just showing us that most people are fkin morons.

26-07-2016 01:45PM

I accidentally swallowed an ice cube whole yesterday and still have not passed it, should I be concerned?

Tombi! · 26-07-2016 01:46PM

modVinLieger, ClovenHoof, play nice with one another.

weisses · 26-07-2016 01:47PM

VinLieger wrote: »

LOL poor attempt at baiting.

Its sad really that you cant open your mind that some people might enjoy things that are different than what you do and to hide your fear of change must insult them instead of simply accepting "hey things change".

Its a bit of a problem when using the "open your mind" phrase to defend your point .....

If you can see what mobile devices can do for you .. You also should be able to see what they can do to you ... If you cannot ..then you have a problem

ScumLord · 26-07-2016 01:48PM

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Flamin Norah. I'm not known as a technology God nor nothin, but even I know they were probably recording the gig, so as to relive the show at another time.

Move over Gates, ya flamin mongrel.

Does anybody actually go home and listen to their ****y recording of the concert? I've seen people show of their video and about all it can show people is your rough location in the audience. Once everyone see's the horrendous quality they just nod and smile and the videos nevers see's the light of day again.

I think most people are just recording hoping something youtube worthy happens.

Squall Leonhart · 26-07-2016 01:48PM

Incidentally I was at that gig, and I don't seem to recall a mere few hundred of the thousands there watching it with their own eyes.

It was quite the spectacular show, very very theatrical.

weisses · 26-07-2016 01:50PM

Deleted User wrote: »

I accidentally swallowed an ice cube whole yesterday and still have not passed it, should I be concerned?

Yes ... You should share all your crap on social media so we can all help you check if there is an issue ..... interpret it the way you want

VinLieger · 26-07-2016 01:51PM

weisses wrote: »

Its a bit of a problem when using the "open your mind" phrase to defend your point .....

If you can see what mobile devices can do for you .. You also should be able to see what they can do to you ... If you cannot ..then you have a problem

Huh?

Im assuming you mean the detractors of having mobile devices then yeah sure of course they have problems, however you could say the same of the OP refusing to see any positives they have. Notice i posted 3 positive outcomes of Pokemon Go and the OP responded with a poor attempt at insulting me and ignored the substance of my post cus its not convenient to their argument

Sky King · 26-07-2016 01:52PM

weisses wrote: »

Yes ... You should share all your crap on social media so we can all help you check if there is an issue ..... interpret it the way you want

Were not at that stage yet. Right now technology limits us to pictures and videos of the crap.

Ronald Wilson Reagan · 26-07-2016 01:53PM

Hopelessly passing your time in the grassland away,
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air,
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about,

jacksie66 · 26-07-2016 01:55PM

This post has been deleted.

super_furry · 26-07-2016 02:00PM

Everyone should enjoy things the exact same way I enjoy them and if they don't, they should change.

weisses · 26-07-2016 02:03PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Huh?

Im assuming you mean the detractors of having mobile devices then yeah sure of course they have problems, however you could say the same of the OP refusing to see any positives they have. Notice i posted 3 positive outcomes of Pokemon Go and the OP responded with a poor attempt at insulting me and ignored the substance of my post cus its not convenient to their argument

I agree with the point he is making ... except the pokemon thinghy maybe ( I dont like it but will blame my age for that)

saying the below i don't think you get the point what it could do to you

VinLieger wrote: »

Get over yourself, your not original with this tired faux outrage just cus you don't understand it.

Doctor DooM · 26-07-2016 02:09PM

All the things you discuss are real. Facebook is real. Social media is real. A conversation held over an IM client is a real conversation. People who make friends and meet up from boards are real friends.

Perhaps the issue is people trying to define reality as what was normal when they were young. That is something that's real too.

Junkyard Tom · 26-07-2016 02:10PM

ScumLord wrote: »

The next generation could very well turn around and want everything to be real experiences. They'll have grown up with social media being well established by their parents and something to rebel against.

I think the opposite. In the future people will probably look back and say 'how did people cope with their mundane lives without augmented/virtual reality'.

Maybe everything in the future will be boxy and grey when you switch off your augmented/virtual reality. Why have magnolia walls when you can have it appear that you're sitting in a lush tropical forest by a waterfall.

VinLieger · 26-07-2016 02:11PM

weisses wrote: »

I agree with the point he is making ... except the pokemon thinghy maybe ( I dont like it but will blame my age for that)

saying the below i don't think you get the point what it could do to you

Please enlighten me then as I'm unsure the point your trying to make

I'm curious as you agree with the OP do you think the OPs opinions is coming from a place of concern like yourself or is is more anger/fear of something they don't like/understand?

Permabear · 26-07-2016 02:17PM

This post has been deleted.

Agricola · 26-07-2016 02:24PM

It's a double edged sword. While it is a bit annoying that smartphones and social media are so pervasive now and clearly are taking people out of first hand experiences, whether that be sitting in the pub ignoring people around them or going to a gig to spend their time being a cameraman, the flip side is people are more connected than they ever, less chance of isolation, youtube is stuffed with clips of things you'd never ordinarily see yourself. The pros outweigh the cons. Maybe as it becomes less of a hot new thing people will settle down a bit with the hysteria about it. The Facebook likes thing is the biggest culprit.

Are We Falling Away from Reality?

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