peachesenregalia":2cc6e2te said:
It's my opinion that facebook/twitter has made people dumber. Discuss.
Couldn't disagree more. Social media just:
1) Drags you out of the personal and professional "bubble" that you regularly occupy, which both selects you into networks of similarity in opinion, norms, beliefs (etc) (and even from WITHIN that bubble you select OUT of interactions with people you disagree with or find stupid).
2) The quasi (or full) anonymity of online communication can cause people to state their opinions and beliefs in completely unvarnished ways that violate the norms of politeness and interaction in face-to-face communication, meaning that it is through facebook and twitter that you're more likely to be exposed to people's real beliefs, rather than all the hedging, lying, and avoidance of actual opinions that happens off the Internet.
Just as an example of #2, I think the "the Internet is making us dumber" argument is ridiculously stupid. I say this BECAUSE of my anonymity, though. If we were speaking face-to-face I'd be MUCH more polite about it, and probably to the point that I'd never let on how stupid I think the argument is (e.g. "well, maybe, but also what could be happening is...").
In turn, you might respond to this post by saying I'm obnoxious as sh!t and a self-serious know-it-all because of YOUR anonymity, whereas if we were talking face-to-face by the water cooler you'd just silently think "well, I'm never talking to that jack@ss again."
