Are you a fan of Facebook, Instagram, etc?

[GFC]

A friend of ours recommended a Netflix film to us so we watched it a few evenings ago. It was an eye opening experience to see and hear many of the captains of the social media industry talk about the negative effects that social media has on us.

I'm not a user of any of the social media platforms but my wife is addicted to them. The attraction of the social media programs is as addicting as many drugs.

Here's a link to a trailer to the film. The film is about an hour and a half. The trailer is about 2 minutes. I highly recommend this film, "The Social Dilemma" to all of you whether you're a social media user or not.

 

[Seevee]

Wow, how ya got me wanting to watch that... looks scary.


Don't do any social media... not into it nor do I miss it. But just starting using Facebook Marketplace.... can't believe the results! Sold an old trashy washer and dryer for $50 in 30 minutes!


As for the computer, forums (like this one) and others, I'm a junky, but way less that I used to be. However, on one forum I was the second highest poster a few years back, still no 9 today and has 60K members. Yea, I said I was a junky.


There is an argument to NOT use your own name, or at least a traceable one. (not complete). If someone's searching, they can find you... even your non traceable name, but then you're harder to identify.


Also, I could argue in most anything you do, don't do it in your own name (other than friends and family, and that's bad enough). Don't own anything in your own name, and that's not hard.


However, you can still get "caught".... I did, when my daughter posted a pix of me with name on FB, and I was history ever since.

 

[GregBrannon]

TF is as social as I get, and I'm more distant here than others. I do use my real name, because some use 'handles' to be less responsible.

Greg.

 

[menzies]

I just posted that YouTube link on my FB page!

The irony of this is that YouTube probably do likewise to FaceBook, and you have just encouraged people to go watch something, potentially comment on it, and share it!

 

[Brooksie]

No, I don't do FaceBook
nor Google anything

nor smartphone
nor ticktoc
nor amazon anything

nor Alexa
nor Instagram



Sorry but I don't like the people, I don't like being listened in on or watched. I don't like my information bought and sold.
And, I don't need any of it to continue my life happily

 

[Brooksie]

BTW, as an example, two of the items I mentioned were excluded from my post. Redacted

 

[menzies]

BTW, as an example, two of the items I mentioned were excluded from my post. Redacted

Huh?

 

[kthoennes]

I used to do a pile of boating forums, Hulltruth, Bayliner years ago, CruisersForum, YachtForum, but as time goes by, I'm more convinced most social media is corrosive poison. I have a Facebook page, but only because I have to for certain functional stuff, mostly for our boys (football practice and game schedules, school function information, yacht club activities). This forum is pretty much the only social, social media I do, but even this forum is functional as much as it is social in my mind. The members here have been incredibly helpful to me in maintaining the boat, over and over again.

 

[ssobol]

That FB et al does what is described in the film is still a surprise to anyone is what gets me.

As I read someone say about these companies, "If you are getting something for free, you are the product."

We all have our comfort level with it. Yeah, I use Google even though they are tracking me. However, the ability to get vast amounts of information on almost anything is something I'll make that trade for.

Same thing with Amazon. Yeah, they also track everything, but I can get pretty much anything I want delivered to my door in a day or two (sometimes even in a couple of hours). Saves me a whole bunch of time and effort. The information they get from me is worth the trade.

Unless you live under a rock (literally) there are many things that keep tabs on you. Your phone knows where you are and can supply that information to others. Even if it is not a "smartphone" it knows where it is and can tell the authorities if they ask. It is the law that it can do this (google E911).

Every time you use an ATM or your debit card, the transaction is tracked. Every time you go through a toll booth (even if paying cash) your picture gets taken. If you go to the teller to get cash so the ATM can't track you, you're on video. If your car has a nav system, OnStar, or is a Tesla, it can tell others where the car has been.

So basically we are being tracked all the time whether we notice it or not. Not using FB, Google, or Amazon does not significantly change that.

When my dad was getting older, my mom was worried about his driving. My sister bought a GPR tracker (probably from Amazon) and put it on my dad's car. Then my mom could open an app on her iPad and see where my dad's car was at any time. He never knew it was there and it probably never occurred to him that there even was such a thing. Are you sure there's not one on your car?

 

[KnotYet]

Thanks for the heads up, GFC. We watched it last night. Very thought provoking!

 

[FF]

George Orwell was in error , Big Brother is not all seeing, all knowing ,

Big Business has been given permission by us! to be under the microscope.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,


Not a "fan" per se but I do keep in touch with distant friends and have renewed friendships with some I have lost track of, over the years.


As mentioned, every time I leave the house, I'm tracked by ???. It IS a bit eerie when some situation we've only talked about pops up as an ad about it a day or so later.

I bought a 2000 Jeep (used) about 15 years ago. Couldn't keep the battery charged. I did a bit of wire tracing and found some sort of cell phone type device secreted under the center console. The "device" was a parasitic load on the battery. I suspect the previous owner WAS being tracked, in some form.

 

[menzies]

Or keeping track of the kids - speed etc.

 

[ranger58sb]

TF is a form of social media, too.

As was the early .GOV/.EDU-only version of "the Internet," as well as the various listservs from before "the Internet" grew to include CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL, The Source, etc.

-Chris

 

[ScottC]

No, no & no. TF is as close to social media as I get. And I think my abstinance has a lot to do with the fact that my career was in IT. Despite all the marketing hoopla, spin and other claims, the internet never forgets. There are always backups to the backups to the backups spread over servers everywhere. And, anything can be hacked. I do not want to risk losing control of MY information.

Haven’t seen this film yet...but it’s on my ”must watch soon” list..

 

[sunchaser]

I'm not a user of any of the social media platforms but my wife is addicted to them. The attraction of the social media programs is as addicting as many drugs.

It is the same in our family.

 

[SeaLion]

It’s safe to assume that FB has a detailed profile of you, even if you’ve never visited the site.

 

[PJHoffnet]

Plenty of FB groups (Family, Neighborhood, Boating), and Twitter from 'real/trusted' news source, verified sports commentators, the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, and the county Emergency Management Office.

Most of social media is trash, but I think one thought (sorry, I forgot where I read it) pretty much sums it up for me.
- - - - -
If you complain about posts on social media because they bother you, you're probably the kind of person who complains about stepping in dog $hit when you could have just as easily walked around it.
- - - - -
I can scroll through a FB group at warp speed, because I simply don't read stuff that I can tell 'stinks' after a few word - or by seeing the person who posted it. My Twitter feed only has the stuff I want to read in it.

Social media is full of all the garbage people feel inside themselves - and this is true of all people of all ages through time - it's just now people can hide behind their screens and spew $hit with minimal consequences, so that garbage is now in full view.

 

[SteveK]

Well, there is the ancestry registry that is being used to re unite criminals with law enforcement.
Why is it stretch to think other social media is not keeping track of and manipulating you.

 

[BigTime]

I used to care about tracking and such, now I've conditioned myself not to care.
If anyone "steals" my identity they are going to deserve what they get !

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[Dougcole]

I've debated in my mind many times if the TF is social media as I am a regular reader/poster. I am also a regular on my college's rivals sports site, though I post more often here. I think the answer is yes, message boards are a form of social media but not the most corrosive type.



I for one, like that the TF doesn't really allow political discussion. Neither does my college football board but it creeps in more often than it does here.


I have an IG and a FB account as I was required to have one for my work. I go on occasionally to see what my accounts are posting, but I haven't posted anything at all on FB in over ten years and nothing on IG in more than 5. I think I have 4 pics up on IG. When I retire in a few years I will close both accounts down. I don't have a twitter account.


TF, or more accurately, the good people of TF, have been a huge help to me. I learn so much here about boats and many other things. For the most part people are nice to each other here, even when singles vs. twins comes up.


I think I have over 1,000 posts on here, but I bet most on here don't know my political leanings and I don't know any of the other regs. I think that is a good thing.



As far as tracking goes, I sort of subscribe to the Travis Magee theory, we are all being tracked, the way to hide is to give them so much conflicting information from so many different places that they can't find you.

 

[Shrew]

I'm not a user of any of the social media platforms but my wife is addicted to them. The attraction of the social media programs is as addicting as many drugs.

I hate to point out that Social Media platforms are not limited to FB nd Twitter. Guess what, Trawler Forum IS a Social Media platform as well.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. S. "...Trawler Forum IS a Social Media platform as well." Yep and it's ALL the cool table!

 

[JohnEasley]

Yes, I use Facebook on a limited basis. Mostly to keep touch with distant family and friends. I do belong to a couple of Liveaboard and Cruising boating forums. One of them saved the day for me not long ago.

We had a problem with our dinghy outboard sputtering and dying. The mechanic had already done the usual, drained the fuel and replaced with known good, changed the fuel lines, fuel/water separator, and the on-engine fuel filter. He had even changed the fuel injectors. Still happening.

I posted the situation on one of the Facebook groups, described the engine and documented all of the steps we had taken to resolve it. I'm in Florida. Within a few hours, a guy who manages a large fish farm in So Africa posted that they had roughly 175 of those outboards and it happens all the time. He said there is a small screen at the end of the fuel injector rail, very easy to miss, that if it gets clogged will cause this.

I relayed this to our mechanic who found and cleaned the screen and it solved the problem!

That, my friends, is the power and usefulness of social media when not abused. Its a new world.

John

 

[Moonfish]

One of our older daughters recommended it to us. And she is (or was) addicted! We watched the first hour of it last night. Will finish tonight. None of it has really surprised me, other than the "conscience" of the primary players coming out as warnings for the rest of us.

The dramatization portion of the film (the family) has us questioning if we should allow our 10-year old daughter to watch, as the 11-year old girl in the family is beyond addicted. At this point, I don't think we'll have her watch. We will, however, use what we learn from the film when it comes to her growing awareness of social media. So far, she's really only ever used Facetime with family and friends, and a couple of apps for school (Zoom and See Saw). But we know more will be coming...

 

[TowLou]

No, but if I did own a local business I would have a stronger presence in social media. Its all how you use it as well. I mostly poke on here and another forum.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: No no no no no no. Yes yes yes yes yes yes.

We don't personally participate on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok or others and we warn others that it's part of your permanent record, can cost jobs, can cost college admission.

However, on the business side of things we advertise but more than that we use influencers. Mostly they are girls with hundreds of thousands of followers you pay to wear your clothing and show it. Most cost effective advertising we have.

I like that as a way of advertising, funneling the money to young entrepreneurs rather than to large media or social media companies.

 

[ljk]

When I watched this program, I was shocked at the reach social media has, and its effect on the human brain.


In short summary: We humans have several defects in the way we think. Lots of books on these: recency bias, cognitive bias, social bias, yada, yada.


According to this program, what social media does is leverage all these defects in our thinking in order to get a to buy products!


Think about it...its beyond scary!

 

[BandB]

When I watched this program, I was shocked at the reach social media has, and its effect on the human brain.


In short summary: We humans have several defects in the way we think. Lots of books on these: recency bias, cognitive bias, social bias, yada, yada.


According to this program, what social media does is leverage all these defects in our thinking in order to get a to buy products!


Think about it...its beyond scary!

Wifey B: That's what advertising has always done. Nothing new or different except the media. Why do you think they pay so much for Super Bowl Commercials? What is different about social media?