Re:The Loneliness Epidemic
by ryanmercer on Thursday July 18, 2019 @02:37PM
(#20472750)
>As a kid, having my own TV meant countless hours of video games and my own movies too. I enjoyed it more than I abused it.
For me int he early 90s was "Hey Aaron/Jimmy/Dani it's raining outside so we can't go ride bikes, wanna play a game?" and then either taking turns or playing a two player game and talking the entire time. Then early 95 when more than one or two of us had computers in the homes it was similar, if it was nice out we were outside, if not we were on IRC and/or a MUD and moving into the later 90s bla-dinging each other on AIM while in a MUD or in Ultima or Everquest with each other if it was too late to go out or bad weather.
Now it's 3 people sitting in a room with a tv going, and all three have their phones out, occasionally sending each other memes and not talking.
I agree that it's weirder nowadays. But maybe we just enjoyed cultural inertia because we were born just before 24/7 multi screen entertainment became the norm. I too find that it just takes too much space in our daily lives. Back in the days tech was one part of our life, and it was small scope entertainment, now it's the centralized hub for everything and it sucks your mind.
Playing evil's advocate a bit just to poke my own bias.
As a kid, having my own TV meant countless hours of video games and my own movies too. I enjoyed it more than I abused it.
Are smarphone/tablet TVs worse or the same ?
One difference, the kind of entertainment you had on TV wasn't that much thinking or discussing. It has different effects I suppose. Also TV had a different ethos (if I may).
One last thing, about my first point. Having a single TV meant disagreements about who decides what to watch. This led to having more TVs.. and now more screens too. Technology is the mirror of our own social bonds.. we need it but we also need to deal with the issues. It gives a weird form of peace of mind not to have to deal with others.