When did technology become a net-negative?

[6.5PSL]

Most people would agree the average person is much better off now than the 1400s, because technology has allowed us to have heating, plumbing, easy communication, advanced medical procedures/vaccines/medicine, among other things. However, most people also think advances in technology are also currently having a negative effect due to severe attention span issues, lowering self-esteem (due to comparing to extremes online), increased inceldom, more NEET doomers, less overall privacy, among other things.

Do you think technology has already become a net negative on society and if so, around what year would you say the equilibrium was (when the positive effects of technology equaled the negative effects). Personally, I think we have passed equilibrium and it was around the 1980s, what do you all think?

 

[Deleted member 275]

Internet and mobile phones were the worst inventions.

 

[BigBiceps]

Right around 2010 when people started constantly using social media

 

[Deleted member 15748]

fake question it is not a net negative. We really don't have statistics or any way to quantify how happy people were back in the day like we do now. SO there is no real evidence tech made our lives worse just anecdote and theoretical. I'm not saying it is necessarily a positive either, just we don't know for sure either way.

 

[Deleted member 15748]

It's an ongoing experiment. Maybe metaverse will actually make people happier. I'm all for the experience machine personally.

 

[hebbewem]

When people needed to go to uni to get a good job but the rest is good

 

[6.5PSL]

It's an ongoing experiment. Maybe metaverse will actually make people happier. I'm all for the experience machine personally.

I agree that it's not a fact, just a thought. Also, it sounds counterintuitive but I wouldn't even use a poll of say average happiness, to prove the world is better. I genuinely think someone's reference from can shift from the reality they're presented with, where even if the happiness they report is higher it doesn't necessarily mean it truly is higher than a person who scores theirs as lower.

 

[lutte]

When tv was invented

 

[6.5PSL]

When tv was invented

I think the 20s are too early honestly

 

[BigBiceps]

fake question it is not a net negative. We really don't have statistics or any way to quantify how happy people were back in the day like we do now. SO there is no real evidence tech made our lives worse just anecdote and theoretical. I'm not saying it is necessarily a positive either, just we don't know for sure either way.

It is not even debatable. Social media is literally designated to make you depressed in your day to day life, yet give you the occasional burst of laugh that makes you forget your misery for a minute, so you'll get addicted. Worst thing is, now that everyone is addicted, you must join in too, and get depressed among others, or be excluded and be a loner and be depressed that way. A satanic power has gripped the whole developed world.

 

[Deleted member 15748]

I agree that it's not a fact, just a thought. Also, it sounds counterintuitive but I wouldn't even use a poll of say average happiness, to prove the world is better. I genuinely think someone's reference from can shift from the reality they're presented with, where even if the happiness they report is higher it doesn't necessarily mean it truly is higher than a person who scores theirs as lower.

I agree but it is hard to quantify people's quality of lives. when we look at some objective metrics like wealth, life expectancy, health, infant mortality etc that is all way up with technology. But obviously people are still unhappy, and mental health cases are going up, but is that because of tech? Or just because we diagnose it much more often now due to increased knowledge and reduced stigma. It is hard to really tell.

Self reported happiness seems to be one way, where countries like the nordics and places with lots of wealth, tech, security, trust is high, and countries in the middle of war and shit is very low. But yeah idk. I think people generally adapt to their surroundings anyway. Even people who got wheelchair bound, become unhappy in the short term, then return to normal after a while. And people who are very wealthy, famous, good looking still get depressed and kill themselves.

I don't think we can make a huge difference to it until we can actually modify the way our brains work.

 

[traveler]

around the time high speed internet become the norm

most male now jacks off to pixel online

can see more tits in one hour than males did 30 years ago in a life time

 

[6.5PSL]

Right around 2010 when people started constantly using social media

What positive technological advances between say the 90s and 2010 make it so the equilibrium is 2010 versus 1990 to you?

 

[Deleted member 15748]

It is not even debatable. Social media is literally designated to make you depressed in your day to day life, yet give you the occasional burst of laugh that makes you forget your misery for a minute, so you'll get addicted. Worst thing is, now that everyone is addicted, you must join in too, and get depressed among others, or be excluded and be a loner and be depressed that way. A satanic power has gripped the whole developed world.
View attachment 1485310

I don't think it is designed explicitly with that intention , but yeah it has converged toward that form just through kind of similar process to evolution, where designs that are more gripping are more successful, and become more widespread, even if that means hacking neurology in a harmful way.

 

[YouLiveForYourself]

I think that when the internet was released to the public, that is when it became net-negative.

It was always the destiny of the internet to become this societal manipulator and propaganda distributor, even if it was just meant to be a source of information for research and learning in it's conception. I mean, TikTok literally has algorithms in place to promote degeneracy in the West, but that's a whole other issue.

There's an interesting video on it though:

 

[6.5PSL]

I think that when the internet was released to the public, that is when it became net-negative.

It was always the destiny of the internet to become this societal manipulator and propaganda distributor, even if it was just meant to be a source of information for research and learning in it's conception. I mean, TikTok literally has algorithms in place to promote degeneracy in the West, but that's a whole other issue.

There's an interesting video on it though:

Yeah, I would maybe switch my year a little higher, though I think the internet initially had a positive effect upon release and it peaked and then mass social media made it decrease. I remember going on the internet in like 2007 and I loved it because I just went on to learn and get information and stuff like that. It started corrupting around 2010-2015.

 

[YouLiveForYourself]

Yeah, I would maybe switch my year a little higher, though I think the internet initially had a positive effect upon release and it peaked and then mass social media made it decrease. I remember going on the internet in like 2007 and I loved it because I just went on to learn and get information and stuff like that. It started corrupting around 2010-2015.

It's always a problem when the degenerate few are given a powerful platform, and worse, when they are praised for their ideas by authorities like governments and celebrities.

They create a feedback loop. They put garbage on the internet, reach new people, and repeat but with extra numbers. Eventually these ideas spread so much that they become mainstream and accepted by society, who think that they are normal because they are becoming the majority opinion. It's just too easy to corrupt a society with the help of the internet.

Look at what tiktok has done in a matter of 3 years. Everyone and their mother is glued to their phones swiping for their dopamine hits from a funny video of a Thot doing a dance. It's crazy.

 

[Deleted member 13158]

Using dating apps up until 2010 was taboo and for subhumans. Tinder, ig, snap etc ruined everything

 

[Deleted member 5189]

Society is a net negative