I foresee an evening full of cups of tea and Facebook cat googleing before me..
#ThatDress, or why I so strongly dislike social media
- Thread starter sttngfan1701d
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Things 'go viral' the same way actual infections work. They see something and spread it to people. The more people the average person shows it to, the faster it spreads through a population.
In this particular case, the whole interesting part of the dress relies on it spreading. If you look at the dress, you see it as a color. That on its own is not interesting. It becomes interesting when you ask someone else what color it is, and they see something else and can't understand why you see it differently. So you ask more people, they ask more people, it spreads. It was, in a way, the perfect virus.
In this particular case, the whole interesting part of the dress relies on it spreading. If you look at the dress, you see it as a color. That on its own is not interesting. It becomes interesting when you ask someone else what color it is, and they see something else and can't understand why you see it differently. So you ask more people, they ask more people, it spreads. It was, in a way, the perfect virus.
I see it as gold. Let's make this thing go viral!The argument about it is rather silly, but the science behind it is rather fascinating if you stop and think about why this is actually happening. Personally, I see it as white & gold, with a bluish tint. I think that's due to monitor contrast and the quality of the image and wether it was enhanced or not. The gold for instance is rather bold, almost like someone had applied a filter to it.
Now the real question is, is this board blue or gold?I see it as blue!
Seriously, I agree with the entirety of your post. My last career segment was working in optical. Having studied the science, I found the interest in the science behind it to be good.
OP, to be serious, I do see validity in both your viewpoint and that of your brother/friends. I too don't get much value out of social media and for the most part ignore it. However, you can't deny the place that it holds in society. I have created profiles for myself and participate every so often to "get ahead of the message," so to speak. It's a good idea to at least attempt to be in control of your image, and social media allows you to do that easily. Not that I work in a terribly high profile field, but someone could easily open a fake Facebook page for me and spout nonsense that I wouldn't want others attributing to me. If I create my own page and reach out to those who know me, I can avoid that. People are going to expect me to have a profile, and so when they go looking, I want them to find ME.
Also, Facebook and other social media sites are what you make of them. I don't think a lot of people realize just how many security settings and options there are on Facebook. I have put people into specific groups and only share certain things with certain groups. I also choose to share very little in the first place. If I don't like what I'm seeing in my news feed, I block it and other things like it. The only filter I really feel I'm lacking now is sports talk - if I never have to read about how perfectly awesome the Giants are again, I'll be very happy.
I've also found Facebook to have some positive benefits for the introvert. For instance, it allows people you don't necessarily want to hang out with to feel like they are somehow involved in your life, lessening the need to actually see them in person. This is great. I have been able to eliminate several awkward family social gatherings from my life completely because of Facebook. It makes announcing life events much easier - instead of calling every relative to talk to them about how I got into some school, got engaged, etc. I can just post it on Facebook and that's that. I also don't have to pretend like I want to call/see old people from high school or college, I can just add them on Facebook and then continue to ignore their existence.
So really, the potential benefits can outweigh the inane memes that come across my news feed every now and then.
But I have to say, with being able to customize your news feed so much, I hardly encounter any memes at all. I saw waaay more posts about Nimoy's death than about the dress last Thursday. If someone posts a lot of stupid crap, I just block them on my news feed. I'm left with the quality posts.
Also, Facebook and other social media sites are what you make of them. I don't think a lot of people realize just how many security settings and options there are on Facebook. I have put people into specific groups and only share certain things with certain groups. I also choose to share very little in the first place. If I don't like what I'm seeing in my news feed, I block it and other things like it. The only filter I really feel I'm lacking now is sports talk - if I never have to read about how perfectly awesome the Giants are again, I'll be very happy.
I've also found Facebook to have some positive benefits for the introvert. For instance, it allows people you don't necessarily want to hang out with to feel like they are somehow involved in your life, lessening the need to actually see them in person. This is great. I have been able to eliminate several awkward family social gatherings from my life completely because of Facebook. It makes announcing life events much easier - instead of calling every relative to talk to them about how I got into some school, got engaged, etc. I can just post it on Facebook and that's that. I also don't have to pretend like I want to call/see old people from high school or college, I can just add them on Facebook and then continue to ignore their existence.
So really, the potential benefits can outweigh the inane memes that come across my news feed every now and then.
But I have to say, with being able to customize your news feed so much, I hardly encounter any memes at all. I saw waaay more posts about Nimoy's death than about the dress last Thursday. If someone posts a lot of stupid crap, I just block them on my news feed. I'm left with the quality posts.
I think the photo of the weasel on the back of the woodpecker is the coolest thing on Facebook so far this week.
I mean no disrespect, but are you genuinely satisfied with Facebook's security and privacy settings? I am curious about this.
I probably should have used a term other than security - what I meant to convey is that there are numerous ways to limit what others see on your profile and when you post. It's not just a free-for-all where anyone who signs up can see every detail of your life. I have had friends/family who are afraid to sign up for Facebook because they think that's what it's like.
I am satisfied with the settings available, they seem to work for me. It's not as simple as the Google+ "circles," which feels more natural and obvious, but it gets the job done.
Agree!
Notice that I left out the part about Grumpy Cat.
He stopped being cute after I'd seen him half a dozen times.TSQ, I'm stealing that meme to post on Facebook.
Social media is just normal human behaviour paired with persistence of data. Even before social media, friends told me of that awesome lunch they had the other day, or of that beautiful dress they bought. And they bitched about other people they hated. Difference is that their statements weren't recorded and were not looked up a day, month or year later, and that they didn't share it with 1,000 people at the same time. If Facebook had a function to delete everything every hour or day, things would just be normal. It wouldn't make the news, and it wouldn't stir any sort of shit up.
I also noticed how relationships changed, when you are able to look up the recent argument you had with your partner on Whatsapp. You couldn't do that before, and the details of silly arguments were just forgotten.
People don't get more stupid, it's just that their statements are recorded and available for everyone to see. And that accumulation of stupid statements makes it look like mankind is doomed.
I think we still have to learn how to use social media. It's only been there for ten years, and that's a laughably short time. We are the first generation to use it.
I also noticed how relationships changed, when you are able to look up the recent argument you had with your partner on Whatsapp. You couldn't do that before, and the details of silly arguments were just forgotten.
People don't get more stupid, it's just that their statements are recorded and available for everyone to see. And that accumulation of stupid statements makes it look like mankind is doomed.
I think we still have to learn how to use social media. It's only been there for ten years, and that's a laughably short time. We are the first generation to use it.
Put me down in the camp that finds it a fascinating optical illusion.
I'm definitely much more annoyed by the people endlessly whining about it than those making more posts about it.
Besides, Starfleet doctors agree that it is blue and black.
I'm definitely much more annoyed by the people endlessly whining about it than those making more posts about it.
Besides, Starfleet doctors agree that it is blue and black.
This, absolutely. That's been my attitude towards Facebook all along. I guess it also helps that I'm very choosey, both in who I have on there and what I post. I only post if I have something interesting to say.
Sometimes people can be inconsiderate, though, and push things a bit too far. The day they got Bin Laden, a "friend" of mine thought it would be a brilliant idea to show those gory photos on her timeline and got into an argument over it. I don't talk to them very much anymore.
Yes, I guess I'd describe myself as an introvert and my experiences mirror yours. Used to be I was incredibly shy, but Facebook has allowed me to reach out to people in ways I haven't been able to in person.
Doubly so. Out of the noise of the dress, I only ever got one post about it on my timeline, and that was after the aftermath and in a jokey manner. All my friends and family were all more into posting about Nimoy, including me.
Heh, Robert, that strangely looks fine in an alt-universe kind of way. Actually, I find it more or less looks like something inspired by the TMP uniform scheme.
I have neutral feelings about Facebook. 60% of my contacts are people I "used to know" from high school or growing up in another country. I don't really care to follow their updates. The other 30% of my contacts are old friends and relatives that I still occasionally like to hear from. Only 10% are friends and family member that I really like. I've deleted a lot of coworkers who were attention whores or those who were constantly drama queens.
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