Slashdot Mirror
Most Americans Don't Think Social Networks Are Good For the World, Survey Finds (axios.com)
A new survey from Axios finds that a majority of Americans don't think social networks are good for the world. An anonymous reader shares the key findings: Silicon Valley has a big and growing problem: Americans have rising concerns with its most popular products and a growing majority wants big social media companies regulated, according to new poll conducted by Survey Monkey for "Axios on HBO." In the past year, there has been a 15-point spike in the number of people who fear the federal government won't do enough to regulate big tech companies -- with 55% now sharing this concern. In that same period, there was a 14-point increase in those who feel technology has hurt democracy and free speech. The biggest spike has been among Republicans, presumably because of increased concern about perceived censorship of conservative voices on social media. About 40% of Americans still feel that social media is a net positive for society. Overall, 65% of people say smartphones have made their quality of life better. The study also found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents say they sleep with their phone in or next to their bed; and that jumps to 73% among millennials. Also, "More than half (51%) say smartphones are the hardest technology for most people to live without," reports Axios. "And that jumps to 67% among millennials."
Guess I'm from a different generation. There are days I forget my phone and don't even notice that I did until I start looking for it when going to bed since it's my alarm clock. Which is also the one function I require the most out of it...
But take away my computer and you have a very confused person at your hands.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When I went to work I left my phone in my car. Personal phones are prohibited in many US military workspaces. Didn't miss it a bit and actually worked at work.
Findings, if TFS is to be believed, are meaningless.
To me, a "smart phone" is (1) phone (2) GPS (3) Calendar (4) email monitor (too small for real use) (5) text messaging (emergency/supplementary/alert short messages -- neither I nor anyone I know actually "texts" in the conventional sense) such as "Can't Answer Phone", "Downstairs", police-traffic alerts) and (6) Google: quick facts, restaurants and services such as flights (7) photo/video missions (scenic, birthdays, ...)
I have an "old people" Facebook account for some limited family/friend photo sharing and for advertising one of my businesses. I never access it from the phone and don't have any social medial apps installed. I guess technically that's social media -- I used Facebook for about an hour over the course of two days in the last seven months (funeral announcement).
So, yes, my S9+ is indispensable and it is next to my bed at night.
I used to have a GPS, camera, calendar, and alarm clock and I lugged
all that shit around (and some of it was implemented as a big paper book).
This damn thing fits in my pocket!
But I don't think that's what the point of the survey was.
Oh, other apps I have installed? Well, I have some music files on there,
but I don't normally play them from the phone. I also have a small
database of specialized information that I use for work - I look something
up on there about once a week. And I have some gas station and pharmacy
loyalty cards on the phone. All those replace paper I used to lug.
Those are all the apps.
So which one is it? The post starts off talking about a poll relating to social media, but then turns into hand-wringing over smart phones. To be sure they often go together, but this kind of fuzzy thinking is more click-bait than actual, you know, informed discussion.
... in many ways.
Facebook is looking to deploy AI on our photos to determine demographics like race, age, presence of boats, goats, grand kids, political affiliation, religion, sexual preferences, and they are going to make even more money then they do now.
I have a bot that deletes everything older than the current month. I'm a photographer and I don't want to feed that goddam machine, which pisses me off because Facebook was a great venue. I don't bother to post photos.
In fact, I'm down to 20 Friends. Used to be 750. They don't know it, but I'm doing THEM a favour, as well.
I still rely on Facebook to keep in touch with family, but because my footprint is shrinking, I'll eventually just bring it down.
I know of no way to circumvent. Email was compromised way before Facebook was created.
Other social media platforms are just as bad. In my professional opinion, we're screwed.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.