World, Writing, Wealth discussion

How quickly our habits change?!
The virtual/digital dimension grows rapidly superseding and substituting whatever's possible on its way.
It's almost a cliché to mention book digital revolution, but the phenomenon is ubiquitous really: we often have more virtual friends than real ones; boys/girls meeting each other through Tinder rather than through offering a drink in the club; less real voice over the phone - more messaging though apps; less outdoor sports, much more virtual; where are paper newspapers, journals, letters and postcards, banknotes/coins even? Well, they are still here, but doesn't look like for long. Don't high school students look like zombies with their eyes constantly in the cell phones, even when they cross a street?
There are a lot of nostalgic dudes that would reminisce about good old times. I'm not one of them and I do try to utilize and enjoy modern stuff. On the other hand, aren't we exaggerating a bit? Can a glass of wine/shot of vodka with a friend be substituted by whatsapp exchange? Don't we miss the charm of meeting people in pubs? After electronic cigarettes, I hope we won't have a virtual beer-:)
What's your attitude?

On the flipside, this culture makes it easier for law enforcement to track down and capture young criminals because these same youth can't resist posting everything on social media...even their crimes.

J.J. wrote: "On the flipside, this culture makes it easier for law enforcement to track down and capture young criminals because these same youth can't resist posting everything on social media...even their cri..."

These days you can safely assume that anything you do has a certain/high probably of leaving some kind of imprint.. Especially with all these drones around all of a sudden.
I think there are lots of good sides of this sharp turnabout, but as usually sometimes it's the question of a good measure...

Never mind the drones, but with everyone contracting with security companies and having cameras installed in their homes, I'm surprised we're not hearing stories about some ADT employee accessing the cameras to watch homeowners prance around their homes naked. We see this kind of behavior in other industries such as the Uber driver that went on the killing spree whiles still transporting passengers, so I'm surprised we haven't heard of these bad apples in the security industry yet.

If we hear about voyeurs sitting with binoculars, I'm sure there are abusing cameras..
What we do hear a lot, is that teenagers film each other in intimate situs and then disseminate the records in class whatsapp groups, FB and the like.. Quite a tragedy for a 'starring' kid..

We've got a huge issue around here where teenagers are sharing naked pictures of each other, and they're facing charges for distributing child porn because they're all under 18. The thing is, these kids can't be lumped in the same box because some of them are lovers sharing pictures with each other, some of the charged are the teen in the picture because they distributed their own picture, and there are of course the ones like you suggest, the angry ex who shares the image to shame the other. But it's those innocuous incidents that pose the biggest conundrum because they would be doing nothing wrong if they were 18. It's the same situation society faces every now and then when two 15 year olds have sex, and both of them are charged with statutory rape.

J.J. wrote: " It's the same situation society faces every now and then when two 15 year olds have sex, and both of them are charged with statutory rape...."

I think the law differs even between states of the US:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statuto...
Statutory rape in my understanding shall apply to relation between an adult and a minor and where both are minors shall be dismissed as lacking public interest, imho.
Maybe less dramatic but attracting a lot of public interest is the theme of presidents/young secretaries relations -:) Keneth Starr became quite a star at the time and there are movies based on Kennedy's affairs, if I remember correctly

Denise wrote: "I think technology has declined society in many ways. As much as we are connected, we're all so disconnected..."

That's the way it is and there are drawbacks, of course. Yep, the disconnection you mention is quite annoying and I'm not sure virtual connection is an equivalent replacement. On the other hand, if I go back to my childhood during the same 70-80-ies, I think I would've loved to have some more shows for kids and some video games for a change.

Denise wrote: "On the other hand, I wouldn't have met my husband if it wasn't for technology. It gets a ++ from me for this one. "

There is something in it for everyone then -:)

I'd say... if you want to go to the pub, go to the pub. Take the trouble to contact people and meet up. It's not the existence of WhatsApp (or whatever the technology du jour is) that's stopping you - it's laziness.

Likewise, technology does not make people bully others - that happened before anyone had smartphones, and it was just as devastating if you happened to be the victim.

It's all too easy to blame "technology", without stopping to think that technology is just metal and plastic. It has no free will. Blaming technology for society's problems neatly avoids us having to take responsibility for our own actions. "It wasn't me, Miss, it was the smartphone!"

I think part of the problem we have is that technology has developed much faster than the social structures around it. We've got the ability to put our entire lives out in public on Facebook and Twitter - and many people don't bother to think about the future results of what's essentially writing down all your stupid decisions, photocopying them, and mailing them to every person you ever met. Including your boss and your mother. You wouldn't have done that in 1992, so why do it now? Just because it's so easy.

Society, and the law, has always changed to accommodate new technology and new knowledge - usually after a lag time. Driving licences, for example. When my grandfather bought his first car, the salesman showed him where the pedals were, let him drive around the yard a couple of times, and then let him loose. And that was the extent of his driver training. Things have changed a lot since then!

We are in the middle of working out what the new rules are for using the new technology. It will be interesting to see where this takes us - but it's very important, I think, to remember that it's not technology that's the problem: it's us, and our own laziness and nastiness.

On the other hand, anyone who is an indie author should be praising technology to the skies. Before ebooks, publishers had nearly absolute control over the book market. Unless you were trad-published, you had to "vanity publish", pay through the nose, and probably get left with a dozen boxes of books in your spare room because you had no way to get your books into bookshops, and no way to advertise.

Nowadays, we don't need high street bookshops when we have Amazon and the other ebook retailers - and we don't need a big advertising budget when we have Twitter.

Authors have never had it so good as now.

T. K. Elliott wrote: "I'd say... if you want to go to the pub, go to the pub. Take the trouble to contact people and meet up. It's not the existence of WhatsApp (or whatever the technology du jour is) that's stopping you - it's laziness...."

That's true we are usually supposed to make our own choices. But I'd argue that technologies encourage us to be lazy. I remember that wonderful time when there were no remote controls for TV sets. No, I'm not missing that era. Is it so hard to rise from the couch and press a button? Not at all. Yet I don't think you'd find a TV, Air/con/whatever today without a remote control/cell phone control an so on. I'd further argue that maybe half of the inventions are designed to make our lives easier and thus us lasier, old habits rudimentary and so on. And it's cool to have an elevator, rather than go upstairs on foot, to have computer, phone, tv and camera in one piece rather than carry 4 separate gadgets with you. On the other hand, I think some of the new ways of communication are way overused. I hear a lot of parents (mostly male -:)) disconnecting from class whatsapp groups, for example, because of incessant 90% meaningless exchanges -:)
When I look at some kids' whatsapp groups and see 15 'good mornings' and 'how are yous' in a row, I'm a bit doubtful about their value.

Nik wrote: "I remember that wonderful time when there were no remote controls for TV sets. No, I'm not missing that era. ..."

Bet the studios do since it made it harder for you to change the channel when those commercials come on...

J.J. wrote: "Nik wrote: "I remember that wonderful time when there were no remote controls for TV sets. No, I'm not missing that era. ..."

Bet the studios do since it made it harder for you to change the chann..."

-:)
The best thing was that where I lived in those times there were no commercials. But on the other hand ........ lots of propaganda, I guess -:(

Funny thing about the 80s is that despite the anti-communist propaganda we were still subjected to, there was a certain fascination with our "enemy." If we had the internet and sites like Ebay back then, someone could have made a killing selling Soviet pins, medals, posters, and other memorabilia to the States (assuming they could get away with doing so)

I think the fascination was mutual. Not many believed what we were shown and told on TV nor hated the West. It's for a reason that the borders were closed and no one was allowed to leave and hardly to travel, so no one would be seduced by capitalist pigs to give up on bright communist future -:) . Taking into account general anti-establishment mindset, it was hard to hate those the government wanted us to.
As of memorabilia - it was a lucrative underground business. Underground - since business per se tagged speculation was a criminal offense.
Those who knew foreign languages waited for not so many foreign tourists and traded military hats, belts, watches with army insignia and folklore stuff for jeans and t-shirts, which soviet light industry didn't elect or master to produce. However basic, but still rare stuff was then sold at black market. Once the restriction on entrepreneurial activity and import were lifted/simplified people made millions from resale of most trivial stuff simply unavailable there from bic pens, calculators and any consumer junk, which the party leaders thought proud soviet citizens didn't need....

What works for you: a little mundane reality or shining virtuality?

Mundane reality paid for my groceries this morning :-)

Truly immersive, hyper-realistic VR will pave the way toward making The Matrix a reality.

Ian wrote: "Mundane reality paid for my groceries this morning :-)"

Why, they don't accept bitcoin?

J.N. wrote: "Truly immersive, hyper-realistic VR will pave the way toward making The Matrix a reality."

Looking forward to? Maybe not

Bitcoin - I never tried that because I don't have any, but I strongly suspect not

Corona gave/gives the virtual world some tremendous boost. Will real communication/life/entertainment/trade/work regain its grounds, once the virus is conquered, or the balance is tipped for good?

I think the balance is tipped, but I think we still have to work out what the next approach will be. I attended a record number (for me) of international conferences in 2020 but never left my home for them. In many ways they were unsatisfactory because they were even worse than for most conferences to get a discussion going, but I think organisers will work on this.

My opinion, if the virus is conquered, people will want to get together in person. We'll go to bars and have fun listening to live music and go to restaurants and share meals. We'll see plays and concerts. Children will go to playgrounds. And if the virus isn't conquered, there will probably come a time when people say, "What the hell" and do these things anyway, despite restrictions. There may be a revolution. Humans are not meant to be isolated indefinitely.