Funny? This hurts like hell because it's true and I don't want to admit it outside the confines of this sentence! No but seriously, this is really accurate (and funny). I think being consumed by...
Funny? This hurts like hell because it's true and I don't want to admit it outside the confines of this sentence!
No but seriously, this is really accurate (and funny). I think being consumed by Digg and reddit in my late teens and early 20s really did a number on my ability to socialize like a normal person. The attitude, snark, and desire to be witty above all else that flourishes on those sites seeped into real life.
On reddit you say something stupid or incorrect you'll get a bunch of replies saying so (in as dickish a way possible), a bunch of replies dunking on you AND one-upping you, and potentially thousands of reminders of how fucking stupid/wrong you are by way of downvotes. I feel like that instilled a major fear of social situations in me. In real life, you say something stupid/wrong maybe someone corrects you politely, but most likely nobody says a thing. Because nobody's fact-checking you and what you say isn't exposed to thousands of people who know better and don't gaf about your feelings.
And possibly worse yet, I started to think like those ass holes on reddit. I realized that a few years ago and I've been trying to purge that bullshit from my brain. It's hard though, because that kind of behavior is so heavily rewarded on reddit (yeah karma's meaningless, but it's still validation). You start to associate behaving like a witty snark factory with winning the conversation. And then there's the whole other problem of redditors acting like they're special or better than everyone because they think they're so smart and so clever. But they're not special and they're not better than anyone for those reasons.
I'm just echoing the article at this point, but that's just not how real-life socializing works at all. Or even one-on-one online socializing, for that matter. It only works like that in toxic online communities full of other assholes.
Funny enough I find Digg today to be a much better and healthier version of this, largely because there IS no commenting anymore. It's just the curated feed. Even Tildes suffers from some of this...
Funny enough I find Digg today to be a much better and healthier version of this, largely because there IS no commenting anymore. It's just the curated feed. Even Tildes suffers from some of this in discussions despite the focus on fostering deeper conversations. People still seem habituated to talking to "the audience" rather than trying to engage in dialogue.
With a lot of controversial political content, it may well be that dialogue is maladaptive without some sort of moderator type of role involved. And by that I mean a discussion moderator, like a third party who makes sure people are staying on topic, being nice, and not talking past each other, not like mod powers).
And then there's the whole other problem of redditors acting like they're special or better than everyone because they think they're so smart and so clever. But they're not special and they're not better than anyone for those reasons.
What I found a little galling about Reddit was that not only is most of the content not smart or clever, but it often felt like people thought simply referencing clever, smart, or funny material meant they were themselves clever or funny. It's like they're attempting a Cyrano de Bergerac routine, but instead of a charming poet they decided to outsource their personalities to Reddit. There's an uncomfortable level of artifice when interacting on the 'chatty' parts of Reddit. It's starts to trip a sort of uncanny valley point with conversation.
Memes at least have an aspect of iteration and refinement involved that gives it more of a shared creativity. I think of it more as a form of "collaborative joke-crafting."
Memes at least have an aspect of iteration and refinement involved that gives it more of a shared creativity. I think of it more as a form of "collaborative joke-crafting."
Feeling a bit perplexed by this, almost like someone wrote it specifically about me (for the most part at least).
Funny article about overcoming normal (non-clinical) forms of social anxiety.
Funny? This hurts like hell because it's true and I don't want to admit it outside the confines of this sentence!
No but seriously, this is really accurate (and funny). I think being consumed by Digg and reddit in my late teens and early 20s really did a number on my ability to socialize like a normal person. The attitude, snark, and desire to be witty above all else that flourishes on those sites seeped into real life.
On reddit you say something stupid or incorrect you'll get a bunch of replies saying so (in as dickish a way possible), a bunch of replies dunking on you AND one-upping you, and potentially thousands of reminders of how fucking stupid/wrong you are by way of downvotes. I feel like that instilled a major fear of social situations in me. In real life, you say something stupid/wrong maybe someone corrects you politely, but most likely nobody says a thing. Because nobody's fact-checking you and what you say isn't exposed to thousands of people who know better and don't gaf about your feelings.
And possibly worse yet, I started to think like those ass holes on reddit. I realized that a few years ago and I've been trying to purge that bullshit from my brain. It's hard though, because that kind of behavior is so heavily rewarded on reddit (yeah karma's meaningless, but it's still validation). You start to associate behaving like a witty snark factory with winning the conversation. And then there's the whole other problem of redditors acting like they're special or better than everyone because they think they're so smart and so clever. But they're not special and they're not better than anyone for those reasons.
I'm just echoing the article at this point, but that's just not how real-life socializing works at all. Or even one-on-one online socializing, for that matter. It only works like that in toxic online communities full of other assholes.
Funny enough I find Digg today to be a much better and healthier version of this, largely because there IS no commenting anymore. It's just the curated feed. Even Tildes suffers from some of this in discussions despite the focus on fostering deeper conversations. People still seem habituated to talking to "the audience" rather than trying to engage in dialogue.
With a lot of controversial political content, it may well be that dialogue is maladaptive without some sort of moderator type of role involved. And by that I mean a discussion moderator, like a third party who makes sure people are staying on topic, being nice, and not talking past each other, not like mod powers).
What I found a little galling about Reddit was that not only is most of the content not smart or clever, but it often felt like people thought simply referencing clever, smart, or funny material meant they were themselves clever or funny. It's like they're attempting a Cyrano de Bergerac routine, but instead of a charming poet they decided to outsource their personalities to Reddit. There's an uncomfortable level of artifice when interacting on the 'chatty' parts of Reddit. It's starts to trip a sort of uncanny valley point with conversation.
A case in point: memes are borrowing other people’s jokes.
Memes at least have an aspect of iteration and refinement involved that gives it more of a shared creativity. I think of it more as a form of "collaborative joke-crafting."