Thank you, John, for another thought-provoking essay. I am thankful for some of the innovations in technology that have allowed me to do things I never was able to do before. Photographic equipment, computers, cellphones, Google, and the Internet in general come to mind. I can think of many direct benefits that I have received from these advances. However, social media is one of those disruptive innovations that have given me a few benefits as well as many disadvantages. I measure these two angles by the amount of time I spend on each platform. I’m on Facebook daily. Why? Because it has helped me regain and maintain contact with a network of relatives, friends, and colleagues in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. Now, I’ve come to depend on it for birthdays, current news on my network, and a bit of entertainment (videos, and news on topics I have selected for my feed). On the “however, I hate it” department is the amount of advertisement I get (about 1/3 of all posts) and the intrusiveness of their algorithms. Another platform I use extensively is WhatsApp, for some of the same reasons as Facebook but with much less intrusiveness and junk. I also have accounts in other platforms, but I spend much less time on them. In order of importance, LinkedIn (almost daily), Twitter and Instagram (maybe once every couple of week or less), and that’s about it. No subscriptions to YouTube (visit it occasionally) or TikTok (one of the silliest and most-junk-filled platforms I’ve seen). Snapchat, Pinterest, and Reddit are mostly terra incognita to me.
As one of your commenters (Hi, SJ!) said, Nature does provide a lot of the needs my psyche and body needs. The hardware and software mentioned above helps me capture and share what nature gives me.
On the Disruptiveness of Innovations
Thank you, John, for another thought-provoking essay. I am thankful for some of the innovations in technology that have allowed me to do things I never was able to do before. Photographic equipment, computers, cellphones, Google, and the Internet in general come to mind. I can think of many direct benefits that I have received from these advances. However, social media is one of those disruptive innovations that have given me a few benefits as well as many disadvantages. I measure these two angles by the amount of time I spend on each platform. I’m on Facebook daily. Why? Because it has helped me regain and maintain contact with a network of relatives, friends, and colleagues in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. Now, I’ve come to depend on it for birthdays, current news on my network, and a bit of entertainment (videos, and news on topics I have selected for my feed). On the “however, I hate it” department is the amount of advertisement I get (about 1/3 of all posts) and the intrusiveness of their algorithms. Another platform I use extensively is WhatsApp, for some of the same reasons as Facebook but with much less intrusiveness and junk. I also have accounts in other platforms, but I spend much less time on them. In order of importance, LinkedIn (almost daily), Twitter and Instagram (maybe once every couple of week or less), and that’s about it. No subscriptions to YouTube (visit it occasionally) or TikTok (one of the silliest and most-junk-filled platforms I’ve seen). Snapchat, Pinterest, and Reddit are mostly terra incognita to me.
As one of your commenters (Hi, SJ!) said, Nature does provide a lot of the needs my psyche and body needs. The hardware and software mentioned above helps me capture and share what nature gives me.
So true. Many of the “needs” we actually need, aren’t even man-made. Thank you Nature.
Fact. Thank you.