Social media evidence

One of the big reasons I hang out and interact on social media, is to explore cultures and ways of thinking/behaviour.  So when you see some of the same represented in the utterances of Stupid (that imaginary impish figure in my mind), you know where that came from.

The example below shows that individuals feel personally insulted when a group to which they may belong is criticised. This explains why when ‘some’ people want to criticise ‘doctors’ or ‘lawyers’ (for example) – if they’re in the company of one of those – they  would preface what they might have to say by saying “No disrespect to you but….“.

Culturally, people see themselves as closely connected to groups. It is the nature of ‘identity’ as a sociological construct. This psychosocial behavioural phenomenon – an evolutionary inheritance from the herd instinct – is then manifested in cognitive patterns and responses. Of course ‘nobody’ (except me perhaps) will be consciously aware of the latter. So criticising a group of people – even if based on facts and hard evidence – leads individuals who may be part of a group or related to, to feel offended.

In the social media ‘norm’ of today, criticism is taken as ‘insult‘ (should I add ‘not by everybody’ just to stay safe?).

But in the captioned conversation, is another phenomenon that I have been tracking – look for the words, “.. isn’t seen as insulting by people you denigrate. It is insulting.” I just have to unpack my thinking on that.

‘Seen‘ obviously means perceived in some way. If it is not seen how can it be described at all? I don’t want to know – maybe by telepathy? ?

But ‘is insulting‘ then pushes what is obviously a perception into the realm of ‘objective fact’. As mentioned elsewhere there are two kinds of reality a) one in the head  (perception) and b) that which lives outside the head (objective reality). In the captioned example here, the individual has taken a) and swiftly made it into b). This is the heart of all self-deception and delusion of various types.

Underlying – or on top off – all the above is something most are unaware of. What’s that? In the normal use of language – social media or elsewhere – people don’t actually take time to construct their expressed thoughts (text or spoken word). Oh no  no.. .the cultural norm is to blurt out the first thing that pops into ‘your head’. The reason for that you may see next is because ‘Life is too short’! Which means that everybody is busy on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Netflix – or just maybe.. just maybe … bathing the dog. So hey – who the devil has a few fractions of a second to think, before engaging mouth? Like ‘nobody’ (or should I say not everybody).

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In the next captioned conversation (clicking on screenshot enlarges it) what happens is:

1. I present facts that are available in the public domain.
2. I state that those fact create a probability of a deep and lasting recession.
3. I recognise that these things are unpalatable, and what people really want is good news and hope.

What emerges early on is confirmation that good news, the ‘enjoyment of’, and hope are exactly what people want.

Lower down in the thread, it is patently obvious that all who responded avoided dealing with the facts.

They found pleasure in throwing jibes and demonstrating further avoidance of objective facts in a reality external to their heads.

The ‘Life is too short’ comment popped out, which is just brilliant. If you’re not ‘English’ or know this culture, you would not appreciate that it is a polite way of saying ‘I won’t be wasting my time on that!’. Ooooo.. people don’t have time. Like why? Facebook and Twitter has them, that’s why.

There are statements like ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’. These are things that roll off the tongue when people want to live in hope (aka optimism), in preference to reality – that very hard place.

“Those who moan and groan are a drag on society” – obviously they are people to be avoided. The point here is that people don’t want bad news. It is categorised as ‘negativity’ and people who spout negativity must be suppressed. This reminds me of a situation at one place of work about 10 years ago, when we were realistically in a bad situation. Managers told everyone to smile and stop saying negative things.

The foundations of delusion are in these posts. Did I say mental disorder? Did I diagnose anybody? I did not! People can suffer delusions without having mental disorder.

The equation is: OPTIMISM + DISTANCE FROM REALITY => DELUSION.

Just to be clear – as this is a form of social media where imaginations and perceptions become reality –  I have no problem with ‘optimism’. I have a problem with optimism that avoids facing reality.

I also having nothing against social media. I spend quite a lot of time on various platforms, except Facebook.

Overview and conclusions

My overview in the last 10 years is that social media has damaged thinking processes in the following ways:

1. People (in general obviously) no longer take time to think.
2. Reaction is ‘golden’ in those spheres.
3. People do not read – which involves thinking.
4. Due to the lack of thinking the abilities of people to apply rules of logic have atrophied.
5. People think that what they perceive is reality – it isn’t.
6. The above creates a mindset that washes into the realms of normal (non-social-media) life.