My mom was fortunate enough to take a trip to Paris and took a boat ride down the River Seine. She sent me a photo of a family of four who were also on the tour, all looking down at devices.
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Gig Attendance and Social Media Challenges
- Thread starter P. Aaron
- Start date
I see a lack of interaction because people don’t want to. This desensitized environment is creating more distracted driving and deaths, more people with the attention span of a fish, and a new strain of behavior I call digital shallowness.
IMO...
IMO...
I like to think fewer people have their phones out at a metal or punk show, because that thing's gonna get destroyed in a moshpit.
People are becoming dehumanized. Personal empathy is becoming a thing of the past. I see it shockingly clearly dealing with the medical profession when my paraplegic wife requires medical care. Young helping professionals [Sic] these days tend to follow a cookie cutter treatment script handed down to them from on high that simply does not apply to people like my wife who has certain special needs. These people got their clinical training on dolls and dummies, and can't tell the difference when they have a real human patient. The problem is exemplified in society generally by the lack of spontaneous interaction with others within eyesight with everybody staring instead at a dumb viewing screen. We are creating a generation of monsters.
I had to edit out the sentence I originally wrote for this space in the paragraph. Let's just say that I keep it together, of course, for my wife's sake. The specific situation she is dealing with at present compels me to seek the services of an attorney next week. For the time being it is still possible to make her care givers do what they should be doing. But what happens when my generation that knows the difference is gone?
Are you ready to go online to see why you can't access your online banking and your Social Security deposit, paycheck or dividends that didn't go into your checking account, only to read: The biological construct with this identification number is no longer supported. Termination ceremonies are held weekly at your local health control center. Before you snicker, realize that in certain parts of India it has been reported that people can drop off the government registry, and effectively cease to exist as far as the government is concerned.
As we become more and more deeply embedded into the digital matrix, the question ultimately becomes who decides? "Step our of line, the man come and take you away", then becomes the extra-judicial step out of line, and you disappear from the master database.
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And when that audio get posted to your band's page (w/o authorization by your band) it contains gritty fork in a disposal sound quality & an video of a 'cute' couple dancing.
What kills me is seeing young kids eating with their families at a restaurant and the kids each have a personal screen in front of them--they're watching something on an iPad while the family is eating. I want to shake those parents and say: "Don't you want to teach your children how to interact with other human beings over a meal?"
Sigh. This too shall pass, I hope.
Sigh. This too shall pass, I hope.
IF I'm out dining alone I'm reading news off my device like a newspaper or magazine. If I'm there with family devices are put away.
On any sales call my phone is put away. It's a turn off to a client when the first thing a sales person plops on the table is their device when the meeting is always about the client.
But how am I going to remember once Alzheimers kicks in?
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
As we discuss it in an on-line forum, discussing a video seen on our phones/tablets/computers...
Oh, it's a problem alright.
Just read through our own band management section to see how bad it's getting. Virtually EVERY problem in there can be handled with a face-to-face conversation. The very IDEA of having to talk something out is nothing short of frightening to a lot of people these days.
In fact, you'll notice that actually having to SPEAK to someone on the phone is uncomfortable to a lot of people today. I don't mean a few people here and there. I'm not talking about a small percentage of the population. I'm talking about HALF of people under 40 seem to be uncomfortable to frightened of the idea of actually having to SPEAK to another human (other than ordering coffee or food.... and even that is getting to be a problem with ordering screens showing up in fast food joints).
The best decision we ever made with regard to our children is a NO SCREENS policy Monday through Thursday in our house. Our kids get zero TV, zero computer, and zero iPod until the weekend. Restaurants? Nope. No screen that isn't bolted to the wall of the place.
We go to family events or cookouts and people always make comments like "Your kids play so well together!" Welp, it's because they have DONE IT BEFORE. Suring the week, they swim in our pool, do crafts, play games, and even put on shows for us. They get along great! They have had to learn to give and take with each other.
We had some friends over the other day. We were outside playing with their kids and ours. One of their kids sat down on my deck and whipped out his phone. (Yes, these dipsticks gave a 7 year old an actual phone.) I walked right up to him and snagged it out of his hands. I put in in my pocket. I grabbed him up and set him down in the middle of the yard. About that time my daughter ran by and tagged him and yelled "You're it!" He had no idea what she was talking about. She stopped and said "You know.... TAG. Your it!" He was baffled. At 7 years old, this kid had no idea what TAG is!
Yes, technology today is amazing. I wouldn't go back for anything. But, it shouldn't replace ACTUAL human interaction. Interacting with other humans will literally be a lost art in another few decades.
Just read through our own band management section to see how bad it's getting. Virtually EVERY problem in there can be handled with a face-to-face conversation. The very IDEA of having to talk something out is nothing short of frightening to a lot of people these days.
In fact, you'll notice that actually having to SPEAK to someone on the phone is uncomfortable to a lot of people today. I don't mean a few people here and there. I'm not talking about a small percentage of the population. I'm talking about HALF of people under 40 seem to be uncomfortable to frightened of the idea of actually having to SPEAK to another human (other than ordering coffee or food.... and even that is getting to be a problem with ordering screens showing up in fast food joints).
The best decision we ever made with regard to our children is a NO SCREENS policy Monday through Thursday in our house. Our kids get zero TV, zero computer, and zero iPod until the weekend. Restaurants? Nope. No screen that isn't bolted to the wall of the place.
We go to family events or cookouts and people always make comments like "Your kids play so well together!" Welp, it's because they have DONE IT BEFORE. Suring the week, they swim in our pool, do crafts, play games, and even put on shows for us. They get along great! They have had to learn to give and take with each other.
We had some friends over the other day. We were outside playing with their kids and ours. One of their kids sat down on my deck and whipped out his phone. (Yes, these dipsticks gave a 7 year old an actual phone.) I walked right up to him and snagged it out of his hands. I put in in my pocket. I grabbed him up and set him down in the middle of the yard. About that time my daughter ran by and tagged him and yelled "You're it!" He had no idea what she was talking about. She stopped and said "You know.... TAG. Your it!" He was baffled. At 7 years old, this kid had no idea what TAG is!
Yes, technology today is amazing. I wouldn't go back for anything. But, it shouldn't replace ACTUAL human interaction. Interacting with other humans will literally be a lost art in another few decades.
We have a couple of friends with 1000s of followers that stream a good part of our shows live.
Get good exposure nationwide, although risk of a rare train wreck does occur with our style music.
Cant unwreck the train.
Get good exposure nationwide, although risk of a rare train wreck does occur with our style music.
Cant unwreck the train.
I read the story. And agree with Pat. Always like his take on things.
I'm gathering a lot of the replies here are from more mature folks. But let's not be jaded. This problem exists for all ages. This is not an "under 30 problem". Sitting with my parents and aunt a few months ago (all 3 70 or older), and all 3 of them were buried in their phones. I made a snide remark about not wanting to drive 400 miles to visit, only to have this be how we catch up. They blew me off with some remark akin to "lighten up, Francis". It was the same poor behavior we older folks perceive the younger generation to have.
this thread went some different directions but i really don't care what other people do. if someone wants to stare at their phone cool. its not my style and will try to raise my kid to live in the moment. i don't think it has made people more shallow or suck more. my parents have plenty of stories about how there were sucky people with their generation as well.
i also don't think we can ignore the benefits of technology and having access to information instantly. i went to a local show this past weekend and dug two of the bands. within a minute i was fans of their facebook pages and had purchased their albums/started downloading them and on the way home was jamming them in my car.
i see the use of mobile devices/tech making life better in a lot of ways. had a physical scheduled for 2 months from now. got a push notification on my cell that an appointment opened up earlier this week. i was able to accept the apt, register (so i could bypass the line), pay my copay, and answer my questionnaires all on my phone. rooming staff and doc had all my information on their tablets so i didn't have to list out meds, past history, etc. through those same devices they have access to the most cutting edge treatment plans from across the nation, entered my orders, etc. by the time i left i had a push notification that my prescription was ready and walked out with no papers as everything is available via my online account.
again - i wont be someone on their phone at dinner or an entire concert but the advent of this technology and ease of access has def made lives better in my opinion.
tangent.
i also don't think we can ignore the benefits of technology and having access to information instantly. i went to a local show this past weekend and dug two of the bands. within a minute i was fans of their facebook pages and had purchased their albums/started downloading them and on the way home was jamming them in my car.
i see the use of mobile devices/tech making life better in a lot of ways. had a physical scheduled for 2 months from now. got a push notification on my cell that an appointment opened up earlier this week. i was able to accept the apt, register (so i could bypass the line), pay my copay, and answer my questionnaires all on my phone. rooming staff and doc had all my information on their tablets so i didn't have to list out meds, past history, etc. through those same devices they have access to the most cutting edge treatment plans from across the nation, entered my orders, etc. by the time i left i had a push notification that my prescription was ready and walked out with no papers as everything is available via my online account.
again - i wont be someone on their phone at dinner or an entire concert but the advent of this technology and ease of access has def made lives better in my opinion.
tangent.
I see the appeal though. What people are looking at on their devices is a tailored experience, made to be relevant to what they care about and usually only featuring the information they think is true. In most cases what a person's phone is showing them really is way more relevant and interesting than the actual world around them.
We've really created a situation with these devices and social media. Not sure there's a way back.
We've really created a situation with these devices and social media. Not sure there's a way back.
A process known as “cocooning” or “siloing.” Any psychological professional will tell you it’s a maladaptive behavior that can easily lead to a variety of emotional and personality disorders.
Look around us. Small surprise, right?
There is a way back. But it won’t be easy or without a fair degree of pain involved. So it’s safe to say society will put it off as long as humanly possible.
Funny you should mention this...
I was speaking with my pianist buddy who’s a retired neurosurgeon (30 years and 4 patents). He was saying that he called 4 hospitals yesterday and not a single human picked up the phone. He had left messages already and weeks later didn’t get any callbacks. He mentioned that doctors used to be able to call anyone in the profession and quickly discuss patients hoping for general thoughts, since they knew the intricacies already. He said that a few years ago they used their instincts and that was based largely on meeting and talking with patients. He says that empathy is definitely going away and that patient care is suffering. He was passionate about it and extremely concerned about the mindset of new practitioners... It’s hard to diagnose a patient without taking the time to:
Interact
Take time to inquire what NEW treatments are available
Maintain sharpness of intellect and compassion over money and items to affirm your social economic status in the eyes of your peers.
People still exist that care, but the odds of getting a medical parrot thinking in a box are growing it could be argued.
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