Between the corona virus hysterics and subsequent mask shaming to now this entire shitshow in Minneapolis...I think its time. We all know there's a switch somewhere in the Pentagon that turns off the consumer internet, perhaps its time to flick that switch?

Because this is out of control. The president is out of control, the opposition is out of control and anybody who isn't on social media feels like they have no voice. Yet the only people who are at all rational and sane stay as far away from social media as possible!

I think its we go back to 1995. It wasn't perfect, no...but its better than this. There can be no harmony between people when this rage machine exists.

Your boy finally gets checked and now you want social media to go away.

Blow it out your ass.

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I've wanted it to go away for a while, I think now maybe more people are arriving at the same realization.

But we all appreciate the input of our favourite forty year old pizza driver.

You're not putting the toothpaste back in the tube on this one.
Social media showed us finally and without any doubt that the average human is a moron.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

You've been very prolific in your posting this morning. Is the realization that the end is near for fucksticks like you and WFR making you panic?

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Social media can help you find out who people are. I don't see a need to get rid of that.

And I really don't feel like moving the FB Secret Chat Cabal to Microsoft Teams or Slack.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

See here's the thing, who people are vs. who they are on the internet can be (and often are) very different. I guarantee you even the most ardent and annoying culture warriors, even people like Julie, are generally agreeable offline. Because people are just generally agreeable.

The way the internet and social media makes people feel like the star of their own life movie encourages people to drive a narrative about themselves. They ramp up their own characterization, whether that's as a heel or as a hero.

Every village idiot found a new friend who didn't realize he was an idiot. Before, the village idiot (how do we not have a Village Idiot mult?) was roundly ignored. Now, they celebrate each other.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Yep, I've had similar posts on here about this too. These people used to be shunned and mocked in their communities. Now they find other morons like themselves online and all shout loudly together on facebook or twitter.

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Let's say that's the case...

Social media can help you find out who people want to be when they feel comfortable and protected. I don't see a need to get rid of that.

It can still help me understand who I truly want to associate with, and who I'd rather keep at a distance.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

This kind of doxxing mentality is also part of the problem. The idea that everything must be associated to our (often flawed) conception of what we think a person is, a conception that is going to naturally be flavoured by whatever biases you bring in with you. If you want to like somebody you will read things as sarcasm or joking around, if you're not you'll see it as genuine. I know you style yourself impartial, sort of above it all, but you're really not. Nobody is.

People read what they want to read.

He needs social media so that he can judge and put down the wrong people. Interesting admission and a great reason to be done with it.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

I read it as a threat, tbh.

social media is the modern adaptation of the story of Narcissus.

We are in love with ourselves

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Social media and cable news is a playground for idiots. Trump should have quit Twitter after Russiagate ended.

may not Even Need a button if The Petagon uses BLUEHOST???

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I think I can be more accepting of different sorts than most, but I don't think I've ever tried to position myself as impartial. I'm too opinionated for that. But yes, I'd like to know more about what a person feels or wants to say versus what they actual say to me.

I think most people want that extra layer of transparency.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I think there are a lot of negatives that have come out of social media that outweigh some of the positives. I'd be fine without it. It used to be a nice place to keep in touch with some people from high school that went to a different college (that had a Facebook account back in the day). I used to use it a ton right before texting became really prominent to keep in touch with friends at different schools.

It went downhill from there. It does seem to promote narcissism and gives an outlet for a lot of thoughts that used to live inside people's heads or in their mom's basement. I can see where people can use it to disassociate from people who hold certain beliefs, though I might argue that's a bit unhealthy. There's plenty of information floating around out there - some useful or interesting (like random sports stats from Chris Kamka), some complete nonsense. I actually unfollowed everything political about a month or two ago and I'll never look back. It's quite liberating. I can go back to forming my own opinions as I read the news.

One positive, I can see, is you have seen certain things come to light a little easier than having to rely on the news to carry it. But I think with today's around-the-clock cable news bender everybody is on, I'm sure we'd all be aware of the latest scoop on TV or via news apps without social media.

It would be great if you could either have the old version back, or have it simply be Instagram without captions. You can post pictures of your vacation or kids if you want your close family or friends to see.

Personally, I find less and less value in knowing what celebrities are up to (never really cared) or acquaintances that want to be friends with you that you don't really need to see what they're up to.

All that said, I don't think it's going anywhere.

A critical part of this is that the image people present on social media more often than not does not reflect their reality at all.

Antarctica 1998 : Has the internet run its' course?

Antarctica 1968 : Has TV run its' course?

Antarctica 1950 : Has radio run its' course?

Antarctica 1850 : Have newspapers run its' course?

Antarctica 550 : Has the stone tablet run its' course?

Antarctica BC : Have drawing on cave walls run it's course?

This is different and everyone knows it.

I dont know if it's run its course but I can live without social media.

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Yes, lets have the billions of users quit and the multi billion dollar companies shut down. Your efforts would be better placed getting the sun to revolve around the earth.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Does seem to be hastening the downfall of humanity.

There is certainly a way to turn it off. Countries around the world have closed it down within their borders.

Nah. The average human is a good person. These rioters are pretty much professional anarchists paid by some very rich people who want to take the United States down. And they prey on young people who don't know any better. I don't know if you have a family but my kids would never do this kind of shit and I doubt that your kids would do it either because they were raised right.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

And I am saying that that does not matter to me. I am going to factor in both 'personalities' when deciding if I want to interact with that person. Even if they isolate an 'online personality' strictly in 'online only' situations, I do not want to hang out with that person at a bar.

And vice versa, I don't want to play Modern Warfare with a person who is a douche nozzle in person.

People choose to be who they are and someone can't just partition the 'stupid fucking asshole' portion of themselves.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I dont know guys, I feel like its more important that we try and heal this broken society than keep letting IMU vet the people who plays Modern Warfare with.