I liked the ending – “TikTok is the new Tumblr” – because I have absolutely no idea what either of these is or was, nor any interest in them. Who are these? What are these? What are they for? Why do I care? Answer came there none.
They’ll both last another couple of years I guess, whatever they are. Teen tech fads are like boy bands: as Bros followed Wham followed Duran, each forgotten as the next turned up, it’s the same with pointless tech. Each demographic – you, your stupid kid brother, your stupid kid brother’s mates’ stupid kid brothers – think the latest new piece of junk is great because it’s new.
I feel very sorry for anyone born after about 1975.
Perhaps you picked up upon the essential logical conflict between the ultra-permissiveness that social media seems to be selling all the time, and the fact that young people seem on average to be less sexually-liberated now than they were a single generation back.
The problem it’s revealing is that social media, being the modern equivalent of the public square, is dominated everywhere by a very shouty minority who effectively have gained the power to decide what can and cannot be said, irrespective of the personal views of everyone present. This isn’t merely confined to permissiveness, empowerment and whatever else they say it is; it applies to everything.
Okay, good. I wasn’t sure if I was bored because I was reading some weird millennial shorthand or if it was true that the author had written the equivalent of 12 paragraphs of emojis.
I think this was written by Unerd’s new ‘Why pay writers when you can use the new article generator app?’ A new product from gramercy.
Julian Farrows
2 years ago
I am not a parent, but if I were, I would banish all social media from my household and hold out on getting my children a smartphone until they are old enough to afford one themselves.Parents who allow their children unrestricted use of online computers and devices are exposing them to agenda-driven individuals and/or collectives who are able to circumnavigate parental controls and push their destructive ideologies on to the next generation.
I had a (well-meaning) father like you. Loads of banned stuff (in my day it was comic books, ITV, Enid Blyton, chewing gum, the Light Programme, ice lollies, eating anything in the street – sorry, I digress). It morphed into boys: you are not to see him sort of thing, you look like a tart wearing that. Luckily my mother was more astute. Point being I got round all these bans. Your imaginary children would simply get what they want from their friends. You have only added a tickle of excitement. Parents should set a good example re values etc and trust kids will grow up (which they will) into balanced citizens.
I understand your point and upvoted you. However, I’d still rather have my children work around me than be too laissez-faire. When my parents split up, I lived with each of them for a while. While my father didn’t mind if I missed school, my mother would be livid. I attended school a lot more when I lived with my mother.
PS: What did your father disapprove of in Enid Blyton? I can’t think of a more innocuous children’s author.
I agree up to a point, but although I secretly smoked cigarettes, I would not smoke weed, and turned down a *black bomber experience purely out of fear of my dad finding out! *type of speed pill
My perspective as the father of two well-adjusted, happy, early 20 daughters, both in long term, marriage track relationships with great guys:
1 – hold off as long as possible with giving them cell phones, etc. – but not to the extreme that they are among the very last kids to get. I’ve seen that back fire as much as succeed.
2 – talk with your children every day about their lives and the bigger world around them and for goodness sakes look at their homework and help if needed.
3 – build trust – it is a two way street, Do what you say you will and expect the same of them with harsh but proportionate consequences for failures.
4 – do what you can to encourage friendships with “good kids” (rough proxy=academically inclined kids with good manners) and vice versa
We are about to get a phone for oldest child. We think we may start with a phone that does not have internet access and see how we go. I don’t mean a flip phone, but there are phone companies (not sure if I can specify here without it being removed?) that offer phones that have the appearance of smartphones but only use calls and texts and possibly have cameras.
It is becoming increasingly hard to stay in the loop of what is going on at school without access to smartphone technology. As he approaches high school (we’re in the US) it may become a necessity. The school system sends out updates via social media first, the classroom teachers use apps to communicate with parents and for the kids to upload work, extracurricular activities require you to download an app to receive team news and so.
Teaching your child use their devices responsibly is the issue. We have had a few talks with ours about the permanency of the internet and the dangers of the anonymity of the people he is talking to.
“do what you can to encourage friendships with “good kids” (rough proxy=academically inclined kids with good manners)” This was my daughter’s boyfriend at school. Absolutely smashing lad.
On the contrary, at some point the smartphone is inevitable – although the later the better. Still, you don’t let the kidz buy it themselves. You pay 51% the cost. This gives you a majority interest on the board.
I finally succumbed and got my first smartphone earlier this year. I’m 71.
Jon Redman
2 years ago
I have never used, and in many cases never even heard of, any of the here-yesterday-gone-today media fads namechecked in this article. Tumblr – nope; Lana Del Ray – nope; “Daddy dom/little girl” relationships – nope; “programs like The View” – nope;
and so on all the way through. As a result reading this piece was like reading instructions written in German on how to strip down a diesel engine. I can read German pretty well but would be entirely unfamiliar with the vocabulary. So there, as here, I could point out the subject, object, verb, dependent clauses etc but I have literally no idea what is being said because I don’t know a single one of the references.
Most of the technology that da yoof consumes is either sinister, like Facebook, or it has the lifespan of a boy band: two to three years. I don’t get why we need articles about flash in the pan trivia tech of yesteryear when it’s so unimportant and uninteresting even when it’s new.
I had none of this when I was 20 and when I was 20 nobody was asking for it. I know who is better off.
Solipsistic fallacy at play here. ‘I don’t use it, or see the need for it, so it’s trivial and unimportant’. It’s good that Unherd publishes articles from a younger generation who do fully understand this stuff, after all they will be around a long time after I, and I suspect you will.
Social media might sometimes or often deal with trivia, (though human sexuality isn’t trivial) but it isn’t in itself. It is one of the major forces in the world today, even I as an old fogey and technophobe can see that. Many people couldn’t see the point of the telephone or for that matter railways (people travelling around for no good reason?!) etc in their day.
As far as I can tell, Tumblr used to be a visual blogging site where members could upload pictures of their pets and holidays etc. Over time many of the blogs appearing on it became overtly sexual and began to discuss topics like transgenderism and other fetishes. As a result, Tumblr banned nudity and other sexually explicit content from its site.
I know less about TikTok, but I believe it’s a site where members can upload all kinds of video content. I’ve never visited it so can’t really tell you more than that, except that it is Chinese owned and its critics suspect that TikTok is phishing its members for their personal details.
I’m well past my “sell-by-date”, yet I understood most of this article. It makes a fair point, similar to the “kink” article recently posted. Rebellion is hardwired into the teen psych, so when mainstream media advocates sex positivity (or anything really) it’s automatically uncool and to be rebelled against.
As parents, we can cunningly use this to our advantage. You have to keep your eye on the ball while pretending to be totally disinterest in it.
On another subject, I read a piece yesterday on Medium about Blockchain and then explained it to my “tech savvy” husband! It pays to be well informed about all kinds of dull and inappropriate topics.
Christopher Chantrill
2 years ago
I think that the way to understand this is the emergence of women into the “public square” starting over a century ago.
The idea is that men were having all the fun and the agency, and women — “hear me roar” — wanted in.
But now, a century later, women are just starting to confront the fact that they don’t like the public square and its culture of insult. They don’t like sex without commitment. They don’t like dating as a meat market.
And by “don’t like” I don’t mean consciously, or even Freud/Jung “unconsciously,” but something deeper and more basic in the mammalian female creature.
But it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
I read this three times and I can’t make sense of it. It’s just so badly written.
And I thought it was just me. Well done for reading it three times, I made one failed attempt.
I liked the ending – “TikTok is the new Tumblr” – because I have absolutely no idea what either of these is or was, nor any interest in them. Who are these? What are these? What are they for? Why do I care? Answer came there none.
They’ll both last another couple of years I guess, whatever they are. Teen tech fads are like boy bands: as Bros followed Wham followed Duran, each forgotten as the next turned up, it’s the same with pointless tech. Each demographic – you, your stupid kid brother, your stupid kid brother’s mates’ stupid kid brothers – think the latest new piece of junk is great because it’s new.
I feel very sorry for anyone born after about 1975.
Perhaps you picked up upon the essential logical conflict between the ultra-permissiveness that social media seems to be selling all the time, and the fact that young people seem on average to be less sexually-liberated now than they were a single generation back.
The problem it’s revealing is that social media, being the modern equivalent of the public square, is dominated everywhere by a very shouty minority who effectively have gained the power to decide what can and cannot be said, irrespective of the personal views of everyone present. This isn’t merely confined to permissiveness, empowerment and whatever else they say it is; it applies to everything.
Thanks
Okay, good. I wasn’t sure if I was bored because I was reading some weird millennial shorthand or if it was true that the author had written the equivalent of 12 paragraphs of emojis.
Thank you. I too wondered if it was just my ignorance.
The fact that noone understands this piece, from the headline onwards, is the most interesting thing about it.
I think this was written by Unerd’s new ‘Why pay writers when you can use the new article generator app?’ A new product from gramercy.
I am not a parent, but if I were, I would banish all social media from my household and hold out on getting my children a smartphone until they are old enough to afford one themselves.Parents who allow their children unrestricted use of online computers and devices are exposing them to agenda-driven individuals and/or collectives who are able to circumnavigate parental controls and push their destructive ideologies on to the next generation.
I had a (well-meaning) father like you. Loads of banned stuff (in my day it was comic books, ITV, Enid Blyton, chewing gum, the Light Programme, ice lollies, eating anything in the street – sorry, I digress). It morphed into boys: you are not to see him sort of thing, you look like a tart wearing that. Luckily my mother was more astute. Point being I got round all these bans. Your imaginary children would simply get what they want from their friends. You have only added a tickle of excitement. Parents should set a good example re values etc and trust kids will grow up (which they will) into balanced citizens.
I understand your point and upvoted you. However, I’d still rather have my children work around me than be too laissez-faire. When my parents split up, I lived with each of them for a while. While my father didn’t mind if I missed school, my mother would be livid. I attended school a lot more when I lived with my mother.
PS: What did your father disapprove of in Enid Blyton? I can’t think of a more innocuous children’s author.
I agree up to a point, but although I secretly smoked cigarettes, I would not smoke weed, and turned down a *black bomber experience purely out of fear of my dad finding out! *type of speed pill
My perspective as the father of two well-adjusted, happy, early 20 daughters, both in long term, marriage track relationships with great guys:
1 – hold off as long as possible with giving them cell phones, etc. – but not to the extreme that they are among the very last kids to get. I’ve seen that back fire as much as succeed.
2 – talk with your children every day about their lives and the bigger world around them and for goodness sakes look at their homework and help if needed.
3 – build trust – it is a two way street, Do what you say you will and expect the same of them with harsh but proportionate consequences for failures.
4 – do what you can to encourage friendships with “good kids” (rough proxy=academically inclined kids with good manners) and vice versa
We are about to get a phone for oldest child. We think we may start with a phone that does not have internet access and see how we go. I don’t mean a flip phone, but there are phone companies (not sure if I can specify here without it being removed?) that offer phones that have the appearance of smartphones but only use calls and texts and possibly have cameras.
It is becoming increasingly hard to stay in the loop of what is going on at school without access to smartphone technology. As he approaches high school (we’re in the US) it may become a necessity. The school system sends out updates via social media first, the classroom teachers use apps to communicate with parents and for the kids to upload work, extracurricular activities require you to download an app to receive team news and so.
Teaching your child use their devices responsibly is the issue. We have had a few talks with ours about the permanency of the internet and the dangers of the anonymity of the people he is talking to.
“do what you can to encourage friendships with “good kids” (rough proxy=academically inclined kids with good manners)”
This was my daughter’s boyfriend at school. Absolutely smashing lad.
On the contrary, at some point the smartphone is inevitable – although the later the better. Still, you don’t let the kidz buy it themselves. You pay 51% the cost. This gives you a majority interest on the board.
I finally succumbed and got my first smartphone earlier this year. I’m 71.
I have never used, and in many cases never even heard of, any of the here-yesterday-gone-today media fads namechecked in this article.
Tumblr – nope;
Lana Del Ray – nope;
“Daddy dom/little girl” relationships – nope;
“programs like The View” – nope;
and so on all the way through. As a result reading this piece was like reading instructions written in German on how to strip down a diesel engine. I can read German pretty well but would be entirely unfamiliar with the vocabulary. So there, as here, I could point out the subject, object, verb, dependent clauses etc but I have literally no idea what is being said because I don’t know a single one of the references.
Most of the technology that da yoof consumes is either sinister, like Facebook, or it has the lifespan of a boy band: two to three years. I don’t get why we need articles about flash in the pan trivia tech of yesteryear when it’s so unimportant and uninteresting even when it’s new.
I had none of this when I was 20 and when I was 20 nobody was asking for it. I know who is better off.
Solipsistic fallacy at play here. ‘I don’t use it, or see the need for it, so it’s trivial and unimportant’. It’s good that Unherd publishes articles from a younger generation who do fully understand this stuff, after all they will be around a long time after I, and I suspect you will.
Social media might sometimes or often deal with trivia, (though human sexuality isn’t trivial) but it isn’t in itself. It is one of the major forces in the world today, even I as an old fogey and technophobe can see that. Many people couldn’t see the point of the telephone or for that matter railways (people travelling around for no good reason?!) etc in their day.
Fair point – but a bit of translation would certainly be helpful.
As far as I can tell, Tumblr used to be a visual blogging site where members could upload pictures of their pets and holidays etc. Over time many of the blogs appearing on it became overtly sexual and began to discuss topics like transgenderism and other fetishes. As a result, Tumblr banned nudity and other sexually explicit content from its site.
I know less about TikTok, but I believe it’s a site where members can upload all kinds of video content. I’ve never visited it so can’t really tell you more than that, except that it is Chinese owned and its critics suspect that TikTok is phishing its members for their personal details.
I had to look up W.A.P., I wish I hadn’t.
I’m well past my “sell-by-date”, yet I understood most of this article. It makes a fair point, similar to the “kink” article recently posted. Rebellion is hardwired into the teen psych, so when mainstream media advocates sex positivity (or anything really) it’s automatically uncool and to be rebelled against.
As parents, we can cunningly use this to our advantage. You have to keep your eye on the ball while pretending to be totally disinterest in it.
On another subject, I read a piece yesterday on Medium about Blockchain and then explained it to my “tech savvy” husband! It pays to be well informed about all kinds of dull and inappropriate topics.
I think that the way to understand this is the emergence of women into the “public square” starting over a century ago.
The idea is that men were having all the fun and the agency, and women — “hear me roar” — wanted in.
But now, a century later, women are just starting to confront the fact that they don’t like the public square and its culture of insult. They don’t like sex without commitment. They don’t like dating as a meat market.
And by “don’t like” I don’t mean consciously, or even Freud/Jung “unconsciously,” but something deeper and more basic in the mammalian female creature.
But it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
Is that relief I feel?
Why? What did you just do?
I don’t recall s ex being this complicated. Boy, girl, bed, and off you went.
The language used and the style of writing
is so opaque and confused.
Best comment goes to ‘TD’
Masks make people look very self-satisfied.