The Who's Roger Daltrey says the internet is destroying our brains, society, and civilization

[AMN3S1AC]

The Who's guitarist seemed to find the internet useful when he was accessing child pornography.

 

[mgwerner]

Who?

ISWYDT

 

[mgwerner]

Having taught high school from '91-'19, in multiple countries, I have watched the attention span and ability to think in young people change over three decades. The change was slow until the advent of "social" media, when it accelerated rapidly. Soundbites were bad enough with the advent of the 24 hour news cycle, but the decrease in the ability of a youth to attend and think is exponentially different than it was in the 80s, if they are regular SM users.

It's toxic, and it has already crippled the cognitive abilities of two generations. These are the people who will be one day managing your bank, health care, retirement, etc. Not a rosy outlook.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

100% agree, I think the internet is great obviously and maybe I'm nostalgic. but every part of it does seem to me to be worse, I genuinely think websites are all getting worse just in design the new think seems to be "slick" or in other words it looks like it was designed just for mobile

That "slick" look you notice is designed to get you to engage, by means of absorbing information from the site. It's not meant for interaction or learning, just mindless consoomption of whatever product or ideology is on blast today.

It's like the internet of the simpsons world where everything is a parody....IRL.

 

[captaincranky]

The Who's guitarist seemed to find the internet useful when he was accessing child pornography.

He said he was doing "research", and I'm inclined to believe him.

"Tommy" contained a character named "Uncle Ernie", and although the word wasn't in common use back then, Ernie was a pedophile. Witness this bizarre scene from the movie "Tommy".

Point being, Townshend was cognizant, concerned. and appalled by child abuse, long before it was fashionable to be so.

Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure Britain had its share of, "dirty vicars", before it was given much publicity.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Roger Daltrey is both right and wrong at the same time. There are parts of the internet that are EXTREMELY beneficial to society like educational content and being able to do things like renew your driver's licence and health card online, get a new licence plate sticker, etc. without waiting in line.

The problem arises with unregulated social media. Sites like Facebook and YouTube have been EXTREMELY detrimental when it comes to spreading misinformation and the radicalisation of young people.

If social media were properly regulated, we wouldn't be having these problems but since they're primarily US-based, the fact that these corporations have more money than King Midas means they can buy off whoever they need to in any governmental position. They call it "lobbying" but I call it "buying".

 

[captaincranky]

Roger Daltrey is both right and wrong at the same time.

I would that he's more right than wrong, from the standpoint of social media and cellphone addictions. These certainly have much more participants than sites dealing with kidney failure in cats, or genuine traditional media outlets.

If I need to know what's going on in the world, I'll punch up CBSN., not Qanon, which unfortunately too many people do.

Trump's "the election was stolen", is a glaring example of social media misleading, nay verily outright lying, about WTF is actually happening.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I would that he's more right than wrong, from the standpoint of social media and cellphone addictions. These certainly have much more participants than sites dealing with kidney failure in cats, or genuine traditional media outlets.

I agree. The bad side of the internet has overtaken the good side as people have become even more like mindless zombies than they were to begin with.

If I need to know what's going on in the world, I'll punch up CBSN., not Qanon, which unfortunately too many people do.

Yeah, that stuff just blows my mind. I'm like you except that I use the CBC.

Trump's "the election was stolen", is a glaring example of social media misleading, nay verily outright lying, about WTF is actually happening.

Well, the problem there is that it wasn't just social media. Fox "News", "News"Max and OAN were saying the same things. I think that this is what made the lies on social media seem credible. After all, if a large "news" network is saying it, people are far more likely to give it credence.

 

[Danny101]

Once again, they're blaming the tool instead of the lack of discipline of individuals.