This post is for seeking some advice on what’s the best route to try to help some friends get some of their offline lives back.
This year, a large percent of my friend group from my hometown have stopped interacting much with anyone outside of immediate family such as parents and work. Very noticeable for those that are under 30 (I’m 30) compared to those a few years older than me. For 3 of them that were pretty close, they still send memes and Instagram reels all day almost daily but never respond to any messages nor send any anymore. The only way to get them to do anything is to show up semi unannounced with tickets to go somewhere or with food to get them out of the endless scroll, and even then 2 of them will still scroll no matter what’s going on around them, even while driving.
Seeing the reels that get shared since the summer, nearly all of them are AI or extreme (not political, moreso like extreme overeating, extreme overpriced buying/unboxing videos or people fighting past what mma/ufc would allow type content). This seems to have led a few to being scared of the outside while a few others consider outside to be too boring now. When we do hang out I notice my algorithm is completely different than theirs with every reel scroll. We were all very tech focused coming our of school but I’m 1 of 2 that didn’t make it into a long term career, a couple of them have been on the AI hype train for a few years now.
Does this seem to be an ongoing trend for you? I know some people here have made mention over the time I’ve been on Lemmy but it’s gotten so apparent in my life these last 2 holidays trying to make plans and soon New Years of the change and the the first time in more than a decade we’re all within an hour of each other but majority of them are just socially MIA to do anything outside of scrolling on the couch laughing at nonexistent people and animals in reels. What’s worked for you to help combat this within your friends without giving up on them? The best thing I’ve been able to find has been the bar style arcades and laser tag that’s helped make that similar enjoyment while out of the house.
I think everyone’s glancing past this point. That’s the extreme internet content screwing with your friends’ brains – especially the fighting videos. That’s undoubtedly a factor in their withdrawal from IRL socialization. If you look to the Gen Z and Gen Alpha folks, that’s exactly what those generations are going through.
oh yea while i was still on reddit, people were saying these 2 groups aspirations was YOUTUBE, or some kind influencers, when some of them started to do that, they wernt getting the same “engagement” as the current influencers. it is kind of sad, most of them dont realize thats these youtubers/streamers ARE coming from wealthy families. i think GEN ALPHA would be at more disadvantage than gen z once they all become adults, working or in college.
I remember seeing a report about that, too. IIRC it was a school survey. That aside, Gen Alpha is absolutely going to be worse off than Gen Z. (In the USE) They’re growing up through the same violence that caused Gen Z’s stress/compassion fatigue/anxiety… PLUS they were raised by iPads with short-form content, and are living through the rise of fascism. Gen Z grew up doing “school shooting drills”; Gen Alpha is watching ICE agents grab people from their towns, schools, and daycares… and then they’re told the terrorists are the “good guys”.
If Gen Z is struggling as adults (and we are) Gen Alpha is fucked.
For a lot of us, offline options are either nonexistent or too expensive to make a regular thing. I grew up in the suburbs and i went to a shitty school where no one wanted to be my friend so I was stuck indoors all day not by choice, and as an adult i can’t even pay electric bill let along go out all the time
Ok, so you can go out all the time without “going out” all the time. You don’t have to go shopping or to bars or expensive events, there are cheap activities out there. Parks are a good option, go for a walk, take photos of wildlife, go fishing, fly a kite. Or get into biking, or juggling, parkour. Or join a club, book clubs or film clubs are a lot of fun not expensive and you get to meet people and have real conversations. Go to your local library, they can tell you about upcoming free events, it connect you with clubs, or communities. While you’re there, ask the library if they have cheap or free tickets to things like museums or zoos, they often do.
There are a whole lot of ways to disconnect, but one thing is absolutely certain, you’re stuck on social media because you’re using social media. Just stop using it and it can’t trap you or control you. You can stay in touch with people with text messaging and phone calls, it totally still works. Also, a good reason to disconnect is just to distance yourself from “the algorithm”, don’t let some machine tell you what it thinks you should like, figure out what you like for yourself.
Those aren’t really great options for meeting people.
Going out into the world is essentially the only way to meet people. Try it, see what happens.
Though, I was talking about ways to disconnect, things to do; how to enjoy life without social media. If you’re only focused on meeting people though, well actually I still recommend clubs and hobbies.
yeah to be honest that was and is my situation, exactly, too "^^
People scapegoat smartphones because they want to isolate vulnerable teens, and all these laws excluding younger people from public spaces aren’t helping either even if they did have the money
Back in the day people would gather on a porch and play music. Relatively free. Wish I knew how to play an instrument …
It’s what I’m realizing. We’re right at the millennial gen z median being from 1994-98. Thankfully not being sent the 67 type of content like the kids scream in public but it’s still a concern to me. As I’ve said in response to others imma still work on getting a couple new friends but I do want to try to find things to help keep them social and come out the house once in a while since they do enjoy hangouts when the phone is away, or requires both hands to where the phone has to be away haha
The “67” or “skibidi” stuff isn’t even bad. It’s just silly content and Gen Z/Millenials had their own versions growing up.
I’m wondering more about the trad-life/anti-women/alt-right propaganda; and the violence/gore/extreme porn/fetish content (you mentioned over-eating content. I think that’s called ‘mukbang’?)
Yeah, in the 80s they had crack. Not as easy to sell as social media, but it’ll also fuck you up. In the 50s the KKK and their brand of racism was mainstream, that also fucked people up. I guess my point is, yeah, things are different now, but they’re also kinda the same. And the solution is kinda the same too. Garbage in - garbage out; if you want to be a good person, live a good life, don’t consume shit. Don’t consume this terrible content and you won’t let yourself be influenced by terrible content.
It is mukbang, yeah. Seeing those videos of people eating the giant plates of donuts in 60 seconds, drink this hot sauce challenges and all that gross me out so much. I know more about people like the pink sauce lady than I wouldve ever wanted to (Only need to see first 90 seconds to grasp who that is)The extreme violence, I don’t know how so much of it is allowed on there, Instagram seems almost as low of moderation as X as long as the person doesn’t die on camera.
I didn’t know anything about the pink sauce lady except her pink sauce product, and I’m not going to click that link. I’ll stay a low-information commenter, thank you very much <3