Phone bad
I assumed your comment was a joke — and not a bad one, actually — until noticing the replies taking it seriously.
The comic is not a poke at cell phones. It’s about all of America and the world being so distracted by their baubles and comforts that they’re unaware of what’s right in front of them.
Media literacy in the U.S. is legitimately so bad, ig it’s not surprising people came to the wrong conclusion.
Correct, its not about the phone its about “distractions” in general.
The phone is just today’s equivalent, of yesterday’s thing that keeps people entertained and distracted from the world around them. Whether that is a TV, Newspaper, Book, Play, or a cold beer.
are you saying ‘its all just different flavors of the same thing, just different ways to entertain yourself’?
isn’t who controls the content and the nature of that content extremely important too?
is spending 4 hours/day watching TV reruns of Golden Girls and… spending 4 hours/day locked in a frenzy of algorithmically targeted highly personalized addictive right wing propaganda… the same thing?
What comes on after golden girls? The 6 o’clock news, where if it bleeds it leads.
The Romans had the coliseum to entertain the populous, all to distract from the problems their empire was facing.
So as you put it, its different flavours of the same thing.
Yes algorithmically targeted highly personalized addictive social media might no be the same as a TV rerun of Golden Girls, but both are still a form of entertainment and one could argue both are fighting for your attention/distracting you from the world.
But don’t forget who owns those social media feeds and is aligning with trump.
Father i cannot click the book
I hate my wife
Did you win son?
the question is obviously not “Is this new technology BAD in and of itself?” the better question has always been, “Who controls this new technology and to what ends?”
if you can’t see the distinction, you’re not thinking critically about the last century of technological development and how it actually impacts people’s minds in lasting material ways. from the cotton gin to silent films to drones, technology is value neutral… until it’s used to reinforce specific agendas.
the people comparing it to comic books (as if comics are harmless little nothings) are naive as fuck. comic books made a huge social impact and fostered both bad and good stereotypes, and helped promote narratives which drastically shaped the course of 20th century youth culture. that’s a lot of power. and I’m supposed to believe phones have less potential impact on shaping people’s worldview? gtfo 'ere.
Meanwhile, it’s the technofascist billionaires bankrolling trump. The technofascists are brainwashing people.
They have the right idea but they’re misinformed. It’s not the phone itself that’s the problem, it’s the algorithms in the apps pushing right-wing propaganda on its users that’s the problem.
It can be if not used in moderation, and most people do not use it in moderation, but that’s more of a fault of the platforms and addictive technology than it is to fully blame individuals
Meta is complicit in fascism for settling out-of-court.
My phone is how I stay up to date, get important news, and find out where there are organized acts of resistance to join. So no.
HANK, HAAAAANK, DON’T LOOK AT YOUR PHONE, WATCH OUT, THERES A BOTTOMLESS SWASTIKA PIT IM FRONT OF YOU!!!
Italians had smartphones in 1922?
Two roads can lead to the same destination.
In many states it’s illegal to drive while using a phone.
Exactly.
This is just somebody blaming the problems created by poor education on cell phones. Again. Just like they blamed the TV. And radio. And comic books. And dime novels. And music. And dancing…
do comic books have 24/7 live updates and endless scrolls designed to exploit addictive behavior?
were dime novels published by an ideologically aligned billionaire class who is working to capture our political processes?
does D&D have an algorithmically generated “for you” page designed to promote rage content?
did teens spend 4+ hours per day staring into their comics or check them anxiously 344 times per day on avg, or look at them while in school, while stopped at intersections, while on the toilet? did they talk to therapists about how they feel overwhelmed by their comics, the comics make them feel suicidal, etc, etc. was the billionaire CEO of the comic industry involved in national policy making and firing of federal workers?
Cool, so you understand that the problem isn’t the cellphone itself but the content on the cellphone. Content that could be regulated, if a society has the political will to institute such regulations. Political will that would be generated by understanding the issues with such content. An understanding that can be gained with a good education.
Glad we agree.
Don’t forget D&D. It’s been decades and Revelations still hasn’t kicked off.
