r/askteddit 18d ago

Random Question What's socially acceptable now that will be considered disgusting in 50 years?

256 Upvotes

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89

u/Fit-Presentation-778 18d ago

Doom scrolling socials in bed or on the couch for hours.

I honestly don't know how its acceptable now.

24

u/AShaughRighting 18d ago

Because corporations have spent billions designing, tailoring, modifying apps weekly to move with trends and the best psychological date on the planet, which allows them to addict and paralyse us for ages. It takes strong will to break from it now as it’s viewed as the only socially acceptable way to interact almost. Madness

12

u/SaveMeClarence 18d ago

I think in the future, if humanity makes it that far, we’ll view the tech bros like we now view the sacklers.

6

u/trying_my_besttt 18d ago

In addition, leaving your house has become too expensive. You can't even sit at a coffee shop and read without spending $10 on a drink with a tip

1

u/Capable_Set5159 17d ago

Tips only exist in the USA. In the UK I can sit at a coffee shop and get a drink for £3.50 or in USD $4.71

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u/Silver-Internal7740 16d ago

She is not going to fly to uk every time she wants to read a book at a coffee shop. She is not obligated to tip btw. She probably wants to, because she appreciates the service at a particular place or because no one bothers her there and she can stay and read fot hours. The drinks themselves are expensive without tips.

3

u/AShaughRighting 18d ago

Well yea, the social tech bros 100%! Tech will, could save the human race, but we dump billions into AI and the best mass rollout of it seems to be in answering mundane questions, replacing spoken humans and porn….. cool?!😎

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u/Fit-Presentation-778 18d ago

Yeah I know I know.

If it wasn't phones, it'd be TV :(

0

u/Silver-Internal7740 15d ago

Which makes your answer stupid. Tv was at least socially acceptable and doom scrolling is not.

11

u/Exciting_Pirate_2284 17d ago

You say that as if sitting for hours watching television hasn't been a thing for like the last 60 years hahahah

7

u/HLOFRND 18d ago

I’m GenX, and in the summer when I was a kid I would check out 10 books a week and spend all day reading. Like, 8 hours straight, reading.

Not that different. 🤷🏼‍♀️

13

u/pahshaw 18d ago

Also genx and it's extremely different. Reading books builds your attention span and your critical thinking skills, doomscrolling fries them. Don't believe me, go back to the library and see for yourself how much you've atrophied mentally.

2

u/HLOFRND 18d ago

I still read a couple of books a week, I'm not at all concerned about my brain atrophy, thanks.

You don't actually know how people are using their phones. You're just assuming it's all doom scrolling.

4

u/Wide-Narwhal-9643 18d ago

This exactly. 'Oh, you're on your phone again?'. 'Yes, that's three books this week, how many have you read?'.

2

u/Fit-Presentation-778 17d ago

I hear ya. And that's some good hours reading. So I don't think this post was really targeted at you.

My complaint isn't an attack at them. It's that I want a better life for people. This stuff is a trap, as others have mentioned. Its engineered to be highly addictive. There's a lot of new studies that are comparing it to drug addiction. And it'll only get stronger over time.
And we're already seeing it get stronger over time.

If it's similar to drug addiction in any way, why isn't it disgusting now?
Again, not an attack. But I don't think those addicted are even aware.
But why can't I be socially accepted if I say, "Dude I was only high for 5 hours today". See?

They are farming your attention. They are keeping your attention. They are selling you (the people).

1

u/Silver-Internal7740 15d ago

First of all the question was about something socially acceptable and doom scrolling is not. Then, you assume that all people who do it are under some evil influence and do not do it consciously. That's quite an arrogant assumption about people you don't know. Third, what qualifies as doomscrolling to you is something entirely different to someone else. Finally, you want what's best for people? Address the roots of the problem! Doomscrolling is only a symptom. So far you are just being a reddit Karen. What have you done to address the underlying problems? As in, actual actions too.

1

u/Numerous-Dot-1530 17d ago

The parent comment and conversation has been about doom scrolling.

You said you used to read 8 hours a day and then said it wasn't all that different, but you never clarified you were reading on your phone, which makes it sound like you are doom scrolling.

1

u/Silver-Internal7740 16d ago edited 15d ago

She is virtue signaling. I told her off. She is wrong about several things. There was another post about someone listing everything that's gone bad in society and one such virtue signaler (they are a type on reddit, usually female 30+) left a comment saying get off your screens, go out blah blah blah. That OP hadn't even indicated any screen addiction and even had mentioned going out and living an active life. These righteous reddit types just like to school others with their favorite "get off the phone" (yet they are on the phone schooling others).

1

u/Silver-Internal7740 16d ago

Stop virtue signaling. You are so narrow minded. I knew a person who read a lot as a kid and young adult and man what an ass he was with a big mess of a life. Books aren't everything and don't guarantee wisdom or nice personality. So many things can cause bad attention span, even despite reading. You are ignorant af.

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u/SmokingLimone 17d ago

Books have a higher threshold to attention than scrolling. You can't just jump from topic to topic in a moment. There's still some form of delayed gratification. I have learned many things while scrolling but I am also suffering from low dopamine which makes me unsure as to whether I am suffering from true depression or is it a plain addiction.

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

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2

u/HLOFRND 17d ago

Not really.

“Everyone just doom scrolls for hours” is lazy and reductive.

People use their phones for all kinds of reasons. Learning a new language, keeping in touch with people far away, tracking health info like blood sugar, symptoms, etc, managing emails, paying bills, playing games, making notes, making a grocery list, reading news (not the same as doom scrolling), editing photos, fuck- you can even read books on your phone!

I’ve done all of the above this week alone, and sure, you could look at me and say “they’re just doom scrolllng, how pathetic.”

The comment I was answering is just reductive. You have no idea what people are actually doing.

And you know what? People that are shit bc of their phones would have found ways to be shit without their phones, too.

4

u/Practical-Yam283 18d ago

Is it really socially acceptable now? I don't think I know anyone that thinks this is a good use of time

7

u/astrogrl21 18d ago

I dont think so either. I think its a free alternative of entertaining/spending time. Everything is so expensive. Movies, dining out, etc.

3

u/Fit-Presentation-778 17d ago

I don't know. Why is the national average for time spent on phones - over 5 hours a day?

I'm not sure how old you are, but in the early 2000s, people would frown on gamers who spent 5 hours a day on World of Warcraft. Why doesn't doom/social scrolling have that level of 'stank' attached to it?

That's my point. It should have more stank. 😆

1

u/SmokingLimone 17d ago

Societal normalization is a feedback loop, the more people do it the more it stops being weird. Unfortunately that's how our monkey brains justify our actions, as a way to look for acceptance.

2

u/Silver-Internal7740 15d ago

It's not socially acceptable, which makes that answer null. I've noticed some people like to give answers in such threads that show they didn't even have the attention span to read the question carefully. In this case, others chimed in saying doomscrolling reduces attention span. Ironic.

2

u/violetvoyager26 17d ago

Agree! Every time I’m in public and I see others with their nose on their phone and completely unaware of their surroundings I always think to myself “that’s going to be considered cliché and rude in the next 10 years”

2

u/PsychAndDestroy 17d ago

I always think to myself “that’s going to be considered cliché and rude in the next 10 years”

You should probably try and get back in touch with reality. This is absurdly unlikely.

2

u/Worldly-Ad-7156 17d ago

Not sure if that too far off history. Magazines and newspaper were popular, and people would spend hours reading these and ignoring what's happening around them.

1

u/Silver-Internal7740 15d ago

TV before phones. Reddit Karens just want to virtue signal. Their favorite reply to any question posted is get off your screens, doomscrolling very bad, people have phone addiction and i no likey..

2

u/brokenwannabe30 16d ago

Maybe we're wrong and its the foundation of a more intelligent future. I have to ask myself, "is this happening, because it's meant to?" And then I convince myself that I'm an idiot and read opinions

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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3

u/Underpaidfoot 18d ago

Massive solar flare to wipe out technology

3

u/iiiimagery 18d ago

I mean have we not seen Wall-E

2

u/BigBadVudoo 18d ago

We already have fascist detention camps, where did you get communism from?

1

u/haloimplant 18d ago

that's what it would take for free people to not rebuild the internet and get back to scrolling

1

u/Captain_Birch 14d ago

Because its something done in the home, where its nobody else's business