I have said it before and I will say it again. Social media has become the new church in our world in several ways. It offers a sense of community and belonging where it lacks for so many. It also allows for social grouping to demonize certain groups, and for the promotion of a "right" behavior and correct way of thinking. It has in essence, an ideology that the group forms, whether consistent or not. Furthermore, it has its own acolytes who are addicted to it and the group think it fosters and it has its own priests. Journalists is what they usually call themselves, or blue check marks on twitters, or other influencers throughout these sites. Censors as well who manage the dogma of acceptable thought and practice. And don't just take my word for it. Mark Zuckerberg partially went public on this regarding the community aspect. What he didn't say is just what kind of impact it has had, spawning mass Internet temper tantrums we call outrage mobs, the new strains of morality preached by the acolytes who we call SJWs and new progressive ideology as main stream culture, a new definition of what is acceptable in society, and the idea that one must think a certain way in order to be given a platform for speech in that community lest he be kicked out of the church of social media. While not a social credit system like China, social media is in a more classic sense a social judgement system similar to that of church in the past. Except this time it is global and far bigger and more powerful in its reach. We have our rules of acceptable practice, or new moral system that changes and remains inconsistent like many religious texts, and the community bands together to shame and banish any who do not adhere. These are the new burning times as witches are created among the nonconformists and left over people from the past paradigm. They are demonized and used for further gain among members of the new church. We are seeing this play out every day. While these social dynamics are not new, and not exclusive to religion, it is interesting to see how they are manifesting in a post religious society. I honestly can't believe I didn't see this article, but here is is from years ago... and he was right. https://nypost.com/2017/06/29/mark-zuckerberg-says-facebook-is-the-new-church/
Per article itself only 5% of facebook is any sort of community. the rest of it (if not all of it) is actually making people feel more lonely instead of providing a community (per studies/books). It's a sh*tty type of religion that brings together 5% at the cost of alienating/separating the other 95%. Since you bring up ostracizing in your post @dachuda86, I want to mention Melania #BeBest and her drive to eradicate bullying going on in social media. Join her Church (ie follow her) on social media for updates (but try not to pay attention to the bullying/fighting in the comment section). It's happening.
Social media actually makes people feel more lonely per studies. You're just trying to find ways to weave in your SJW conspiracies to make yourself feel better about all the terrible and awful things you believe and advocate. Cue a short youtube video please.
Please identify where I mention there is a conspiracy. IE planning of some sorts between two or more people to commit a crime. This is no conspiracy. Its my beliefs regarding our social change. You are welcome to balk because of your bias against me but this is how our society is changing and evolving. And while you think it is about loneliness, it is about community. That has nothing to do with you feelings. People seek to connect for reasons beyond being lonely or not.
There's a reason everyone talks about being depressed nowadays: Social Media. Those that don't get so envious of other's (often fake) posts that they get depressed, can just convince themselves they're depressed because of all the depression memes they see floating around.
Was there a church where ... Everyone looks great, happy and cool. Conversations are shallow and never deep. There is no physical contact and intimacy. Individuals get a regular dozes of “likes” chemicals to keep them going and be hooked. ...
Oh please, you constantly claim the twitterati are "virtue signaling" you to stop acting like a Nazi youth member. I don't think it's about loneliness, studies say that the more you use social media the more lonely you become. When people go to church it's usually cordial, warm, and inviting to a degree. Social media is largely the opposite in my experience.
Yes social media depresses people... you missed the point if you think I am posting about this new church being an anti depressant. Nothing to do with that.
I don't think the lonliness bit matters as much as the community building aspect. Plus people don't go to church so much because religion is dying off in the West.
But, there's no coffee! I get what you're saying about social media inheriting the role of vehicle for enforcing social conformity. But I'm not really buying it. I suppose there is a mainstream where you will be castigated if you voice repugnant views. But I see two ways in which social media is significantly dissimilar from church and therefore not nearly as effective in enforcing conformity. The first is that most of social media is not mainstream. It's characterized by a very long tail of subculture forums. So while I would advise you don't say "the Jews will not replace us" on twitter (or write it on a march sign to be broadcast by network news for the analog example), you can do so and find affirmation on stormfront, 4chan, reddit, facebook groups, whatever jihadi platform, so on. And its not just for abhorrent political views. If you love mini cooper, dachshunds, knitting, gardening, basketball, bdsm, astrophysics, gun policy, gay pride, civil war reenactments, whatever is your kink there is a social media community out there for you to plug into. The second is that when you join a church, you attend that one church. With social media, people are weaving in and out of subculture forums, mainstream channels, and across social media platforms. If you're getting oppressed on twitter, you just switch to snapchat. If the bodybuilding forum doesn't like your ideas, you can come pitch them at clutchfans. There is no accountability like you'd have when your church elders decide you should atone for your sins. I actually think the problem is not that there is too much pressure to conform from social media, but not enough. The internet has empowered a constellation of subcultures that would not be able to amalgamate enough critical mass of members without it (which is a great thing, for the most part). There is a subset of those, however, with antisocial motives that are unfortunately also empowered. The easiest example is jihadism and how influencers like ISIS were able to find aggrieved people throughout the world and radicalize them with content. We see this also with white nationalism in the States. For these kinds of subcultures, social media has been a tool for growth, not suppression. There probably hasn't been a better time for racism and misogyny since before WWII. It used to be that you would be too afraid to tell people that the Jews will not replace us because they might object. Now, you know where you can go to say these things without fear. And for more benign expressions -- say, I wish he wouldn't tweet so much, but Trump's policies have been good for America -- there are large social media communities that will pat you on the back, even in mainstream channels.
Not sure I agree but you make good points. I think these groups that meet online met at meetings in the past anyway, but they are not allowed to speak freely on main websites. So there is social enforcement. These websites routinely ban people for TOS violations that are changed and enforced based on mainstream social views that conform to a general idea of what is OK and they get rid of what is considered taboo. I get what you say abot smaller groups existing, but I think I was mostly thinking about twitter and fb, and other large sites that face constant public outrage mobs. Thanks for sharing your views though. Again, I think you brought up some really great points.
