Yep, this forum has really deteriorated lately.
On a large-scale. You're a long-time poster -- from experience, how do others make it better again?
Simple. A heck of a lot more respect for one another. That's it. The rest will come naturally.
People can and should post contradictory opinions, but post them with respect, and take a moment to think about what you really want to say, add some thought to it instead of an instant reaction.
I learned a great deal about basketball and other topics from past posters on these forums. Nowadays I just get disappointed with the back and forth flame wars over nothing on here.
It's not just about respect. I honestly think young people who are growing up online aren't developing the skill to communicate. They don't know how to argue. They just vent.
Mike
Are we really blaming the '[dang] kids' on this one?
You can think I'm just "get off my lawn guy" but I can only go on my experiences. I see a lot of obviously young folks online who don't treat conversation like conversation. They treat it like it's a performance and they are the star. Other posters are just a platform for them to perform.
And I suppose that's not anything new. But those of us who grew up pre-Internet grew up knowing that if you were too much of a jerk, you'd get punched in the face. Even if it never happened, we knew that it could. It forced us to learn how to keep the jerkiness under wraps when interacting with others. It forced us to listen and respond to others, which in turn helped us to develop and refine our arguments.
Now people just vent. They don't want interaction. They just want an audience. And to be fair, it affects us olds as well but at least we retain a residual memory of when conversation was mostly face-to-face and the habits and expectations of that era.
Mike
I didnt mean to classify you as some old curmudgeon. I understand that is obviously came off that way. Sorry about that.
Surely, you can also understand my frustration here. As a millennial Ive seen countless people from older generations lament that these "[dang] kids" are soft or stupid or lazy or whatever the flavor of the day is. I also see similarly irresponsible arguments thrown back at older generations. I saw an article the other day that was a compilations of "tweets" from millennials making ridiculous assertions about baby-boomers. The internet age has had a huge affect on the way people interact and communicate and has certainly affected our brains. Probably my favorite book on the topic is Thinking Fast and Slow. It doesnt so much get into the territory you talk about in your post, but if you are interested in the topic, I recommend it.
I understand your point as much as a 20 year old can, having never really lived outside the internet age.
I still dont quite agree with it. I dont think the logic quite follows. I dont really buy that people who grew up pre-internet will remember what its like when you couldnt hide behind a screen and in turn make more cogent and respectful arguments. Ive also yet to see any data suggesting millennials are any more cruel than past generations. Although, that data would be awfully difficult to mine.
Its easy to blame the young generations for problem x,y and z. Its a time-honored American tradition. I made my post because I dont want to rush into blaming the kids here. Especially when theres no real way to verify the ages of anyone on this forum and the poster whose actions come the closest to "venting to an audience" claims not to be young.
I think on some level you are correct, but I also think you are a bit too quick on your diagnosis of this specific blogs specific problem which may or may not actually exist.
Topic: Smart can't hit the broad side of a barn (Read 11679 times)