I've noticed my boomer parents using instagram and tiktok. I can't tell you how excited I am for them to kill those platforms like they did facebook.

Daft_ish@lemmy.world to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – 1055 points –
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Not before their brains start to rot by using those in the first place

It's scary to see how even the older generation gains reduced attention span, reduced ability to learn and need for instant gratification on this short dopamine machine.

I experience it myself. I know I am an addict and need to quit. Yet here I am.

It's a loop that is hard to quit once you've entered it.

I wish you success; maybe a good digital detox on the countryside with some simple books, field work and joys may help to reset your mind?

I spend a lot of time off grid but it is excruciating.

Best treatment is having things to do for others, but that is rare these days

Maybe take some volunteering, then?

Or would it be too hard/not useful to make yourself start doing something like that?

I do when the need comes up. There is a surprising amount of gatekeeping.

Would you like to tell more on the gatekeeping aspect? Imma be honest, I'm not a seasoned volunteer and would like to know more.

One woman that works at a heritage farm told me a story about an open house they were having. She wanted to offer a lemon-sugar they made at the farm from an heirloom lemon tree. The woman organizing the event got very upset about this.

I joined a makerspace recently and in one of the steering committee meetings they talked about a problem they had with people who were not authorized using potentially dangerous or costly tools, and authorized people being unable to get easy access. I, being an embedded systems guy, offered to make a solution to this. They could have taken me up on the idea and just not used it, but instead one of the board members goes ballistic telling me I am not the one to do it.

I worked with a STEM teacher who contributed a lot of time after hours to help students enter academic competitions. This upsets other teachers, for reasons I don't understand. They want him stopped. He was getting paid. He told them they could do it too and make extra money (as much as $50/hr) but they didn't want to. They wanted him to stop.

A lot of it I don't understand but it sounds a lot like the politics inside an HOA or a lot of other organizations.

I see, thanks for the inside look!

It certainly rings very badly.