The tech for the new Pokemon app is really pretty cool. Their "augmented reality" feature where a Pokemon is actually "in" your living room, yard, etc is neat. No wonder kids and adults as well can be seen in parks, airports, and malls with their noses in their phones wandering like lost drones. It's obvious that that Pokemon character isn't real - but people choose to "take the leap" in order to be entertained, as the meld of the character with the tech of your phone app let you try to "Catch'Em All". Stories are breaking almost daily of people playing the game, and having accidents because they aren't paying attention to 'real' reality and thats kinda scary when ya think about it. They are willingly getting caught up in their "augmented reality" obsession.
Brings me to a point about social media and memes. Pictures with a few lines to make a point. There are memes about everything. Sports, Work, Politics, you name it. It's the political memes that I wanna focus on. Now I;ll admit, they can be pretty funny. Most of them are an unflattering picture with a couple funny lines about whoever is in the picture--you know what I'm talking about. What concerns me is how a meme has become someones' news source. The problem to me, are the memes that attempt to list accusations or list false facts. Someone finds a picture of their "target", and lists "facts" that either they heard - or in many cases mis-heard.
I'd seen a news story that claimed that "uneducated white men" were predominantly Trump supporters. What got my attention about this story is that that describes me! I am the furthest thing from a Trump supporter, so I had to get some answers as to this claim I kept hearing. I decided to do some "homemade' research.
For the 2 weeks of BOTH political conventions, I spent a lot of time trolling comment sections of news items regarding the Presidential election. Both sides, Republican and Democrat were posting their "facts" about their own candidate or the competition, Passing around memes in defense of their agenda. I started seeing a few that I KNEW to be false. I'd seen a news story that claimed that "uneducated white men" were predominantly Trump supporters. I got the idea to make my own memes and just "make crap up" to see if I'd get called out, I'd hoped at least ONE person would dispute my attempt to defend my agenda, but I never got questioned once on my "facts". They were however quick to copy/paste and share their own instead. I made 4 separate memes with blatant false info and instead of being called out, people simply accepted my "facts" as real. Like hunting Pokemon, people were happy to be in their own "augmented reality". They're too busy in their agenda to worry about 'real' reality. Thats scary too, but for a much different reason. As I read comments and clicked on profiles to get a clearer view of who was commenting, and which "side" they supported, I began to get the results the news was saying about Trump supporters. 10 to 1 Trump supporters (that I dealt with on Facebook) were, in fact, white non-college educated white guys according to the info they provided on their profiles. The Clinton backers seemed to be a 60-40 split White to NonWhite. The issue I had was that BOTH sides simply accepted my made up memes as factual. Not ONE time was I asked for a source, or even had my stuff called out. Both sides seemed to be content - as long as they were hearing what they wanted to hear. That's scary.
We have begun to cling to social media as our "obsession" to be social - but to also get our information. If a friend posts incorrect information, people tend to accept it as factual - as, well - their friend had the info - and they surely can trust their friend....right?
I find it odd that people can spend so much time with their noses on the social media site of their choice - reading comments to their posts, adding their own, passing recipes, catching up with Family, and yes - in far too many cases - getting their "news". People spend HOURS on social media reading....but spend hardly any - IF any, time reading a book. Thats gotta change. I dont have the blueprint for it, but I realize its heading down the wrong path.
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