extremism in opinions

[egellings]

I have a very cheesy small remote control for a floor standing 16" house fan. It feels cheap, looks cheap, it is cheap! But I love my remote for the fan!

If that remote works well, what would making it more expensive get you? Making it more expensive would be akin to solving a solved problem.

 

[Ze Frog]

It will pass, humankind just isn't really mentally mature enough for the internet. People are learning though, lots of people growing weary of the clickbait and deliberate division. Have to remember, the internet is a very new phenomenon when it comes to mass use like it is nowadays. I know many who realise reviews are marketing hype, news has become clickbait and extreme bias etc etc. People are learning and eventually the internet will get past this phase as new outlets for news and reviews among other things pop up that are clearly more transparent and factual, like here at ASR for instance. Some people learn at different rates, but it'll sort itself over time.

 

[mhardy6647]

It will pass, humankind just isn't really mentally mature enough for the internet. People are learning though, lots of people growing weary of the clickbait and deliberate division. Have to remember, the internet is a very new phenomenon when it comes to mass use like it is nowadays. I know many who realise reviews are marketing hype, news has become clickbait and extreme bias etc etc. People are learning and eventually the internet will get past this phase as new outlets for news and reviews among other things pop up that are clearly more transparent and factual, like here at ASR for instance. Some people learn at different rates, but it'll sort itself over time.

I'd like to think this is accurate.
Consider (in the US, at least), the infancy of television. Pro wrestling, roller derby, and Uncle Milty. Yeah, Ernie Kovacs, too, thankfully. But, on the whole -- not a pretty sight.
Of course, TV today is a wonderland. Oh, wait... my mistake.

 

[egellings]

I'd like to think this is accurate.
Consider (in the US, at least), the infancy of television. Pro wrestling, roller derby, and Uncle Milty. Yeah, Ernie Kovacs, too, thankfully. But, on the whole -- not a pretty sight.
Of course, TV today is a wonderland. Oh, wait... my mistake.

Whatever draws money will get aired on commercial TV. It's a race to the bottom.

 

[Philbo King]

Have people's opinions always been so extreme or is it something new brought on by the internet, the quest to review everything?
20+ years ago I don't remember people's opinions being so much of "Why does this product even exist?" or "The most amazing..." or "The most terrible..." Yet now those three lines start an abundance of youtube videos, posts on forums and online reviews. Have people gotten more extreme in the level of their opinions because that is what gets them clicks and responses online?
It really seems like there was a time when a lot more responses would have been "yeah, it's pretty good" or "I'm not a fan of that" instead of "It is the most spectacular..." or "What kind of person would buy something so terrible"

Two words:
Click bait

 

[egellings]

Two words:
Click bait

Also, the rise of the 'influencer'.

 

[Snarfie]

In Holland an probably in other countries you have the Tweakers website. For advise/opinions i use this site a lot. Good arguments normal discussions multiple opinions. No commercial insentives like advertisements Click baits etc.

 

[mhardy6647]

Also, the rise of the 'influencer'.

Yeah, what a concept. I mean, there have always been influential people, but it wasn't a viable profession BITD.

 

[DesertRatt]

1. People are trying to rise above a growing noise level for attention in a nation of siloed individuals.
2. Money is being made on clicks, looks, searches, and eye movement.
3. Anonymous actors want to play roles they wouldn't play in real life: The Enforcer, the Naysayer, the Oracle, the Beast, whatever.

 

[Chr1]

Hopefully, as yet undiscovered intelligence from elsewhere will save us from ourselves...

Most likely not. But the idea helps keep me sane.

 

[Chr1]

I sometimes think that the human race could actually be regressing now, and therefore perhaps we will just end up tadpoles in a swamp again.

(WTF. Till then, I will pour myself a bourbon, kick back and enjoy the music... hoping that AI or a miss-pressed button doesn't vapourise us all first!)

 

[mhardy6647]

I am just me. Pretty one dimensional.

 

[D2013]

20+ years ago the average person was subjected to a much smaller set of opinions than they are today.

• friends
• family
• work peers
• what they read in magazines & books
• what they heard on the radio
• what the watched on tv
• maybe some nit wit ranting on a street corner once in a blue moon

Today they are subjected to all of the above plus

• Forums that cover every possible subject
• social media
• spam email
• online commerce

Amazons review are pretty annoying today! Every nitwit and their brother complains about everything under the sun, even when it's their own damn fault. A few months back I was looking at tvs and i came across a review for an 85" model. The woman claimed it was far to big and heavy............

In short I think its because we are exposed to far more people today than we would have to be in the past!

 

[Philbo King]

IQ - tricky business...
"Look around you. Half the people you see are below average IQ" - Paraphrased from George Carlin

And it isn't getting better:

Global IQ: 1950-2050

Global IQ: 1950-2050

www.fourmilab.ch

 

[kemmler3D]

Have people's opinions always been so extreme or is it something new brought on by the internet,

It's absolutely been brought on by the internet, or more specifically, a few of the "big tech" firms have caused it, probably first and foremost YouTube and Facebook, but also Google and the rest of the social media platforms (Reddit, etc.) to an extent.

All of these platforms reward the content creators for engagement, i.e. whether or not people spend time looking at and interacting with a video / post.

They put absolutely no weight on the truthfulness or usefulness of the content. Just whether people click on it and look at it.

This is because advertisers pay for eyeballs and clicks - not eyeballs and clicks that come from the proximity of sane, useful content.

The (predictable) result is that content creators, in search of a bigger slice of the revenue pie, engage in an escalating war of sensationalism. Every opinion is extreme, everything is either the best or worst of all time, "god tier" or "shit tier", etc.

What's worse, is a lot of folks are willing to turn this from a game into a war. No rules or principles, just money. So the content itself is simply false. Sometimes they make obvious mistakes on purpose to get people to comment and point out the mistake. Sometimes they rate beloved things as awful for the same reason. Sometimes they just make stuff up out of whole cloth to get people riled up.

I am sure I don't need to point this out, but this doesn't stop with product reviews, it's also infected news and politics to a significant extent.

 

[Mikig]

I would be inclined to say that for these people the only news is in the title.

It is a common opinion that people in the world do not read beyond the first three lines, so the "thought not thought" is summed up in the title that is given, which only serves to be noticed and "sell" one's post.

If you notice, the articles never contain anything more than a banal technical data sheet or a banal story from a news agency, and the videos must be at least a certain number of minutes long, to be monetized...
unfortunately people are now only looking for the wow effect, so away with insults, misleading titles, and extreme opinions to be captivating….

unfortunately what is increasingly missing is reason, understood as intellect: a rare and poorly rewarded commodity due to an increasingly limited audience…..

 

[Chr1]

I reckon that social media has definitely exaserbated some of the negative attributes of the internet hugely. This has consequently had a knock on effect on most aspects of society (ie politics), such that we now find ourselves in a rather crazy, polarised post-truth world...

Definitely a downside of the internet in my opinion, and the main reason why I don't do social media.

 

[Mikig]

Sicuramente un lato negativo di internet secondo me, e il motivo principale per cui non faccio social media.

we are two!! released years ago...

 

[ta240]

Also, the rise of the 'influencer'.

influencer​

noun​

1. A salesperson you invite into your home on a regular basis to convince you your life is hollow without what they are offering.

It used to be that you'd encounter a few really talented salespeople in your life. Those ones that can sell anything to anyone and make the person feel like their life has improved greatly with the purchase. Now, instead of stumbling into them at a store or finding them at our front door, we go looking for them online. And like a truly gifted salesman they are seen as friends, experts or helpers, not salespeople who are moving product.

 

[egellings]

influencer​

noun​

1. A salesperson you invite into your home on a regular basis to convince you your life is hollow without what they are offering.

It used to be that you'd encounter a few really talented salespeople in your life. Those ones that can sell anything to anyone and make the person feel like their life has improved greatly with the purchase. Now, instead of stumbling into them at a store or finding them at our front door, we go looking for them online. And like a truly gifted salesman they are seen as friends, experts or helpers, not salespeople who are moving product.

Another word I like to use but is out of date is hoser. If you fall for what one of them offers, you've been hosed off.