“Many of us have decided we don’t want to be in bed, doom-scrolling"
January 30, 2025 11:13 AM Subscribe
I feel like we Elder Millennials lucked out in being born in the sweet spot: young enough to be proficient and comfortable with technology/social media but old enough that it wasn't basically the air we breathed since birth.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:22 AM on January 30 [30 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:22 AM on January 30 [30 favorites]
Flip phones just let you text and talk. It’s social media that eats all your time.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:26 AM on January 30 [23 favorites]
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:26 AM on January 30 [23 favorites]
If they're taking duckface selfies with their flip phones, they also haven't quite gotten the point.
posted by emelenjr at 11:36 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 11:36 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]
Wait wait wait, there's a rave scene in Philly?
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:42 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:42 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]
yeah I'd probably be off social media too if I was at college, who needs it when you're embedded in the social life of a school? you have so many peers to talk to and they're right there.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:56 AM on January 30 [8 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 11:56 AM on January 30 [8 favorites]
I love the Style section, love the Luddite teens, and am eagerly awaiting the next dispatch, "Luddite Teens at Work", in which one of them gets a job as a social media manager, while the other sells a sculpture of a Nokia for an absurd amount of money and all the divorced dads in the comment section have meltdowns over it.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:57 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 11:57 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]
Young people doing the best they can is all. Life in 2025 is corrosive as hell, so they may as well try something.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:17 PM on January 30 [35 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:17 PM on January 30 [35 favorites]
yeah but they're doing doing technology wrong wrong
posted by Gerald Bostock at 12:18 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
posted by Gerald Bostock at 12:18 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Young people doing the best they can is all. Life in 2025 is corrosive as hell, so they may as well try something.
This, 100%. Social media is toxic, it is terrible, and clearly I am not without sin. But I laud them for trying to make their lives as smartphone free as possible. But the mood in the US is itself so corrosive right now, that of course people still stumble over themselves to mock them.
posted by Kitteh at 12:24 PM on January 30 [20 favorites]
This, 100%. Social media is toxic, it is terrible, and clearly I am not without sin. But I laud them for trying to make their lives as smartphone free as possible. But the mood in the US is itself so corrosive right now, that of course people still stumble over themselves to mock them.
posted by Kitteh at 12:24 PM on January 30 [20 favorites]
Holy shit. People commenting on the internet about how Luddite teens aren't proper Luddites. There is an entire onion of self-awareness here waiting to be picked apart.
posted by phooky at 12:30 PM on January 30 [37 favorites]
posted by phooky at 12:30 PM on January 30 [37 favorites]
If we really want to get into what makes an actual Luddite, the reason the Luddites were anti-technology wasn't because technology=bad, it was because Luddites opposed the way technology and the resulting market system were already making their lives worse.
I don't think Luddites who magically time-travelled would be all lol, they have flip phones and things that plug in so much as they would throw themselves off of fucking bridges at the thought of vast, ultimately unknowable technological systems woven inextricably into every aspect of human life.
And the ones who didn't end it all from despair might try something like these kids after they settled in. Well, that or a manifesto, a cabin, and a problematic utilization of the postal system.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:35 PM on January 30 [21 favorites]
I don't think Luddites who magically time-travelled would be all lol, they have flip phones and things that plug in so much as they would throw themselves off of fucking bridges at the thought of vast, ultimately unknowable technological systems woven inextricably into every aspect of human life.
And the ones who didn't end it all from despair might try something like these kids after they settled in. Well, that or a manifesto, a cabin, and a problematic utilization of the postal system.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:35 PM on January 30 [21 favorites]
If you want a better idea of what the original Luddites were about.
DirtyOldTown is right, it wasn't about "technology=bad". They were protesting against the use of technology (in their case, labor saving looms) that endangered their livelihoods and disrupted their communities.
Like William Morris, they're remembered incorrectly by history. Both Morris and the Luddites were interested in empowered communities that had control of their own destinies, and none of them were necessarily opposed to technology that allowed this kind of autonomy.
In this sense, a flip phone alternative to a smart phone is very much in the Luddite tradition, because it empowers an individual rather than using an individual for the further empowerment and enrichment of faceless strangers.
posted by Joan Rivers of Babylon at 12:45 PM on January 30 [24 favorites]
DirtyOldTown is right, it wasn't about "technology=bad". They were protesting against the use of technology (in their case, labor saving looms) that endangered their livelihoods and disrupted their communities.
Like William Morris, they're remembered incorrectly by history. Both Morris and the Luddites were interested in empowered communities that had control of their own destinies, and none of them were necessarily opposed to technology that allowed this kind of autonomy.
In this sense, a flip phone alternative to a smart phone is very much in the Luddite tradition, because it empowers an individual rather than using an individual for the further empowerment and enrichment of faceless strangers.
posted by Joan Rivers of Babylon at 12:45 PM on January 30 [24 favorites]
Good for them.
I am more and more convinced that smartphones should be banned from all classrooms, and social media should probably be illegal for minors to use.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:25 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
I am more and more convinced that smartphones should be banned from all classrooms, and social media should probably be illegal for minors to use.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:25 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
“Sometimes I think I sound a little crazy to Philly people,” she said. “Because I’m always like, ‘I’m alive. You’re alive. It’s beautiful..."
I mean admittedly I can see where this is a hard sell in Philadelphia.
(I kid, I kid...Philly, never stop being Philly.)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:00 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
I mean admittedly I can see where this is a hard sell in Philadelphia.
(I kid, I kid...Philly, never stop being Philly.)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:00 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: an entire onion of self-awareness here waiting to be picked apart.
posted by loquacious at 2:07 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
posted by loquacious at 2:07 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
“Raves are big in Philly, and it’s a big part of student life at Temple,” she said. “You can end up in the middle of nowhere in some abandoned building for the rave everyone’s going to. I can’t go if I don’t know I’ll get home safely.”
I'm echoing grumpybear69 in confusion about the Philly rave scene but also wondering if this young person is missing out on a major part of the pre-phone experience of going to live events, especially raves!
posted by knile at 2:25 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
I'm echoing grumpybear69 in confusion about the Philly rave scene but also wondering if this young person is missing out on a major part of the pre-phone experience of going to live events, especially raves!
posted by knile at 2:25 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
My older kid is 13 but strongly prefers having small friend groups so social media doesn't hold much interest for her yet. She'll be in high school next year so while she's social media free right now I'm waiting for that other shoe to drop.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:26 PM on January 30
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:26 PM on January 30
yeah I'd probably be off social media too if I was at college, who needs it when you're embedded in the social life of a school? you have so many peers to talk to and they're right there.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:56 AM on January 30 [3 favorites]
One would think, but a friend's daughter enrolled at Florida State a few years ago. At the pre-freshman year Summer Orientation, the parents and prospective students were sitting in a giant conference room. The students were taken out to go look at their dorm rooms or something, and the orientation leader got up and said, "Alright, parents: in about 4-6 weeks after school starts, you're probably going to get a text from your kid that says, 'I'm lonely! I want to come home! I don't have any friends!' Ask them if they know the names of the students in the dorm rooms on either side of their room, or the one across the hall from their room. They won't, so tell them that they can't come home until they introduce themselves to their immediate dorm neighbors."
"You would think that a lot of these kids would seize this opportunity to meet other kids just like them, far away from the watchful eyes and prying questions of their parents. But a lot of them just sit in their dorm rooms on social media with their friends from high school."
posted by Kibbutz at 2:36 PM on January 30 [18 favorites]
Artifice_Eternity: I am more and more convinced that smartphones should be banned from all classrooms
That's a good idea. So good, in fact, that it's starting to be implemented. Relevant article here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:13 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
That's a good idea. So good, in fact, that it's starting to be implemented. Relevant article here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:13 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
but also wondering if this young person is missing out on a major part of the pre-phone experience of going to live events, especially raves!
Um. Pre-cell phones, a lot of especially young women didn’t get home from raves, parties, and similar events “safely” without undesired or traumatic events along the way.
posted by eviemath at 3:37 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]
Um. Pre-cell phones, a lot of especially young women didn’t get home from raves, parties, and similar events “safely” without undesired or traumatic events along the way.
posted by eviemath at 3:37 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]
People commenting on the internet about how Luddite teens aren't proper Luddites.
Look, when I as young, at least we knew enough to throw our sabots into the gears! Kids today, with their flip phones, what do they know?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:22 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
Look, when I as young, at least we knew enough to throw our sabots into the gears! Kids today, with their flip phones, what do they know?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:22 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]
> If they’re all carrying flip phones, I feel they haven’t quite gotten the point.
Expand on that. What do you think the point is? The point, that is, of the club that they made up? Do you think you have more insight into this club than they do? Or did you make a side comment because you want to get some likes on the internet?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:39 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Expand on that. What do you think the point is? The point, that is, of the club that they made up? Do you think you have more insight into this club than they do? Or did you make a side comment because you want to get some likes on the internet?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:39 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Another good book on Luddism, albeit a pretty dense one, is Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant. He draws some lines from the conditions during the Industrial Revolution that lead to the Luddite movement to the conditions we’re facing today re: tech billionaires, labour issues, etc.
I think it’s laudable that these younger people have developed a level of mindfulness about their technology use. All our efforts to do the same are destined to be imperfect. But none of it is an all or nothing effort. Just doing what we can in any amount.
posted by eekernohan at 6:50 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]
I think it’s laudable that these younger people have developed a level of mindfulness about their technology use. All our efforts to do the same are destined to be imperfect. But none of it is an all or nothing effort. Just doing what we can in any amount.
posted by eekernohan at 6:50 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]
Good for these kids. Good for any kid today trying to seize a self-aware life away from the plate of hot shit they've been handed as a world to grow up in.
posted by Rykey at 7:45 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
posted by Rykey at 7:45 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
I've had many conversations with teens and I have to say there is a lot of hope for humanity.
They're completely opposed to social media, they can't stand loneliness and they love to connect. I've seen a few talk about joint families being great.
If the teens I've spoken to are representative of the general teen population, this is just great news for society as a whole.
posted by mahadevan at 7:46 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
They're completely opposed to social media, they can't stand loneliness and they love to connect. I've seen a few talk about joint families being great.
If the teens I've spoken to are representative of the general teen population, this is just great news for society as a whole.
posted by mahadevan at 7:46 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
My college sophomore is one of these. He deleted all his social apps. Knows how to make digital media, but favorite job since high school was doing yardwork for the elderly. Now it's working at a daycare. Resistant to consumer culture. Loves making food from scratch. Head screwed on right. Couldn't be more proud.
posted by fubar at 8:20 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
posted by fubar at 8:20 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
Social media: threat or menace?
God knows that there are problems with being online all day! But...
There are teenagers whose use of social media is saving their lives, literally, as in they aren't killing themselves because they have online friends and resources. It would be nice if their mental health was taken into account more often in this sort of discussion.
I like neuroscientist Dean Burnett's takes on smartphones and social media, which are essentially "it's all more complicated, but the tech isn't actually the main problem" - a couple of blogposts responding to specific newspaper articles and pointing out how they're misrepresenting the science; No, smartphones are not rotting your brain and What smartphones are doing to children's mental health is not terrifying".
(This 2019 article in Nature Human Behaviour found "The association we find between digital technology use and adolescent well-being is negative but small, explaining at most 0.4% of the variation in well-being. Taking the broader context of the data into account suggests that these effects are too small to warrant policy change.")
posted by Shark Hat at 4:05 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]
God knows that there are problems with being online all day! But...
There are teenagers whose use of social media is saving their lives, literally, as in they aren't killing themselves because they have online friends and resources. It would be nice if their mental health was taken into account more often in this sort of discussion.
I like neuroscientist Dean Burnett's takes on smartphones and social media, which are essentially "it's all more complicated, but the tech isn't actually the main problem" - a couple of blogposts responding to specific newspaper articles and pointing out how they're misrepresenting the science; No, smartphones are not rotting your brain and What smartphones are doing to children's mental health is not terrifying".
(This 2019 article in Nature Human Behaviour found "The association we find between digital technology use and adolescent well-being is negative but small, explaining at most 0.4% of the variation in well-being. Taking the broader context of the data into account suggests that these effects are too small to warrant policy change.")
posted by Shark Hat at 4:05 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]
I don't think Luddites who magically time-travelled would be all lol
they might all be lollards [letsgopeakdistrict]...
> we knew enough to throw our sabots into the gears! Kids today, with their flip phones, what do they know?
flip phones work fine for stopping gears in a machine
(& they're less expensive, so it's easier to walk away)
posted by HearHere at 6:36 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
they might all be lollards [letsgopeakdistrict]...
> we knew enough to throw our sabots into the gears! Kids today, with their flip phones, what do they know?
flip phones work fine for stopping gears in a machine
(& they're less expensive, so it's easier to walk away)
posted by HearHere at 6:36 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
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