As IF Times

Source: Facebook, Texas, China: Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Times

The recent Facebook drama has underscored the most sinister disease afflicting modern society.  E and O.  No, not Errors and Omissions, that boilerplate notice at the bottom of legal documents, I’m referring to Entitlement and Outrage, the drivers of most of the sensationalist news we see today.

A casual check of the day’s headlines will list various stories of someone’s imagined offences against accepted sensibilities, or of some concocted notion of a denied right.  Stories of people actually having their rights taken away, ie by being killed, are far less newsworthy than those concerning the horrific plight of those offended by an unfortunate choice of words.  It’s as if the entire population had been lulled into believing as children do, that fantasy trumps reality.

Look at the highly irrational debate on guns and gun rights.  While this is a topic for another discussion, there exists among many, a highly illogical view of guns.  For example, most of us have seen those decals affixed to the entrance of public buildings indicating no guns allowed on premises.  By implication, this means that the building is safe from guns. If this elegantly simple solution works, why not use the same idea and post “do not rob” signs on banks and 7-Elevens?

The recent outrage de jour is directed at Facebook, because apparently, data collected  from and freely submitted by users has been revealed to have been used for nefarious purposes;  apparently to help elect Donald Trump.  Some of us may recall that when the employment of social media techniques were used during the last president’s campaigns, it was characterized as innovative and brilliant.  But in the current context, people are outraged that their top secret images of cats, kids  and selfies at vacation spots and ‘dear diary’ entries are vulnerable to be used for commercial purposes!  Somehow, rights have been breached!

Let’s be objective and sane for a moment: People get a ‘service’ for free, Zuckerburg becomes a billionaire.  Wonder if there’s a connection there.  It’s like getting sandwiches for free and then complaining about the lack of mustard.

If only there was a way to prevent people’s personal stuff from being be pried into, spied upon and sold for financial gain; if only we could stop posting…if only there was an off button….hmm.   To stop using social media is of course, not an option.  Social media, internet access and NFL Redzone are now seen as rights. People now feel entitled to figuratively stand on their front lawns in their underwear and expect others not to look.  Mark Zuckerburg for his part, has been cowed by the indignant crowd by conceding that Facebook had failed their users.  Apologizing is a popular thing these days, whether genuine or not.  What he should have said was, “What did you expect for free? We’re not in the free lunch business.  If you want security, use paper.”

Source: Apple suffers embarrassing demo Face ID fail at iPhone X launch 

Without question, over the past decade, the smart phone has been the most influential product in the world eclipsing the personal computer, disposable diapers and likely the wheel for the number one spot.  An article was written years ago making light of the influence of phones, but in modern communities everywhere, smart phones and Iphones in particular, have achieved a must have status in society on the plane of Starbucks and bottled water.  Phones have attained the status of social jewelry.  Girls don’t compare rings, they compare phone versions.

From starting off as a mere convenience, smart phones have become an absolute necessity for most people.  We’ve all heard anecdotal stories of people suffering genuine panic at the thought of losing their phones and not only because they’re worth the cost of a few car payments.  These days, who doesn’t have their entire life story embedded in their phones, from pictures and videos to chat sites links, contact lists and passwords to various consumer sites?

People have undeniably become addicted to phone usage and this addiction has given rise to the popularity of social media companies that otherwise have no value.  Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram etc etc, all social equivalents of crack cocaine for the insatiable appetites of the Look At Me crowd.  You would think that having access to what everyone else is doing or thinking would be a boon to society.  I can argue that it is not.  Rather than expanding thought and knowledge, instead people have become more tribal as they divide themselves into camps of thought that align with their particular worldview and this is reinforced by others similarly opined, resulting in an echo chamber vortex.

As we’ve touched on before, anyone can create a sympathetic following for an issue, no matter how inane, just by virtue of being fleetingly famous.  Regardless of how inarticulate or erroneous a position may be, it can still draw in like-minded supporters as if they were Charles Manson devotees.  For a more comprehensive view of this phenomenon, read the classic work by Charles Mackay, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness Of Crowds.  Make no mistake, this is all crowd behavior.

Apple Phones have been the conduit of choice (mostly) for this tribal narcissism and on almost a yearly basis, the faithful line up for hours in fervid anticipation of the release of the newest iteration of the holy tool.  Recently, for the first time ever, the newest release, labeled X, has failed to generate the must have hysteria that accompanied every other iteration.

Maybe the product fails to offer new gee whiz features.  Maybe people don’t need to have a new device with only marginally newer features.  Maybe people don’t feel the need to spend four digits on an appliance.  Or maybe people have just decided…it’s only a phone.