[OfSanguineFire]

> it will never replace sitting next to someone and them showing you photos

It definitely does replace that. It sucks so much to be trapped next to someone showing you their photo album or vacation slides, when you don’t really care, that this became a stock scene in 20th-century comedy TV series and films. Nowadays when people are sharing their photos online, that gives their peers the choice of whether to look or whether to ignore, and that is immensely freeing.

[ecshafer]

The photo slide show of someone's vacation was a stock scene in comedies. But have you never sat down with family and went through old photos? Having conversations about where was that? who was this? who was this as a baby? Its a very different and much more personal experience than flipping through facebook.

[TedDoesntTalk]

He cherry-picked one of the three examples in your post and attacked it. He won't choose the other two because he has no argument for them. Ignore.

[c0pium]

Sure have, it’s hellacious. I don’t give a fuck about who that baby was, why would I? Relations who my parents only vaguely remember going somewhere boring that I would never go, or someone’s 12th trip to the same lake, is a great use for Facebook. Most people are crazy boring, if I care I can always ask.

[lolinder]

To quote a GP comment:

> But most tech advancements I think have been harmful to society in the last 30 years or so.

I thought this was overly cynical until I read your comment. Now I'm not so sure. Has our attention span really become so shot that just being with family has become a chore, and we'd rather our parents just post their life stories into the void that is Facebook?

[c0pium]

Sounds like I struck a nerve. Next time you’re telling someone a detailed story about what route you took to dinner, stop and ask yourself if it’s actually that interesting.

Seriously though, technology has nothing to do with this. People have been bored out of their mind by other people for centuries, the only difference is there’s no excuse for having nothing interesting to say now.

[mathgeek]

You’re talking about _being shown_ photos you don’t care about, while GP is talking about showing your own photos to someone. I agree with the example you’re discussing, though.

[c0pium]

Ah, you’re talking about main character syndrome. Showing pictures to someone is one of the cruelest things you can do; you’re probably boring and a terrible storyteller (most people are) but they’re going to feel obligated to not tell you that.

It’s always amazing to me that people almost universally hate other people’s slideshows, and then don’t have the self awareness to realize that they do the exact same thing.

[edgarvaldes]

>Showing pictures to someone is one of the cruelest things you can do

So you are saying that friends, family and significant others better no share old photos and memories with you? Because that is one of the cruelest things to do?

[OfSanguineFire]

They can share those old photos and memories on social media, where their friends, families, and significant others can choose whether to look or ignore it.

[mathgeek]

That’s not what I’m talking about, just for clarity.