The Internet and social media in general have allowed all who have access to these electronic forms of communication to become critiques and voice their opinions, right or wrong, with a great deal of anonymity and, hence, without personal loss of reputation or negative consequences of one's character. We've become anesthetized and tolerant to "character assignations" and there is no long any "shock value" to what we see and here within these electronic platforms of communication.
It has also reduced one's personal privacy to a level of non-existence. With the advent of smartphone cameras and hand-held access to the Internet, you and I are subject to anyone's photographic endeavor and subsequent posting to YouTube or the like for whatever reason, and you may not even know it. Many personal careers and professional reputations have been damaged because of their personal-free-time-having-fun antics being posted on such media. HR professionals do not even want to talk to someone who is not within some Facebook or Linked-In group because they want to you to be communicating to the world what you are doing, and hence, we know a little bit about you and can make a character assessment and determine work environment compatibility without even meeting you face-to-face. it's just the way business is today: you gotta be "out there" or you are a non-entity in today's society.
Like any technology, it is both blessing and curse. The blessing is that we have access to more information than ever before. The curse is that we do not have to remember what seems to us "mundane information". From history to geography: dates, people, and locations are irrelevant to our knowing and remembering. Is it any wonder why we do not give direction to those who ask "how do I get there?" or do not know how Hitler rose to power in 1930's Germany. It has become our memory for us. We don't have to KNOW the answer; it's somewhere on the Internet, just few taps of the keyboard within a search engine, and volae!, you have the answer. (Try playing a Scrabble word game with a young person without a smartphone to look for possible word combinations with letters they've chosen; it's not a game to them then. Win anyway you can; you just don't have to use your mind, just how to use technology that's available.)
I will say that for myself, it has made detailing more productive and better for me. I would not have known about all the great products, tools, and techniques for detailing had it not been for the fellow Autopians within this forum who have so willingly posted their photos and typed out extensively detailed experiences and explanations. In that respect, I am indebted to many of you, even though I have never met any of you face-to-face. The downside it that I want my details to look as good, even better, than yours; but all the envy in the world will not replace lack of ability and expertise that so many of you possess. Doesn't mean I cannot try, but that's a whole different forum topic. Don't even get me started on why so-called detailing wannabe '"experts or professionals" details will NEVER look like the one's posted within this forum.
It has also reduced one's personal privacy to a level of non-existence. With the advent of smartphone cameras and hand-held access to the Internet, you and I are subject to anyone's photographic endeavor and subsequent posting to YouTube or the like for whatever reason, and you may not even know it. Many personal careers and professional reputations have been damaged because of their personal-free-time-having-fun antics being posted on such media. HR professionals do not even want to talk to someone who is not within some Facebook or Linked-In group because they want to you to be communicating to the world what you are doing, and hence, we know a little bit about you and can make a character assessment and determine work environment compatibility without even meeting you face-to-face. it's just the way business is today: you gotta be "out there" or you are a non-entity in today's society.
Like any technology, it is both blessing and curse. The blessing is that we have access to more information than ever before. The curse is that we do not have to remember what seems to us "mundane information". From history to geography: dates, people, and locations are irrelevant to our knowing and remembering. Is it any wonder why we do not give direction to those who ask "how do I get there?" or do not know how Hitler rose to power in 1930's Germany. It has become our memory for us. We don't have to KNOW the answer; it's somewhere on the Internet, just few taps of the keyboard within a search engine, and volae!, you have the answer. (Try playing a Scrabble word game with a young person without a smartphone to look for possible word combinations with letters they've chosen; it's not a game to them then. Win anyway you can; you just don't have to use your mind, just how to use technology that's available.)
I will say that for myself, it has made detailing more productive and better for me. I would not have known about all the great products, tools, and techniques for detailing had it not been for the fellow Autopians within this forum who have so willingly posted their photos and typed out extensively detailed experiences and explanations. In that respect, I am indebted to many of you, even though I have never met any of you face-to-face. The downside it that I want my details to look as good, even better, than yours; but all the envy in the world will not replace lack of ability and expertise that so many of you possess. Doesn't mean I cannot try, but that's a whole different forum topic. Don't even get me started on why so-called detailing wannabe '"experts or professionals" details will NEVER look like the one's posted within this forum.