Thread: Raise the bar on 'fake' social media

Letter to the Editor - USA TODAY

Raise the bar on 'fake' social media

Terry Friedlander - Ketchum, Idaho

I may be a senior citizen and computer illiterate, but I have attempted to engage in social media, only to find myself falling into the trap of being self-serving and into the phoniness of pretending to be interested in what friends and strangers may think ("Social media is ushering in the death of authenticity," The Forum, Jan. 20).

The instant Tweet and the more lasting Facebook postings are nothing more than the continuing dehumanization and isolation of the individual from personal contact and real conversation. Commentary writer Teddy Wayne has nailed these social sites for what they really are: annunciated postmillennial messages that are hollow, sardonic and inane.

I am not against technology or the toys that accompany its emergence. I am for raising the bar with the intent of adding a touch of literacy to this new form of communication. "Fake" isn't my idea of dialogue or time well-spent.

Posted at 12:08 AM/ET, January 29, 2010 in Letter to the editor, Technology - Letters

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/01/ ... PageReturn

We could raise the bar on 'fake' news articles

by eliminating the one's written by bloggers living in their mother's basements.

Short and sweet.