this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024
1954 points (98.3% liked)

Microblog Memes

5353 readers
3031 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

Rules:

  1. Please put at least one word relevant to the post in the post title.
  2. Be nice.
  3. No advertising, brand promotion or guerilla marketing.
  4. Posters are encouraged to link to the toot or tweet etc in the description of posts.

Related communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 88 points 1 month ago (5 children)

For me it's that I don't want short form video anywhere near my view.

I went to a bar for a drink the other day. They had TVs all over the place which I normally don't care for but it looked like golf or something I could just ignore. After I ordered my drink I realized how wrong was.

It was actually some weird short form video TV channel. They croped the 16:9 screen into a 1:1 square with moving neon lines in the "empty space" where there was no video. Each video was about 5 seconds long and showed brainless content of people using a Rube Goldburg machine or doing card tricks and other such nonsense.

Once I realized what was happening it was too late as I got my drink and I felt compelled to finish it and pay. I tried to ignore the 5+ screens in my view but they were too big and eye-catching to really ignore. I kept catching myself looking at one of the screens after a minute or so. I felt like I was getting serotonin raped between ads.

Eventually I moved to sit by a window and stare at a tree. I'll never go back to a bar like that again.

[–] Hackworth@lemmy.world 31 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

This reads like a cyberpunk vignette; I enjoyed it. Thank you. I've started to take note when something decidedly cyberpunk happens in day-to-day life. I make a lot of notes.

[–] domdanial@reddthat.com 11 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

I could increase the cyberpunk feeling by turning the TVs off with a flipper zero. I haven't felt the need to yet but it's always an option.

[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 11 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Remember when phones had ir transmitters

[–] domdanial@reddthat.com 4 points 4 weeks ago

I was so jealous of my dad's HTC one, haha.

[–] primrosepathspeedrun@lemmy.world 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

that's the direction we all need to be moving, if we're going to survive/avert the water wars.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

That's an idea...

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Extrapolating a bit, here are the next steps

  • screens in places where people might look at an ad will all have built in image recognition and eye-tracking.
  • an algorithm/model will calculate the number of people within view and an acceptable level of eyes on screen per minute (or some other time increment tbd by an industry leading marketing psychologist) depending on the task they are doing.
  • the algorithm/model can also calculate the local demographic
  • the short format video content can be easily tweaked to improve engagement. If the racing crash clips aren't generating enough engagement, then it can try indoor cat clips.
  • when the eye to screen levels are at or above minimum advertising levels, display an ad that would best match the target demographic that the advertiser set. The ad contents will also match the actions of the local population.
[–] Hackworth@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

Certainly. Having worked in advertising for 25 years, that's probably just phase one. Those short videos will eventually be different for each person seeing the screen... and largely A.I. generated with few humans in the loop. In the flip side, people will probably be able to program their smart glasses to hide all that shit. It's an arms race over our attention already. See: Trudell's "mined mind." Or Bo Burnham, for that matter.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

CHILI'S IS ABLEIST AND HAS LITTLE SCREENS KN EVERY DAMN TABLE THAT DISTRACT ME.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 4 weeks ago

I went to a restaurant awhile ago and they told me to order using the little screen on the table. I said "no thanks" and left.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

It's like a race to the bottom.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

I have this exact same reaction.

[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm a grumpy bastard and hate similar things but honestly, this doesn't sound so bad that I'd be particularly bothered by it or leave if I hadn't already ordered that beer. It's just wallpaper. If I was by myself I'd probably appreciate it on some level and if I'm with other people I'd likely stop noticing. Overall I think I'd probably prefer the bar not have them at all but it's really not that bad.

Loud sports or music that can fuck right off but otherwise, meh.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 6 points 4 weeks ago

Normally I would agree with you. But they had these 50" screens in every direction except for down. I was literally staring at the floor in an attempt not to look at them. The swirling colorful "boarders" of the short format square video was eye catching enough. But with the video changing scenes every 5 seconds it was a similar effect to the Eisenstein editing style in Battleship Potemkin. The screens were screaming at you to stare at it.

It was also just total garbage content, the type of stuff I left reddit for. It was just a step above what Americans of the future watched in Idiocracy. It was truly a bizarre experience for me and also one of the most "boomer" moments I've had. Although out of everyone else in the bar, only the boomers were happily watching the short format video.