Your parents sounded like my late mother. She never liked blue jeans as her generation associated it with hard labor. Later on - she reluctantly agreed.
We were never allowed to chew gum. Now, my sister and I aged 40's - 60's still don't chew gums. With the possible exception, if at all, during plane takeoffs. Takes a little of the ear ache when flying. Whether scientific or imagined.
As fir technology it's as good as the user and the recipient. Pick and chose wisely. I have great admiration for the German's discipline. My parents sent us to private schools in ran by German nuns in the Philippines.
"I remember thorough debates about the pros and cons of cellphones, long after they were part of the everyday American landscape."
Herr Bittner: at least there *were* such debates in Germany. Not to gratuitously bash my culture, but the majority of Americans tend to adopt technology, eagerly, *without* discussion, consideration of the consequences, or a second thought.
9
I love Germany, don't get me wrong, but it is hardly true that 'Germany today is one of the world’s most innocent.'
I would hardly say that Merkel was innocent when:
-she squeezed Greece to death with severe austerity measures, on behalf of the German bankers.
-she invited a mass migration of migrants from a continent away, where austerity-stricken Greece was the first country of entry, and was hard pressed to cope with the completely chaotic mass migration.
-she demanded that Hungary, Poland, and other eastern EU countries accept the migrant quota dictated by Merkel, the very migrants that Merkel alone and without consulting with other member states, invited.
-some of these migrants turned on the hosts and committed mass sexual assaults, terrorism, rapes, rapes/murders.
-her police force and news outlets, who are very sympathetic to her, implemented a defacto news black-out of some of these crimes and definitely many lesser crimes.
-conservative governments (Poland, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia) were elected in many states in the EU, as a counter to her ill-fated decision to open the borders wide open; she most likely tipped the scale for the Brexit vote as well.
As long as Merkel is the leader of Germany, even if hanging on by a thread, please do not kid yourself about German innocence.
4
@Philly
No offense. But comments like this makes me wonder if you are able to read anything other than the American Press.
Needless to say Chancellor Merkel's humanitarian decision in 2015, to welcome war-torn Syrian refugees to Germany has greatly changed the demographics and politics of Europe -- but it is extremely short-sighted to blame her for everything. Especially since the introduction of the Euro as a common currency, and the Schengen Agreement are equally to blame for what is happening over there now.
My suggestion:
First look at what's happening here in the U.S. before you start throwing stones.
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@N. Smith
I doubt that Merkel’s unilateral decision admitting a mass stampede of unknown, unvetted migrants into Germany was guided by “humanitarian” considerations. Colossal ignorance and hubris were the more likely reasons.
1
Probably one reason that Twitter has a bad reputation in Germany is that they know Trump uses it.
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@Charlesbalpha You made me chuckle
2
The problem with any kind of computer based communication, if email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, text, or any other tool, is simple: People say things via electronic communication that they would never, ever, voice face to face. It's real simple to curse at someone via a text message, Twitter, or state disparaging things by posting to a forum - look at President Trump. It's much harder, and more personal, to do that in person. Unfortunately, anonymity allows racist and bigots to fan the flames without being tempered by face to face interactions.
5
I'm not German, but I was married to one for 20 years and I've spent at least a couple of weeks per year visiting Germany during every one of those 20 years. My half German son attends an international boarding school in Germany, so I still get to visit the country every year during school breaks. I say all this to say that I think that I know the German mentality pretty well. Germans are hard working, industrious, ambitious, family-oriented, socially responsible and, above all, sensible. Germans are very proud of their ability to do the sensible thing. My thinking is that many Germans don't do social media because, if they want to catch up with a friend or family member, they just do the sensible thing. They pick up the phone and call them, or hop on one of their wonderfully efficient and reliable modes of public transportation, and just go see them in person. They also, sensibly, want to limit the amount of their personal information that could possibly fall into the wrong hands, or could come back to bite them in the future. By the way, that is exactly the reason why I'm not on Facebook.
13
Perhaps we should remember a few years back to NYE 2015/16. Hundreds of women were assaulted and the police did little or nothing to protect these women. How much coverage of this shameful incident was in either German newspapers or mainstream media? It was largely foreign tourists in Cologne at the time who actually got this story out. The media in Germany is entirely too biased toward the government’s position. When a mass murderer was at large for several days, most German media pixilated his image! Why? When someone questions the sanity of the The present government’s unilateral decisions, they are ignored or branded as xenophobic. It is social media that is giving the German people the chance to speak out - and that is something Germany desperately needs at this point.
6
Twitter is a competition for what the “conversation” should be and who gets to be a part of it.
1
When I started reading about Europe's refugee situation, I believe it was around 2014, and major media news coverage was nearly 100% pro-immigration.
To me, it seemed as though the European media was incredibly biased, and unwilling to provide moderate conservatives a platform at all.
Brexit was similar; if you were pro-Brexit you "were a racist," essentially.
So forgive me if I'm unsympathetic to your argument. It looks to me like "your kind" wants to ruthlessly control the terms of the conversation. American media types have the same thing in mind, like The Atlantic, when it closed down the comment section.
It's as though, if major media outlets can't control the narrative, they seek to discourage peoples' ability to speak at all.
8
I'm not terribly sympathetic to the argument that "conservatives" don't have a voice. It's simply not true. In the main, Brexit is about racism, as any cursory glance at UK tabloids would attest.
What you seem to find intolerable is not entirely controlling every single news media on earth. And in a world of Brexits, Trumps and Putins I'm happy you and Rupert Murdoch have not managed to snuff out news reporting entirely.
The hypocritical whining of (self proclaimed) "conservatives" would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic and perverse.
1
Look at the man sitting in the White House.
4
Thanks for such a nuanced, thoughtful piece. I think, however, that you overestimate the impact of social media on American society.
Only 24% of Americans are on Twitter, and the majority of them are not daily users. That means 76% of us are NOT tweeting. Facebook usage rates are higher, but again there are hundreds of millions of us who rarely or never use the site. (Stats from the Pew Research Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/). Our reasons for avoidance vary, but many of us share the same German qualms you describe. As one such social media luddite, I avoid it mostly out of boredom: the vast majority of social media content I've seen is unoriginal, uninspiring self promotion -- or as my tweeting friends might say, #basic.
So worry, but don't worry too much. And don't bother to Tweet about it...most of us aren't listening.
6
Very reasonable, thoughtful and prudent. But it seems a bit German-centric (i.e. nationalistic), to me. I wonder if Germany, in particular, is late in adopting social media platforms, compared to other European countries. This may not be just a German situation.
2
Headline: "The country is late to Twitter and Facebook — but it hasn’t learned from other countries’ mistakes."
Article: "Being late to the social media party has allowed Germans to learn from others’ mistakes."
Imho, social media has removed any and all barriers to society making huge mistakes rooted in mob mentality. It's the living embodiment of the Gadarene swine fallacy writ large, and unless reined in will be the death of the western democracies and millions of people. Trump's twitter feed makes Orwell's "two minutes hate" look like a cub scout meeting.
8
"Germans exude a quiet, stolid sense of obligation to a brighter, more integrated future at home and internationally. "
Excuse me sir, have you asked any non-white expats in Germany how they feel about this?
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Alright Mr. Bittner, but what do you propose now?
I give you a hint: Your paper - Die ZEIT/ZON - has made a big contribution to the politization of social media in Germany. ZON had been one of the main outlets of a extremely pro-refugee coverage, to put it mildly. Many comments not in conformity with this policy from all sides were suppressed by a harsh moderation regime particularly in 2015/2016. I don´t want to go into details here. Because of this strict gatekeeping function different opinions made their way to alternative outlets and found it in non-moderated "social medias". These were regarded as "asoziale Medien" (antisocial media) long time ago and not so popular. But there was no other option and so "retired old white men" found fun there. Parties or NGO´s back it because it´s the easiest way to overwhelm ordinary people by numbers and by bullying to create virtual social media majorities for winning the typical "antisocial media war of attrition". Reasonable people don´t have so much time and will to deal with that weird propaganda stuff night and day.
And now look to USA:
Who has been the most succesful "political social media" king? Mr. Trump! He had realised strict sidelining by most of mainstream American media gatekeepers at that time, he was bright enough to understand the game and how to get over, he had time without limits, an overwhelming TV star popularity, unconditional drive to win enough money and the true behavior of a modern "social media legend".
7
Trump also lost the popular vote and is only President of a country with a Republican congress because of voter suppression, an ineffective SCOTUS, gerrymandered districts and wealth concentration worthy of a banana republic. In other words, a swamp Trump is enlarging daily.
So what's your point again? Or are you simply celebrating the despot's path to power?
2
Frankly spoken; I understand neither the title nor the logic of this article.
Bittner wrote, "...but it hasn’t learned from other countries’ mistakes". That might be true or not if one is going to see all different citizens of a country as one solid block. But such a view doesn't make any sense. Individuals use Twitter not "countries".
One more thing: Let's assume that ignoring Social Media is written by choice instead of uninformed reluctance. The core mistake in this article is to think that a high rate of using social media is a sign of quality or progress. But it isn't. The opposite is the case. Let's don't forget that Germans are well aware of what happens if someone grasps uncontrolled as much private information as he can. They've experienced such situations twice. It was called "Third Reich" and "GDR (Russian controlled East Germany)."
2
The pundits can not be that wise when the fail to promote their intentions in 140 letters.
280
1
Germans will be doing themselves a great favor if they stay away from social media like Facebook. If you must use it, I’d stick to pet videos or pictures of the Weisswurst you had for lunch. “Discourse” is impossible — the platforms simply do not offer enough “bandwidth” for any kind of real discussion. The particular bubble I inhabited was mostly populated by fellow college-educated liberals, who are just as likely to believe baloney (sorry, another sausage reference) as anyone else. And forget Twitter. Some long German compound words wouldn’t even fit in a Tweet. Plus, you always have to remember to leave room for a verb at the end, or leave readers desperate for resolution. Just say Nein! to social media. You’re my favorite European country and I want you to stay that way.
5
Germany, like everyone else will soon realize, if they haven't already, the pitfalls of using social media platforms without taking responsibility for what they're saying.
Willkommen.
4
@N. Smith
You know our famous German philosopher Jürgen Klopp, also known as "Kloppo" to the initiates?
His latest ingenious aphorism goes:
"Look, I think my smartest decision in life was not to use social media."
He also gave full reasons for this insightement:
(...) "I don't read it if people criticize me on social media. They can write whatever they want and it never would faze me because I don't know it. I don't read it, so I don't feel it."
http://www.espn.com/soccer/liverpool/story/3574113/jurgen-klopp-question...
I think it´this is not refutable by any scholar in any sense.
So his "stay out to be happy again" advice is a perfect idea for ordinary people like you and me. It seems to be also fantastic for philosophizing first class Premier League soccer team managers. Maybe it´s also fine for journalists - as Maggie Haberman said recently.
But unfortunately it´s not for politics and politicians anymore.
@ws
Yes. I know of Herr Klopp because I also happen to be half-German, a Soccer fan, and well aware of what's happening to ex-DFB midfielder Mesut Özil in the press and on social media right now.
And all I can say is look what's happening here in the U.S. on Twitter & Facebook and be prepared for more of the same in Deutschland.
Viel Erfolg!
The main difference between social media and mainstream media is the former gives an outlet to the regular joe regardless of opinion. In mainstream media, it thrives on exclusion and pushing 'one view'. Take for example this article, Bittner talks about how 'innocent' Germany is. I am British but have lived in Berlin and now NRW. I don't know why mainstream media likes to push this belief that Germany is so innocent. The defacto second largest party in their government is a nazi sympathiser party. Try being non-white foreign and go visit or live in many cities in German (not only the east) and enjoy how innocent it is. It's only after living in Germany that I came to the belief that the most liberal open country in the EU needed to get out. But the mainstream will never accept that, they will continue to bury their heads in the sand or ignore the facts and try to infject their opinions to look for a new scapegoat.
2
@dNice
You wrote, "The defacto second largest party in their government is a Nazi sympathiser party" With all due respect, but that statement is sheer rubbish. Greetings from a lefty German.
2
Most social media is noise.....
1
Herzlich Willkommen
With due respect to Mr Bittner, you cannot expect a person's nationality to protect them from the innumerable problems associated with those strange bedfellows, Homo sapiens and social media. We all know by now that Silicon Valley supremos created the tech to foster and maintain addiction; we all know how anonymity can shut off the rational forebrain and let all hell break loose in the emotions; we all know the issues with digital decontextualisation and how it can nudge users into a kind of bardo of the mind. Germans - however sober-minded and balanced they may be - have no particular immunity to the digital onslaught.
Having said all this, I'm as concerned as anyone about the AfD, as well as similar trends in Hungary and even the Netherlands. And in Britain, of course, where a certain highly unpleasant MEP has spoken at an AfD meeting and is currently empowering the UK alt-right. But I suppose anything is possible when the miscreant Boris Johnson 'consults' with Steve Bannon.
I deeply respect Merkel, who despite some failings has so often done the right thing and withstood the maunderings and machinations of Trump and other suspect 'leaders' with dignity. And is helping to hold the EU together. We need Germany to stay rock-solid in these respects. But equally, we need the billions swirling helplessly in the digital universe's sumps and dead ends to give the worst of it up and re-engage neuronally. Humanity per se is capable of far better.
3
"... a certain highly unpleasant MEP ..."
Who, precisely, is that?
I suspect that would be Farage. The anti EU anti immigrant former leader of UKIP who is married to a German (and living in Germany?)
The same traitor who accepted Russian money to lead the Brexit campaign. The same "leader" who quit his job the minute he won the Brexit campaign because he had no clue what he wanted other than power and money and wasn't expecting to win. But at least he's consistent, as he didn't quit his mandate as a member of the European parliament he claims to despise, because he's only interested in the money, not the mission.
1
I had an twitter account and closed it two weeks ago. Why? Social media make the society not more social, but rather have the opposite effect: society is becoming less social.
4
The short answer is no. Whatever potential social media had for doing any good in the world has long since been overwhelmed by the nasty, harmful stuff; as the well-known saying has it, bad drivel tends to drive out the good.
11
One phrase rings out: "Social Media Penetration". Do I have to spell it out? We're being raped by the illusion of control. We're being shuttled into a closet, away from the nexus of power, and as far from our souls as it is possible for them to take us.
"Germans need to step back from our screens and ask: Do we really want to go farther down this road?" As a German, I say: we've already been down this road. We know exactly where it leads. So whether we see it or not, we can never say we haven't been warned. By our past.
17
I don't really want social media....but I would sign up for a contact site...I have moved around a lot and I like that friends and family can find me. initially I shared my life, but now much less....I prefer my conversations private or anonymous. SM is convenient for people to invite me to things and vice versa. Social media's unmediated public conversations has zero redeeming qualities for nuance and sophistication. Any troll can jump in and trash it and suddenly this intensely negative rephrasing of your intended thoughts, rather than refining as in personal conversation becomes a crucible. It turns into an ugly mob with your identity at the center for all to see. In your head you might think you were having a quiet tea party but are suddenly, jarringly in a barroom brawl. This is disorienting and disconcerting to be publicly whipped by "friends" of "friends" who don't understand you, have never sat with you or had fun together or any non digital modes of social bonding in the physical world that builds trust and civility. In physical reality you can gauge the room before your utterances. Not so online.
4
"Excitement trumps precision"??? What are you talking about? In the New Year 2015 mass sexual assault in Cologne and other German cities, perpetrated predominantly by recently arrived immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, the traditional German media did not report on it for days until the reports on social media caused an outrage. Where was the precision by the traditional media then?
Trust is delicate, and technology only allows trust to be eroded when people can see the truth and compare it to what they've been told. If there is no difference then social media does not have the negative AfD-enhancing status that you think it has.
15
@Faust
To be correct:
It had been local radio coverage of WDR (public broadcaster) by elder local reporters on a permanent status protected by labor law and print coverage of local DuMontSchauberg papers "Express" and "Kölner Stadtanzeiger".
All local reporters had their personal experience as commuters with these kind of people at Cologne main Station before (Stolen cameras for example.) so they were fed up and their editors either (stolen cameras were owned by the publisher. The best way for a bad press. )
So the "breaking news" was by old days radio and print journalism first. Social media was not so important at this time.
But you are right to loath the other traditional German media on this issue. Particularly the paper of Mr. Bittner in Hamburg did not play a positive role on this for a long time, to put it mildly. (They still owned their cameras then...) This was one of the reasons for the later rise of social media in politics.
8
Considering all the current stealing of personal information, I would say the Germans have been extremely intelligent in their cautious use of social networks, especially Twitter. If only those in the U.S. had shown better judgement, then millions wouldn't have had their personal and private information passed around like free liter of good German beer.
6
It's difficult for one nation to learn from other nations' social media problems, when what caused those problems -- cognitive biases and tribalism -- are part of human nature.
2
"The A.f.D. isn’t alone; predictably, mainstream journalists and politicians have either amped up their own online rhetoric or veered far in the other direction"
That is certainly what we have seen in the US.
However, the alternative is not a "centrism" that automatically excludes new ideas as wild rhetoric of an extreme.
We are not in a good place to stall to remain just like this forever. We need new thinking, we need progress. We need to be more like ideas Germany already made its center, and Germany itself is not in a place to stall either.
We need to distinguish between new ideas and wild ideas. Of course, for anyone, his own ideas are new and the other guy's ideas are wild.
This column voices a well considered warning of what led to Trump, and what Trump has led to. However, the alternative is not magical thinking of a golden era of status quo. There alternative needs still to debate new ideas, to think and create.
How to do new without doing wild is the question.
That has always been an issue, which was before answered by limiting the people whose expression could get through by virtue of the hurdles of press and other media.
Social media has eliminated those hurdles, thrown open the gates to more participants. Some of them are ugly. Others are much more of exactly what we need. This is baby and bathwater, how to keep that wonderful new baby and still toss the filthy bathwater is the challenge.
I have not seen a good answer, but I've seen lots of abuses.
5
When you come late to a party where everyone is screaming, what else should you do but to scream as well?!
I think it‘s time to re-think our use of social media in general, but one country alone (such as Germany) can‘t do this, based on sheer numbers of users alone.
Our social media communications could do with a calming and composed make-over, but seriously when did calm and composed ever won over the loudest voice?
18
@V. Stephan What else should you do? Leave. Unless you enjoy a party where everyone is screaming at each other. I don't. So I'd turn around and walk out. People do have choices. Not participating in toxic nonsense is one of them.
6
Most of my German friends do not use social media but not because of some innocence or skepticism about new trends or new technology. They refuse due to privacy and data protection concerns. They are not eager to share information or data that could be commercially or politically exploited. Bittner asks whether Germans have learned from other countries' usage. My sense is yes, absolutely. I don't know any German who has been denied a job because of revelations of social media posts nor do I know of German data mining firms that sell personal data to multinational or political action groups. Maybe other countries can learn something from Germany.
53
@David
Stay efficient. Stay productive. Stay off! In Trump's case, it is more efficient and productive for him - consequently the world, in getting his message out. As opposed to press releases, which would fake his message.
48% of Germans are using social networks, Austrians only 42. If WhatsApp where not such a great tool, it where less. Why not more ? People here don't want to pay such a price for innovation like Americans for example. They talk more to each other, they remember the time before global players had captured our ware shelfes. But, above all, they don't ignore that other people are creating profiles about them and are trying to sell things, that where not necessary until today or where produced inland until yesterday. The true reason for using less social media may be, that our efforts are going less for success and money but more for a good life.
26
Bittner: "... the vicious circle of the digital public sphere: Excitement trumps precision. Lack of precision leads to unfairness. Unfairness leads to anger. Anger again leads to a lack of precision. And so on."
That whole chain of reasoning lacks "precision". In particular, it is a non-sequitur to claim that "lack of precision leads to unfairness".
Suppose someone says that they "had a long day" or that they "ate too much chocolate". Those are imprecise statements. How do they "lead[] to unfairness"?
6
@BAV
Perhaps not directly "leading" to unfairness, but rather opening the door to or paving the way to unfairness in the form of misrepresentations made possible by being imprecise. Further detachment from a stable base of facts, moving toward "unfair" emotion-based arguments.
While I think the "vicious circle" Bittner lays out is probably pretty accurate, I'm not sure that's the biggest problem or is all that useful to discuss. It's also implicitly calling for a (return to the?) "free marketplace of ideas", where every statement is perfectly precise, everybody has an equal platform, and the best ideas "win out". Regardless of whether that should be the goal, I think it's not much more than a myth/fantasy.
3
@BAV
Not much "precision" in a Twitter post that allows only 140 characters. "Precision" and social media are antithetical. Jochen, you'd like Kant (how many characters in the Critique of Pure Reason?) but you'll only get Trump.
1
He's talking about lack of precision in public discourse on important social issues, not small talk.
7
Social media? Nein Danke!
8