• vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      Well, yes, very clearly it’s a “man on screen said it” situation, but it’s not like that’s new.

      People who repeated “ground control to {insert name}” to get the attention of someone whose mind was elsewhere didn’t believe they were actually addressing an astronaut. It’s an idiom born of the current cultural zeitgeist.

    • Rooskie91@discuss.online
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      5 days ago

      Lol bro younger generations just say random shit to sound cool.

      I’m remembering how many times I said “epic” or phonetically pronounced “lulz” in every day speech when I was younger. It’s just something kids do.

    • madame_gaymes@programming.dev
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      4 days ago

      I think it’s Gen Alpha, not Gen Z.

      A friend of mine teaches middle school maths, and every kid in the class is striving to be an influencer or twitch streamer, no other aspirations in life.

      • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        and this is why I limit Internet access to my kids.

        I get compliments on how sweet and courteous my kids(under 10) are and get asked what my secret is. I tell parents, “YouTube only 30 minutes a week. all other internet content is blocked. no Facebook, tik tok, x, etc.”

        they give me the most confused and sometimes disgusted looks.

        don’t know when, but society became far too dependent on being “connected”. it’s far easier to give it up when it’s your choice vs when it’s taken from you.

        • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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          4 days ago

          At some point you should give them some more freedom. That’s very restrictive on the connections they can make with their peers as they won’t learn the cultural norms.

          You’re not benefitting them in the long term, they will be stunted in their grasp of the Internet, which is very important in today’s landscape. They will also go behind your back to access the internet with NO restrictions rather than you being able to block some of the worst stuff and letting them access normal stuff.

          Granted if they’re under 10 that’s fine, but consider opening up as they get older.

        • madame_gaymes@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          IMO, Facebook being adopted by Baby Boomers was a big player in becoming too dependent.

          Good on you, though. Teach those kids to touch grass as a normal activity!

      • BussyCat@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I hear plenty of zoomers say it but I also don’t interact with gen alpha so have no idea if it started with them

        • madame_gaymes@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          To me it seems like GenZ started the phrase, but because they are the ones that really got streaming off the ground. Gen Alpha are the ones adding it to modern slang unironically and out of context

    • ssillyssadass@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I think it comes from streamers who might legitimately ask their viewers, who are partaking in the stream through a chat, “chat, is this X?”

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Your second paragraph should’ve been your clue. The “chat” they’re talking about is the chat attached to a YouTube or Twitch stream. It’s influencer brainrot slang.

    • Ilflish@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      My guess is it was accidentally done by people watching too many streamers who would intentionally call the group of chatters as chat. It was then done ironically as a way to illicit a reaction on something as a streamer did. Then became more regular nomenclature to query a group

    • algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 days ago

      Funny moments get shared between friends and spreads its reach -> Long form reaction content creates sharable moments -> Livestreams generate long form reaction content -> Livestreams have a chat that accompanies the streamer -> Streamer refers to chat during funny moments -> This is referenced as a meme -> Talking to chat spreads beyond the original context

      • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I’m going to try it with my fiancée when she goes to work tomorrow and see if she gives me her ring.

        I’ll report back my findings.

      • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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        4 days ago

        I did that once with my nephews at the end of a video call and they laughed their ass off. My sister couldn’t understand what was so funny about that.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      5 days ago

      Chat just became synonymous with readers/listeners in modern slang. I also went through my “old man yells at cloud” phase about it, but it’s fine, I guess. I still get annoyed when people say the name of twitch emotes, though.

    • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      “don’t forget to like and subscribe”

      That seems more like the result of bad parenting.

      I think a lot of young people see content creation as the only way they can make the money they want/need. I think many of them idolize streamers/content creators, and so they emulate them however they can. Part of that is dreaming to eventually have a ‘chat’ to say ‘chat’ to.

      Makes me pretty sad, tbh.

    • uuldika@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      “chat” is this Lemmy thread, in this example. it addresses the audience. it’s the streamer equivalent of breaking the fourth wall.

    • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
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      5 days ago

      Life in the social media age is one in which identity is developed performatively through profilicity. People from the earlier eras created themselves in the face of the Big Other, often as God, or as the crowd of society at large, their families, etc. Younglings of the new age have personified the Big Other as the digital crowd, imagined viewers of their life-as-livestream.