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I wonder to what degree technology has played a role. The article references gang taunting etc. via the internet instead of on the street - would be interesting
by techwatching 12y ago
I wonder to what degree technology has played a role. The article references gang taunting etc. via the internet instead of on the street - would be interesting to know to what degree social networks, video games, etc. have had an impact on gang activities, and also the degree to which drug sales have moved off the street - i.e.: you don't need people hanging on the corner to sell drugs anymore.
- balls187 12y ago> I wonder to what degree technology has played a role. Since 2008, other than smartphones, what has really changed in tech?
- toolz 12y agoOnline drug sales from sites like silk road, for one.
- apt-bunt 12y agoI have to disagree with you on this point. I doubt Silk Road or people buying drugs online with bitcoins have affected the market for street drugs at all. Two completely different socio-economic markets. Most who buy drugs in the inner city do not have access to bitcoin and/or Silk Road, and even if they did they would scoff at the inflated prices compared to the price on the streets.
- noer 12y agoFrom what I've read gangs where I live (Chicago), they don't get as involved in drug sales as one might think. It's less about drug territories and more about representing the block one grew up on. This American Life did a pretty good story about it in two episodes about a high school a couple of years ago.
- VLM 12y agoSocial media? "Meet me at 6" rather than one guy standing on a street corner all day? Burner phones being cheap and capable of texting?
- balls187 12y agoAll of which existed in 2008.
- InclinedPlane 12y agoBut weren't ubiquitous. The web existed in 1995, but it wasn't until the late '90s that it started becoming heavily used by the majority of the public at large.
- balls187 12y agoIn 2008, cheap cell phones were ubiquitous.
- sanderjd 12y agoThe pervasiveness of social media since 2008 has been a qualitative, rather than just quantitative, change. Different things are possible when such a high percentage of people have access to the same network. Also, 6 years is not a very long time frame over which to scoff at a lack of progress, even if it were true...
- balls187 12y agoI'm not scoffing at a lack of progress. This thread started with some one asking whether Tech had played a role in the decline of street gangs. I am making the case that outside of the smartphone, and faster wireless networks, nothing fundamentally changed between 2008 and now. So, did the rise in smartphones lead to the decline of street gangs? Causation vs Correlation.