Why is it so hard to get family/friends into bitcoin?

[serenitys]

New girl here with post #2 ;-p Had to chime in on this. I am here solely because of what took place earlier this evening when I approached a family member about bitcoin.

I've heard of it for a year but didn't care, never looked into it until I read an article about second life using a virtual currency exchange and accepting bitcoin which is what piqued my interest that bitcoin was a "thing". Anyway, the last 24 hrs I've been mostly on You Tube to get the crash course on what it is, why it's being used, how it's used, why I'd want to and most excitingly of all, the future of currency because of it...and came away highly enthusiastic but not ready to jump in since I still need to learn the ropes about buying at all.

I either saw a video or read an article one about someone using a black box for mining bitcoin and then the value doubled and they made like 300 bucks - sketchy details and I was falling asleep from the crash course meltdown...soo, I went to ask a family member if they'd heard about it since I'd been considering delving into trying to do a mining set up if I could work out how to do that, just to learn, not to get rich. But I'm not a techhie so went to ask.

His first response was "I read the news just today that..." and right then I knew some big BS was on the way...he went on to explain that the IRS just outlawed it and it's worthless junk, not interested. I'm clearly not the expert but I had learned enough to know whatever he thought he read and whatever had processed into his brain were two entirely different things so I made an attempt to explain what bitcoin actually is and that the IRS has no ability to outlaw it even if it tried. I covered most of the basics about how it works and eventually managed to get his interest, or his curiosity.

I may or may not have been correct on this part but it did the trick anyway so hey but I said that I thought that bitcoin was trading at about $450 something so if he bought "a bitcoin" at $450 (theoretically) and the market settled down after this IRS nosedive that scared people who apparently thought the IRS could do anything about bitcoin (i.e. assuming it really is a decentralized unregulated uncontrollable free market currency), and eventually if he left that alone and let it start picking up, he could stand to make a lot of money (i.e. USD kind) and cash out (we avoided the taxation part, though).

I asked if he'd pull up the bitcoin exchange rate to see what it was right now and he pulled up some site that showed it at $461 or something. From there, he pulled up you tube and looked at a few, seemed to also like the idea of dedicated machines for mining.

Right in the middle of it, he gets a phone call from a neighbor a few houses down who, from this side of the conversation, had asked what he was doing. He told him he was reading some stuff about bitcoin, asked if the neighbor had heard of it and then repeated out loud what the neighbor was answering, which was...

Neighbor firmly warned to steer clear of it, it's a big scam, the guy who owned it stole millions of dollars from people and now the whole thing is gone...

At which point I decided maybe a nice bitcoin forum of people who actually know what the hell bitcoin is (and care!) would be more to my liking. I think I lost brain cells overhearing that conversation.

The answer is mainstream media talking heads and articles spewing misinformation and lies, nonsense, and a poor comprehension of it, and pea brained sorts who don't like to think real hard letting the former do their thinking for them. They automatically accept the media's accounts - that is in the way. If they heard it on the tv, if they read it on a common news site, that's the truth and everything else is scammer BS.

Sad, aint it?

[~Coinseeker~]

The real world is currently rigged for the house to win.

And Bitcoin solves that how?  By getting people to add an extra 1% or more to the total cost of things they buy, when they have to purchase Bitcoin to make those purchases?  How is that helpful?

[tins]

I was at a real estate investors meeting last Thursday, I talked to a couple people about bitcoin this is how all the convos went.
ME: Have you heard of bitcoin?
Them: Didn't it get hacked and fall apart or something?
Me; No that was a exchange
Them; oh...

Had that (similar) conversation twice in the past week. First one, person felt bad that bitcoin just went through bankruptcy. Second one, person heard that the founder stole everybody's coins and he is now in jail awaiting trial.
 

[Alley]

Maybe give paper bitcoin wallets as xmas presents with a small amount on them?

[CryptoREI]

I was at a real estate investors meeting last Thursday, I talked to a couple people about bitcoin this is how all the convos went.
ME: Have you heard of bitcoin?
Them: Didn't it get hacked and fall apart or something?
Me; No that was a exchange
Them; oh...

Had that (similar) conversation twice in the past week. First one, person felt bad that bitcoin just went through bankruptcy. Second one, person heard that the founder stole everybody's coins and he is now in jail awaiting trial.
 

Glad I am not the only one lol

[Zooey]

It's likely because your family is smarter than you, as they live in the real world, with real bills and real responsibilities.  They don't have time for pyramid fantasies...they know what it takes to survive in the real-world and it's not Bitcoin and get-rich-quick schemes.

Oh looksie another pyramidfag! 

[troy112]

Its just that they have been using hard currency all there life. Also somthing virtual is hard yo be understood, but they won't have any choice when it becomes global currency and they'll have to use it.

this should be the main challenge for the bitcoin devs, how much they can simplyfy it for global use.

[Peter R]

When I go out to a party or a pub and meet new people, I've always be annoyed with the question "so what do you do for work?"  I have a great job, but for some reason I always found this a bit invasive if it came up in the first 2 minutes of meeting someone.

But now I love that question, because I tell them that I've been working on payment technologies for the bitcoin network.

...

And then everyone who heard me say that turns their head, stops talking, and starts to listen…

...

Then someone will say, "oh, you work for bitcoin?"

Or, "I heard the CEO went bankrupt?"

Or, "do you buy drugs from SilkRoad?"

It almost always turns into a very engaging conversation, most everyone nearby becomes captivated, and by just answering a few questions you'll clear up several misconceptions.  I find that people are very receptive to bitcoin.  But don't try to sell it--everyone can spot a salesman--just allow the conversation to develop naturally while maintaining a disinterested demeanour.  It doesn't matter if the conversation remains serious or it becomes a funny joke--bitcoin is anti-fragile.  But if people are enjoying the conversation, they will remain engaged longer and the concept of bitcoin will infiltrate deeper.  

Try to sense everyone's angle.  If you see a twinkle of greed in their eye, weave the fact that bitcoin prices have increased by 1,000,000% over the last four years.  Could it crash?  Yes, you could definitely lose all of your money.  Could it hit $100,000?  Well, some people say infinity is possible.  

For the selfless humanitarian type, mention some of our fundraisers and how anyone can send money for a cause to anyone else in the world with the click of a mouse.

For the black-market type, mention the anonymity, SilkRoad, and moving money around the world outside the reach of governments.

If you sense a general fear of change, then focus on the inevitability of progress.  Although it may be painful at times, bitcoin is the natural evolution of money.    

Only if you sense a genuine interest in the technical details should you get into the nuts & bolts any deeper than "your money is protected by unbreakable cryptography" or "the bitcoin network is the most powerful single-purpose computing network ever created."

 

[~Coinseeker~]

Its just that they have been using hard currency all there life. Also somthing virtual is hard yo be understood, but they won't have any choice when it becomes global currency and they'll have to use it.

this should be the main challenge for the bitcoin devs, how much they can simplyfy it for global use.

Lol!  There will never be one global currency, until there is a one-world government that forces everyone to use one currency.  Even if that were to happen, why in the hell would they use Bitcoin. 

[mechew]

If I've learned one thing its that you never give friends and family financial advice especially investing.

Also to be more on point with your topic I remember several years where no one in my family had an email address when I had a few dozen.  Enough said?

[jeffthebaker]

I think people need to look at a wider spectrum regarding bitcoin. Compare it to twitter or facebook, or any other huge product/service really. It starts out small, increasing overall at a healthy rate (100-1000% a year in bitcoin's case). In twitter/facebook's case, it steadily increased (100-400% a year) with ups and downs. (In facebook's case, introduction to new colleges, law disputes, ownership problems, etc. contributed to these ups and downs.)  After 5 or so years, both companies skyrocketed in users. I think the same thing will be true for bitcoin. It's a revolutionary idea, but with no advertising or inside promotion of any sorts, coupled with complexity and bad media ideas, I think it will take longer. I'd say 7 years from the start, or 2 years from now, is when it will really start to pick up a lot. Yes, a vast majority of the population is turning away from bitcoin because of what the media is telling them and whatnot, but the courageous ones who give it a chance are, for the most part, here to stay. And over time, the influence from bitcoin users will continue to grow, until eventually a domino effect occurs and a large amount of the population start using it.

This is the kind of thing I like to tell people. The volatility, in my opinion, is normal, compared to begins of other, more socially adapted services of today. The concept of a new, digital currency is a foreign one for the population. When I talk about bitcoin, I like to compare it to things that can be more easily digested. From that point, people can take it upon themselves to get more information if they are interested.

[elavenil]

In my whole village(10000 population),  i am the only one who knows about Bitcoin. It is very hard teach them the basics of bitcoin here.

[FreeJack2k2]

There's no point in trying to turn most of my family members onto it, because it really doesn't offer anything to them yet. It needs to be more widely accepted, before I can really sell them on its benefits. It took the web maturing and a lot of worthwhile content before they got interested and it wasn't until the iPod and iPhone that MP3 became a factor for them. The mainstream takes time to crack.

[J_Dubbs]

I took a few bad stock tips from friends in my early 20s. Lesson I learned was formed by my own feelings towards people who gave me bad tips. Basically, I never give financial advice or try to talk anyone into an investment. Sometimes I brag about my penny stocks when they shoot up +200% and people ask, "should I grab some?" And I always say, "no, good news is priced in, already went up, too late. But, if you do it anyways just remember I didn't advise it." When it comes to investing I only care about me and my wifey, forget trying to convince anyone.

[beatljuice]

Why not hand them a Bitcoin paper wallet with 0.1 BTC (or 0.001 if that's what's in your budget) and tell them to hope for the moon. No risk to them, and might peak interest. Or get them 5 GHz on CEX.IO to play around with. My wife and I decided to buy all the grand-kids of my recently deceased mother-in-law 100 GHz mining contracts from the little bit of money that came from selling her house.

[J_Dubbs]

Why not hand them a Bitcoin paper wallet with 0.1 BTC (or 0.001 if that's what's in your budget) and tell them to hope for the moon. No risk to them, and might peak interest. Or get them 5 GHz on CEX.IO to play around with. My wife and I decided to buy all the grand-kids of my recently deceased mother-in-law 100 GHz mining contracts from the little bit of money that came from selling her house.

People won't value a piece of paper that they don't know how to spend. Have a look at the gift card market numbers, tons of those go unused. Now take the gift card concept and add a big layer of complexity and confusion. I'm betting that paper wallet gift gets lost or never used. People need to come around when they are ready.

[Zooey]

The answer is mainstream media talking heads and articles spewing misinformation and lies, nonsense, and a poor comprehension of it, and pea brained sorts who don't like to think real hard letting the former do their thinking for them. They automatically accept the media's accounts - that is in the way. If they heard it on the tv, if they read it on a common news site, that's the truth and everything else is scammer BS.

Sad, aint it?

Welcome to Bitcointalk.  Know from the start that this place is an unofficial hotbed of vision and lies; and from here on you'll be fine.
The story you bring sounds about right... in fact, I award your neighbour 6 points - for he understands Bitcoin is money!

"the guy who owned it stole millions of dollars from people and now the whole thing is gone..."

The correction is very simple; the owner of an exchange site stole millions of dollars from funds people had given to him to keep safe on the site and now it's all gone.
But you don't have to interest yourself in that, it changes nothing about anything.  perhaps you can even make your first gain from this- a revealed maxim:  do not trust fat french men.
Now, to the rest; the truth is... please promise not to tell... the majority holders of coin don't care!  There is an incredible engine at work to try and make it look like there's great dissent and fear and it's all coming crashing down  

But, not a fuck has been given from the start whilst all these poor people have crowded around screaming oh the woe, such has always been the woe - the woe is coming!
I offer alternative advice.

[Beliathon]

@OP

Because of this:



The intellectual difference between the average person and someone like Einstein, is actually greater than the intellectual difference between the average person and a chimpanzee.

That's why we can have the Large Hadron Collider and the Westboro Baptist Church on the same planet.

[serenitys]

@OP

Because of this:



The intellectual difference between the average person and someone like Einstein, is actually greater than the intellectual difference between the average person and a chimpanzee.

That's why we can have the Large Hadron Collider and the Westboro Baptist Church on the same planet.

...and more people at the funeral than the lab 

[zolace]

yeah thikig getting them paper wallet bitcoin whenn there birthday arrives, you get them in slowly.