Could be both.
Likely both
The internet itself offers immense value across nearly all facets of life. The three websites that everyone uses do not.
There’s definitely value here, but sometimes it’s hard to justify because of the negatives that come with it.
I’m not sure if it’s always been like this (it probably has), or if I’ve just become more aware of it, but holy shit, people are mean and cynical. It really poisons my mind to spend time around these kinds of attitudes, and I can only imagine how contagious it must be especially for younger users, spreading this ‘mind virus’ to more and more people. I can’t imagine people talking to each other in real life the way they often do in places like this.
What I find even more toxic than direct attacks on other users, though, is the constant ambient cynicism. There are certain topics where I can guarantee that at least 50% of the comments are snide remarks dunking on AI, Twitter, Tesla, Musk, etc. These comments add zero value to the discussion. They’re written solely to signal alliance to like-minded people and fish for upvotes.
I just want a place where I can hang out with civilized adults and have meaningful discussions about substantive topics, instead of being surrounded by angry, hateful, cynical kids who seem more interested in pointing out the flaws in everything and tearing things down rather than discussing solutions.
Wow, really interesting take! Made me realize…
Wow. I’m the baddie.
I’ve done my fair share of admit “AI bad, Twitter bad” and felt that shift towards cynicism, I admit – but 'til now I couldn’t see my own hand in the subject. I’d worked hard over the years to avoid the more overt frustrator communities like r/facepalm, but as much as I’d like to presume… I’m clearly not doing so much better after all.
That ambient cynicism… I still perpetuated it, I still wrote those kneejerk comments, I still went on the preordained in-group spiel of valuelessnesses.
It’s so easy to insult the things you mentioned, to partake in the “I Want to be Agreeable and Get Points” mindset and dunk. But it’s precluding our ability to experience the things you mentioned in para #4. I want more of para #4 in my life… I’ll need to think things differently.
Idk. Thanks for the meaningful substance. :p
I’m honored that someone even bothers to read my walls of text, but to hear they got something out of it too means a lot. Thanks for sharing.
My two main issues with comments like that are the lack of added value to the discussion as I stated above, but also that the claims on those messages are quite often absolute and thus very likely to be wrong. Maybe it’s just my autism and tendency to take claims literally, but I really take issue with absolute statements. To say something like ‘All Cops Are Bad’ means (to me atleast) literally every single one of them without an exception. That simply isn’t true. All it takes is one good cop to nullify the statement. What they meant to say is ‘there are a huge number of bad cops’ or just ‘boo cops’ but it’s not what they’re actually saying and that’s not as catchy either.
To me this leaves two options; either refrain from posting at all, or explain yourself and introduce nuance. This challenges yourself and what often happens to me atleast is that I’m half way writing a message when I realize I have no idea what I’m talking about and I then just eraise it all and move on. It’s kind of like the difference of thinking you know something and having to teach it to someone else and only then realizing you don’t know how.
Hahaha, I’m overjoyed that you’re joyful! Net positive.
You aren’t alone on the absolutivity thing, autism or not. Absolute blanket statements have always made me uncomfortable. With stuff like
Leftists are all self-righteous.
American Republicans are all backwards.
Christians are cultists.
and the obvious accompanying internet convoy of
Clicks -> discussion -> algorithm promotion -> pipeline -> opinions upgrade from “bad cases of” to “lots of them” to “all of them”
not only sacrifice nuance and make it easy to Just Stay Agreeable, but discourage any questioning of the status quo.
Of course, one can argue that this is an online thing, an archetype of Reddit and Tumblr and Twitter spaces, but now I don’t even question these things aloud in real life. I don’t want to be seen as
The “see-from-all-sides” guy is obviously a closeted bigot lmao.
in a place where reputation actually matters, but it’d be easy to lump me in like that. Nuancelessness is simple, kneejerk, catchy…
Now, my point. I don’t think I’m making this up, and maybe I’ll get downvoted for this diatribe but I feel like disagreeing in real life has become much riskier. Am I sounding cynical again? As a solution (solutions aren’t cynical right?), optimally I’d want a way to discuss across views in an educated, “I’ll hear you out” way, but the real-life risk outweighs reward, and online spaces bubble-up really easily. Counterpoint: r/changemyview has put up promising resistance.
The other day I saw this business school complaint discussion. It’s on a kind of out-of-touch subreddit, but what do you think of its survivalistic smile-and-wave message?
Sorry for being so negative =.=
That simply isn’t true. All it takes is one good cop to nullify the statement.
So ACAB is true, when you look at the philosophy of it and you separate the identity of the individuals from the job they do.
An individual can commit good acts, that’s not in dispute. An individual police officer can be fair to people and do a good job. That doesn’t make them a good cop, because of the things they aid and abbett through inaction. Holding bad actors accountable is required for justice, and those acts are impossible to perform or are penalized within the structure of policing. An individual officer can’t decline mandatory training that supports a militarization mindset. An individual officer is punished by leadership and the organization if they do try to create internal accountability.
So the structure of it means the only way to be good, is to decline to aid and abbett, which means stop being a cop. If the only way to be good is to not be a cop, that means all cops are bad.
For other absolutes I agree with you, just not this specific one I think it’s a bad example.
I’ll be the judge of that. What are your data points?
1.) I could give two shits about what the internet thinks on any given subject.
2.) I am not movitivated to use the internet for fun things like gaming, anymore.
3.) I want to crawl into a hole and fall asleep forever listening only to the humming of a sweet old lady.
4.) I look into my own eyes and see nothing.
5.) … I dunno… I check the fridge for cheese more often then I check my own text messages.
6.) I took up smoking again and I don’t even feel bad about the possible slow torturous death of lung cancer that awaits me.
7.) If I hear a child I am instantly annoyed(please don’t hate me I don’t have any kids of my own)
8.)I cannot write any
A rollercoaster. It was dropping until the cheese thing, which I think is just normal, unspoken behavior. Sounds to me like a bout of depression, or at least what I think is depression. I 100% get the same lethargy to life, and it tends to come in waves.
If you haven’t, I’d look at having a chat with a professional. I’m not a good role model for this, but I have pushed through the lulls more times than I care to admit, and it gets tougher every year. The negative thoughts set in and create this negative feedback loop that makes functioning difficult, and digs a hole that’s hard to climb out of.
Anecdotally, if this is new to you, it doesn’t make for a happy life. I’m working to get help, but there are roadblocks. I would encourage you to try the same. If it doesn’t help, then you can cross that bridge later. If it does, then you’ll be in a much better place and the light will shine again.
…or the Internet really is just shitty.
I don’t want to fuck up your depression status or anything like that, but being this honest with yourself sounds sort of cool… in a way… you know?
It sounds like a beginning of something or… a wave.
Idk 7 is pretty normal
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I’mma go with number two for a sure bet, could be number one too, but number two for sure
You’ve got a real way with words. I really like number 3.
So what do you do for fun if not internet or gaming?? Read books? Lol (jk I like books, but they’re a more subtle fun)
The Internet is not supposed to be a source of happiness, that’s a sell by some platforms you should never buy into. The Internet is a source of information, and information will not make you happy.
Gaming, social media, or most other online interaction, is ultimately masturbation. It feels good for the moment, but it doesn’t last; you have nothing to look back on but Steam achievements or vacant profiles on a dead platform at the end.
If you’re suffering from depression, you likely can’t work yourself out of it through your own actions alone. Seek support. Things will not improve otherwise.
Whenever I look at archives of memes or random screenshots from my old computers I remember how great the internet was. It’s filled with politics and advertising now.
I think it’s probably mostly that first thing. There’s only two-three websites I visit on the daily anymore. The rest isn’t worth it.
…wait, are one of those websites porn? Or are you forgetting about porn.
I may be forgetting about it.
Better look some up, to remind you
Okay, four. Hundred.
The rest isn’t worth it.
I don’t think that’s really true. I just think we aren’t especially exposed to what’s out there anymore. Or at least, it’s hard to find legit stuff and not AI generated SEO blogspam.
Define “the internet” though…
If you’re expecting “the internet” to fill your cup with joy then sure, that’s probably not going to work out.
That said, there’s plenty of good bits that make life a lot easier.
The internet is a lot less valuable than it was even just a couple of years ago. It’s considerably less valuable than ten years ago. That said, given your username and the laundry list in another comment, I’m going to vote “the problem is both A and B”. Seek help for B. Go outside more for A and B.
I generally feel pretty dead inside most days, but I did find some value in this video today. The Internet is usually pretty good for finding humorous stuff. Hopefully you at least get a chuckle from it!
I bounce back and forth, depending on my mood (obviously) and whether or not I have any sort of creative projects to work on or anything that’s keeping me mentally busy (whether it’s a game, a series, a book, a design, research, just something that I feel interested in or passionate about). If I have nothing that’s really driving me, that’s when I feel at my lowest or I’m just mindlessly consuming crap and the days all just sort of blend together, I’m just going through the motions and the world feels dead, or I feel dead, whichever. When I’m in the midst of a creative project though, I get laser focused on that and forget all about everything else and I have purpose. Sometimes though, I’m just meh, like not really driven, but not really depressed.
The Internet that I grew up with though is definitely gone, alot of it feels shallow now, like I don’t go on tangents upon tangents anymore and it doesn’t have the same sense of exploration that it used to. Like I used to find a random page, which had links to other random pages, which had links to other pages, and I would just follow this breadcrumb trail from one place to another. Now you’ve got shitty social media aggregating links and it just doesn’t feel the same. The closest I’ll get to that is going through Wikipedia if I happen to be researching or looking something up, occasionally you just find other topics that get really interesting. The history of Wargames is the latest thing that’s been holding my interest.
Maybe we were all dead inside to begin with … and then we created an internet that offered nothing of value in return.
For half a moment, that shared nothingness created something new, but then they came and chopped it off into small, blend, mouth sized pieces that never make you full.
You’re just dead inside. Because of the Internet.
Then go out and touch grass 🤣
If you can’t find anything useful on the net that’s a ‘you’ problem. So probably option 2.
We still have the fediverse.
