the internet

[Jark]

does anyone else think global warming is a good thing? I like Lady Gaga. I think she's an interesting artist.

this is probably a question with way too many interpretations and avenues of response to generate any coherent discussion, but nonetheless - has the internet generally been a good or a bad thing?

it's been a major part of life for 20 years now, if not more. I would imagine that not one of us here can imagine life without it. a majority of people never go offline for more than a few hours and actually cannot function at all without access to the internet.

then you have all of the current division in society, hateful rhetoric against immigrants and trans people, a generation of young men being radicalised by far right influencers, the stupidisation of discourse, many signs that general behavioural standards are in freefall as we become more and more dependent on our phones... all directly traceable to the invent of this technology.

so has the internet actually done anything good for society/humanity? is it a drug, a social disease? as the dominant technology of the century it mostly just feels like it's been our downfall.

 

[Jark]

perhaps this better belongs in a RANDOM THOUGHTS topic but I wasn't sure if we have one

 

[Generic Account]

I don't think I'd have formed most of the relationships I have today or been able to explore who I am without the internet. I also think that for as much as it has polarised people, the internet has also broadened minds and has enabled empathy in people who wouldn't have had exposure to as much diversity in identity and opinion before.

But I hate that I pick up my phone as soon as I wake up, I think the downsides of social media in particular are grim, and I worry about what it has done to people's attention span, tolerance for violence and hatred, and the platform that it gives people with really monstrous opinions.

That said, there were plenty of horrid people before the internet also.

 

[Agneeta]

The Internet was a lorra lorra fun up until about 2013, when the right wing take over began. It's even worse now. It's swarming full of bigots on one hand and on the other, companies adding so many levels for using their services. PAY MORE OR YOU GET A WORSE SERVICE. I could also do without the ENDLESS NOTIFICATIONS and the kinda related obsession with a constant cycle of NEWS.

And that's really the tip of the iceberg. I believe SHITIFICATION is commonly used word to describe the decline of the Internet.

That being said there's still a lot to love. Where would I be without music, maps or messaging?

 

[Jark]

I would love to be not on social media, not reliant on apps for everyday activities, and to be very able to leave the house without my phone for half a day. but it feels impossible to me at this point. to disconnect yourself is to disconnect from almost everybody else so even the benefits of being offline feel slim.

I spend a lot of time resenting the dependencies that phones and social media have created. I kinda wish I'd been my age now in the 90s.

 

[Agneeta]

Phone dependency is also REALLY REALLY BORING.

We're all hooked. It's why I've taken up reading books a lot more in recent years. Anything to distract from my phone.

 

[Agneeta]

I would love to be not on social media, not reliant on apps for everyday activities, and to be very able to leave the house without my phone for half a day. but it feels impossible to me at this point. to disconnect yourself is to disconnect from almost everybody else so even the benefits of being offline feel slim.

I spend a lot of time resenting the dependencies that phones and social media have created. I kinda wish I'd been my age now in the 90s.

There was a sweet spot I think, between the late 90s and late 2000s before smartphones really took off but the Internet existed.

I'm glad I got to experience 30 years on this planet without a smartphone.

 

[VoR]

I genuinely think one of the most societally damaging things the Internet had done is introduce/normalise the concept of paid engagement.

 

[GNL]

I think it's been great in lots of ways, and terrible in others.

I am naturally quite shy and insular and I think the internet has helped me to connect with people in a way I might not have done otherwise. I do suspect in a different time, I'd be much more of a lonely shut-in than I am now.

On a completely different note, we have access to a lot more information, which is good in theory, but in practice is very challenging. I can't speak for anyone else, but it is very bad for my brain to know all of the horrors that are going on in the world when there is absolutely fuck all I can do about them.

 

[ButterTart]

The internet is fantastic as long as I avoid social media.

I love researching random topics and falling into rabbit holes so to have a repository of the collected knowledge of the human race at my fingertips continues to be an amazing thing.

The shitty end of the internet stick speaks for itself.
- Social media is the fucking devil
- The internet has created celebrities devoid of charisma, talent or originality and they're considered aspirational
- Cunts scrolling TikTok on trains are the modern bubonic plague
- Individuality among young people is seen as some kind of sin. Everyone has the same fucking accent
- YouTube teaches British children to call petrol 'gas' and say they want 'candy' from the 'grocery store'
- You can ask AI to write your dissertation with a two sentence prompt but yet it's nearly impossible to find pre-2010 episodes of Hollyoaks anywhere

 

[dmlaw]

I don’t think the Internet has necessarily made the world or people any worse, ut it sure has made the worst people and things in the world a hell of a lot more immediately visible. If I were feeling optimistic, I might think that this the start of fixing the problems and that the history of these times will show that the rise of the internet was the eventual trigger for all the assholes getting dragged out and put on a fire.

 

[Joseph]

I’ve been online for 30 years now so it’s hard to imagine not having it around. I started with news groups and IRC rooms then AOL then my very first forum Madonnaweb in 1997.

I do think it was a bit more fun when it was tied to the computer at home than it is now when it lives inside your pocket. I’ve really backed off a lot of social media and most of my online time is between Twitter and here on Moopy.

As I have always lived here in the South, the internet introduced me to so many things that regular life here never would.

I do think it was a benefit that I was a fully grown adult when it because a thing because I’ve seen the effect it has on kids/teens and it is a lot for them to process. When Isabella was young, I kept her on a time limit daily so she wasn’t always staring at a screen.

 

[Sardonicus]

I’ve been online for 30 years now

 

[big ron]

The internet, at its core, is a wonderful thing. I do miss the simplicity of the intenet of yore but I think if you zoom out to a macro level it's just going through a phase.

Social media as we've come to know it is and will die. Kids aren't interested in it. It was a great idea, to connect everyone to each other but we quickly realised we don't like the entire world. It turns out that some people are just cunts.

At the minute we're fighting an internet that has given these cunts a global platform, but if you look at what the younger generations are doing, its returning to communities around IRL friendships and shared interests. Discords, WA groups etc. Ron Jr has never once asked for Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

In terms of 'socialising' on the internet I'd say I use moopy and Reddit more than anything else now. I only really keep Facebook because of work, but I barely spend any time looking at my feed. I do miss the facebook of old, but it is what it is.

 

[Marina Salty]

Ron Jr has never once asked for Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

TikTok?

 

[dmlaw]

Obviously, we do all need to be grateful to the Internet for providing a functionally unlimited amount of brand new porn.

 

[octophone]

It's a twofold problem. You used to "go online" - it was a specific space, you sat down at a PC, logged on and did your thing. You then logged off and did something else. Now, it is everywhere and in everything and we've ended up carrying little computers with us that do everything. You're only really 'offline' whne you're asleep - unless you're using an app to monitor your sleep, that is.
The second aspect is the tipping point when the internet became a trusted media source. Then,all the people who owned the existing media wanted to own this as well. The results are plain to see: the return of fascism.