Sometimes I think we should refocus our internet use to communicate with people locally. But then I look at the local Nextdoor and am even more dismayed....
I am just old enough to remember before the world went digital. Growing up at the tail end of the analog era, and witnessing the ascendancy of binary, was a thrilling thing. I was privileged enough to occupy a position where I briefly dwelt in one before transitioning permanently to the other. The web, the 'net, whatever you wish to call it: this monster of machinery and wire and signal presented a unique new opportunity to connect with people irrespective of the distance between them, to bridge the divide with language flying at nearly the speed of light.
I could not have imagined then what the world would become; in some ways it has improved, in many it has stalled, and in a few particularly negative instances, it has taken a retrograde course. Technology became easier to use; connections once established rarely failed; and with obliteration of obstacles to accessing information, the Internet economy boomed. (It would later bust, but that's another topic.)
The most popular haunt when I was a kid? Message boards; these were supplanted in the late-00s by social media platforms. They seemed like such a good idea at the time. Emphasis on, "at the time". The trite, trivial, useless barrage of worthless information, more worthless opinions glibly expressed by semi-literate simpletons, has become overwhelming.
I'll phrase it more directly: letting normal people use the web was irresponsible enough, let alone giving them powerful communications tools that require nothing but having an opinion and the strong desire to share it. It was better when everyone's conspiracy-peddling uncle only had a 'zine, much less a Facebook page with outreach in the multiple thousands.
Which is why I am glad for a place like this to exist. A cursory glance suggests that you are all, at the very least, thoughtful, more focused on the quality of a conversation than its frequency.
Anyway. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and hope that I can contribute to a little pleasure coming back to correspondence online.
Stay safe and healthy, all.
-ET
Sometimes I think we should refocus our internet use to communicate with people locally. But then I look at the local Nextdoor and am even more dismayed....
Hah, funny thing, I've never used Nextdoor, but I have used a similar app: Citizens. It was when I saw a report of someone "weaponizing a remote control" that I decided to uninstall it.
I do not know how angry you have to be to turn a DirecTV remote into a lethal weapon, but I sleep more easily not knowing it happens. (Before that, I was using it to chart the progress of the protests and riots in Philadelphia a few months back. I'm in the heart of the city. It was...something.)
OMG, the sentence including the word 'uncle' is enough to make a bullseye question the need for its own existence!
Great read overall, btw. Welcome!
Hello and welcome! Feel free to join us on the Matrix room as well at #midnightpub:matrix.org if you wish!