03-14-2024, 12:09 AM
In recent years, especially since the start of the pandemic back in 2020, but going back before that when a certain group decided to completely derail American politics - I've been especially annoyed by finding out that people (both in real life, and entertainment personalities) have wildly divergent views from my own. Not agreeing with some people was always a basic fact of life. But these I struggle to tolerate such people because 1) they insist on sharing their opinions ALL THE DAMN TIME, and 2) the level to which their opinions diverge from my has GROWN ENORMOUSLY. It used to seem like most differences were only a matter of a few degrees. Now people actively endorse views I know to be obviously wrong... and even absurd or insane.
I started removing myself from social media years ago, and not even necessarily for the reason above. While there have always been weird, fringe dwellers online, it was never 'mainstream' until much later.
I'm old enough to have not had the internet until high school. When I did it was mostly our message boards, a far cry form what it all turned into about a decade later. So I get it, mankind got along just fine without the internet. But at the same time, because virtually everyone else does everything online, I find myself much more isolate than I was several years ago. But even without the interaction, every where I watch, or read, I get to watch people's sanity unravel.
In the grand scheme of things, all of these new forms of interaction that the internet made possible are still in their infancy. I wonder if it will ever reach maturity and what would that look like? Here in the USA, there is an obsession with freedom that makes it very difficult to police what people say. And the world has gone so bonkers that many of our elected "leaders" are among the worst purveyors of nonsense.
I started removing myself from social media years ago, and not even necessarily for the reason above. While there have always been weird, fringe dwellers online, it was never 'mainstream' until much later.
I'm old enough to have not had the internet until high school. When I did it was mostly our message boards, a far cry form what it all turned into about a decade later. So I get it, mankind got along just fine without the internet. But at the same time, because virtually everyone else does everything online, I find myself much more isolate than I was several years ago. But even without the interaction, every where I watch, or read, I get to watch people's sanity unravel.
In the grand scheme of things, all of these new forms of interaction that the internet made possible are still in their infancy. I wonder if it will ever reach maturity and what would that look like? Here in the USA, there is an obsession with freedom that makes it very difficult to police what people say. And the world has gone so bonkers that many of our elected "leaders" are among the worst purveyors of nonsense.