The Internet Is Evil! WAKE UP!

[zeoevil]

Do you guys just hate Sam Hyde or is there something actually wrong with that video? I watched the whole thing. I can't speak to his other content because I don't watch it, but there is some good advice in that video. You may not understand it because it doesn't apply to you, but it speaks to a growingly disenfranchised group. Whatever. To each their own. *shrugs*

[NTFMTS]

Cmon now, I hope you're not blaming me with the way you worded that. Sure you could say I took the bait, but I have no tolerance for bigotry, especially on this forum which I've loved to visit for years. I guess if I had known Arvy better before all the spam, I could've in retrospect been more patient or polite about it.

Not at all! Any blame is entirely with him, he had the control of whether to post or not. But if he feeds on getting reactions out of people, he certainly got what he wanted, and notably from you.

I'm sure we can all agree on the content of his posts and that there were several pleas to him and the moderators to stop it. I noticed whenever you challenged him in the past on his off-topic and propaganda videos that it was rare to ever get any kind of response back from him.
It felt at points that he was posting to get a rise. I don't know how the phrase "don't feed the troll" fits into this particular context but I'm sure it does.

Totally agreed here!

[rodox_head]

Do you guys just hate Sam Hyde or is there something actually wrong with that video? I watched the whole thing. I can't speak to his other content because I don't watch it, but there is some good advice in that video. You may not understand it because it doesn't apply to you, but it speaks to a growingly disenfranchised group. Whatever. To each their own. *shrugs*

"I trust them damn YouTube talking heads 'bout as far as I can throw 'em, but I trust the viewers even less! In a situation like this, I can't afford to trust NOBODY!"

[Alvin]

On the irony epidemic, I agree with Fantano’s claim that the quality of discourse was better in comment sections 10+ years ago. Not that it was fantastic then or anything, but it seems to have deteriorated, trending toward surface-level exchange. This probably has something to do with the sheer volume of voices now participating and the dominance of attention-grabbing content.

I guess YouTube is the most mainstream of digital spaces. In real life, you wouldn’t expect to engage in a complex discussion about art with a random person on the street. Yet part of me feels compelled to push back on that assumption. A random passerby might actually have fascinating insights given the right opportunity. A modern-day Socrates would probably take to YouTube to ask probing questions, disrupting the cycles of irony and sarcasm with deeper inquiries that invite reflection over reaction.

Deep thinking is difficult and most people are on the internet in the down-time between more important tasks. So humour is clearly going to be a popular mode of engagement that keeps us on these platforms with little, fast-absorbing “sugar-hits”. But what about deep humour? The kind that resonates beyond the immediate laugh? Humour that doesn’t rely on shallow irony but instead provokes thought? It exists but feels rare in spaces where algorithms reward brevity over substance.

Then there’s the issue of sincerity, which can feel like a risky proposition. To express genuine opinions or engage thoughtfully is to open oneself up to ridicule or even lasting judgment. With digital surveillance, every stance we take becomes part of a permanent record that could be weaponized or misinterpreted. It must be even worse when you have a social credit score. It would nudge you toward a certain fluidity of interaction.

In response, many of us are drawn to a more enigmatic style of expression. One that thrives on ambiguity rather than carefully articulated beliefs. This approach allows us to sidestep the vulnerability of fixed opinions, embracing a kind of fluid identity where we’re harder to pin down. It’s about finding ways to remain adaptable, avoiding the trap of having our identities irrevocably tied to any particular belief. Irony and humour in this context are like protective mechanisms allowing us to engage while preserving a sense of distance.

[Cupz]

Gonna bump this thread.

How are we all doing in a post-truth world?
Do you fully realize all the content you see could potentially be generated by AI?
Are you still able to differentiate between procedural and human-made content? Or are you rejecting the parts of the internet where such things are present?
Are you still on your android/ios smartphones (aka pocket-propaganda malware) or are you done now?
Are you aware of the levels you are being manipulated by neuro-marketing and post-post-modernist propaganda?


This is my phone now, a Nokia 220. All it does is take and make calls, send and receive texts and play mp3s (music, podcasts, audiobooks I download). And it plays it through a headphone jack zomg! And the battery life is like a week and charges in an hour. And it was just 20 euros. "noo but my whatsapp NOOOO"

Most people can't even look at the world through their own eyes anymore, they only consume what is served by their billionaire-approved filter-bubble recommendations.

[2020k]

I don't like the internet anymore

[WATER_CAN-_-]

the internet is as evil as its users

[mechanismj]

Guys... I thi... I think the internet might be evil!

Seriously though, I am just about done with it. I can only handle about 30 minutes on the net before I get so agitated and nauseous that I need to lay down in the dark for 12 hours.

Everything is broken, extremely cumbersome and convoluted to use, and it is loaded to the gills with bots, AI slop, misinformation, and every other bit of fake nonsense you can shake a stick at.

And then there are the dumdums. Bless em. It is chock full of people with ZERO critical thinking skill who fall for every stupid conspiracy, every bit of click-baity political misinformation, and all the phony culture war trash they can focus their dried out beady little eyes on.

And I am no fucking genius. This shit has duped me a few times over the years, too... (BoC fakes... ergh...)

The place is a dump and it makes me sick. The PERFECT tool to dismantle civilized society.

So how you all doin?!

Cupz, I was thinking about getting one of those old-school Nokia bricks, too. it would take some adjustment, but I am definitely getting to that point!

[Orbited insanitarium]

Seriously though, I am just about done with it. I can only handle about 30 minutes on the net before I get so agitated and nauseous that I need to lay down in the dark for 12 hours.

Everything is broken, extremely cumbersome and convoluted to use, and it is loaded to the gills with bots, AI slop, misinformation, and every other bit of fake nonsense you can shake a stick at.

And then there are the dumdums. Bless em. It is chock full of people with ZERO critical thinking skill who fall for every stupid conspiracy, every bit of click-baity political misinformation, and all the phony culture war trash they can focus their dried out beady little eyes on.

Yes! This is a succinct boiling down of what my thoughts on the exacerbating negative aspects of the interwebz lately would be too.

[Cupz]

Cupz, I was thinking about getting one of those old-school Nokia bricks, too. it would take some adjustment, but I am definitely getting to that point!

Come in, the water is great.

The most annoying part so far has been dealing everybody's insistence of using QR-codes and "the app" (had to switch to a bank that allowed me to use a web-browser instead of forcing "the app"). I have a QR-decoder on my linux laptop, and I can put QR and bar-codes for show tickets and stuff as .png in the Nokia (though sometimes requires careful cropping but I love that shit). But otherwise I don't miss anything. If something is really important people can call me. Until then it's an mp3-player, 400x300 pixel image display, and flash-light. For everything else I have my Nintendo DSi and, if all else fails, a laptop and 1337 haxxor skills. If "the app" doesn't run on vanilla linux I don't want it

[mechanismj]

Exhibit A:
User: strange fruit

Clearly a product or victim of the incel echo chamber.
Is it man? Or machine?
It is getting damn near impossible to tell the difference anymore.

[2020k]

I want to revise my statement.

I like the tools that the internet's given to us. I am still in love with the tools

Maps & GPS
Text messaging and email
Access to 99% of the world's recorded music
Countless creative programs
Organizational tools
Knowing the weather
Generally making things more accessible.

HOWEVER...
I don't like how the tools are exploited by capitalism
I don't like the constant invasion of privacy
I don't like the propaganda and radicalizations
I don't like how people interact with each other
I don't like facades through AI (the AI created resume to an AI created interview pipeline)
I don't like algorithms and the odd movement to assimilate to it

We had such a chance to use the internet to connect, educate, and expand. We lost so much of the plot.

[mechanismj]

I want to revise my statement.

I like the tools that the internet's given to us. I am still in love with the tools

Maps & GPS
Text messaging and email
Access to 99% of the world's recorded music
Countless creative programs
Organizational tools
Knowing the weather
Generally making things more accessible.

HOWEVER...
I don't like how the tools are exploited by capitalism
I don't like the constant invasion of privacy
I don't like the propaganda and radicalizations
I don't like how people interact with each other
I don't like facades through AI (the AI created resume to an AI created interview pipeline)
I don't like algorithms and the odd movement to assimilate to it

We had such a chance to use the internet to connect, educate, and expand. We lost so much of the plot.

Absolutely. Fully agree. And it is blatantly obvious that 'late stage capitalism' is the culprit. Running the internet like a shoddy business that has been sucked dry by venture capital in a strip mall hellscape messed it all up. It wasn't supposed to model the real world. It should have been an escape from that.

[WATER_CAN-_-]

the internet is as evil as its users

conversely, the internet is as good as its users

[Cupz]

Yes yes, semantically the internet is not at fault, guns don't kill people blablabla. And there's really cool independent networking projects like the gemini protocol, smolweb and the tildeverse just to name a few from the top of my head, projects that try to change the internet for the better.

The big computer network we call the internet, or the people on it, is not the problem in and of itself. I think one could boil it down to just alphabet (android/google play store/youtube/chrome/chromium/etc.), since they have a stanglehold, not only on everyone's attention, but the very fabric of the web, the devices and software everybody is using to interact with it, even the http protocol's standards! (making the web exponentially more complex so it is very difficult to make third party web browsers eliminating chromium competition). Though apple, tencent, amazon and meta are not better, all billion-dollar tech is fucking disgusting at this point.

Though these companies are the problem, the solution is with us users. But even something simple like getting rid of their android or iOS devices and getting a regular old dumbphone is apparently too tall an order for 99% of people and that's really frustrating. Even a lot of computer-savy privacy-aware hackers I know are using android and ios devices like helllooooo??? Pisses me right the fuck off.

[Antares]

Yes yes, semantically the internet is not at fault, guns don't kill people blablabla. And there's really cool independent networking projects like the gemini protocol, smolweb and the tildeverse just to name a few from the top of my head, projects that try to change the internet for the better.

The big computer network we call the internet, or the people on it, is not the problem in and of itself. I think one could boil it down to just alphabet (android/google play store/youtube/chrome/chromium/etc.), since they have a stanglehold, not only on everyone's attention, but the very fabric of the web, the devices and software everybody is using to interact with it, even the http protocol's standards! (making the web exponentially more complex so it is very difficult to make third party web browsers eliminating chromium competition). Though apple, tencent, amazon and meta are not better, all billion-dollar tech is fucking disgusting at this point.

Though these companies are the problem, the solution is with us users. But even something simple like getting rid of their android or iOS devices and getting a regular old dumbphone is apparently too tall an order for 99% of people and that's really frustrating. Even a lot of computer-savy privacy-aware hackers I know are using android and ios devices like helllooooo??? Pisses me right the fuck off.

Y'know, your posts here might be what inspire me to fully make a good faith attempt to kick my internet addiction for good. Almost my whole life, for as long as I remember, from a child onward, I have been a chronic lurker, losing hours upon untold hours of my life to scrolling through the abyss, and the negative consequences this has addiction has had on my life are innumberable. I've made some attempts to mitigate my dependence on the web, including downsizing from an iPhone to a Jelly2, putting blockers up across my devices, and buying more physical media, but the ease of access to these glorified time-wasting tracking systems is still too everpresent. These Nokias look great - and downgrading from my Macbook might not be a bad idea either.

[Cupz]

Y'know, your posts here might be what inspire me to fully make a good faith attempt to kick my internet addiction for good. Almost my whole life, for as long as I remember, from a child onward, I have been a chronic lurker, losing hours upon untold hours of my life to scrolling through the abyss, and the negative consequences this has addiction has had on my life are innumberable. I've made some attempts to mitigate my dependence on the web, including downsizing from an iPhone to a Jelly2, putting blockers up across my devices, and buying more physical media, but the ease of access to these glorified time-wasting tracking systems is still too everpresent. These Nokias look great - and downgrading from my Macbook might not be a bad idea either.

That sounds like a great idea. I am familiar with that abyss as well, though since I have cut it out it has become exponentially more sticky and nefarious from what I've seen. And what you describe also sounds like that moment when you smoke your last cigarette and you"re like "this tastes like absolute shit, I'm done". If you need any help installing Linux Mint (edit: actually, for an apple-user, Fedora will feel more like home and can often be installed on macbooks) or whatever I'm here for you

[SonicDimension]

I read a couple of books this year that relate to this topic:

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

The first book presents a convincing argument that we should curtail our use of digital media, and the second explains how to go about it. I highly recommend both if you are serious about changing your relationship with technology.

[Josh]

I read a couple of books this year that relate to this topic:

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

The first book presents a convincing argument that we should curtail our use of digital media, and the second explains how to go about it. I highly recommend both if you are serious about changing your relationship with technology.

I'll have to check out those books. I've got a pre-teen with severe ADHD and is completely addicted to screens. It's really bad. It's more complicated than just "oh, limit their screen time, no big deal".

[Cupz]

Reading books about it wouldn't help me, personally, but if you're the kind of person that gets things done by reading a book about it by all means.

The main courses of action is not so complicated you need a book to explain: Get rid of your android/ios devices. Do important business on a laptop, preferably with some flavor of linux on it. Hook a raspberry pi 5 to your tv and pirate movies and tv-shows (websearch Free Media Heck Yeah).

And its almost funny seeing how low the bar is nowadays. Remember the kind of shit we had to do to pirate vhs tapes? This is peanuts in comparison.