The internet used to be a place where nerds and manchildren would get together and have a good time. This is because you really couldn't get on the internet unless you owned a computer and had some idea how to use it. This cut off a surprisingly large amound of people. Nobody knew it at the time, because we were too busy shitposting about video games. It wasn't any better than it is now. It was far more decentralized though. What the hell happened? well, the Smartphone happened. It's not a bad thing. It's just an overall shift that opened the proverbial floodgates to people that would have never tried to use the internet otherwise.
If your parents are anything like mine, this is as horrifying as it is entertaining. My parents can barely operate a PC, even today. They still try! Oh--Boy! Do they try!
I just don't know why they want to use the computer. They have no business using one. They don't do anything important with it aside from Facebook or pornography. They call me semi frequently to come by and fix "problems". These range from "I don't remember my password" to "I accidentally changed my Chrome Homepage". God bless their innocence. I love my parents, but they're not cut out for using a PC. Smartphones on the other hand, are designed to appeal to everyone. It's very telling that 3 year olds are able to efficiently use them. It's a great thing that so many people have access to technology. The problem is, they're people. People do and say stupid things all the time. And when you give someone a device that lets them broadcast all of this the world from anywhere on Earth, you're asking for trouble.
It could be argued that most of the nonsense going on with the internet today is directly a result of the advent of the smartphone. Now, if you're one of the people I'm talking about, i.e your first interactions with the internet was via smartphone, listen up. I'm not saying you are part of the problem. I'm saying that people like you are part of the problem. This is a critique of a collective. Individuals are exempt from what I am about to say. When smartphones hit, the internet wasn't ready. Grandmas, your friends mom, your redneck uncle, mormons, teenagers, you name it. They all began using the internet at an alarming rate. Luckily, this infestation is mostly contained to social media. I use the term "infestation" because it's funny. The internet was my place to go to escape these people. I don't want to see them when I am trying to escape from them.
So, You have the boomers, you have the sanctamonious crowd, redditors, narcisistic people, the list goes on. All of these groups were introduced to the internet by smartphones. Around 2012 when smartphone adoption hit 50% or so, all these characters started to pop up to scream into their respective abyss. Each group seems to have a containment site made especially for them. That's capitalism in action, baby.
I start with this category because I don't find them at fault for anything they've done. I should also clarify that I'm solely talking about the internet iliterate, and the regular iliterate when I talk about boomers. Baby Boomers helped invent the internet, so I don't blame them all. Just the vast majority. Most of them have no idea what they're doing, can barely write, and are crazy. They post utter nonsense, and believe utter nonsense. I am not a boomer, so I have no idea why they do these things. I can only determine that it's most likely not their fault. They didn't grow up with this stuff. Not only that, Facebook is going out of it's way to keep them from learning how any of this works. You see, Facebook relies on their ignorance to make money. People who know anything about anything know that Facebook is filled to the brim with fake news, steals your data, and is generally just a complete and utter drain on humanity. They've figured out how to manipulate boomers so well that the entire website has become rife with them. Your grandparents, aunts, uncles, regualar parents, all of them probably have Facebook. It's like that family gathering you don't want to go to but somehow worse. Facebook doesn't even try to hide the fact that they're fishing for data from you. I don't know how many time's I've gotten a prompt to add information to my profile. You just know some grandma is falling for it hook line and sinker. Aside from all the evil stuff facebook does, the level of ignorance I see from facebook users is astounding. people talk about things they know nothing about as if they're experts. I can't stand it and that's why I left. I'm one of last people in my friend group to continue using that cesspool. That being said, I find it comforting that so many boomers think Facebook and Foxnews.coms comment section are the entire internet. It all works out.
Twitter fucking sucks.
That's it. That's my commentary
I don't hate anyone. That being said, if I did, my first choice would be Redditors. When I think of a Redditor, I think of a guy in his 20's wearing a fedora and giggling to himself as he scrolls his phone. The person I am afraid I'll become if I don't work hard and do my best in life. I don't like redditors and it's because of the posting style there. It's just so fucking milktoast. I used to frequent r/NES because of course I did. The entire subreddit is just people posting pictures of what games they've beaten or purchased. No information whatsoever. I don't care even remotely that you beat Double Dragon, and I love Double Dragon. I don't know you. You probably cheated. Tell me how you did it. Don't just make a low effort post. it's those delicious upvotes man. Think, facebook like. Except the site keeps track of every upvote you get. The site encourages people to post insipid, toothless, nonsense. Discussion? Better not go against the grain, because you might get a downvote. A downvote will subtract 1 point from your score. Can't have that. So people just circlejerk all day long, mostly regurgitating information they found elsewhere. Never creating new information, since it's too risky. It's mind numbing. There are some good places on reddit, it's great for dumb videos, and it's great for memes. Don't go there for discussion.
Facebook made a good decision when they bought instagram. They saw how 20 somethings were using their site and said "lets buy this and funnel them all over there". Fair enough. I don't have much to say about Instagram that deviates from common opinion. Just like every other social media site it's a cesspool of narcisism and ignorance. That being said, it's mostly harmless. The instagram crowd keeps to itself, and since it's not designed with discussion in mind, it's the most tolerable social media I've used. I don't like how I signed up to get engineering related posts. Not because I don't like engineering, but because I like accurate engineering. You know, the stuff that actually works. I don't know how many times I got videos about things that are impossible, inaccurate, or just plain dumb. I deleted the app because I found myself endlessly scrolling through fake UFO videos. Make of that what you will.
Nothing. These people are having fun. What gives me the right to get on a pedastool and proclaim that it should end? I'm not them. That being said, I want nothing to do with them. They don't know that the internet is a huge place. I have plenty of options for places to visit where they're not going to be. That's not going to stop me from needlessly complaining about them. Though, maybe I did need to get this off my chest in a way. I've been keeping this to myself for years because none of those sites give me the opportunity to speak my mind the way a terrible HTML page does. Check back for more later.