Remember the Internet? Right now, you might be saying to yourself, "Of course I do. I'm on it looking at these words." But I don't mean this thing we call the Internet. I mean the Internet of a bygone era, the Internet Al Gore created, the one used for communication and knowledge.
The Internet has become a shell of itself. Knowledge gathering is reduced to the highly convenient, but incredibly unreliable, Wikipedia. Communication has devolved into the high school politics of Myspace. Ask the majority of people who use the Internet what they use it for. Most will say downloading music or movies, email and porn.
So the Internet turned from a useful tool to a glorified TV. I will admit that it is convenient to have so much entertainment at my fingertips. I like to download music instead of going to a store and it is nice to stream videos of people being stupid on YouTube while I'm at work. But I feel that we've devalued the Internet and taken its possibilities for granted.
I think the thing that has devolved most of all are the wondrous communication tools: chat rooms, email, blogs, social networking sites and the like. Chat rooms quickly moved from the next evolution of the telephone to a device for sex and pedophiles. Email is now so pervasive that it is available on cell phones and has basically quit evolving. Blogs still have value in that they allow instant eyewitness updates of news, but most are used for what I am doing now — a daily bitch session. The social networking sites are convenient because it is one big cluster fuck of friends that can be stayed in contact with despite time and distance. It also allows for some sort of individuality. But it can also be exclusive and used for bullying. Plus, the sheer number of "friends" that use it for completely juvenile purposes as propaganda, sloganeering and motives for promoting themselves and their personal relationships (see users whose names are "I love ___") is idiotic.
Every once in a while, I'll see what the Internet could be. I can find a well put together site, get some research worthy sources for topics I'm interested in, download PDFs of recent medical and sociological studies or get breaking news from around the world seconds after it happens. It just makes me sad that I have to pilfer through a virtual swamp of refuse to get to it.
Sure, what I am typing now is only serving to further gum up the internal workings of this mystery that is cyberspace. But at least I am aware of it and that makes me feel better.
Acrylic April 2019, part 1
5 years ago
1 comment:
I most certainly remember the day our family got our first computer. I remember the Flight Simulator game that I was too impatient to figure out - - (I only ever learned how to get the plane in the air and then successively crash into the nearby field, ocean or snowy mountain - - You know, whatever my suicidal bloodlust fancied) - - and I remember Dig Dug and various other arcade games.
The most important feature on our first computer, however, was the game “Age of Empires” - - This game changed my life. It is from the countless hours I spent learning the intricacies of this fine game that many of my political viewpoints were established.
Evolve – Make Demands – Avoid making threats, go straight for the heart of the rival city – CONQUER and sometimes enslave the converts. That pretty much sums up a lot of me.
I soon discovered that I could sign-up with MSNzone and take my rage out on actual people all across the world. I did this often.
But blah, the internet. Here’s a fact: By the end of my sophomore year, I had already sent close to 75,000 messages over icq. The majority of these messages went to Mark, Alice, he-who-shall-not-be-named, Em Rowland, and various other people that I probably don’t speak to anymore. Upon realizing this, did I feel as if I wasted my life? No. I felt like I had actually accomplished something… Something that in the end only I would appreciate.
Eventually, the family gets a new computer. A Dell. And it was glorious at the time. Lots of capabilities for pictures, etc…. and it held more illegal music than the first computer. Unfortunately, by the time this new gadget became a fixture in our house, bands like Metallica had already become consumed by greed and fought against wonderful sites such as Napster, BearShare, etc… thusly ruining my hobby of collecting free music.
Recap/Think about this: Napster was fueled by people who actually purchased albums and then uploaded them to their computers. They chose to share what they purchased. No one ever explained to me why that was ever illegal - - and what made c.d. burners appropriate to own.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. The joke is on them. Metallica and every other greedy band that further profited from restricting their music from fans by suing music sharing websites have all gotten the middle finger from grooveshark.com – You may not be able to save the music, but you damn sure can listen to it online.
That’s so American.
Everyone who’s anyone knows that the internet has never been intended for knowledge and learning ONLY - - that legacy died as soon as the “common-folk” or “boon children” of society were allowed to access it.
“Who was the first person responsible for putting porn on the internet?” - - Let me google that real quick.
In all honesty, I hate the internet. I hate it because of what it allows people to do. I hate it because it makes people lazy - - you can order your groceries online, shop for everything online, engage in deviant behaviors online, and even work from home – and by work from home, I’m not talking about jobs that actually contribute to society - - I’m talking about jobs that create annoyances for everyone else just trying to read articles. Sure, you might be happy working for cars.com because you’re lazy and have no sense of direction, but for the rest of us that have to see your ads everywhere, WE DON’T APPRECIATE YOU.
I also hate the internet because it allows people to believe that they are going to save the people of Darfur by joining groups on Facebook. It’s amazing to me that people actually believe that their virtual presence alone is enough to persuade some ridiculous fucking fool who just happens to be loaded with money to make such a significant contribution to the government of DARFUR.
Why the would any self-respecting person do that? Anyone who knows anything about Darfur would know that any contribution made to the Darfurian people or their government would only go to further fund that which we all know as mass genocide.
NO ONE IS GOING TO DONATE A DOLLAR TO THAT COUNTRY JUST BECAUSE YOU JOINED A GROUP ON FACEBOOK. NO ONE IS GOING TO DONATE A DOLLAR TO BREAST CANCER RESEARCH JUST BECAUSE YOU JOINED A GROUP OF FACEBOOK. JOHN STEWART WILL NEVER RUN FOR PRESIDENT – and that makes me sad – IT’S TIME TO LET IT GO.
I know most people would say that I need to look for the brighter side of things … the good that the internet brings to society. Well, sure. And to a degree, I do. I appreciate the internet when I can sit at home alone and “veg out” on sites like wikipedia all day, reading about things that blow my mind. I might even throw in a yahoo game or two. I appreciate the internet because it allows me to reach out and read about everything my teachers never taught me in school - - I APPRECIATE THE INTERNET FOR REMINDING ME THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE STUPID. So, basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s the internet’s fault that I hate it so much.
The internet is turning on itself, though. Online articles are slowly being released stating that the F.B.I. now uses social networking sites like Facebook to take out the derelicts that swarm the lower eschelons of society by slinging drugs and booty online.
http://www.google.com/search?q=FBI+Facebook&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7
I wonder if facebook will feature an application like “lil green patch”, except it’ll be “lil’ drug deal” – or maybe instead of becoming a pirate or a zombie hunter, you can become an inmate.
Low grade humans.
As far as myspace goes, I digress. That shit isn’t even worth discussing. The only people that use that are all the rejects from high school that still have something to prove.
“You might have made fun of me in high school, but look at me now.”
- Right, and I still don’t care.
“I was really popular in high school. …”
- GOD, are we still stuck on that. Weren’t you the girl that took a shit on a luggage rack during spring break in Cancun? Weren’t you the derelict who was wrongfully named salutatorian because your parents pulled some strings? Everyone knows your mother did your homework for you.
Strangely enough, both of these cases are real - - and both of these people dated.
MySpace is for assholes and lesbians.
Indeed, Sir Green, the internet is glorified television. “But I feel that we've devalued the Internet and taken its possibilities for granted.” - - Right O, cheerio!
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