I hate the internet (the Sept edition)

While this rant was more of a geriatric rumble, I can't say anything that will make it more reasonable.
However, I hate the internet myself: somewhat. I have been on the internet since age 13, its sad how you look back on the AOL, RP's, Porn sites, Anime till now it was a HUGE waste of my time. Not to mention the side-effects of being sucidal, bored, angry, lethargic, and inactive.

I can't help but feel to regret that my adolescent years were wasted on this contraption you call the internet. I didn't go outside as much, I stayed inside the house playing video games, looking at porn, rping with in chatrooms, typing on forums, listening to music. Its sad that I didn't explore my surroundings and took a chance at opportunities that will make me feel connected to these other teens out there.

TWEWY, I'm not joking, open up my eyes how the adolescent mind functions. Granted back than I was mostly depressed and didn't know why. Majority of the times I watched anime, but also I had watched fetish porn ALOT. To me I didn't care, I felt like I was being original on my decision staying inside the house but I missed a lot of opportunities that could of made me more appreciative about myself.

Right now, joining the Navy does make me feel more appreciated about myself. That I didn't hesitate on my chances of finding a better lifestyle. Even though the internet still does exist, I barely use it unless I'm looking at games I want to buy.

Well the world might regain some sanity if facebook,twitter and myspace suddenly blew up and didn't exsist, I failed 7 grade as well and had to do summer school for a few weeks but we got burger king pretty much every day and some $$$(for every + we got at the end) not to mention a goodie bag with all type of random stuff,but I imagine in about 10-20 years it will be worse...

I saw what 4chan had done to Raichu...

I've hated the internet ever since.

There are a lot of people that will deny that for instance violence in video games doesn't inspire people to commit acts of violence. I would likely agree that no amount of violence in a video game, is going to endanger anyone's life as a result of the viewer becoming predisposed to violent behaviour. But there IS a cost.

As I said, I remember the time BEFORE the internet, and now that it is more than 10 years AFTER the internet became a viable option for activity, I can also see the world AFTER the internet.

When I was young, games were still considered fun, but they weren't dripping in violence.
Today I think kids are more likely to dismiss as boring, a game without the violence. As such, kids have become dulled to too much violence. You HAVE been effected.

I can say the same of porn. Everyone knows it's there, and the only people not looking, are those with a total hate of sex in the first place.
I can recall the time before casually available porn in rental locations. Magazines were all you could get it in for the most part. Still images though are not the same as moving pictures. The second you were able to go and rent a video of 2 straight hours of specific forms of sex act, magazines were no longer interesting, where before they COULD be stimulating. I know, being a guy, I looked at porn mags. I don't any more.
The internet arrives and suddenly porn is all over and nothing is taboo, nothing is not viewable, the words 'sick' 'perverted', and 'gross' as applied to sex acts seem to no longer have any relevance. You can literally watch people doing ANYthing, regardless of the legal code of your country.

It's no surprise that sex is now a yawn, boring, seen it, activity that people can casually discuss. It has lost that taboo quality, the one thing that made it 'exciting' if at all. Now you can see it in average TV shows and no one thinks it odd.
In my youth, actual on screen married couples slept in separate beds all because sex on TV was a topic you just couldn't touch. Hey they're married, where do you think their kids came from? But nope, I love Lucy, two beds just to give an example. He loved her, but he never had sex with her apparently.
Today you can watch a show like Regenesis and hmm no one fucked in this episode, how weird.

I think the internet has also made me more prone to vulgar language. I don't think I swore as freely before it.
Just words everyone is prone to say. Oh they hurt no one. Actually, I think they HAVE caused me damage. I personally consider swearing to be an indication of diminished intelligence. Foul language is an indication of limited command of your language. The truly smart and clever person can insult you, and never say anything that a site will have on it's censored list of terms eh.

And we are social creatures we humans. But speaking to you here and now, I am not in need of controlling a lot of my behaviour as I would if you were in the room. For one thing I need to have clothes on. I need to NOT do a range of things like no picking your nose, don't play with yourself etc.
But also, when you make an off colour comment, you can smile and be seen to not be serious.
If you are sad about something, we can see it in your behaviour. If you are angry, we also can see it.
Believe it or not, no amount of clever 'smiley' icons are enough. You can't post one of these ' ' and it's all good.
No, your icon is not a replacement for a real smile.

And the lack of 'humanity' present on the internet is actually damaging us at the psyche level. And I HAVE seen this first hand.
My own son is I think dealing with social anxiety that would be a non issue if the internet had never existed.
Alas, he has been conned like so many of us get conned, into thinking it is 'ok' to have mainly online friends.

I am not speaking out against the value of online friends by the way. I think those friendships can be very real and very genuine.
But if that is all you have, you are in real danger of losing the needed skills to actually understand how actual friendship actually works.

As much as I like a lot of people I know online, none of them visit.
They do not arrive with a couple of T-Bone steaks to eat watching some TV shows.
Last night I did just that, went to a friends with two steaks, he's a great cook. We had those and some great roasted potatoes and blueberry pie.
And we watched the entire current 10 shows of a new anime series.
You can't replace that with some casual comments about what you thought of the series on a forum devoted to anime.
It's not the same to ramble on about what you had for dinner to another person that wasn't there.

Online games. I have no real interest in them. But I recall playing D&D long before MMOs existed. I recall sitting at a table wondering precisely what the stupid shaped dice were about. And what on earth is THAC0? I recall laughing at buddies dice rolls 'man you suck'. Or 'what do you mean I missed?'
Today it's always an electronic medium, and there is no social interaction and don't tell me how playing through some form of voice program is enough.
You're talking to someone that knows the difference.
I recall playing in a group that actually had girls present. Oh you knew they were female alright. You had a great teenage desire to see if her tits really looked as good as her shirt made them seem. And there was this one girl, that was the girlfriend of one of the players, and if they went into the other room, she was proving that not all role gaming nerds are virgins.
You don't get any of that playing your MMOs.

But I DO see people fiercely defending playing MMOs as being great, even greater than the real thing.
The funniest comment is D&D 4th edition looks like World of Warcraft. Err no, Warcraft looks like D&D 4th edition. There is a vital distinction made there.
But as much as 4th edition has design mechanics that seem similar, it's still a game played on a real table with people actually present.
That it can be played via an internet connection is just a credit to the planning of the design.
Many games can benefit from clever interface solutions. But if your opponent is not actually there, well you can't offer them a beer, you can't get in a quick look at his wife as she walks past from the pool in too little clothing. Oh you miss out on a lot of things with the internet.

The internet is a tool a lot of us are using to ill effect and a lot of us only see it after it is way too late.

I love shopping online. I don't love keeping up with my credit card balance.
Before the internet, I had to plan my purchases, now, I have to make a great deal of effort to tell myself no to a lot of things I want.
And a lot of us are really no good at saying no to ourselves.
I can find things online I'd have a hell of a time finding without it. I lived just fine before the internet not being able to have some things.
I think too many of us have gotten too used to thinking nothing is not possible.
Limitations, in my past, I had to learn to live with them, today, people actually have trouble with the word 'no'.

It effects our thinking.
In the past, I needed actual study skills, and an ability to think, skills needed in researching.
Now, there is no point in asking clever questions. People just Google the answers. And I think we tend to trust Google too much too.
Just because you found a Wiki, doesn't mean you found the real answer as well.
But mostly it is making us lazy.

For those thinking the previous entry was too long, congrats, the internet YOU might say is not harming you, may well have damaged your ability to read.

In my youth, reading that post was nothing.

i personally don't think there is anything essentially wrong with the internet. it's a technology, and therefore, you make of it what you will. if it affects you in a more-or-less negative fashion, then perhaps it's time to take a break. i love the internet, and spend a lot of time on it, too, but i still do more-or-less the same things, still interested in more-or-less the same things.