The Internet is nonsense these days

I'm having a difficult time understanding the Internet. I just read there an estimated 2,800,000,000 internet users but from what I've seen 99.9% must not talk anywhere.

I go on google or bing and I search for forums covering various topics but all the results lead to ghost towns. if I search for conspiracy stuff I'll get links to a handful of forums.

As I searched various forums I noticed something sad. There are a ton of people who are not interested in discussing anything. They seem to just want to argue in the nicest ways possible as if they're playing a game to see how much they can ruin the Internet without getting banned.

Many times I can't even understand the conversations. People's comments don't seem to even flow. Trying to read it gives the impression That someone wrote an ai program and it attacked/spams the Internet.

where are the 3 billion hanging out? I want to see what other personalities are like.

a reply to: Staygaf

Although I wouldn't suggest it, the other half are probably on the "deep/dark web".

To access it you'll need a tor browser from my understanding, and I wouldn't do it on any computer that contains any personal information.

The reason for that is, well, there are some sick people out there so don't go clicking on random links that might bring up red flags you wouldn't want to have against you.

a reply to: Staygaf

They are all on FB, I was off for three years and found it extremely difficult to connect with people. I wrote a detailed. well researched blog that got almost no views. I've been back on facebook a month and it's highly addicting to me. It has several drawbacks but it does have some advantages I know I can maintain connections with people I couldn't connect to otherwise.

a reply to: BoxFulder

I'm resisting Facebook as best I can, but even I will admit that all my family and friends from back home are "connected" to it.

So not being on it becomes a disservice at some point because as they have stated before, I'm a ghost to them, cuz I leave very little trace of my existence on the internet aside from ATS.

a reply to: Staygaf

The internet is very much like a village, except that it is huge. In every community, large or small, rich or poor, there are those who seek and find wisdom and wholeness, and there are those who do not, and there are also those who eschew the quest for wisdom entirely.

It can be difficult to find proficient communicators, but that largely depends on where you are looking. This website for example, has myriad threads and posts which are constructed with aplomb, panache and insight in huge measure. It also contains a few threads and posts which have been constructed using the least possible effort, both in terms of the quality of the communication which resulted from their creation, and the level of thought that went into their initiation in the first place.

But just because a thing may be hard to locate, does not mean it is not present. Like a set of car keys in a sofa, persistence will find you what you seek more often than not.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

Don't give in to temptation.
I had a Fakebook account for a while, to keep up with family, but I just couldn't take the ignorance, bitching and back stabbing from all the others. People who would send me friend requests and then I had to see what their friends said and what their friends said, the comments that were passed on from others..... I had to get out.
It came down to this - If I posted something actually important, it would get maybe 3 likes.
A picture of a cat doing something cute got 50. That just confirmed my opinion of the average person.
Don't get me started on the privacy issues with Fakebook.

a reply to: DAVID64

I agree with your statement 100%

My gf has an account (obviously) and the amount of stupidities from other people she shows me on there makes me want to gauge my eyes out.

I personally believe that it ruined my best friends sisters life as well. She takes the damn thing so seriously and the comments she gets from other people just destroy her self esteem.

What was once a strong young woman has become someone who is obsessed with what other people think, because that's how she validates her own self worth, it's very sad.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

You guys are right but I moved 6,500 miles away from my family and friends to a new continent. For me it is the absolutely only way to stay in contact with my family and friends. It is vapid and destructive if you let it be.

Everyone bashes FB. Easy pickings I guess?

I enjoy it. Depends on what groups you join and your interests. My feed is informative and interesting. I also don't let anyone post to my page. If you have something I need to see IM me with the link.

Sure there are tons of junk on FB, but there also tons of junk on the internet.
SMH

ThreeeyesOpen from your description of your friends sister I'd say she has some issues she needs to address and FB only brought them to light. Setting boundaries is necessary. If other's opinions matter THAT much maybe she needs to find out why?

FB is just another tool. It's how you use it.

Facebook is like the plague as far as I am concerned. I am a 20 something male without a Facebook. Whenever i tell people i am not on Fb they look at me as if I am an alien.

I want to actually live life. Actually experience human to human interaction.

My wife has facebook. She shows me the crap on there. It is literally like a gigantic circle jerk going on. I cannot believe the crap that people willingly share with the world these days. Not to mention the garbage posted. Like you will see a chick with 3 different baby daddies make a post joking about how 'he' did not pull out and then this post will be 'liked' by other women of the same variety. Wth.

I totally get it for people who need it as the only way to keep in contact with friends or family. Other than that...it is just people getting off on 'memes.'

I just watched a few of the trump rally protests, riots, what have you, videos. What I cannot help but notice is literally every single person having their phone pointed outwards to take video and pictures. Every single person. Why? So these idiots can share the crap later on Facebook and circle jerk it with likes. They are actually proud of this. It boggles the mind.

If 9/11 happened again today all you would see is everybody running towards the towers with their phones up to get a better shot.


Eta: Then again. The new topics page here on ATS has been reading an awful lot like the News Feed as of late. Soon every site with members will read the same basically.

Has anybody noticed the lack of people skills in the supermarket lately? I have. Ill be damned if 'excuse me' exists anymore. It is like human physical interaction is becoming so wierd that people are forgetting how to do it. I truly think the humans in Wall E are a good indicator of where we are headed.

a reply to: Staygaf

The internet is for shopping and social media these day's , little else.
I miss the old internet , not as pretty and featured as today but it was like the wild west , Warez was my favourite town.

Same has happened here over the years , global dimming.

You can find people to have great conversations with, it really all just depends on what you are into. Personally, I play these online multiplayer all-text games called MUDs. They have been around since 1980. The one I play has been around since 1994, and I started on it around `98 and still play it to this day. Always have a great conversation on there with people around my age, which is typically 30-60. I have seen some younger players on there as well though.

They have every genre you can imagine and then some. Many servers have hand built game clients to play, other simply use telnet, but there are plenty of universal highly customizable telnet clients as well. The worlds are vast, and take many years to explore fully. In fact I have yet to even explore all the areas in the one I play because they are still constantly adding new areas. Very talented writers, and most MUDs have a tight close community where they have big get togethers once a year.

MUD servers have anywhere between 5 to 500 players, and almost each one is unique. It's becoming more and more a hidden internet gem.

So like I said earlier, it really all just depends what you are into. This is just one example where a lot of people hide out on. You can find great conversations in most anything.

And if anyone would like to learn more about MUDs, here's a couple links.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.reddit.com...

one person's trash is another person's treasure

Perhaps people in general have reached the zenith of their collective intelligence. They seem fully capable of functioning on an animalistic level, ie. hunger, comfort and sexual appetite, but beyond that. the intelligence index falls into a couple of divisions. Higher learning, and those of simple survival. Higher learning has been described as the ability to memorize facts and figures successfully. There are certainly instances of individuals with a superior ability in this respect, and also in the simple survival crowd without sufficient social skills who fall through the cracks.

Simply focusing on a particular function be it art, science or humanity is no indicator of a superior consciousness or intelligence, rather a preponderance of re-runs in their life experiences or a desire to be different and as a tool of attraction or indifference. The internet is no indicator of intelligence either, as anyone can purchase or acquire one, much like we do with cars and vehicles of transportation, or clothing for comfort. Some are content to live on a primal level or as hunter gatherers might have in early civilizations. Others desire the latest sparkles and farkles.

The latest generations have evolved socially into servitude and find their worlds not much more than their smartphones and apps, and with no critical thinking required. Why learn beyond that required for social interaction ? A whole perspective can be lost in one or two generations.

These are my feelings and observations, and I'm sure there is a plentiful amount of room to expound on it. Some will have an entirely different opinion and dismiss mine, but it usually becomes an exercise as a word smith.

You may see it differently, and well you should, because it is simply an individual opinion influenced by demographics, age, race, and moral interpretations on my part. You also have introverts and extroverts to contend with, listeners and speakers. And the dubious ability of anonymity and those emboldened by that ability. Technical intelligence has surpassed common sense in most cases, but of what value is it if one can not function in a world without devices? They say an EMP burst would likely destroy most of our ability with regard to devices..... where would we be then ? Tales and legends were used in the past to instruct simple truths, usually those aimed at survival. For the most part, they have been abandoned in favor of technology. Technology may prove to be a misnomer.

a reply to: Staygaf
Every time you type in best fried chicken into maps while driving- you're using the Internet.

a reply to: gortex

I feel the same way..but where did those sites go? I have link folders that go way back to the late 90's sometimes I will open up the links and occasionally find that the sites are still there..but if I search for them on google they don't come up..it's like they are hidden so deep it's impossible to find them by doing a simple search..which I know is prob their problem for not updating with SEO's and tagging and such..but still. Some of the sites still look like it's 1999..lol

I use Facebook mainly because, like one of the above posters I moved to the other side of the planet and my family and friends are all thousands of miles away and it is pretty much the only way to keep in touch with that many people at once and on an almost daily basis.

Yes, it can take over your life and become a detriment if you let it but I don't understand this fear and aversion towards it some people seem to have. I have a couple of friends who just categorically will not go on it. their perception that it is some kind of chore or infantile in some way, then there's the 'security' paranoia about it.

Facebook seems to be looked on by some as this malevolent genie that will spread all your private stuff around and ruin your life if you click on the wrong thing. Bottom line is what the hell are you worried about? Don't put dodgy stuff on the internet anywhere if you are worried about the wrong folk seeing it. Why should it be Facebook's security's responsibility to stop you making an arse of yourself?

A fear of Facebook usually goes along with a fear of and lack of understanding of the internet in general. It is possibly linked to low intelligence and lack of social skills. Let me put it this way, the people I know who are not on Facebook, I am very glad they are not on there, for varying reasons.

Nobody forces you to read anyone's posts or to post things yourself. Most of the time it's just a harmless ticker tape of nonsense and peoples thoughts and activity. For me it's a great communication tool as we seem to use the Facebook messenger thing these days more than we use conventional phone texts and e-mails. Not sure why, it just seems handier.

If You think Google™ puts a finger in, farcebook™ goes up all the way to the elbow!!!

It is just a seine for info.

Biggest IPO in mankind having to do with computers and the ONE computer they're using goes on the blink for 18 minutes? Then Agent Zuckerberg 'surprises' everyone He has ever known and gets married the very next day in a 50/50 State in Ca.
Then when Your grandkids' grandkids find out it was ALL just a gov't. tool to grab info/intel then they'll only be able to get back $50B because Mrs. Zuckerberg (also an agent) gets half.

During those 'dead air' 18 min. the real big investors were advised NOT to buy the initial stocks, that their opportunity would be forthcoming..

For those who are on it: Ever read something like "They'll never get My guns, the bastages.. they don't even know I have them lol lol..." Guess who'll get visited first?

a reply to: Staygaf

I suggest you're just not trying. There are billions of links to sites to other links within links to forums within forums....on and on and on.

It appears you have used the trillions of links to links to links...to be broken down into one thing. Wrong.

You honestly need to visit and learn about more sites...before you label it all. I don't think you have....

a reply to: Staygaf

I suggest you're just not trying. There are billions of links to sites to other links within links to forums within forums....on and on and on.

It appears you have used the trillions of links to links to links...to be broken down into one thing. Wrong.

You honestly need to visit and learn about more sites...before you label it all. I don't think you have....