I thought that the WWW would be more of the glue for society

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me as I get more involved with the Internet is that there is a tendency for quite a few to act like complete jerks. I have realized that the culture of the world has become increasingly pessimistic and antagonistic. It really is a shame that there can not be more cohesiveness.

I thought that the WWW would be more of the glue for society. It just feels like it is a wrench made of stench. I know there has to be some good that has come from it, but all I have noticed is how combative people are when it comes to a variety of topics. There are some wonderful options, like Facebook that attempt to be a way to bring people together. YouTube has much to offer.

Still, people are just so nasty to each other. I guess this idea of saying and doing whatever you want regardless of decorum is driven by the fact that very few are getting punished for their behavior. Basically, they get away with it because the Internet is an anarchist sociological endeavor. There is not any policing going on that I can see. I guess individual sites like this have their rules that get monitored and if you step out of line they make it known, but it doesn't stop people from creating sites and writing blogs or making videos that are guaranteed freedom of speech, at least in supposed democratic countries.

I believe that there are some countries out there that restrict content and I suppose that too is the wrong way to handle things. I guess there really is no right way or wrong way to govern the Internet, but should there be a better way to keep jerks in line? I really don't know the answer, but I am put off by the easiness in which people become bullies on a computer and attack each other.

I suppose it comes down to how you were raised in your household. I taught my son that there are ramifications for bad behavior and that he should always treat people with respect. If my son was every guilty of the behavior that I have come across and he thinks it is a victim less crime to do and say whatever he wants, his computer and cell phone would find its way to the nearest Goodwill store, but it is the adults that have the most abhorrent behavior and should know better.

It is very easy to invent complete identities that are completely misleading and false all under the pretense of good old fun and I am sure this happens on many sites everyday. I guess part of me always resisted the Internet for this reason. I prefer genuine relationships where face to face contact is the norm rather than the occasional happenstance. I do think this has made it harder for people to get along when they are together, especially if they spend all their time glued to a computer or this crazy thing everyone does with their "smart" phones where they sit at a dinner table all texting each other while they are sitting at the same table. It's nuts. Phones for me are a necessity to be used for actual conversation. Computers have up until recently been a means for me to just keep a journal and to print letters or invitations or send a fax.

I am bedridden for my health at the moment or I probably would not even care, I would be out on the nature trail taking pictures of wildlife, birds, the cloud formations, the stars, the trees, the mountains and people in their natural form, enjoying the proximity instead of the anonymous nature of the WWW. Just my 2 cents.

a reply to: austincitylights

I would come at it from a different perspective.

For me the WWW and before it the then growing but now usurped media of TV had a detrimental effect upon democracy.
Back then though information was more limited and some would argue easier to manipulate due to the fact that Newspapers and Radio for example were the main mean's by which the public kept themselves informed and of course those medium were owned by the Few so could be schewed easily by there own agenda today's problem is more a case of information overload.

Also Politician's have gone from being judged on there merit and agenda's to being judged on there spin and presentation which is a sad and actually extremely destructive turn of event's for Democracy in general.

Now I am a socialist so we will disagree on several point's, for example I also do not like Anarchist's but there we may have argument's about what specifies anarchy.

Take peaceful democratic protest's and strike's for example, they are quite often very justified and if people simply lay down and complied while there right's were buried six feet under then Democracy would fail as well.

So protest's and speaking your mind even in country's were that can be dangerous are essential to a free and open society.

There have been many area's in which the internet has been good but there have also been area's in which it is terrible bad.

Sharing information, online protest's and petition's, non official news coverage and information (which admitedly is also MOST often schewed by the agenda's of those that create such site's) are good point's, sharing of information beyond national borders and making people see one another as people giving them a common ground upon which to speak to one another regardless of nationality, creed or religion is another and these can be immensely beneficial.

Pornography, Terrorism and of course Drug Dealing as well as other form's of criminal, devient and anti social behaviour or psychologically harmful as well as socially harmful media such as Pornography are very BAD thing's in general.

Policing can only be achieved via the ISP's and the danger is that bringing it in even though these BAD thing's do require it urgently can also lead to cencorship and false flagging of free speach and bring us closer to totalitarian rule.

Sometime's I too wish it had never had the public uptake it has since I tend to see the past with rose tinted spectacles as there was a lot that was better but have to also note that there was lot that was worse.


You are totally correct about the internet being a masqu for many people, they even have online persona's, maybe we all do that are different to our day to day live's but in the course of human interaction that is quite normal just not in this media.

Sorry forgot to add, Hope you get well soon and feel a bit better, it is horrible feeling being out of commision because of your health.

a reply to: austincitylightsWhen you say www I take it more broadly as 'end of civiiization'. This includes not only another huge globallly destructive conflagration, but the serious potential of world spanning economic collapse, the real possibility of population poisoning, ecological collapse, total infrastructure failue,ie, electricity or internet loss, and add to this list as they occur to us. That, is how I see it.
And I think I agree with you. I also have supposed that as these cataclysimic potentiallities become more easily descernable, that we as a finite species would adress our demise more reasonably. Yet those who most loudly scream their awarness of these coming changes fight one another tooth and nail, It makes no sense to me. None at all. Well, it does, really, but I am loath to wallow in that pathology.
Myself, I watch for the flame that will light the candle, not the match that will ignite the fire.

a reply to: austincitylights

Before I became actively immersed in the internet, I appreciated people more.

I always do my best to be polite online, but some times it really is hard to keep cool. This is not to suggest that there aren't worthy things to be found online, but the best rule of thumb is if you see a certain kind of presence overwhelming and dominating whatever have you and it begins to make you think horrible thoughts yourself, just back away slowly. Do not engage them in any way shape or form.

Sad thing is, most people won't walk away from a fight.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

Yes it can even wreck real relationships and for many people reduce there real world social activity's in there off time as they instead go online.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Very true.

Before the Net caught serious traction, there was a wealth of visibility from the type of people I got along with in real life. Everywhere, really. The bars and clubs were packed to the gills with us weirdos. Then the demographic changed and all our clubs and cafes were replaced with yuppie trust fund establishments. We retreated Underground, to the social forum of the Internet. And there things were good. For a while. But then THEY came and overdeveloped our lands, poisoned our waters, darkened our skies and....oh wait I'm doing it again, aren't I?

Sorry about that.

It's that generational cynicism and angst bleeding out again.

Lemmie grab a band-aid.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I could not agree more, sadly it is not cynicism though just a valid observation of our state of being at this time.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

THEY were doing it before the Internet.

The difference the Internet has made is that it has allowed society's disaffected to cast their nets wider in seeking association with others like them and organize.

So it has at once both enabled people to find others more like themselves and subdivided us into a less cohesive whole.

Ah, yes...the internet. It really is just another invention that was full of good intentions and possibilities, and then people used it.

Gunpowder was used for religious celebration until someone decided that it could be used as a weapon.

Writing was used to record and inform until someone realized they could use it for propaganda and brainwashing.

Hell, even the U.S. government was formed to protect rights and limit government until people realized that they could vote themselves the use of other people's money and use it to impose majority will on the minority.

Even a simple rock can be used for murder in the hands of humans.

BUT...

At the same time, gunpowder can also be used to protect people or to celebrate events on a grand scale.

Writing can be used to say the most loving things and inspire even the most depressed and saddened people to do great things.

The government...well, hell, I'm still out on that one...but rocks can be crushed and used in concrete to make buildings to house the homeless.

The point being that ANYTHING can be used both for good and bad purposes. If I were the OP, I'd start by stopping--stop reading comments. Stop giving credence to asinine, hateful opinions. Treat these people like they should be treated and give them no more power over you than if they had never spoken in the first place. You are allowing them to win by letting them bother you. If we could all learn to just ignore this hate, I bet it wouldn't be such a problem.

a reply to: austincitylights

The internet is just an extra pair of eyes and we control what we look at. We're in charge of how we spend our time on it too. We're most definitely in charge of how we treat people.

I know I'm over-simplifying things here. Don't *look* at all the negative comments out there and try not to let them affect you when one slips the net. Don't join in.

For all the downsides of the net, it's stuffed with games, history archives, music and thousands of space images. The world's news is often eye-opening. I've been reading national/regional news sites for places like Tanzania, Kenya and Finland. Youtube is an incredible resource too.

I've share concerns that the collective western mind is undergoing changes. This is due to exposure to the internet causing changes in how we use the short term memory and quite possibly throttling/distorting access to long term memories. Like everything, it's not only the internet rather it's a perfect storm that's building up imo. Butterflies and storms if you catch my drift

a reply to: LABTECH767

Like so many inventions the Internet has been both good and bad. It comes down to making choices about the way we use the inventions. I think much of it is due to OCD and a need to constantly feed impulses. I am compulsive to a degree, but i do my best not to inflict others at my own expense. Thanks for your well thought reply.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Like so many inventions the Internet has been both good and bad. It comes down to making choices about the way we use the inventions. I think much of it is due to OCD and a need to constantly feed impulses. I am compulsive to a degree, but i do my best not to inflict others at my own expense. Thanks for your well thought reply.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

the Internet has, also, opened up the Pandora's Box if you will of creating false perceptions in the financial markets, where money, fake money, changes hands so rapidly that there is really no way to track it. This is scary. Some guy in China is manipulating the market in America, and some guy in Russia is doing the same to Japan. We are heading for a major disaster on all global markets as some point.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I am passive/aggressive when it comes to normal interaction. I stand up for what I think is proper when need be, but I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve still, in the passive stance. I am not afraid of cyber bullies at this point, but I do find their behavior deplorable. I have seen how they can attack and what it has done to others. Teenagers specifically that have committed suicide because of these actions. It is really sad to see the way some people really do not care how their behavior affects others.

a reply to: ketsuko

The difference is now they can do it behind a firewall anonymously. It is definitely harder to behave this way while staring someone in the face, but you are right, this behavior was around before the Internet.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I appreciate your advice. Unfortunately, eyes see what they see. It can not always be ignored, but I can refrain from confrontation when need be. So far, I have resisted the temptation to engage, but I must admit, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore some of the behavior I have witnessed in my short time of being involved. Even Facebook has become a treacherous site to navigate and I thought that was supposed to be more family friendly oriented. Anyway, I will be treading very lightly and with trepidation while I do search the WWW.

a reply to: austincitylights

Understood and Agreed.

In the case of internet bullies, a lot of them (not all) dealt (or deal) with Real World bullying and issues. It's just they have more control and power on the internet to lash out safely at their tormentors (real or perceived).

I mean, I'm no stranger to bullying, went through enough of it before the advent of digital communications, but the lengths some of these kiddos will go to to lash out these days is far beyond the pale.

Maybe before, we just weren't aware of how widespread things like that were, but these days it's pretty easy to keep tabs on large swaths of horrible behaviors and calculate a better graph of how many people perpetrate and are affected by such actions.

Of course, it's still in it's infancy on how to properly address these matters, but at least people are talking about it and aware of it on a much more proactive level than before.

So not all hope is lost.