How the internet has changed us socially and politically

Every social media platform is filled with politics,
whereas 10 years ago there was a larger more defined
separation between politics and personal life.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, texting.... In your
face all the time 24/7.

I don't know if there is a way to put the
genie back into the bottle....

a reply to: burntheships

They have found a way to politicize everything, which places you in 1 of 2 camps.
There is precious little opportunity to express shades of gray which is closer to the reality of who we are.
It's wearisome to fight the tide and not jump at every headline that superficially agrees with us.
Thanks to Google analytics any bias we may have is endlessly indulged whenever we enter search results.
What was once a road of infinite possibilities quickly narrows to a rigid path.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

If you haven't already read it, "I am right, you are wrong " is a fantastic book by Edward debono that pretty much sums up why we are on such a linear and rigid path .

a reply to: Asktheanimals

As social animals we're subject to peer pressure and responsive to role-models. Most of teh time we don't even know that we're constantly being formed and shaped by each other. It's at this nexus where your argument holds water.

We all spend more and more time on social media without weighing up the role models and behaviours we see there. People role-play and they shout louder. Negative behaviour washes through social media like a bust sewer and there we all are...up to our knees in it. People see more negative behaviour and emulate it. Monkey see, monkey do.

Simultaneously, we learn to accept asshole behaviour at levels we never would have done a few years ago. Naturally, some people always push the limits so the tide of negative behaviour keeps rising. I'm not so sure 'the technology is controlling us' as much as it's given us all a platform for our inner demons and speaker to broadcast stuff we'd never say to a person in the same room.

Anyway, it's a great OP and strikes a deep chord

a reply to: Asktheanimals

the military coming home from vietnam were treated like dirt . I remember the 70's as not being to good . It also formed my distrust of Government because of the draft

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Before I got on the net I used to be a 130 pound weakling...now I'm two separate armed robbers!!!!!

I am, of course, jesting. This business of communication between a bunch of strangers in public is something we have to get used to. I believe things will eventually calm down.
Personally, I never talked about politics that much but as I'm getting older I see how it affects the world more so feel more like getting involved.
A few years back my blather would've just been about music so there's less chance of friction there.

Typing space is an issue, I think, and the fact that humour isn't always obvious probably carries some blame.
Another issue is that I don't think people want to be seen as backing down. I can offer an opinion and if someone wants to pick at it I may respond or if someone's unpleasant I may not.
Not responding seems to look like the other person "won" (for want of a better term) so people feel obliged to escalate a little thing out of all logical proportion. Not really my cup of tea.

The old keyboard warrior thing is very real as well. In real life people are awfully polite and rather quiet in my presence but online its just a load of text which is much easier to yell at. In a way, its a novelty when someone has a dig at me. I'm not here to argue, though, so rarely take offence.
There's definitely some people who are full on confrontational here and I guess they're like that all the time so they can only communicate online. In the real world they won't get much conversation because people avoid those characters.

I can only really speak for myself and about this site. I don't have Facebook or Twitter so I don't know what they're like but I've heard.

I think Internet is just catalyst for something that had to happen sooner or later. Extreme views were always on this planet, Internet just gave way for masses to throw them to world without fear of physical violence by other side. I am happy with the way Internet worked on politics, it caused especially in last few years great influx of people in politics. People who would roll eyes before on any mention of politics are now going in debates, many of them ill informed, influenced by propaganda but when they weren't? Before there was no place to share your thoughts with large audience without being professional politician. Just give it some time and people will learn to behave. Remember most of average commentators on sites like cnn, fox etc. are just getting into politics, and it's time when most people go to one of poles. Heck i was hardcore communist when i just started and now i can't imagine worse political option along with fascism.

Here in my country (Croatia) we just aborted new property tax with facebook petition, thing that would go under radar just few years ago. Normally there is lot of dangerous things floating around, but that is something true democracies will always have to fight.

originally posted by: redtic
I think one of the biggest pitfalls of the internet is that it heightens our ability to react and lessens our tendency to think, causing these knee-jerk reactions based purely on emotion, without any rationalization, causing instant conflagration. The fact that you can see a story, a blog, a post, a tweet, and instantly and irrationally react to it without knowing context, validity, etc just grows the divide that is already there. I think the hyper-partisanship has always been there - the internet just gives us another way to channel it, albeit exponentially so.

A good post and excellent thread here.

The internet as a propaganda tool might exceed the value of the television as a propaganda tool. Edward Bernays would be happy.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Good points, thanks for bringing it up.

It's an increasingly prevalent reality, and the apparent solutions to solving this are rather extreme in themselves...

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
The internet has changed society and made us hyper-partisan. The internet has an equivalent in human society, we call it the mob. The loudest voice and most extreme views get the most attention. This is the basic premise of how the web operates. Exaggeration, hyperbole and fear mongering are what get results.

I agree. Just look what happened with the Star Wars Prequels.

a reply to: Asktheanimals


I agree with the OP

Yes vigilante activism can be done from anywhere with electronic devices, In the 60's and 70's you had to risk way more by being on the street to make your point. Some people are at Starbucks sipping their drinks causing mayhem on social media, sometimes anonymously, other times they are the applauded SJW type so they aren't hiding.

I always figured this was the case, even when I worked in retail. No matter how many rules we had, ie: no expired coupons, no coupons from OTHER STORES, no returns past 30 days, etc. the customer only needs to get loud and angry and they will get their way. We would take coupons from other stores, accept returns after several months and it being obvious the customer broke their own damn product. Get mad, get your way...ridiculous

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Oh, no doubt the search engines are part of the escalation,
as are the services of the same.

When we find the CEO's and owners of such tackling
a presidential campaign, look out online.

They in turn passing a trove of information to a
paid online army of commentators, aka a troll army.

What could possible go wrong?
Then again, what toppling could possibly be unpredicted?

I tend to thing in the works, the human "heart beat"
will always be impossible to duplicate. This won't
stop them from trying to beat it, which I think is at the heart
of 99% of the core reasons they use politics as the avenue.

Who knew Civics was so intriguing?

Great disccusion

Didn't used to be this way.....in the early nineties you could carry on a reasonable conversation with somebody who was somewhat intelligent. Mostly university type people who had really original ideas.

Maybe the reason why the internet acts like the mob is because of one thing.

What does any mobster really want out of life? They want to be a normal person and not the monster they found out they actually are.

They come into your life trying so hard to be normal, but then they just f**k everything up and people start to die.

Welcome to the new internet. A place that used to be normal. F***ed up by Guido.

Your friend
Jenkinswasher

One important point I regretfully omitted from the OP was the alternate reality the web presented to us, an escape from reality. Gamers know exactly what I'm talking about and I will admit to being a hardcore online gamer for years when I was self-employed. Doing monotonous work you need something to break your day up.

In adopting this alternate reality we lose the actual reality we live in. People are forgetting how to do things in the old ways before power tools and electricity. Basic living skills that thousands of generations of humans once HAD to know; making fire without matches, hunting, trapping, foraging, reading the weather, making cloth and working leather. Those skills not only taught fine motor skills but connected us with the planet we live on. Constantly moving every couple of years has broken our ties to the land as well.

It's apparent that part of the plan is to remove humanity from it's direct connection with the Earth and the web is an integral part of that goal.

I think Jefferson was right about an agrarian democracy. Farmers could be counted on to make wise decisions regarding land use. They were more religious than most because so much depended on the weather. They would also bond together to help neighbors raise barns or loan them seeds or tools or even do the planting and harvesting if the man of the house were sick or injured. That was most of America for the first 100 -150 years. How many people farm today?

The problem is; Who dictates the facts? For the vast majority of conspiratorial topics we only have second hand accounts and circumstantial evidence. Most evidence in regards to political conspiracies and the like are held by the very people or entities in question... So are we to disregard everything that isn't supported by peer reviewed journals and establishment approved facts?

a reply to: Asktheanimals

This thread is one of the reasons I made an account here. Its all true. I've been saying this for a while now, but with everyone else its in one ear and out the other. I'm happy to see that others believe this as well. Some of us can still see what is really going on.