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Ocelot II

(128,806 posts)
1. I wish I'd had the Internet when I was in college - I could have learned so much,
Fri Dec 19, 2025, 11:08 AM
Friday

and so much faster. The access to information it provides is so amazing; I really wish it existed when I was young. The down side is that there is also an enormous amount of crap and deception, and social media is turning out to be detrimental in a lot of respects. We didn't have anything like it when I was a teenager, and that was probably a good thing, considering how toxic social relations could get even among small circles. There was a thing called a slam book, a spiral notebook that got passed around and the kids would write comments about other kids, and it got pretty poisonous and hurtful. Social media amplified the slam book exponentially, glad I never had to be a victim of that. People can be especially shitty when they can hide behind some form of anonymity, which might be the most serious consequence of the internet and social media. There are no filters and no effective fact-checking mechanisms and no consequences for saying whatever the hell you feel like saying. Valuable information is at your fingertips but so is the opportunity to be a total dick to someone you don't know just because you feel like it, or the victim of someone else you don't know who has taken the opportunity to be a total dick to you just because they feel like it.

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5 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

I wish I'd had the Internet when I was in college - I could have learned so much, Ocelot II Friday #1
The trolling and bullying can be limited, and in the past were often limited, by effective human highplainsdem Friday #14
New digital age technologies like the internet and AI anciano Friday #2
It's a mixed bag bucolic_frolic Friday #3
It's not a "one size fits all" TheProle Friday #4
Humankind cannot keep up with it, it appears. Boomerproud Friday #5
Well, here rzemanfl Friday #6
as of this writing, there seem to be at least 3 of us. ret5hd Friday #7
A Golden Age until the Internet was monitized Bobstandard Friday #8
As We Age snowybirdie Friday #9
Isaac Asimov markie Friday #10
A very wise man, he was. MineralMan Friday #17
Generative AI is definitely doing more harm than good. Social media platforms designed to addict users highplainsdem Friday #11
Technology "wants" to be liberative, but is too often a tool of oligarchy, control and war. usonian Friday #12
It's hard to say. I remember when the Internet first came to be, everyone assumed since we would have access Vinca Friday #13
I saw something the orher day that absolutely amazing PCB66 Friday #15
It's important to separate kids from smartphones, especially at school. See this: highplainsdem Friday #18
Lunchbreak at work is people looking at their phones, not interacting. Boomerproud Friday #22
As someone who is disabled and cannot drive synni Friday #16
That aspect of the internet is good. But it's a very small part of internet traffic and time spent online highplainsdem Friday #21
I would say that it has been a roller coaster genxlib Friday #19
I hate that people are not present to what is going on around them. milestogo Friday #20
Social media (while it has some very good qualities) will probably be bluestarone Friday #23
I consider the digital age a blessing and a boon. I'm Ilsa Friday #24
Smart people got better. Stupid people got worse. Iggo Friday #25
I don't think we're better off. Scrivener7 Friday #26
I've been on the internet since the late 'seventies, starting as a university undergraduate. hunter Friday #27
Educator, born in '71. I think we jumped the shark once GPV Friday #28
The Internet is a wonderful servant and a terrible master Fichefinder Friday #29
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