My grandparents always said that about the internet. They were right. Right for the wrong reasons, but still right.
I blame the smartphone myself. When the internet quit being something you go to and instead something you were always connected to everywhere, it started going downhill fast. Social media became something too easy to do, just snap a pic and blast it to the world. It's all so impersonal and people get so addicted to it. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the technology and it's been great to strengthen relationships that started in person as a better way to keep in touch. I'll kill the connected-anywhere smartphone and social media in a blink though, and wouldn't miss that part at all.
Your smartphone theory is pretty on the mark. It was a mix of giving every retard internet access and retard proofing all internet capable devices. Back in the day you needed a desktop to get online and you needed to be at least somewhat tech literate to deal with how wonky computers could be back then. The effect was gatekeeping based on IQ and interest in tech which put a floor on the quality of internet users. That floor was blown up between 2005 and 2010, although most places remained usable until around 2014. What made it worse was the rise of social media and the resulting centralization of conversations. That was the real death knell for the old Internet, because the tranny jannies only had to infiltrate around half a dozen platforms to control the discourse. Explaining how the internet essentially caused the tranny problem and thus created armies of tranny jannies would require its own post.
No, it's the opposite direction. It's because the real world is largely shit.
The reason it really picked up is that you don't have to see the swarms of immigrants or deal with traffic. People aren't choosing social media over vacations or even nice outings, they're choosing it over going to the shitty overpriced bar or restaurant which just microwaves food.
The sad truth of this is it seems that bars and restaurants have become the pinnacle of adult socialization. I don't really like bars and drinking that much, and it's definitely a pain to try to find other things. Then the Covid clown world killed off some of it even more.
The last century has been a long tumble down of "if you aren't drinking while doing it, its not fun." And the last half century or so added "if you aren't getting high instead then its no good."
Like, nearly every non-hobby socialization revolves around either alcohol, drugs, or food for most people. And nobody seems to recognize that is a problem.
That's because drinking, getting high, and taking meals are more enjoyable with company, and providing friends with booze, dope, or food is a time-honored way to express affection.
All time since September 1993. One of the seasonal rhythms of the Usenet used to be the annual September influx of clueless newbies who, lacking any sense of netiquette, made a general nuisance of themselves. This coincided with people starting college, getting their first internet accounts, and plunging in without bothering to learn what was acceptable. These relatively small drafts of newbies could be assimilated within a few months. But in September 1993, AOL users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming the old-timers' capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically recall the period before, this triggered an inexorable decline in the quality of discussions on newsgroups.
By this definition I never experienced a non-degraded internet, since my family didn't get a computer capable of internet access until 1995.
Edit: then later on google groups allowing you to post on Usenet dealt what was probably its killing stroke, having already long been on life support due to all the spam posted to unmoderated groups making them all but useless.
My grandparents always said that about the internet. They were right. Right for the wrong reasons, but still right.
I blame the smartphone myself. When the internet quit being something you go to and instead something you were always connected to everywhere, it started going downhill fast. Social media became something too easy to do, just snap a pic and blast it to the world. It's all so impersonal and people get so addicted to it. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the technology and it's been great to strengthen relationships that started in person as a better way to keep in touch. I'll kill the connected-anywhere smartphone and social media in a blink though, and wouldn't miss that part at all.
Your smartphone theory is pretty on the mark. It was a mix of giving every retard internet access and retard proofing all internet capable devices. Back in the day you needed a desktop to get online and you needed to be at least somewhat tech literate to deal with how wonky computers could be back then. The effect was gatekeeping based on IQ and interest in tech which put a floor on the quality of internet users. That floor was blown up between 2005 and 2010, although most places remained usable until around 2014. What made it worse was the rise of social media and the resulting centralization of conversations. That was the real death knell for the old Internet, because the tranny jannies only had to infiltrate around half a dozen platforms to control the discourse. Explaining how the internet essentially caused the tranny problem and thus created armies of tranny jannies would require its own post.
No, it's the opposite direction. It's because the real world is largely shit.
The reason it really picked up is that you don't have to see the swarms of immigrants or deal with traffic. People aren't choosing social media over vacations or even nice outings, they're choosing it over going to the shitty overpriced bar or restaurant which just microwaves food.
The sad truth of this is it seems that bars and restaurants have become the pinnacle of adult socialization. I don't really like bars and drinking that much, and it's definitely a pain to try to find other things. Then the Covid clown world killed off some of it even more.
The last century has been a long tumble down of "if you aren't drinking while doing it, its not fun." And the last half century or so added "if you aren't getting high instead then its no good."
Like, nearly every non-hobby socialization revolves around either alcohol, drugs, or food for most people. And nobody seems to recognize that is a problem.
That's because drinking, getting high, and taking meals are more enjoyable with company, and providing friends with booze, dope, or food is a time-honored way to express affection.
The only problem is excess.
This has been an issue for the last several hundred years not just the last hundred. It got so bad they even banned alcohol for a while
Butlerian Jihad against smart phones when?
Eternal September:
By this definition I never experienced a non-degraded internet, since my family didn't get a computer capable of internet access until 1995.
Edit: then later on google groups allowing you to post on Usenet dealt what was probably its killing stroke, having already long been on life support due to all the spam posted to unmoderated groups making them all but useless.
Remember, remember, Eternal September.