The most alarming thing about the internet is how it kills our capacity for delight. People spend hours scrolling glass-eyed through content that brings only crumbs of amusement. Real joy is found in the real world: in reading, in starlight, in birdsong, in service to others.
Did you write that in the sand for someone else to digitise?
I watch MeTV - Mash - Andy Griffith show. I love The Yorkshire Vets on ROKU. Come here hoping for breaking news and spew some shit for 20 minutes. Signing off!!! I'll will wait until tomorrow hoping there is breaking news.
This!!
I dunno I saw a video of a little toddler putting plastic rings on a dogs hind leg today
Rather than reductively say something smug about this being a post on one such delight sucking site, I'll say yeah, you're right, but it serves when my alternative is working hours filled with gray hallways and grayer company politics
I'm working on plans for a development in Frankfort, KY, and the property owner has to sign a certification that they'll respect utility easements on their property, i.e. the portions of private property that have public utilities in them. No digging without locating utilities, no buildings
Blocking access in the easement, etc. Then it says the owner is free to "use and enjoy" the easement land, but can't block access. That got me thinking, what would it look like for me to enjoy my yard? Even a 10' wide strip along the back of the property? What if I *enjoyed* that grass and fence?
“Scrolling … through content that brings only crumbs of amusement.” Some people. Other people find human connection with kindred spirits all over the world. I lost most of my IRL friends when I went into permanent lockdown to protect an immunocompromised loved one. My friends live in my phone now.
On behalf of immunocompromised hermits, respect and appreciation.
I talk about this daily. Look around a busy suburan gas station anywhere in the country.. its all NPCs. No one acknowledging anyone. Looking up and down from phones walking into each other.
i saw a joy once it was on the internet a long time ago
And in the first coffee of the morning while lying still bleary-eyed in bed. But there is some gorgeous nature and wildlife photography on social media, which we wouldn't see without the Internet. So don't knock it all. Have a good day.
Hell is other people for me though.
I hear that.
And in cat videos! But, yes.
I saw a white squirrel on my bike commute into the office Tuesday! Real joy is also found on a bike!
While I personally agree with you, I stay away from defining where people should be getting their joy from. You’re projecting and telling people if they’re not doing what you’re doing then they’re not getting real joy.
Sure. There are numerous studies on the effect of doom scrolling though
She said scrolling, not doom scrolling.
There are also many many examples of the Internet allowing for greater social connection and change. It’s both. It’s not a moral question, it’s a question of what each person chooses to foster and focus on. The internet is a tool, not a cause.
I've saved lives with my keyboard. And had mine saved in turn. I long ago lost count of both numbers.
I've been doing this work for hours almost every day for about 12 years.
Someone else’s joy is not less real than yours just because it doesn’t fit your narrative. I don’t think you know what you’re saying. You also seem self-centered. The entire paragraph centers the definition of joy around you. 🤣
Word
those days are over. keep up.
thats not a problem with the internet, but in how big corporations try to make us use it. they encourage this sort of behaviour because it means they get more money through things like ads and such like, neocities for example specifically does not have this issue. i love going through there
what if we feed on hate though
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that 😉
I don't necessarily disagree, but I also had mixed feelings about this; probably to complex to try to fit into a single reply. Suffice it to say that I'm glad that I'm not alone in my reaction. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
People are scared to be bored now. I get my best writing ideas going to bed cos my mind is literally not doing anything. If you're chronically online you've got no time to rest and enjoy new experiences.
You say that and I don't disagree, but this was below your post on my timeline:
Sure it's not the internet that does it, everyone seeks constant distraction in this insane society and have been for a long time It's a tool, and along with the bad has come a lot of good
...and singing with other people...
For me, the internet is a library open 24/7. It's not my substitute for real life; I do lots of other stuff. But not everyone can; some folks don't have the mobility to get out; some folks live deep in a city with no opportunity to get out; some folks isolate for mental health reasons.
*waves weakly in immunocompromised hermit*
Older than the Internet. David Foster Wallace called the '80s the "Age of Irony." We're trying to be sincere, but wonder is a hard quality to reclaim.
I can just skateboard to the store for a bag of chips and a bubbly water and literally get more information and real life experience in 15 minutes than ANY of this social media does for me
you know what, I'm actually gonna push back on this a bit. Yes, there's definitely the eye glazing over element on the internet but I've seen so many remarkable, wonderful, happy stories (mostly about dogs, but that's me for you) and I think people can curate their content to be better.
tw pet death For instance today I came across the story of a guy who came across animal remains in the woods while mushroom hunting. He saw something shiny and realized it was a surgical implant meaning this had been someone's pet. He got the ID number off of it and his viewers sleuthed until (1/2)
tw pet death they found the owners. Her name was Lily and she had got away on a hike. This man built her a box filled it with cedar and carefully gathered her bones in it and delivered it to her family so they could lay her to rest. I might never have seen that elsewhere; the internet can be amazing
Apparently, you are not narcissistic 😍
I do my service to others here. Physically can't do it in person. And this is where I connect with my communities - it's a lifeline for this disabled hermit. Don't be ableist.
Sometimes I throw my dogs poo bag at a bin and it goes right in. Fucking delightful!! 🙌
and in posting Ryan Gosling gifs.
It wasn't always like this. I speak as someone born handicapped and wasn't allowed to go into the athletic world of sunshine and stars. Dont climb, you'll break a bone, dont sing, you'll attract bad attention, dont dance, you'll fall and break something. I used to find worlds of Dreams online.
It has changed in the recent years. Fury has become a hammer everyone wields, and they are forging each other in the flames of dissent and anger with how their world has evolved around them while they weren't looking. It will take time before our souls seek the quenching waters of rest again.
