Is leaving the internet the end goal?

[SomaSpice]

It depends. I mean, there have been times in my life where I minimized just how good the Internet was for me; especially when I was living alone and wasn't really able to make friends IRL. I use to live in rural USA as a national service volunteer and wasn't really able to make the personal connections that I needed. I wish I didn't beat myself up about it at the time. It's okay to connect with people on social media or use Discord to try and make some friends. I did make a few friends off of /soc/ during the really hard times of my life, but I think people should just be careful not to get caught up in a bucket of crabs. I don't have Instagram installed on my phone right now but I still have an account. I imagine when I move again it will be really helpful for making connections. The thing is that you can't just expect people to make a huge effort to contact you. I have a friend who refuses to use social media at all and refuses to have a cell phone (he is a huge privacy nerd) which is fine, but I don't think he should expect people to make a huge effort to contact him by setting up PGP keys and alternative mail addresses and things like XMPP. Most people don't understand, I mean, you can express the importance of mass surveillance and privacy, but at the end of the day a lot of people don't have the mental resources to go through all the hoops. Cut them some slack.

Socializing is paramount for mental health, no two ways about it. I just place real over online.
I also don't have the mental energy to setup the necesary tools for private communication, so I get what you mean.

I just feel that online interaction is just, kinda exaggerated and fake in many ways? Its kinda performative, and it often goes outside of the realm of how almost anyone would act in real life. You've got people roleplaying ideologies and identities just for the sake of belonging, and all this is done in an ethereal space generally free of consequence and thus meaning. Not that this is bad per se, it can be really fun, but its just void. I don't think you can lead a fulfilling life if you live online.

Not for me, I want to be on the internet until I die.

Oh

 

[deepfreeze]

The good thing about old school forums is the finiteness. There's only so many posts you've missed since you last checked. You read them, open up chat and mtts is mad about grilled cheese sandwiches and then you're done and log off. There's no attempt to provide the illusion of infinite content, almost all of which is just the same screencaps of snarky America Bad political tweets from 4 years ago over and over and over. I've recently gotten sucked back into being terminally online again but I'm starting to break it.

 

[Altghost]

I think what tangles us up is not the Internet as a human invented technology, as it is a great improvement in our intercommunication. What makes it a bad experience is the manner it is being used in. Nowadays there are only small portions of it that can actually charge up your batteries instead of psychologically draining you and breaking you if you let your guard down.

You hear so many stories of people who went through a period of being alone, isolated, feeling like they had no one to talk to and nowhere to find people like themselves.. and they found that in the internet, pre social media. it was all right there.

I'd say nowadays, yup, the goal is to leave the internet. Even if your period of aloneness is in 2022. Because there's nothing you can do and nowhere you can go, online, to find what used to exist pretty much anywhere in 2 clicks. It would have been great to have this amazing tool to use as a supplement, to get you through until you can move to a better city or w/e and find people irl.

All the internet is in its present form (to oversimplify it a bit) is a thing that keeps you down, keeps you coming back, wasting your time, while it still carries the appearance of the amazing tool it used to be until so recently. It's always there, 24/7, in your house, able to be carried around constantly. It keeps you from getting used to whatever your shitty situation is, because it offers an escape that's always easily available.

 

[SomaSpice]

To clarify some of my hypocrisy, I'll keep using the agora, make youtube videos, play video games here and there, and use digital means to communicate whenever I need to. I'll do so because these are the things I've learned I have control over, and they add value to my life.

I've chosen to leave the rest of the net because I felt it made me lose control over myself. Spend too much time on 4chan, >reddit, or Twitter, and you tend to become someone else.

 

[Mеченый Яков]

I only use Agora Road, Youtube (and recently discord, but only for Xandra's Server), and my university website, tbh if i wanted to i could leave internet totally (as the time i went off a whole month in december, i didn't touch internet at all), but i'm kinda forced due to college.

 

[NW_Cryptid]

I think for some it is.

For me it's closer to finding a balance. I don't want the stress of social media, or any form of online social relations including simple messengers or even Agora Road notifications, to get me down and stress me out. However I do like the internet, I feel like we were born during a time when we got to see the rise and fall of the internet; we were here at it's peak and in a lot of ways it was a part of our generation. For some it's merely a tool, and for others it's a part of them. I know there's strong feelings on both sides but personally I just want to be able to enjoy the relics of the internet with all the boons it may bring, without the stress of it all; being popular, conforming to a social norm, making everyone happy.

Nah, that just ain't in the books for me. I'd rather use the internet as a free mind, exploring the interconnected roads of the web and experiencing all that I can of real life while doing it. I believe all things are best found in balance, and this is no exception.

 

[Outer Heaven]

i'm kinda forced due to college

I relate to this a lot. Its hard to use my laptop in moderation when I'm forced to use it to study. I was planning to spend this summer offline but I cant even do that because I have to study Calculus for next year so I don't fail. The fact that you cant do basic functions like study anymore without the internet is a nightmare. I imagine its the same for office workers since they need the internet for their job. We need a global EMP on the internet once a week so everyone is forced to touch grass tbh.

 

[Deleted member 3981]

I relate to this a lot. Its hard to use my laptop in moderation when I'm forced to use it to study. I was planning to spend this summer offline but I cant even do that because I have to study Calculus for next year so I don't fail. The fact that you cant do basic functions like study anymore without the internet is a nightmare. I imagine its the same for office workers since they need the internet for their job. We need a global EMP on the internet once a week so everyone is forced to touch grass tbh.

The best thing I did to get through calc was lock all my websites with a timed blocker. After two hours, the entire internet is blocked, so I need to get my shit done asap. The bad news is that it cost $40, but it was a good investment in the end, cause you can't kill it if you block the uninstaller.

If blockers don't work, surround yourself with hard workers at your local college/school/mental institution. Framing your mindset so that what you study is important also helps. For example, if I major in engineering and I can't do calculus, then I won't get the theory for half of my classes.

 

[-SteampunkTraveler-]

yep. Ideally I don't want anything to do with internet. Still use >reddit though which imo is as harmful as any other social media so im working on leaving it along with youtube. There's so much content out there and majority of it is low quality that is not worth watching. the internet has served me by providing a place in which i feel comfortable, but lately i've kind of changed mindsets and no longer think the comfort zone is the ideal place to be if i want to grow as a person. the internet is still a great tool for learning, and i believe that is its virtue, but entertainment-wise we must put a limit to it.

me too bro, all I am gonna use youtube for is music production.

 

[Max Chill]

I thought the Agora Road was the very internet itself. Hmmmmmm strange

 

[ZinRicky]

I thought the Agora Road was the very internet itself. Hmmmmmm strange

Just like the FB&co. - Google&co. - TikTok - >reddit circle: you can live on the Internet without ever leaving those

 

[Talon]

I've mostly abandoned all social media as far as a day-to-day activity I partake in. I login to facebook once a week from my computer to catch up with family and see if any interesting local events are coming up. If there's something happening in the world I want to keep up with in real time I'll go on twitter. >reddit is one of the few apps I have on my phone that I scroll occasionally (never post) but most days I try to stick to a few small forums like AR. It's easier to find topics I'm interested in on the smaller forums, the interactions with other users are more genuine, and I don't get locked into the time suck of endless scrolling or face the mental toll of information overload those types of platforms bring.

It seems easier to use social media in moderation when you think of them like a drug or alcohol. Every agreeable comment or updoot flooding your brain with seretonin and neurons firing off at breakneck speed, eventually needing more and more to sustain that high, before bringing you to the rock bottom point where you're accomplishing nothing worthwhile because you're chasing the next updoot or tripping over other people to get the first big hot take on [insert controversial public figure's name here]'s post.

 

[substance]

Its going to be my end goal. Reality is better and its attainable. The degree to which many of us including myself use the internet is not all that great for the human psyche. I'd prefer to use it as a tool rather than a coping mechanism.

 

[-SteampunkTraveler-]

I've mostly abandoned all social media as far as a day-to-day activity I partake in. I login to facebook once a week from my computer to catch up with family and see if any interesting local events are coming up. If there's something happening in the world I want to keep up with in real time I'll go on twitter. >reddit is one of the few apps I have on my phone that I scroll occasionally (never post) but most days I try to stick to a few small forums like AR. It's easier to find topics I'm interested in on the smaller forums, the interactions with other users are more genuine, and I don't get locked into the time suck of endless scrolling or face the mental toll of information overload those types of platforms bring.

It seems easier to use social media in moderation when you think of them like a drug or alcohol. Every agreeable comment or updoot flooding your brain with seretonin and neurons firing off at breakneck speed, eventually needing more and more to sustain that high, before bringing you to the rock bottom point where you're accomplishing nothing worthwhile because you're chasing the next updoot or tripping over other people to get the first big hot take on [insert controversial public figure's name here]'s post.

tbh, I just use >reddit and youtube. youtube mostly for production and finding music >reddit is just scrolling and partaking in discussions. Agora is kind of like >reddit but with people who have more braincells lol

 

[Talon]

tbh, I just use >reddit and youtube. youtube mostly for production and finding music >reddit is just scrolling and partaking in discussions. Agora is kind of like >reddit but with people who have more braincells lol

I always forget Youtube is technially social media, since I'm rarely social on it. I don't have cable so in addition to a couple paid streaming services I use it as a source of entertainment and background noise throughout the day. I also listen to a lot of music on there.

 

[-SteampunkTraveler-]

I always forget Youtube is technially social media, since I'm rarely social on it. I don't have cable so in addition to a couple paid streaming services I use it as a source of entertainment and background noise throughout the day. I also listen to a lot of music on there.

yeah exactly!!!

 

[Sweet n' Comfy]

If you want to get the most out of the internet, do the following: hoard useful data. If you want social interaction find your nearest book club or something. The real use the internet has is data sharing. You'll get way more out of the net if you download a lot of useful things. Stock up on books and knowledge; movies, music, everything you can. On a harddrive you can save enough information for a lifetime. You maybe don't know it yet: but you have access to way more than an intellectual of yestertimes could dream of. NEETs have the chance to become the greatest polymaths sages ever with a computer and a lot of free time; we shoulda be in a golden age for arts, knowledge and the like but it never happened. Access to knowledge didn't solve man's problems because he didn't even want to know in the first place. If you try being disciplined and cutting all vain internet access (social networks) and replace with downloading useful books and reading them you'll get more culture and knowledge, and you'll train your dopamine reward system to work the way it should: for you not for vain pleasures.

 

[Yakito]

Personally I want to become a producer and owner instead of just being a consumer.

The biggest danger of the Internet is that it keeps you hooked with useless trivia and drama all the time. It doesn't help you grow or achieve anything. For example, I am glad that I mostly cut out using YouTube. If you are out of the loop you realize how fake and cynical all of it is. I already quit social media. I literally can't care about what Twitter and >reddit thinks anymore.

 

[DOOM95.EXE]

Topic title - I've thought about it. And I did. For almost a decade.

I used to be addicted to the internet. Long before social media and smart phones I used to skip class in school and hide out in the computer lab in order to catch up on forum posts and gaming news. After school I'd rush home and be up til 2 or 3 in the morning just browsing. I got chastised a lot by my friends & family for spending too much time online.

But then the iPhone came out and changed everything -- now everybody was addicted to constantly being connected. I had already been using the internet for over 10 years by that point so none of it was new or special to me. I bought my first car that year and finally had the freedom to go out whenever I wanted. So it was sorta a reversal: I was suddenly the most outgoing guy and everybody else couldn't be torn away from their cell phones.

The "classic web" ended in 2008, at least for me. I still used it from time to time to check up on friends, or if somebody sent me a funny link, or so on. I didn't even own a PC between 2016 and 2020.

When the pandemic hit and I was stuck inside for a couple months, I decided to build a new PC and check out the state of the internet. And boy did it suck. I felt like a frozen caveman being thawed out in the modern day. >reddit, Tumblr, Instagram and TikTok didn't exist when I stopped using the web. I spent maybe a combined total of an hour exploring them and knew instantly I wasn't missing anything.

I don't think I can every truly leave the internet. I grew up on it. I like this site. It has culture that the mainstream platforms lack. It's chill; I don't have to worry about the possibility of an angry Twitter troglodyte throwing a Molotov cocktail through my window for daring to think different.

 

[Yakito]

But then the iPhone came out and changed everything -- now everybody was addicted to constantly being connected. I had already been using the internet for over 10 years by that point so none of it was new or special to me. I bought my first car that year and finally had the freedom to go out whenever I wanted. So it was sorta a reversal: I was suddenly the most outgoing guy and everybody else couldn't be torn away from their cell phones.

It was the same for me exactly. I was the weird one for always being at my computer, now everybody is always immersed on their social media feeds. In my country the internet is practically existing on facebook and youtube. It's depressing...

The "classic web" ended in 2008, at least for me.

That was around on of the last years of viral videos etc., before making content became formalized and commercialized. Heck, blogs and forums were still a big thing and image boards were just recently starting up. The online culture wasn't as formalized as it is now.