They killed the pro-ana site but replaced it with the mass normalization of lesser body image issues. Replaced stormfront with wide sharing of fascist talking points from people who wouldn’t call themselves national socialists. They sanitized the worst aspects of the old internet, but in trying to get people hooked they took a lot of the same things they sanitized and promoted versions that were palatable to the masses. They made an Internet that feels safe in the same way painkillers do.
Yeah social media just adds so much undue mental pressure, especially the non-anonymous ones.
People are constantly seeing perfectly filtered and perfectly arranged photos of influencers apparently enjoying the perfect life and then comparing their own reality and feeling inadequate.
The FOMO pressure to be always available and seek validation via DMs, comments and likes.
The bombardment of political slop and seeing the opinions of every single fucker in the world and a few million bots about some mundane shit is bad for your mood.
Sending and receiving Goatse was just a tiny bit of fun in comparison.
You misunderstand. That was when the Internet was good. No amount of scat or gore or violent cartoons will ever hold a candle to the crushing algorithmic power of modern, corporate social media.
Millennials like us didn’t just grow up with the Internet, the Internet grew up with us too. We got to exploit bleeding edge technology to build the Internet we were using. Gen-Z and Gen Alpha are growing up on a mature but enshittified corporate social media landscape designed to exploit them for profit.
i’m technically old gen z, i got the end of the wild Internet, and beginnings of enshitification, though by the time it was starting i was already off in niche corners of untouched Internet, until those spaces started to die too
I can’t imagine growing up with social media. Probably not good for development.
i grew up during the wild internet days
saw one man one jar, two girls one cup, smile HD, happy tree friends, and incredibly graphic gore when i was at the ripe old age of 12
considering the circumstances i think i turned out fine, well, as fine as a person with empathy can be in this hellscape
Yes, but that was still before social media. As weird as it sounds, social media is probably more damaging than the early oughts shock sites
They killed the pro-ana site but replaced it with the mass normalization of lesser body image issues. Replaced stormfront with wide sharing of fascist talking points from people who wouldn’t call themselves national socialists. They sanitized the worst aspects of the old internet, but in trying to get people hooked they took a lot of the same things they sanitized and promoted versions that were palatable to the masses. They made an Internet that feels safe in the same way painkillers do.
Yeah social media just adds so much undue mental pressure, especially the non-anonymous ones.
People are constantly seeing perfectly filtered and perfectly arranged photos of influencers apparently enjoying the perfect life and then comparing their own reality and feeling inadequate.
The FOMO pressure to be always available and seek validation via DMs, comments and likes.
The bombardment of political slop and seeing the opinions of every single fucker in the world and a few million bots about some mundane shit is bad for your mood.
Sending and receiving Goatse was just a tiny bit of fun in comparison.
trueee, the closest i got to social media back then was a forum for a game i liked with less than 50 regular members
You misunderstand. That was when the Internet was good. No amount of scat or gore or violent cartoons will ever hold a candle to the crushing algorithmic power of modern, corporate social media.
Millennials like us didn’t just grow up with the Internet, the Internet grew up with us too. We got to exploit bleeding edge technology to build the Internet we were using. Gen-Z and Gen Alpha are growing up on a mature but enshittified corporate social media landscape designed to exploit them for profit.
i’m technically old gen z, i got the end of the wild Internet, and beginnings of enshitification, though by the time it was starting i was already off in niche corners of untouched Internet, until those spaces started to die too
goatse.cx and Lemon Party
And goatse gave us the ability to laugh at that Micky Mouse clock
And honestly, I was a full on adult when covid hit and I regressed. It’s got to have been awful for kids