How has the modern internet changed you?
 

If you come looking to this thread for a fight, or to trash, go elsewhere please :).


I saw a post in another thread, how things are getting so nasty in social media these days. and to a large part, that's true. but, they are aslo getting crazy as well, and sometimes that is over looked.

As a kid, I was always poked fun at for who I was. a quiet nerd who liked to stick to himself and think and observe rather than interact. I never really fit in with the get wild, drink, get crazy crowd. yet, even still, I tried to keep a positive outlook on things and never really got too depressed.

I personally started dto notice a change when facebook came along. all these happy pictures. dating, marriage, kids getting born and growing up in the blink of an eye. and here I was, still in the same place, with a home life not really getting any better. and not making enough money to really move up and on.

And then the internet started to change. People started to discuss less. it started slowly. a weird reaction here, a strange over reaction there. and in the last 4 or 5 years it started to spread EVERYWHERE. Soon, you had to be careful with what you said. you had to rewrite posts 3 or 4 times in some areas just so your wording wouldn't offend people.

and sometimes even that didn't help. getting into topics about why some movies where bad, somehow ended up about you and the person defending the movie wondering how you'd feel if you where criticized constantly. the insanity level had spread and it doesn't seem like it's getting any better.

These days, I'm alot more sarcastic, alot more uncaring about reactions, and a little bolder in what i say and how I say it. and i'm also ALOT less positive.

Reading some replies in that other thread, seems like i'm not the only one.

How has the modern internet changed you? better? worse? do you like the changes?

I'm not sure that just being on the internet itself would change me, life changes us, paths have come along in my life due to the existence of the internet though, so okay from that point. Maybe people seem to be arguing more because there are just more people on the net now so opinions will clash more, this is my first discussion/fan site so I haven't been doing this long enough to know if it was different 10 years ago.

trust me, it was VASTLY different even ten years ago.

It somehow felt a little friendlier, and if not a little more intelligent. something in the last few years must have changed in the water or something, because it's like the wild west everywhere now. VERY few places still feel like the net of old and if you find one, you should count yourself lucky.

I don’t post on social media or forums much, but I’m more of an independent thinker nowadays with a sense of humor who sees things from both sides of an argument.

The internet has more pros than cons, imo. It’s a great way of keeping in contact with people, talk about stuff, find out information, do shopping, etc.

The modern internet enabled me to connect/acquaint/work with the creative talents I look up to most, was the channel through which I've made some of my greatest friends, & provides me with opportunities to make money on occasion. It has significantly enriched my life. :)

That's cool, there's certainly the pros to things too.
Edit: and there are a lot of pros to the internet.

Mostly the internet has brought enjoyment into my life as a form of entertainment. It has also been a valuable communication tool professionally. I would say like a lot of things negative impacts occur from not knowing your limits. For me a little eye strain from looking at the screen to long. When I notice this I go do something else and rest my eyes. I haven't had any internet experiences change me as a person. But I understand it happens. Things are good in moderation including the internet.

I have learned about many things I have not considered about before.
Also, started to be more critical about things and actions, which is consequence of the above.

It allowed me to connect with friends in different parts of the world and follow my favorite Celebs (Wrestlers Voice Actors Actors)

Well let's see:

- It made it easier for me to discover games/tv shows/movies/anime/cartoon series/etc. I hadn't heard of before;

- It made it easier for me to re-watch and replay stuff I had not done in years;

- It made it easier for me to talk with people whom I have common interests with. If it wasn't for this place I'd NEVER talk Turtles with anyone;

- It made it easier for me to keep in touch with people I haven't seen in person in years or only see once in a full blue moon;

- It helped me make acquaintances and friends from all over the globe.

That's basically it. And being able to access the internet so easily from my phone nowadays make it even easier for me to access it anytime of the day in pretty much any place. Back in 2000-2008 you could still easily survive without the internet for long periods of time, but nowadays it's pretty hard. Also, websites like wikipedia and youtube helped me a lot when it comes to certain trivial knowledge and how to pass certain parts in video games if I'm finding myself stuck in them

As much as I like to joke about hating the internet, it's actually pretty dope. People who only think about the negative aspects of it can't really see the forest for the trees and probably need to get out more. Out of both the sites they frequently complain about and outside in general.

The internet community has changed, and not for the better. We now have the knowledge of the world in our hands, the problem is most people didn't earn that right.

It might be elitist but its the truth, as the internet became more widely used it also deteriorated in a sense. Sure people were using the internet more and more as time went on but with the advent of both Facebook and smartphones opened the flood gates to everyone.

What we got was everyone wanting to use this tool without "earning" the understanding of what the internet community was all about and using it to progress their own agendas whether its political or something as vane as attention. Did this not exist before? Of course but there was more of a balance.

This "power" isn't respected and instead of people wanting to learn more about what is going on the latest generation of "cybernauts" find a nice bubble and live in their echo chamber happily agreeing with each other and conflict obviously happens when bubbles collide.

That's not to say the "old" internet has died, it has just moved to other places, but its sad since it should've been the other way around.

In terms of the negative... Not much really. Most of that is just nonsense that I've learned is not even worth bothering with, so I don't make it a habit of letting much of it get to me. Which I guess then it's only change for the positive.

Probably the only real internet cesspool I spend any time in off and on is Yahoo Answers. Some particularly vile little nutjob trolls, but I admit it can be fun to poke back at them and refuse to let them get under your skin no matter how hard they try.

Positives... Mostly stuff already mentioned by others. As well as the ability to reconnect with people you lost touch with long ago.


Why I picked up the line of thinking some years ago that there are really two options: 1) A person can either find ways to still be happy with that they have right now, or 2) they can allow themselves to be miserable over what they don't have. But who wants to be miserable...?

Not to say to stop working toward what is wanted. Not at all. But misery is no way to live. Comparing self to those "happy pictures" is no way either, because it's true really, people largely only take pictures of the happy times, and those are certainly the only ones they are going to share with anyone else. There is zero context to suggest all the things that those people are unhappy about in life, and no one is entirely happy. They could seem to have it all but some failed, missing, or otherwise screwed up thing they don't mention makes them unhappy.

The only ones I admit to being a bit annoyed about is those that karma needs to bite in the ass, and hard, instead of continuing to clear a rather easy and fortunate path for them while many others keep getting bit and don't deserve it. But... life is like that.

I'm guessing you don't like the evolution of the net. But I sorta missed how you answered the title question of this thread.

The "modern" internet hasn't changed me, its the internet that "changed" into the "modern" internet. I thought I'd comment on how the internet has changed as the OP did as well.

"How has the internet changed you?" is a better question I guess or "how has the internet changed your life?" but those questions don't seem to fit with the OP as much.

fair enough

i didn't mind the diversion :)

There is nothing to earn. Like there is nothing to earn about mail, phones, TVs, radio.

Internet has changed because as it has become widespread and accessible to more and more people, and as consequence it has started reflect not views and interests of small group of people, but became mirror of human civilization as a whole.

It's original purpose - to share information, is still there, but now it's just not only technical know-how, but human lives as a whole.

All this talk about "earning", sounds like, when gamer rants about some scrubs playing HIS games. Which is incredibly childish.:lol:

Diminished my ability to think. I feel like a f*cking zombie.

The internet is a different medium. As mentioned in my post people using the internet without understanding is what has lead to the division we have now and segregation of ideas when the internet's whole purpose is the exact opposite.

The simplification of its use has lead to this when it wasn't as big of an issue.

So the nice protected bubble that the internet used to be no longer exists because more people have shown up and created their own nice little protected bubbles.

Okay.

I can't speak to this modern internet phenomenon, but I would say that the internet has changed me for the better.
I've learned more about myself and others in the time since I've started using the web regularly.

Hell, wikipedia is pretty much saving my ass this semester.

But it is true that the more people you invite into a thing the more that thing is going to change. And change isn't always pretty or good.

It's all in what you bring to the table.

The internet is like a modern day Tower of Babel.

This is just another “War on Negativity” topic like the one you made before.

It made you bolder, sarcastic and not caring how others perceive you...but on the internet.

Lowering or having no personal filter because your behind a screen really just ruins your own experience because it’s hard to take seriously online. Well in real life too.

I don't see how the internet has made anything worse for anyone except for big multinational companies that many are still struggling to adapt to the digital era. even decades later.

Tech will continue to evolve and make everything better.

I don't even know where you would get the idea that was what it was since it wasn't, but exactly the opposite.


That's a great analogy, in the beginning we were all forced to communicate but as time passed everyone began segregating themselves which is not what the internet was ever meant to be. Using language as an excuse countries have restricted access to other "places" of the internet and having their own "local" websites. But it really was just a way for governments to try to control some of the internet that they accidentally let happen without realizing the consequences.

Yep, brings people together yet pushes them apart.

Tbh, I sometimes miss the internet pre-social media craze. Before facebook and twitter became a global thing you could survive well without the internet, both in a social and professional sense. Just like youtube pre-google buyout had less drama and was more about music videos, watching old tv shows/cartoons/anime and watching longplays of videogames and people trying to become the next AVGN. Hell, many big companies didn't even make youtube accounts until this decade. Youtube wasn't that different from dailymotion or veoh. Except it was way more popular.

That being said, social networks also brought good things. It made it easier for people to connect and network with och other and show off their portfolios, etc.

There will always be pros and cons, the internet has all the positives mentioned on here and used properly is mostly a positive thing, just you'll get the bad too like trolls, people humiliating others or dangerous people preying on the vulnerable for example.

That for me too, I have a few people who share some the movies and shows I like but not many and no other adults to talk Turtles with.

I don't know a single Turtles fan irl. For most people I know It's just a distant pop culture reference from their childhood. They all know the "Cowabungaaaaaa!" thing and many have watched the first movie or the cartoons when they were kids over a decade ago and that's it. I doubt I know anyone irl who knows anything Turtles beyond FW and live action movies.

What.

PlastronCafe is right in her description.

The internet used to be a bubble that didn't allow the meshing of ideas?

ok.

just wanted to say thank you to everyone for keeping it mostly on topic so far and positive talk. :).

as for meeting tmnt fans, i've met a few in real life, and it was worth it :).

No.
The Internet used to be a bubble, which allowed to share ideas, but to very few people, compared to how it is nowadays.

Nowadays, it is an ocean with many bubbles.

I'm pretty sure you're not using the definition of bubble that I'm using.

More like a toxic abyss.

The biggest difference with the internet now compared to the early 2000's is everyone pretty much posts in the same social media places and so information is regularly spread.

In early 2000's everyone posted on forums for fansites like this one, so if you never came to a particular forum, you would never "see" that discussion. Meanwhile stuff on twitter, reddit, facebook, etc. is spread everywhere even if you don't visit those places either.

Forums always had niche communities because as said, forum posts are usually not spread from one place to another. Everyone definitely felt more isolated in the early 2000's because people would only posts on a few forums here and there and ignore everything else.

Modern internet has forced me more onto social media for hobby and sales related things that I used to do primarily on forums.

It seems that everything on the internet is moving towards the "outlet of quickest dissemination". So it used to be internet articles, peer-to-peer forums and websites, but now it's more about short character messaging like Twitter, quick information dumps from YouTube and a whirlpool of various "groups" on social media platforms.

Of all of those, the only one I've embraced and enjoyed completely is Instagram. I do pretty well there for only being there a year.

The internet in a nutshell:

The internet changed how I view content, The fact I can view content at my own time, Instead of waiting for it to be on TV.

Also the fact you can find just about anything on the internet.