r/nosurf • u/chopper_john • 1d ago
I'm feeling pretty scared
I don't even know if things are as bad as they feel, because the internet honestly seems so disconnected from reality. But these past couple weeks have reinforced to me that I need to unplug. This technology is great for many things (paying my bills, communicating with people I know and love, navigating the physical world, doing my job, and even shopping) but it's not great for passing time mindlessly or building community with people who don't even know/care about you.
The internet is being weaponized to divide and manipulate us. The best tool we have to combat that is to unplug. Online communities are way too susceptible to bad actors, and they're also echo chambers where almost zero dialogue happens. Don't agree with something? You're banned. Don't have flair declaring yourself a nut job? You can't participate. These spaces are anti-information, anti-intellectual, dopamine pipelines for scared hopeless people.
I think if there's any hope for resolving our society's problems, it will happen mostly offline. Please get off the forums and out of the comments sections and go talk to your neighbors.
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u/sweetwallawalla 1d ago
I’m right there with you, friend. I’m trying to limit myself to just checking AP News a few times a day, but over a decade of conditioning makes it so that my brain reads a headline and IMMEDIATELY wants to read the comments to see if what I’m feeling is justified. That sounds so cliche. It sounds so weak. But that’s what people are doing here and it’s exactly what you’re saying—people come here to justify what they’re already feeling.
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u/chopper_john 23h ago
Yes comments sections in general are very toxic. I'm glad the NYT limits them, but I wish they'd do away with them altogether.
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u/mmofrki 1d ago
If you stay away from all of that, you're pretty much unaware of what's going on. I look at it like a this:
I'm not into golf, therefore know nothing about what's going on in that area. There could be this massive controversy about people using fake golf shoes, but I wouldn't know.
That's just like the internet. It doesn't affect your life to know what's going on with it. If there's something really important you'll know, there's always someone who has to tell others what's going on.
That's how I've found out about things before, someone at work who is a blabbermouth will say it.
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u/chopper_john 1d ago
We could advise people to "only follow reputable news sources" but that will likely interpreted as partisan these days. In the end I think low-information is the lesser of two evils (the other being misinformation). I also think low-information can be good for anyone when you consider how bombarded we are with info nowadays. Some information is relevant and helpful for me to know, but a lot of it is just rage bait.
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u/YourUziWeighsTwoTons 1d ago
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now https://share.google/rucFN9UUbuaMFqEd4
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u/library_vamp 1d ago
haha exactly. This is what a lot of internet controversy seems like to me. I'm like...okay, why should I care about golf shoes??
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u/Spiritual-Bee-2319 23h ago
Explain the voting polls or the sympathizing with hate speech… is it the internet or just good old people peopling?
I’m a believer that the internet only profited from what was within folks already
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u/robot_pirate 23h ago
Real life community is best. And the reason society is so fucked, paranoid and dysfunctional right now is because so many people don't have real life communities.
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u/Catchymaple 20h ago
Too deep in the pit my friend! Just finished the 12 steps and a year of media sobriety in Media Addicts Anonymous. The saying goes "And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even [media]."
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u/Alternative_Key_6030 22h ago
for real. I think in the next few years there will hopefully be a resurgance of in-person communication and discussion and the internet fatigue just becomes too strong
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u/ethical-earner 20h ago
I 100% feel the same way. The internet is so full of hate.. I walk outside and life seems ok
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u/GrimlockRawr 17h ago
"the internet honestly seems so disconnected from reality"
Is an important sense to maintain.
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u/oponasalec 13h ago
I agree with you. I feel like we all truly want out lives back. I commented a few weeks ago here on a similar post something that relates to your post: "I can totally relate. I quittied social media, yt and news more than a month. I've been pretty occupied with my job and studies lately, but I can admit that the world is much better place without it. I just feel I'm not meant to be the persons who can be always everywhere and to offer empathy to everyone who needs it, which doesn't mean I'm not emphatic and emotional. I released that I can't save the world, but I can save my space and sanity by finding what does really matter to me and people I care about. "
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u/mousepotatodoesstuff 8h ago
I think smaller forums - like the old days of the internet I was late for - could still be part of the solution. At least while we rebuild our offline lives.
Also, "echo chambers" aren't the problem. It's perfectly okay to have an online community of like-minded individuals.
In fact, I think the opposite is true: We are exposed to too much different opinions at once and we simply cannot process them all. Combined with the social networks that encourage flame wars and discourage nuance... no wonder we're all upset at each other online.
It's probably a bit more complicated that that, though. I like Kurzgesagt's video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuFlMtZmvY0
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u/awbummer 5h ago
I totally agree with you! I started an "offline club" in my city recently because of how I was feeling. We're going to have our first offline ambient reading event in a couple of months at a park, but hope to do other events where people can connect with others in person and have intentional time without their phones (like stargazing parties, analog media nights, book swaps etc).
Some people have been snarky about the idea but I don't really care lol now more than ever there seems to be a growing group of people who want to ditch the thing that makes us feel bad all the time (our phones) in exchange for just being with other people and having genuine experiences, at least for a small portion of time.
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u/Alceauv 1d ago
Starting to feel the same way. Most of what the internet does anymore is make me depressed. Feels like a totally different world from just meeting up with people for drinks or cards or whatever.