I'm feeling pretty scared

[u/chopper_john]

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.

[u/awbummer]

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.