I know this site is anonymous and that’s why everyone’s on it. But…wouldn’t it be curious what we all look like? Like I imagine we all pass each other on the streets, never realizing this person or that person has depression, or is suicidal.
OR on the flip side, see a stranger IRL and automatically know their story, their true self, and not the face they show to the world.
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That’s the appeal of the internet, right? If you want to keep what you look like private but say the craziest shit possible you can. All while passing each other on the street never knowing how much you would actually dislike each other based on their internet commentary. Anonymity has ruined human interaction in the marketplace of ideas. Without faces and names to a person’s beliefs it just emboldens the worst of us. Sorry incidental rambling. And i’m not talking about influencers, i’m talking about their audiences that prop them up.
oh it’s not just influencers and their audiences- it’s everyone on social media. no one has any accountability for anything they say so yeah, ppl say the worst shit ever. (except for idiots that write under their real pics or when some internet sleuths find someone and they get cancelled).
i grew up in the generation before computers- no social media- and i suppose i had hope in humanity back then only bc i never saw/read all the filth/hate/idiocy coming out from the average person.
the funny thing is- maybe bc i wasn’t born in the internet generation- i’ve never written/posted anything i wouldn’t say to anyone IRL or face-to-face. or i suppose i’ve never written anything hateful or mean. i mean, i’m hateful of the entire human species, but i’ve never posted anything mean about a particular person. but most ppl do. ppl post the nastiest, meanest thing, and it just makes me lose all hope in humanity- bc these are the REAL thoughts of the avg/typical person.
the below example might not be the best one, but it’s the one I could think of off the top of my head.
I was a very early millennial so I remember the peace and comparative civility before the internet broke everyone’s brains. I agree that social media has also further screwed our species to a near alarming capacities. We’re so desperate to make A.I. Talk to us interpersonally because people lack the skill sets to do it in person anymore. That’s also part of why our gender gap is expanding and why birth rates here in America are getting even lower. We are so chronically online, that we have literally ruined ourselves. Sorry another side tangent.
Here’s an example of what I meant from my previous post. Do you remember the Charlotteville white nationalist protest that occurred in 2017? People wore hoodis and masks to disguise themselves but some people were identified and mostly condemned online. Multiple people were fired from their jobs because of their association with the marches. It was real world consequences catching up with people who feel proudest and boldest here online where you can hide the easiest.
well birth rates declining is actually a GOOD thing- we don’t need anymore shitty humans populating the Earth, causing more pollution, more overcrowding, lower wages and lower standard of living.
though, the cause of low birth rates are due to a shitty economy, not necessarily social media. this is the first time in the US ever where birth rates have declined to this degree. which is about goddamn time ppl stopped procreating like rabbits.
Lol, fair enough. We already have a severe housing crisis, i’m not sure a bigger population makes any goddamn sense. Companies are just complaining about it because there’s less people to exploit. That’s why they keep rolling back the child labor laws.
I like the idea that, some of us on SP if we met we would be able to see “their true self, and not the face they show to the world.” and maybe being face to face bring some sort ‘being seen’ feeling, although, that would only be if it is something that is wanted.
on the note of “never realizing this person or that person has depression, or is suicidal.”, found that it is really easy (for me at least) to just not see it when walking by and then after I hear they’ve left the living, kinda just made sense, now that I think about it, didn’t surprise me even though I had nothing to do with the kid, all I did was walk past him everyday after school as there was at least a ‘oh it’s that guy’.
when i read posts that are over 10 years old i wonder what the people that wrote them look like, where they are now. are they in the exact same place? did they learn anything. especially if they’re not popular in online spaces, are they lonely irl? i’d like to interview them. i can’t hold a good normal conversation.
i actually don’t want to know someone’s life story instantly. most people are disgusting because they don’t realise they’re bullies, rapists, racists, sexists, leaches and so on. or if they do and do nothing about it, that’s what scares me. i don’t want to look at their stories plainly. people should keep most things to themselves because otherwise i might just vomit from the sight of them