Has the internet been more destructive than helpful?

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ToughDiamond
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Age: 71
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25 Nov 2022, 12:04 am

Aspiegaming wrote:

ToughDiamond wrote:

Aspiegaming wrote:

My biggest issue is the bots in certain websites. You set up a profile, make a post, and the feedback and direct messages come from mostly bots. The worst ones are ones that pretend to be lonely horny women to promote some sort of dating scam.

If it's not too personal a question, which websites are doing that? The only social media website I use is Facebook, and I've got the settings very restricted so that only Facebook Friends can communicate with me. I get the odd rare unsolicited message on Skype, which are probably scams like the one you mention, but I only look at messages from my friends.

To kill unsolicited Facebook ads I normally use a free browser plugin called Social Fixer, but Facebook killed it, so until it's resurrected I'm using F.Block Sponsored (for Chrome browser) and BlockZilla (for Firefox) - BlockZilla is only 14-day shareware but Social Fixer's new incarnation is already in beta, so there's every hope I won't need BlockZilla after it's expired. Anyway, as a result I don't see any rubbish on Facebook. Social Fixer has a user-designed filter feature which I use to zap offensive Christian Right propaganda that some of my otherwise nice Deep South friends have a nasty habit of posting. I wouldn't use Twitter because of the awful way its new owner is treating his workforce. Don't know about Reddit. I've toyed with the idea of joining that if it's not too awful. Don't know of any other social media websites. WrongPlanet is of course OK without any messing. So overall my Web experience is quite cloistered and pure.

They can be found on YouTube, Twitch, Discord, the Steam community, etc. They may not be traditional social media sites, but they still count if it means you can interact with other commenters. I hated that all my feedback came from bots. It got so bad for me that I had to lock down the comment section for three days after each video upload. I got tired of blocking them. It's like that "Eggman Announcement", they've got seventy alternate accounts for every one that gets blocked.

Indeed they count. Twitch, Discord and the Steam community I'm not familiar with. And YouTube annoyed me with an overlay that tried to force me to sign up, so I switched to Invidious which is the same content without the crap. I've never signed up and therefore can't interact because it's against my "religion" to have an account with anything run by Google, so all I've personally seen is comments by others, which are mostly pretty stupid or plain nasty. It's clear that by keeping myself from being tracked and advertised to, I've missed out on a lot of eye-opening and painful insights. Sad that you had all that trouble when you uploaded videos. Of course I've never been able to do that, except on Facebook where I restrict viewing to my FB friends.

aghogday
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Joined: 25 Nov 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,424

25 Nov 2022, 12:27 pm

"Radios, Black & White TV, Color TV, Cable TV, VCR's, Satelitte TV, Surround Sound, Heavy Metal, Computers, Cell Phones, Pornography, MP3 players, I Pads, I Phones, 24 Hour News Cycle, High definition TV etc.

The evolution of technology bombards the human senses, and we become addicted to the adrenaline not realizing the effect on the health of ourselves or our children.

Constant bad or good stimulation eventually will wear any living thing down and/or change the way it thinks and behaves. Especially, if you are experiencing it with no physical movement to burn off the adrenaline.

I think many of the people born 40 or 50 years ago that are now diagnosed with asperger's might have symptoms of low functioning autism if they were born today.

I couldn't complete sentences until I was four years old, but managed to cope with the demands of life with high functioning autism and adhd. I can't imagine being born today and having a chance of a successful independent life.

I think we are the canaries in the coal mine."

12 Years Or 144 Months or 4383 Days Consecutively Writing Online for me Beginning on Thanks
Giving Night on November 25, 2010 as Yes Today is the Anniversary Date of Writing 14 MiLLioN Words

Rather Restricted to Reason Above Changing All Into Free Verse Poetry More From the Depths of my
Subconscious Mind; Other Wise Understanding and Actually Doing This Now As Real Organically Free

iN Originally

Creative Soul FLoWinG

In Shapes of Waves Free

Expanding Ocean Shores ThiS WaY Now

Yet Again it Wasn't Always THiS Way as i Lived

A Life So Restricted in Left Brain Hemisphere Ways

of Mechanical Cognition through Information Technology,
Financial Management, Administration of Programs for the Military
And Yes Supervising Up to 131 Employees; Particularly, Second in Command
of A Department on A Navy Station When my Boss Was out and i Became Fully

In Charge of the
Helm of the Ship
Assigned to me

As That's the Way my Boss
Described it As He Went Off to
The Casinos With His Closer
Social Group of FRiEnDS;

Evaluating me as Valuable
Commodity to Use As he Said
10 Percent of the Work Force
Does 90 Percent of the Work

Yet of Course This Was the Government
He Couldn't Fire at Will Like Elon Musk
And After All Was Said and Done He Proved

He was Much More Human Than that in Terms
of Emotional Intelligence And Not Just Using Humans As

Objects in the
Environment
As Tools AS Such in

A 'Machiavellian Way'
of Existence; 'Dark Triad'
Indeed, Particularly Devious
When it Comes to Folks Like
Jordan Peterson When He Projects

Perhaps Even Unwittingly With Close
to Zero Levels of Emotional Intelligence

His Narcissism And Little Man Syndrome
Upon those Who Fight for Social Justice
For The Truly Oppressed in Life Or Just

The Trump Way of No Hidden Real Evil at All;

Flaunting Hell in Front of Others Willing to Join

The Despicable Leaders in Minion HeLL ON EartH;

WHeRE of Course Misery Loves Company AS Such.

For me at Least 12 Years Ago With 19 Medical Disorders Including
The Worst Pain Known to Humankind Type Two Trigeminal Neuralgia;

The Actual Assessed Suicide Disease that No Drug Would Touch From Wake
to Sleep for 66 Months, Mostly Shut-in my Bedroom, Where its Caused me Great

Pain to Even Attempt To Emotionally Connect to my Loved One in the Same Bed

As i Couldn't Remember

If i Ever Felt A Smile

BeFoRE All Time All Is Love
FRoZeN in Time Nothing Left
Yet Piece of Paper Existence Then

All Is Pain and Numb Never Really
Knowing if i Would Be Able to Make
it to the Next Second of Life and Literally

Stuck Between my Eyes and Ears As They Became
Effectively Almost Useless With All That Pain Then;

No Fictional Hell;

THE REAL DeaL ON EartH
WITHIN TO BE i AM AND
DO IF ANY DEVIL EVER EXISTS
AT ALL FOR REAL ALL ALONE

IN HELL Then Just A Ghost Wandering
The Earth Not Realizing i Am the Living Dead... Then...

Okay, Hell Gets Old Fast And Time Never Goes Away in Hell;

After Around 33 Months, i Decided to Brave The Dentist Drill
Pain in my Right Eye And Ear No Drug would Touch, Take my
Prescription Shades off as the Focus only Made the Pain Worse;

Turn the Screen All the Way Down in Brightness, A Few inches From my
Face Attempt to Tolerate A Mountain of Pain For Every Word i Wrote then;

Yes, After Eating Thanks Giving Dinner on a Balmy Night on my Patio with
Family i Had no Way to Humanly Connect With at all as again Any Attempt

To Do it Without
A Soul was Beyond
Any Description of Physical Pain...

So, i Sat in Front of that Screen Starting
A Word A Mountain of Pain Just to Try to Get
my Mind of ending my Life as True i had A Chain
in a Bicycle Basket Just in Case There Was No Choice Left

Yet to end
the Pain and
Numb as true

There is Some Pain
And Numb So Much

Worse than the Prospect
of Death Where Even Dousing
Oneself With Gasoline And Lighting

Up a Match is A preferable Way to
Be the Living Dead on Earth FOR REAL...

OKAY, Yes, the Internet Can and Will Be Very

Helpful For those Who Are Functionally Disabled in Many
Ways And Only Have This Option Shut-in Their Home or Perhaps

In Between Their Eyes and Ears of Suicide Disease Pain and Numb;

For it's True, Science Assesses

The Amount of Humanity

We Connect With Others

Through Text At about 7 Percent

of What is Possible in Human Warmth

in Emotional And Sensory Experiences Face to Face

in Feeling And Sensing As Much of Being Human For Real...

Yet when All Ya Have is Zero, 7 Percent is A Worthy Aim to Attain...

So i Wrote, Beginning With The Words Quoted Above Twelve years
Ago on the 'Wrong Planet
Website' Online After
Thanksgiving

Dinner That Night

And i Read And i Wrote EVERY DAY

For All Waking Hours; YES in All that

Pain and Numb Just to Make it to the

Next Breath of Life With All That Was Left in

Life, A Flicker of A Flame For the Will to Live...

And Eventually on July 19, 2013, Most All the Pain and Numb
Went Away Yet it Was A Long Process That Developed A Foundation

in Free Verse Poetry FLoWinG Ascending and Transcending the Pain and
Numb Back to Connecting Emotions With Words in Flow And Eventually A Dance

in Flow Free to Spring Additional Creativity to Come to Life on Page Simply in Response

to Human Beings With Similar or Different Souls Breaths All Around the World Even those

Numb of Soul
As i Lived in All

That Pain and Numb
For 66 Months and As Far

As All Human Tools Go, Of Course

Information Technology And Online, One

of Many, Since Humans Started to Make Tools

Tens of Thousands of Years Ago; The Tools Designed

to Make Life Easier and Best Instead of Harder; However, Being

Human and Social Animal, And Animal As Just another Part of the

Living Animal

Kingdom and
Plant Kingdom

Is Not a Clear
Cut Process of

Just Finding Ways to Be
Always Happy as i Suppose

That Was the Original Intention
of Creating Tools Other than Just
Being Able to Continue to Survive and
At Least Partly Truly Thrive in Life Naked
Enough Whole

Complete

Together
With Others
And the Rest
Of Nature Loving Free...

Yes, Yes, Not unlike Alcohol,
Gambling, And Other Substance
Drugs and Behavioral Addictions

Humans Fall Like Monkeys Do When
Given A Choice of Pressing a Lever

For All They May Consume Cocaine

or Even Sugar With A Dopamine High

That Eventually Exhausts itself Where All that

May Be Left is the Emotional Pain oF All Numb Indeed...

A GReaTesT Law of Life is Balance; We See it All in Nature With

Open Eyes and Souls to Behold This Truth in LiGHT and DarK oF LiGHT in Life...

We Are Evolved For

A Struggle FOR Life

Where Yes Intermittent

Gratification Comes and

More Rarely Instant Gratification;

DarK Makes LiGHT ThiS WaY Night
Makes Day This Way Pain Makes Pleasure

This Way and Struggle Creates Temporary

Elation When Overcome in Life; Key is Balancing

A Flow, Sweet Spot Tween Apathy and Anxiety For Real...

Science Assesses

This As Modernly

True too; And Dear Lord
Realize How Limited Standard
IQ Is Versus Physical And Emotional

Intelligence in Balance in Flow That Makes
Life Worth Living At All; i don't Have Specific

Instructions on How to Do it; Every Human is Another
View of THeiR Own Multi-Uni-Verse They Co-Create too...

Yet Generally Speaking,

When You Feel and Sense
You are Naked, Enough, Whole,
Complete With Little to Add Or
Anything Others May Subtract From You...

Chances Are You Have Arrived in What Has
Been Described In Endless Metaphors of Nirvana,
Bliss And Peaceful Loving Heaven on Earth Within to

Give, Share, Care, Heal For All With Most Respect and Least Harm...

Or On the Other Hand

You Might Be as Lost

in Space, Time, And Distance,

of Being Human As Elon Musk
And Jordan Peterson or Not Even able

See At all How Blind They Are to a Fuller

Existence

Free in

Loving Peace
Naked, Enough,
Whole, Complete For Real...

Basically For me online is A Valuable
Tool to Connect to my Soul and the

Soul Of Others; Of Course to Study

Other 'Stuff' As Well as i Embrace The Dark As Much as

Light For the Balance Tween Heaven and Hell in Heaven For Real...

Of Course only

Yes in my Own
Small View Yet
Continuously

Unfolding as
More Colorful
FLoWeRS From
Wilting Ones Will
Naturally Do New Now...

Ya Don't Have to CROSS
'The River' To Flow Endlessly Free;

Indeed, Be The Wave, Be The Water, Be The Ocean

Free; Breathe

The Air,

Be The
Wind; Yes,

Free The SaMe
Way As You Set Your
Wings Loving FREE ALWaYS NoW in Newer Ways...

True if Not For Online, Highly Unlikely Any of These Words

Will Exist or Even ME AT ALL NoW Thank God For Geeks and Nerds

Yep, Hehe

Including Elon Musk
And Jordan Peterson too

And Sure Even TRumP For
BRinGinG DarK into the World
For Others to 'See' to Get Inspired

to Generate

LiGHT...

BLacK Hole
Suns Do Seem
To Serve A Purpose too, Hehe
As Creativity Springs From LiGHT oF DarK

Wisdom Will Most Faithfully Sleep And Wake

Peacefully Loving All DarK Thru LiGHT For Real;

Indeed, Nothing
Left Or Right to
Subtract Or Add; Naked,

Enough, Whole, Complete All That is...

CaLL iT All God or a 'Blue Turtle;' It is What iT ALL iS..

_________________
KATiE MiA FredericK!iI

Gravatar is one of the coolest things ever!! !

http://en.gravatar.com/katiemiafrederick

kraftiekortie
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Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

28 Nov 2022, 10:55 am

The Internet has been helpful in the sense where I could pay my bills online, and arrange deliveries online, and do many things online.

I've also learned quite a bit on the Internet.

I just ignore the "Internet Warriors." I know people in real life who are "Internet Warriors." They're usually a bunch of as*holes.