The popular internet was very innocent in the 90s and early 00s. Much less addiction and anxiety-inducing, which are gateways into depression. Though in the 00s

The popular internet was very innocent in the 90s and early 00s. Much less addiction and anxiety-inducing, which are gateways into depression. Though in the 00s, the internet also had a lot of shock content if you strayed just a bit from the golden path. I think some of the things I have seen as a kid significantly worsened my childhood. But it was better overall. Seeing shock content is like eating a spoon of salt. The mind has defence mechanisms for it. You consume it, you are disgusted, and you never want to do it again. Consuming social media is like eating fast food. Sure, you’re less happy after you eat it, but it’s not awful, and maybe you can imagine buying another burger in the future. Which one does more damage? A constant diet of fast food or a spoon of salt once? I also heard some drug addicts talk about how they tried the hard street drugs but the consequences were about as bad as the high was good, so they didn’t get addicted to them. Instead, they first got addicted to mild ones. The internet is worse these days because it gets us addicted in a very pleasant way. It is fun, and consuming social media or news media on it seems like a way to be informed and in touch with current events. But then slowly people develop cravings. Now they are a bit anxious if they miss a day, there is fear of missing out. And now they’re a bit anxious if they spend only a few minutes a day. And then maybe an hour is not enough to keep up with everything that’s happening online. If everyone’s first experience of the social media was clockwork orange style 12-hour blast of forced doomscrolling tied to a chair, then fewer people would get addicted. But because the negative effects are so mild, the internet and social/news media are insidiously addictive in a way the way they were not 20 years ago. We teach our children not to do drugs, and to keep healthy diets. But we let them hang out with the drug dealer and fast food restaurant stand-ins (people and companies in the business of addiction) online without supervision in most cases. Many will fall into addiction in those circumstances. P.S. Another example is the proverbial boiling frog. Put it into hot water and it will hop out to save its life. But condition the water just right and turn up the heat just slowly enough, and it will happily boil.