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The problem is, even as you ignore the internet, it goes on without you, and yet your ignoring it doesn't make you immune to it. I suppose you can ignore the Oh

The problem is, even as you ignore the internet, it goes on without you, and yet your ignoring it doesn't make you immune to it. I suppose you can ignore the Ohio River, but it keeps on flowing and every once in a while it'll rise and get your socks wet or your ceiling wet or just fucking kill you because you ignored the river levels. It's border on science denial. "I don't believe in science!" Well, I don't believe in Tuesday, but it's pretty likely it'll show up tomorrow.

mvdtnz 1y ago
I don't really get what you're getting at. You can live a full and healthy life without making yourself anxious about the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun[0]. My neighbour Mike is almost completely offline. He most certainly doesn't have an X account. He doesn't post on or read Facebook. He doesn't spend his mornings reading Hacker News posts. He's a builder who spends his spare time working on side projects, talking with friends and camping / road tripping. He lives a full mortgage-free life thanks to some fortunate investments building homes in new suburbs in the 90s. What do you think he's missing out on? What's happening online that supposedly has such an impact on his life, and when will this impact be realised? By the way I've never given a single thought to the Ohio river and it still hasn't impacted me. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObOqq1knVxs&ab_channel=boburnham https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObOqq1knVxs&ab_channel=bobur...
starbugs 1y ago
> The problem is, even as you ignore the internet, it goes on without you, and yet your ignoring it doesn't make you immune to it. I recently moved and had a lot on my list in real life generally for about six to nine months. I stopped using the internet as I did before because I simply didn't have time. I primarily used it to order stuff for the new house and to do my professional work. No podcasts, no YT videos, no news articles, no social media. I even stopped watching the news completely. Guess what? Nothing happened other than me feeling a lot better. I didn't miss out on anything as far as I know. Instead, I forgot about all the bullsh*t that's not even real. Let's be honest. Most of the stuff on social media is completely made up or has a core of truth but is completely blown out of proportion to get attention. A couple of times a coworker told me about how scary the news were and that they are afraid something bad will happen soon. I just said: "Ah, it's probably not going to be that bad." And guess what? It wasn't that bad. I never heard of it again afterwards. The internet will move on without you and you don't have to be immune to it. You can just move on without it. Use it for what you need and try to make it as hard as possible for it to use you.
- rglover 1y ago
  This is incredibly encouraging, thank you.

mvdtnz 1y ago

I don't really get what you're getting at. You can live a full and healthy life without making yourself anxious about the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun[0]. My neighbour Mike is almost completely offline. He most certainly doesn't have an X account. He doesn't post on or read Facebook. He doesn't spend his mornings reading Hacker News posts. He's a builder who spends his spare time working on side projects, talking with friends and camping / road tripping. He lives a full mortgage-free life thanks to some fortunate investments building homes in new suburbs in the 90s. What do you think he's missing out on? What's happening online that supposedly has such an impact on his life, and when will this impact be realised? By the way I've never given a single thought to the Ohio river and it still hasn't impacted me. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObOqq1knVxs&ab_channel=boburnham https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObOqq1knVxs&ab_channel=bobur...

starbugs 1y ago

> The problem is, even as you ignore the internet, it goes on without you, and yet your ignoring it doesn't make you immune to it. I recently moved and had a lot on my list in real life generally for about six to nine months. I stopped using the internet as I did before because I simply didn't have time. I primarily used it to order stuff for the new house and to do my professional work. No podcasts, no YT videos, no news articles, no social media. I even stopped watching the news completely. Guess what? Nothing happened other than me feeling a lot better. I didn't miss out on anything as far as I know. Instead, I forgot about all the bullsh*t that's not even real. Let's be honest. Most of the stuff on social media is completely made up or has a core of truth but is completely blown out of proportion to get attention. A couple of times a coworker told me about how scary the news were and that they are afraid something bad will happen soon. I just said: "Ah, it's probably not going to be that bad." And guess what? It wasn't that bad. I never heard of it again afterwards. The internet will move on without you and you don't have to be immune to it. You can just move on without it. Use it for what you need and try to make it as hard as possible for it to use you.

rglover 1y ago
This is incredibly encouraging, thank you.