4 ms·

I've been on the internet for more than 20 years. It got a lot worse in the last 10. Individuals maybe shaped it in the early days, but the disastrous mess we h

I've been on the internet for more than 20 years. It got a lot worse in the last 10. Individuals maybe shaped it in the early days, but the disastrous mess we have today is from the monetization and ensuing garbage that was pushed onto the world by some very profitable tech companies. Undo the damage or otherwise come up with a way to shield kids from it. I won't let my own kids anywhere near the open web the way it is today. It's poison for young minds and needs to be fixed or gated off. Like alcohol at this point.

trinsic2 8mo ago
The last line in my statement answers your question. If you leave it up to government to try and regulate a medium you are asking for trouble. Its like telling a news source what they can and cant release news wise because a portion of the population (kids) are harmed by the information. I understand where you are coming from but age gating is not the answer for a communication medium.
- SecretDreams 8mo ago
  I'm asking you for the alternative. Every day this continues on is literally ruining lives before they start. Like lead in water, time is of the essence. So what is the alternative to fix it?
  - trinsic2 8mo ago
    Support candidates that will put anti-trust first and end citizen united. Both of these issue make holding companies accountable for the harm that is being caused by lack of transparency impossible. The problem is corruption and corporations not being accountable to the people. When those problems get resolved. These issues will become less problematic.
    - SecretDreams 8mo ago
      I love the vision. Might take a decade or more to play out. We don't want a list generation in the interim, so what do we do asap to get it under control?
      - trinsic2 8mo ago
        We don't. The problems are created by corporate greed, they are only solved by dealing with that. Making the internet less free as I said, isn't the answer, and there is no way to fix this in the short term without making the corruption worse.
        SecretDreams 8mo ago
        Respectfully, I disagree and find your proposed solution, akin to "keep letting young people have their lives ruined", unsatisfactory. Which is probably why we're in this mess.
        trinsic2 8mo ago
        Its been my experience that our lives, whether they are ruined or not, are up to us. Making someone else responsibility only prolongs the problem. You either see that, or you don't. It's pretty clear at this point that corruption and greed is the problem and the fact that we cant see our way forward to being responsible adults is the part that is going to cause humanities downfall. When everything come crashing down, the people that will be left are the people that are taking responsibility for the problem and not making it someone else's.
        SecretDreams 8mo ago
        > Its been my experience that our lives, whether they are ruined or not, are up to us. This maybe applies to adults. It does not to children that cannot yet fend for themselves. You are basically throwing them to the wolves. This can be your choice, but it won't be mine.
        8mo ago
hunterpayne 8mo ago
It comes from a combination of things that always existed getting online and the monetization of the attention economy. Influence operations (both corporate and governmental) are the source of most of the problems. Bots, influencers pushing propaganda, etc. I suspect you are actually a bot but others might read this so... The biggest changes to the Internet over the last few years are usually in the political spaces. There are a few other things but mostly its political. Those other things always existed but now they are online. But this isn't the fault of the communications medium, its the ills of society leaking into online spaces. If we banned those things online, you still as a parent have to worry about them happening IRL. Its better to talk to your kids about these dangers honestly and it always has been. Its always been easier to just prevent your children from being exposed to those dangers but that usually backfires later on. Banning unpopular political discourse to do that has never been the answer to these issues. But in this case, banning discourse is the goal and children are just the excuse. As proof of this, the same government pushing this only instituted a real drinking age in the last 10 years, in a country known for making liquor.
- SecretDreams 8mo ago
  > I suspect you are actually a bot but others might read this so... I'm floored lol. What gives you this impression? The worst part of this inflammatory nonsense is that, sadly, I'm probably the only person that will read your full comment. And I fundamentally disagree with your thesis of attributing this to "politics". Social media and its effects were poisonous long before "politics" were so prominent. You could see it even during early Obama times. The simple infinite scroll and forcing individuals to so regularly compare themselves to each other was already awful long before "politics".

trinsic2 8mo ago

The last line in my statement answers your question. If you leave it up to government to try and regulate a medium you are asking for trouble. Its like telling a news source what they can and cant release news wise because a portion of the population (kids) are harmed by the information. I understand where you are coming from but age gating is not the answer for a communication medium.

SecretDreams 8mo ago
I'm asking you for the alternative. Every day this continues on is literally ruining lives before they start. Like lead in water, time is of the essence. So what is the alternative to fix it?
- trinsic2 8mo ago
  Support candidates that will put anti-trust first and end citizen united. Both of these issue make holding companies accountable for the harm that is being caused by lack of transparency impossible. The problem is corruption and corporations not being accountable to the people. When those problems get resolved. These issues will become less problematic.
  - SecretDreams 8mo ago
    I love the vision. Might take a decade or more to play out. We don't want a list generation in the interim, so what do we do asap to get it under control?
    - trinsic2 8mo ago
      We don't. The problems are created by corporate greed, they are only solved by dealing with that. Making the internet less free as I said, isn't the answer, and there is no way to fix this in the short term without making the corruption worse.
      - SecretDreams 8mo ago
        Respectfully, I disagree and find your proposed solution, akin to "keep letting young people have their lives ruined", unsatisfactory. Which is probably why we're in this mess.
        trinsic2 8mo ago
        Its been my experience that our lives, whether they are ruined or not, are up to us. Making someone else responsibility only prolongs the problem. You either see that, or you don't. It's pretty clear at this point that corruption and greed is the problem and the fact that we cant see our way forward to being responsible adults is the part that is going to cause humanities downfall. When everything come crashing down, the people that will be left are the people that are taking responsibility for the problem and not making it someone else's.
        SecretDreams 8mo ago
        > Its been my experience that our lives, whether they are ruined or not, are up to us. This maybe applies to adults. It does not to children that cannot yet fend for themselves. You are basically throwing them to the wolves. This can be your choice, but it won't be mine.
        8mo ago

hunterpayne 8mo ago

It comes from a combination of things that always existed getting online and the monetization of the attention economy. Influence operations (both corporate and governmental) are the source of most of the problems. Bots, influencers pushing propaganda, etc. I suspect you are actually a bot but others might read this so... The biggest changes to the Internet over the last few years are usually in the political spaces. There are a few other things but mostly its political. Those other things always existed but now they are online. But this isn't the fault of the communications medium, its the ills of society leaking into online spaces. If we banned those things online, you still as a parent have to worry about them happening IRL. Its better to talk to your kids about these dangers honestly and it always has been. Its always been easier to just prevent your children from being exposed to those dangers but that usually backfires later on. Banning unpopular political discourse to do that has never been the answer to these issues. But in this case, banning discourse is the goal and children are just the excuse. As proof of this, the same government pushing this only instituted a real drinking age in the last 10 years, in a country known for making liquor.

SecretDreams 8mo ago
> I suspect you are actually a bot but others might read this so... I'm floored lol. What gives you this impression? The worst part of this inflammatory nonsense is that, sadly, I'm probably the only person that will read your full comment. And I fundamentally disagree with your thesis of attributing this to "politics". Social media and its effects were poisonous long before "politics" were so prominent. You could see it even during early Obama times. The simple infinite scroll and forcing individuals to so regularly compare themselves to each other was already awful long before "politics".