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Counterpoint: meatspace is awful unless you're a normie. Christ, the day I got out of my small town and into a major city university dorm room with fast Interne
by KPGv2 3mo ago
Counterpoint: meatspace is awful unless you're a normie. Christ, the day I got out of my small town and into a major city university dorm room with fast Internet was the day my life opened up. I found people with my interests. Etc.
"The Internet sucks. Get offline," is the battle cry of someone who likes Marvel movies and the book that Target has at the checkout line, or lives in one of about five cities in the USA.
- aqfamnzc 3mo agoOof. You're missing out if you think meatspace is limited to target and big American cities. I agree that the web makes it easy(er) to connect with others in niche interests, but in-person experiences can be so diverse, vibrant, stimulating that I understand the simmering tug some have toward wanting the internet to become unusable. I agree with sibling that a "healed" internet, while very optimistic, is the ideal case. Sincerely, your fellow terminally online HN commenter.
- judge2020 3mo ago> You're missing out if you think meatspace is limited to target and big American cities. The joke about middle-of-nowhere towns is that the only thing for teens to do in meatspace is to go to the Walmart. Because there's nothing else to do.
- krater23 3mo agoWalmart?! Do you think we had a mall?! The only thing we had to do was drinking beer and smoking weed.
- monomial 3mo agoI don't really understand this trope and I grew up in a tiny town. Why not start a band or make movies with your friends? Build model airplanes, explore some creeks or forests. Not to say I didn't smoke and drink as well but why should that be more likely to be one's outlet in a small town with few commercial consumer experiences?
- KPGv2 3mo agowho probably grew up in a big city. I unfortunately grew up in a small town, and it's really weird that you presume to dictate to me what small town life was like before the Internet. I assure you, I have decades marinating in it.
- everdrive 3mo agoI really do understand your sentiment, but please remember that "meatspace" is the whole world. You can hate stupid marvel movies and chain department stores all you like, but the entire world of books, hobbies, technology, etc. is available to you. I'm not joking: I'll bet that NO ONE at your local library cares that you're weird so long as you're polite and follow the rules.
- account42 3mo agoThe point is that the internet brings many distant people closer to you. All the exists on the internet exists in the real world (because the internet is part of the real world) but that doesn't mean you will find it anywhere near you. Others not minding you being weird is not the same as others being weird with you.
- everdrive 3mo agoEven if we take your point that internet may be disappearing. A good way to brace yourself is to expand your scope: books, exercise, hobbies, etc. (and probably download a few romsets) will protect you.
- KPGv2 3mo agoYou probably don't intend to sound as rude as you do, but to suggest that I don't read or exercise because I think the Internet is a massive boon for social lives is pretty dickish. I boulder, run, play tennis. I read about thirty books a year. I have lots of hobbies. But the Internet has made them better. I write novels. The people who help me with beta reading are online, because no one IRL is interested in what I write. Again, expanding one's social circle.
- everdrive 3mo agoI didn't mean to sound rude at all :(
- KPGv2 3mo ago