As the year progresses, I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of the internet as a whole. Mostly because of knee-jerk reactions, tribalism, slogans, ragebaiting, hypocrisy, and other general unpleasantness.
“Support artists!” (Follows and buys merch only from popular artists.)
“People should succeed on merit!” (Watches videos and streams of only famous content creators.)
“Originality should be celebrated.” (Repeats the same jokes and slogans seen on their social media feed, in the community, or in the chat.)
“This could have been an email.” (This isn’t your workplace and it’s not funny out of context you dumb motherfucker.)
I’m so fucking tired of it. If I’m honest, I don’t have a real online community to feel home in, despite being invited or wanted by some folks in these spaces. Being invited and wanted somewhere is different than actually feeling like you belong there. But no matter how many times I rearrange the words and change my inflection, I can’t get that concept across.
At least I’m not alone in feeling this way. There is a bit of comfort in that thought, even if I may never be in a community with these people.
This video I found today was not only insightful, it made me feel… I hate to use this overused word… seen. If you’re feeling the same way about the internet, or the world in general, maybe it will help you, too.
Now we just need to make the rest of the internet watch and comprehend it.