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Too many people will believe the most ridiculous things, and never check with reliable sources. Which makes disinformation campaigns incredibly effective. And we all pay the price for that.
I’ve found that rather than the internet being transformative for the human race:
It turns people into assholes. Sometimes worse.
Putting a person on the internet as an ignorant, uneducated, willfully stupid person just unlocks the inner angry child who sprays shit upon the world.
And since the norms are being forgotten…. and the idiots are running the world…. When everything is vaporized- remember- I didn’t contribute to it.
One thing I am often struck by are the personal and political opinions of celebrities. Before the Internet, you simply didn’t know those things about famous people. If you were a big fan of a movie or music star, for example, all you really had to go by were the news media, and the occasional interview. Maybe for very famous older figures there would be a biography. But you didn’t know their day-to-day opinions about much of anything.
How little effort people put into looking things up for themselves. I always see questions with easily available answers on reddit and in other places.
Also, how smug people can be, like the people who link to “let me google that for you” whenever someone in the aforementioned group asks a question — even when the search results in no way answer that person’s question.
The amount of illiteracy that is rampant in the US, one of the richest countries in the world and half of them can’t spell or even know how to budget their money. I could go on but it would be redundant.
That practically the minute you start getting older, there are so many people by phone or by email that are lurking waiting to scam you out of any penny they can
How many people seem to really, genuinely enjoy being hateful, taking pride in saying/doing disgusting and malignant things solely to hurt and anger total strangers. I can sort of deal with being constantly reminded of how many people are grossly misinformed and just refuse to use their brains; but the active malice displayed in so many places really takes the heart out of me.
I don’t know about people, but people on the internet are pretty amazing. Even the “dumb ones”.
It sure beats travelled around town to randomly get involved in a conversation and wade through small talk to possibly talk about something of any substance.
Sometimes I’ll read comments on one post all night long and love it all. I don’t care if people are right or wrong. I’ll wade through it all and get to the common denominator of it.
I enjoy months off from the internet as well. In the field research is a thing too.
There’s way more kids and young adults posting in the suicide subreddit. I was shocked there’s so many young people who are completely done, in life. 🌊
The number of stupid people who are on the internet is really dumber than the average stupid people, and it’s dragging the rest of them down. I find that very annoying.
Not difficult to accept, but it taught me how we judge by appearance so much. Long ago, when the internet was really taking off, I got into a chat with two other people. The three of us starting chatting regularly, about books, movies etc, and really enjoyed talking. Somehow, the question of age didn’t come up until we were pretty good friends.
Then one of us said something, and the others said wait, how old are you? Turned out our group was a teenager, someone in their late 20s, and someone in their mid forties! If we’d been able to see one another, would we have become friends, or would we have just thought we were too different?
If we can see people, or hear them, we make judgements. We can try hard not to be racist, sexist, ageist, but those prejudices can creep in despite our best efforts. We can erect barriers because we think someone is a certain way, and too different from us. That’s one beauty of the internet, at least with text – we’re less likely to make those assumptions, more likely to give people a chance.
I was always embarrassed that the women i find attractive are a little chubby, and assumed it was abnormal to find the scrawny heroin looking models unattractive. With the internet I find I’m not alone and a huge number of men out there like bigger girls.
People and their behaviour haven’t changed since I was a kid (60+ years ago), the internet just exposes us to more of it. So nothing unexpected, maybe a little sad, though, that we haven’t gotten any better. We have this marvelous tool that can reach every corner of the earth and look how it’s used.
Be as selective with your online company as you are in real life and you’ll be fine.
That there are actual adults out there who are mind bogglingly stupid. Even in what appears to be their native language. Even in day to day life. It’s a wonder they are still alive.
I learned that a lot of the people I used to hang out with were much more conservative than I realized (this was from FB)
Everyone complains that the younger generations are illiterate, but it’s the boomers and silent gen folks who post the most misspelled, weirdly punctuated rambles
Most people don’t understand fact checking, nor do they understand the difference between facts opinions
A lot of people love taking pictures of themselves in their cars. I still have figured that one out!
Some people are so desperate for any form of human (or human-like) interaction that they feel despair when the tone of chatGPT results isn’t to their liking.
Not a slight against those people, just something I did not expect.
That I am not unusual for being an atheist. It turns out the lack of belief in gods is quite common, especially when people can express their views anonymously.
That most people want to have a place, and have use, and be and do good.
Under a different and much older username I mod a good-sized legacy sub that from the beginning and still today is 99% full of good people trading good advice about how to do a certain thing well, commiserating when someone is struggling to learn, celebrating when they achieve.
It’s just that the 1% of nekkid-boobies/look-at-my-dick/you-suck trolls are so much more obvious.
That people with anonymity or power cannot behave. Me included! But, in my defense, I used to be able to do it with unerring consistency. Now, not so much. #shrug
that most ppl aren’t looking for truth they’re looking for validation
the internet didn’t make ppl dumber it just made their blind spots and biases louder
also how fragile egos are one comment online can ruin someone’s whole day
at scale it’s kinda wild to realize how many ppl live permanently on edge
There are lots of insecure mean trolls out there, and lots of people who are so stupid, lazy, or gullible that they will believe just about anything without using any critical thought.
Kindness can come from the most unexpected strangers like here on reddit. Sometimes a random person will say something more supportive than your own friends!
So many people are very giving of their time to teach others a new skill/hobby, life skills. There are great people out there doing good. Some people who could never have done it without the Internet.
In my case, I’ve learned to crochet thanks to youtube tutorials, groups to help share their info. It’s a good thing. So many talented people out there.
I am middle aged. I like hearing all the new slang terms. Some of them are quite insightful and funny. I also like that people are beginning to understand religion isn’t all that, just bc someone’s old doesn’t mean they’re wise, and folks are starting to know their worth as in not putting up with crap behavior and figuring out narcissism, and other personality defects.
I’ve accepted it at this point after years of it but I got online in the 90s and i’ve seen since then how incredibly evil so many people are, and I just didn’t realize that many people were that awful. Now it’s just a given. And it’s actually getting worse.
As others have said I’m surprised at the number of people who seem to take pleasure in being rude if they can do so without consequences.
And more recently in the past few years I’m truly stunned at the number of people who seem to not understand how basic science works. Perhaps it’s because my parents were in the medical field and I have a science degree myself. But the amount of people doing “research” on the internet and truly believing they have found something the majority of the scientific community hasn’t or questioning what the vast majority of the scientific community believes to be true is both scary and dumbfounding.
I fear for the future our grandchildren will inherit as a result.
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That good people are everywhere, but assholes know no borders either.
People will say things online they would never say to your face
No one can spell anymore.
Too many people will believe the most ridiculous things, and never check with reliable sources. Which makes disinformation campaigns incredibly effective. And we all pay the price for that.
I’ve found that rather than the internet being transformative for the human race:
It turns people into assholes. Sometimes worse.
Putting a person on the internet as an ignorant, uneducated, willfully stupid person just unlocks the inner angry child who sprays shit upon the world.
And since the norms are being forgotten…. and the idiots are running the world…. When everything is vaporized- remember- I didn’t contribute to it.
Too many people crave validation for things that don’t matter
One thing I am often struck by are the personal and political opinions of celebrities. Before the Internet, you simply didn’t know those things about famous people. If you were a big fan of a movie or music star, for example, all you really had to go by were the news media, and the occasional interview. Maybe for very famous older figures there would be a biography. But you didn’t know their day-to-day opinions about much of anything.
How quickly they believe anything they read.
I guess that’s always been the case…but since the internet we’re reading a hundred times more stuff every day than we used to.
There are way more dumb people than I had previously thought. I want to believe in my fellow man or whatever, but…yeah.
There are some REALLY weird interests out there
The crushingly low horizons held by the mass of humanity.
The ease with which outrageous ideas are embraced.
…and on rare occasion, the emergence of an enlightened spirit.
How little effort people put into looking things up for themselves. I always see questions with easily available answers on reddit and in other places.
Also, how smug people can be, like the people who link to “let me google that for you” whenever someone in the aforementioned group asks a question — even when the search results in no way answer that person’s question.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is real.
How many ppl are foolish sheep searching for a flock, waiting to be herded. The mass contagion across age span is what I wouldn’t have expected.
The amount of illiteracy that is rampant in the US, one of the richest countries in the world and half of them can’t spell or even know how to budget their money. I could go on but it would be redundant.
Until I participated in AOL chat rooms I had no idea college basketball was so popular.
How easy it is for disgusting creeps to take advantage of our young, old and pretty much everyone else in between.
That practically the minute you start getting older, there are so many people by phone or by email that are lurking waiting to scam you out of any penny they can
Just how racist and sexist humans are. I’m at the point where I always believe the victim because humans are awful.
People can be nasty about any topic, no matter how neutral or innocent.
Everyone knows that once it’s on the internet, it’s forever. Yet people keep posting nudes and comments that come back to bite them in the arse.
They’re fucking MORONS. MOST of them. And 70,000,000+ in PARTICULAR.
Seeing all the social media accounts with hundreds upon hundreds of selfies made me realize how self absorbed too many people are.
Stupid people that we used to ignore and that would fade away now have a common meeting ground for causing trouble.
How many people seem to really, genuinely enjoy being hateful, taking pride in saying/doing disgusting and malignant things solely to hurt and anger total strangers. I can sort of deal with being constantly reminded of how many people are grossly misinformed and just refuse to use their brains; but the active malice displayed in so many places really takes the heart out of me.
I’m still stunned to find out every day how stupid so many people are.
I don’t know about people, but people on the internet are pretty amazing. Even the “dumb ones”.
It sure beats travelled around town to randomly get involved in a conversation and wade through small talk to possibly talk about something of any substance.
Sometimes I’ll read comments on one post all night long and love it all. I don’t care if people are right or wrong. I’ll wade through it all and get to the common denominator of it.
I enjoy months off from the internet as well. In the field research is a thing too.
That the majority of people don’t do their own research.🤬
There’s way more kids and young adults posting in the suicide subreddit. I was shocked there’s so many young people who are completely done, in life. 🌊
Um…. The Epstein files are a distraction from martial law in our cities.
He is putting cities under military control.
If thats not hitler…
The number of stupid people who are on the internet is really dumber than the average stupid people, and it’s dragging the rest of them down. I find that very annoying.
I have a lot less to say to people than I do at a blind date.
There’s a lot of stupid people out there
Not difficult to accept, but it taught me how we judge by appearance so much. Long ago, when the internet was really taking off, I got into a chat with two other people. The three of us starting chatting regularly, about books, movies etc, and really enjoyed talking. Somehow, the question of age didn’t come up until we were pretty good friends.
Then one of us said something, and the others said wait, how old are you? Turned out our group was a teenager, someone in their late 20s, and someone in their mid forties! If we’d been able to see one another, would we have become friends, or would we have just thought we were too different?
If we can see people, or hear them, we make judgements. We can try hard not to be racist, sexist, ageist, but those prejudices can creep in despite our best efforts. We can erect barriers because we think someone is a certain way, and too different from us. That’s one beauty of the internet, at least with text – we’re less likely to make those assumptions, more likely to give people a chance.
People do not understand what a possessive noun is. Grammar rules have been thrown out the window.
I was always embarrassed that the women i find attractive are a little chubby, and assumed it was abnormal to find the scrawny heroin looking models unattractive. With the internet I find I’m not alone and a huge number of men out there like bigger girls.
People can be as boring and stupid online as IRL, even more so.
When given anonymity, way too many people become complete D-Bags.
People can be as boring and stupid online as IRL, even more so.
That good people don’t hang out on it.
There’s not actually separation of church and state.
People and their behaviour haven’t changed since I was a kid (60+ years ago), the internet just exposes us to more of it. So nothing unexpected, maybe a little sad, though, that we haven’t gotten any better. We have this marvelous tool that can reach every corner of the earth and look how it’s used.
Be as selective with your online company as you are in real life and you’ll be fine.
If someone says something enough, everyone will believe whatever it is – people seem to think the internet is completely right always- its scary
People are unbelievably generous with the hard earned skills and knowledge.
That there are way more crazy people out there than I ever imagined. I mean hey, you do you but damn….
That there are actual adults out there who are mind bogglingly stupid. Even in what appears to be their native language. Even in day to day life. It’s a wonder they are still alive.
I learned that a lot of the people I used to hang out with were much more conservative than I realized (this was from FB)
Everyone complains that the younger generations are illiterate, but it’s the boomers and silent gen folks who post the most misspelled, weirdly punctuated rambles
Most people don’t understand fact checking, nor do they understand the difference between facts opinions
A lot of people love taking pictures of themselves in their cars. I still have figured that one out!
That societal regression makes a lot of people comfy.
Some people are so desperate for any form of human (or human-like) interaction that they feel despair when the tone of chatGPT results isn’t to their liking.
Not a slight against those people, just something I did not expect.
That I am not unusual for being an atheist. It turns out the lack of belief in gods is quite common, especially when people can express their views anonymously.
People are a lot more gullible than I expected
i have been pleasantly surprised to find many people online are witty and clever.
i have also found my share of Karens out there.
That most people want to have a place, and have use, and be and do good.
Under a different and much older username I mod a good-sized legacy sub that from the beginning and still today is 99% full of good people trading good advice about how to do a certain thing well, commiserating when someone is struggling to learn, celebrating when they achieve.
It’s just that the 1% of nekkid-boobies/look-at-my-dick/you-suck trolls are so much more obvious.
How much I have in common with people of wildly different ages.
That they are not ashamed to scream how stupid they are. Usually in ALL CAPS
No enough people have had to back up the hate and misery that their words bring.
How very thin-skinned people are. So many are looking for a fight over nothing.
Poop Knife
That people with anonymity or power cannot behave. Me included! But, in my defense, I used to be able to do it with unerring consistency. Now, not so much. #shrug
evil
that most ppl aren’t looking for truth they’re looking for validation
the internet didn’t make ppl dumber it just made their blind spots and biases louder
also how fragile egos are one comment online can ruin someone’s whole day
at scale it’s kinda wild to realize how many ppl live permanently on edge
Never leave a boy alone with a coconut
People are meaner and stupider than I ever expected.
There are lots of insecure mean trolls out there, and lots of people who are so stupid, lazy, or gullible that they will believe just about anything without using any critical thought.
The level of stupidity out in the world is astounding to me.
How much I’ve learned about different subjects.
They can be so nasty when anonymous.
there’s a lot of jerks out there that think it’s ok to be stupid and rude and speak about their opinions about things they’ve never had the guts to.
Kindness can come from the most unexpected strangers like here on reddit. Sometimes a random person will say something more supportive than your own friends!
That I’m glad it wasn’t around when I was raising my kids,,,
changed my post
That a lot of people really are that stupid
I paid far more attention in spelling lessons, at school, than 99% of the population.
So many people are very giving of their time to teach others a new skill/hobby, life skills. There are great people out there doing good. Some people who could never have done it without the Internet.
In my case, I’ve learned to crochet thanks to youtube tutorials, groups to help share their info. It’s a good thing. So many talented people out there.
That people can’t spell
I am middle aged. I like hearing all the new slang terms. Some of them are quite insightful and funny. I also like that people are beginning to understand religion isn’t all that, just bc someone’s old doesn’t mean they’re wise, and folks are starting to know their worth as in not putting up with crap behavior and figuring out narcissism, and other personality defects.
I’ve accepted it at this point after years of it but I got online in the 90s and i’ve seen since then how incredibly evil so many people are, and I just didn’t realize that many people were that awful. Now it’s just a given. And it’s actually getting worse.
I was raised to believe that the average person is good at heart. The internet has shown me that that is almost a complete lie.
A majority of people are far more stupid, vicious and spiteful than I had ever imagined.
Anger and human potential for violence is much more pervasive than we thought.
Also: because the internet never forgets, there’s a chance that something stupid you did as a teen will create a bias against you in the adult world.
That average is dumber than I could’ve ever imagined.
That so many adults, even middle-aged adults, are still emotionally in junior high.
I am often amazed when I read some logical comments from a smart person. It’s just so unexpected on the Internet.
The oversharing.
How dramatically the American education system has declined.
Millions of people are very, very dumb. There are many more who are much dumber than I would have thought possible.
The veneer of civilization is even thinner than I had previously thought.
As others have said I’m surprised at the number of people who seem to take pleasure in being rude if they can do so without consequences.
And more recently in the past few years I’m truly stunned at the number of people who seem to not understand how basic science works. Perhaps it’s because my parents were in the medical field and I have a science degree myself. But the amount of people doing “research” on the internet and truly believing they have found something the majority of the scientific community hasn’t or questioning what the vast majority of the scientific community believes to be true is both scary and dumbfounding.
I fear for the future our grandchildren will inherit as a result.
That we were actually the friends we made along the way…
I’m surprised how many people have no critical thinking skills.
No!
Stupid people don’t realize they’re stupid.
Honestly I thought horrible people were more rare than they actually are. Racist, sexist, hateful people are a-plenty.
How naïve and gullible they are.
People are dumber and more self obsessed than I would have imagined.
People online are quick to advise others to dump that boyfriend or divorce that spouse.
That some people clearly want to be stupid. It’s a conscious decision and everyone else just needs to deal with it.