Your Own Ghost
Human
- Mar 12, 2019
- 96
I've spent a lot of time on the internet in my life, and one thing that's always bothered me about it is what I consider superficial encounters of human relationships. It's similar to the idea of the internet bringing lonely people together, but instead of finding fulfillment they only end up being lonely side by side.
Instead of sharing thoughts with other people, reciprocation is pigeonholed through a like status or an emoticon, and on many sites, the ulterior motives of strangers and propaganda control the day. Instead of sharing your art or your passion – it's all filtered through the efficiencies of a program, or a layout, and the unknown potential is never given a chance. Instead of love, your desire to love is matched up with another's desire to love, but together it still isn't loving, it's just group desiring. Much of it is oftentimes solitary confinement in disguise.
And it's a cheap kind of reciprocation. For example, blogging sites (e.g. Tumblr) knew how to work this to their advantage and would send bots to hand out free "likes" so no one felt completely isolated and would continue using (i.e. being) the product. Dating sites have been known to send fake messages right before your subscription ends to get you to renew. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram numbers are often elevated by paid-for bot farms. Reddit numbers are skewed to a nonsensical amount. Imagine that, if you were foolish enough to think the world was listening and it wasn't… at all.
Over the years I couldn't help but feel like the internet was getting worse in various, slippery ways. Now I think it more closely resembles a shopping mall than a launching pad for human potential. At this rate, the various freedoms will eventually all be stripped away for the rules of corporate power, feel-good ideology-driven law, and advertising. As people spend more time online, that will be the prison their philosophy grows in.
It's that superficiality that has been exacerbated along the way. And here it goes – this is the controversial part I alluded to in the title – To have others on this site say that they're "here" with you, or to give you a "like" as you spill your heart out, or to follow along to your text report upon exiting this life, is all another facet of the cruel indifference this technologic reality now represents. I shudder to think of someone getting a dopamine kick as they post about taking lethal drugs. It's like looking forward to your prison bars thanking you as you hang yourself from them.
"So why are you here?" you might ask.
I suppose for many of the same reasons you're here, but I just rationalize it in a different way. No matter how hard I try, though, I can't bring myself to think it's something else.
P.S. I'm sorry, I don't want to offend anyone or make the impression that my generalization is at all applicable to everyone. I'm completely fine if you think the opposite. It's probably better that way.
Instead of sharing thoughts with other people, reciprocation is pigeonholed through a like status or an emoticon, and on many sites, the ulterior motives of strangers and propaganda control the day. Instead of sharing your art or your passion – it's all filtered through the efficiencies of a program, or a layout, and the unknown potential is never given a chance. Instead of love, your desire to love is matched up with another's desire to love, but together it still isn't loving, it's just group desiring. Much of it is oftentimes solitary confinement in disguise.
And it's a cheap kind of reciprocation. For example, blogging sites (e.g. Tumblr) knew how to work this to their advantage and would send bots to hand out free "likes" so no one felt completely isolated and would continue using (i.e. being) the product. Dating sites have been known to send fake messages right before your subscription ends to get you to renew. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram numbers are often elevated by paid-for bot farms. Reddit numbers are skewed to a nonsensical amount. Imagine that, if you were foolish enough to think the world was listening and it wasn't… at all.
Over the years I couldn't help but feel like the internet was getting worse in various, slippery ways. Now I think it more closely resembles a shopping mall than a launching pad for human potential. At this rate, the various freedoms will eventually all be stripped away for the rules of corporate power, feel-good ideology-driven law, and advertising. As people spend more time online, that will be the prison their philosophy grows in.
It's that superficiality that has been exacerbated along the way. And here it goes – this is the controversial part I alluded to in the title – To have others on this site say that they're "here" with you, or to give you a "like" as you spill your heart out, or to follow along to your text report upon exiting this life, is all another facet of the cruel indifference this technologic reality now represents. I shudder to think of someone getting a dopamine kick as they post about taking lethal drugs. It's like looking forward to your prison bars thanking you as you hang yourself from them.
"So why are you here?" you might ask.
I suppose for many of the same reasons you're here, but I just rationalize it in a different way. No matter how hard I try, though, I can't bring myself to think it's something else.
P.S. I'm sorry, I don't want to offend anyone or make the impression that my generalization is at all applicable to everyone. I'm completely fine if you think the opposite. It's probably better that way.