Internet: Friend, Foe, or Unpersonified Tool that can be used for both good and evil?

So. We’re on the internet. And one of the world’s most current questions pops up: is this even good for us? There is no short amount of people poised on either side of the question. Most people probably fall closer to center neutrality, but all of our media has amplified the strongest voices on either side (hmmmmmm….. what else does this sound familiar to?) But I think there is a lack of real responsibility when we have conversations about “the media” or “the internet”. We are part of the internet at this rate, no longer passive watchers and explorers of it. You know the sayings; if you’re caught in a stampede, YOU are the stampede. If you’re caught in traffic, YOU are the traffic. The internet is a tool, that most of us, at least in this country, are all complicit in using and all help contribute to the overall web-landscape.

Is this the right time to announce I hate American car/driving culture?

We began the week with a documentary that took a look at how the internet is changing children and the way they grow up, are educated, and engage with others (among just a few ways to name the changes it’s enacted.) The video was a little over a decade old, and was likely looking at kids who would have been more or less in my age group at the time so it’s interesting to see what they predicted was going to happen- versus what ultimately did. The immediate notice for me was the comments on social interaction, and I personally think I’ve seen people’s socializing abilities drop. Post Covid it just got substantially worse but I think there is truth in the isolating element of these technologies. Yeah we saw lots of examples of internet bringing people together (during the pandemic it helped tremendously), and it certainly has that power but once again, used in the wrong way and it can just make isolation far worse. I’m not quite sure why this is, but perhaps it is the illusion of interaction it creates leaves many feeling like they need more? Just a thought.

An extra thing that stood out to me in the documentary was how the US Army was trying to plant the seed of recruitment into the brains of young kids by pulling them into an ARMY ARCADE like the goddam witch in hansel and gretel with the candy house. I’m never usually surprised by this stuff but how blatant can you be in your propaganda? Listen, I don’t hate Call of Duty or anything like that. Play violence is a practice that far supersedes video games, especially in children. My grandfather would tell stories of him and his buddies shooting each other with air rifles pretending to be cowboys, so a kid playing COD isn’t the end of the world in my opinion. But to reel a kid into future military service using that, is just plain scary and gross to me. I read an article just a few days later about how in a scrapped plan, The US Army was going to spend millions to get streamers to advertise through Games like Call of Duty in an attempt to win Gen Z over. Scary times. (This info was apparently obtained by Vice, which is left leaning, but usually largely reliable.)

I do want to make comment on the show we began watching, Silicon Valley. I actually thought it was really funny. I am of course not personally knowledgable about what it’s like to exist in these rich as hell tech spaces, with the recent near-comical adventures of figures like Musk, I can’t help but savour this mocking take. The main actor nails the awkward comic thing really well and the writing was really clever. My favorite thing was the commercials for products that explain NOTHING about what the brand is but is just like soft landscapes, quotes and humanitarian aid. Because commercials straight up will not be about anything relevant to the product anyone, simply a feeling the product is supposed to give you. And what’s that about?