I liked it better when crazy people could only find a platform to spread crazy by a news letter, or a small web forum. Giving every single person a giant digital soap box has proven to be not be such a great thing.
I knew that the internet was fucked when MySpace came out and the barrier of entry was all but eliminated. When I first started using the internet, most of the info that was out there was from scientists, researchers, and people with an expertise in very specific subjects that had enough motivation to jump through the technical hoops of needing to join a BBS, host a website, or jump into IRC or another forum.
Once MySpace, and then Facebook, allowed anyone to post any dumb shit they wanted with an immediate way to spread that nonsense, it was all over. From there, corporate interests in how the internet could be used to control messaging and serve ads turned what little there was left into the same bullshit we’ve had since the advent of television. You can still find pockets of the old internet around but it’s mostly related to extremely niche interests.
As much as I agree with you part of me is experiencing cognitive dissonance because I don’t know how to square this view with the appeal of democratization of a powerful tool.
There are intelligent voices out there exposing otherwise unseen parts of the world that range from fascinating to alarming. Some of those people are far from technical and we only hear from them because they do know how to hold down the record button on their phones, and they found platforms with built-in audiences who were responsive to their messages.
Let’s say it were possible to review all content prior to it being published. You might be able to nip a lot of the e.g. anti-vax or anti-science or garbage anti-intellectualism in the bud. (Garbage that should be legal to express [in USA] but that is harmful when spread so there is no need to help enable its distribution.) I expect however some legitimate, underrepresented views would be silenced as well.
I could probably ramble on – I don’t think I have a specific point, just meandering thoughts.
And MySpace still had a much bigger barrier to entry than the popular formats today. Now all you need is a phone and the ability to tap a few buttons on the screen.
You know, I was a kid back then with my own website on Tripod, and I felt the same way. Growing up I realized that was just an infantile thought, but... Maybe I realized wrong.
My friend is friends with/works for this old lady (70s) that is a "holistic practitioner" and believes in all of this shit, and he believes in a fair amount of it too.
Last night he called her from his smartphone and told her that he needs her to order him a Lightning to Ethernet dongle for his iPad "because that's the only way to not get fried by the EMF".
I just sat there and chuckled to myself because I know there was no point in arguing with him.
My friend disabled the 5 GHz WiFi radio on his access point and labeled the 2.4 GHz radio as "Fuck 5G" for a while. For those not aware the 5G that these idiots are talking about is The 5th Generation of Cellphone Technology which is completely different from the 5 GHz radio in WiFi access points.