So a few days ago in English class me and my classmates were supposed to read a text about Computers and Internet and all that stuff and answer some questions based on what we’ve read, it was all so good until I saw the last task which has nothing to do with text because it was something like “use your own words to describe what you think about the internet” or something like that. Keep in mind that the text we read has some ideas about how the Internet which was supposed to “improve our communication abilities” ended up fucking up what we had left of them, and that shit triggered me so… I started going on on about how awesome it is to be a digital minimalism and all and how all ppl should quit internet and most importantly freaking social media. At the end of the class the teacher didn’t review any of our ideas but I didn’t like mine anyway because I literally wrote like two pages in 15 minutes so it was kinda cringe, but since I still have so many things to say in the matter… why not share it here! first of all, I am no expert so what’s coming next is based on my own experiences and history with the things I’m going to talk about and it is nothing but an ==opinion== that’s all, also future me I’m really sorry but I’m kinda bored :)

My problem with Chatting Apps Link to heading

As an ex-gamer (if that’s even a thing) I’ve always went with Discord as my go to chatting platform for obvious reasons. However, there is a few things about Discord that made it stand out for me compared to other texting platforms such as Messenger and Whatsapp and the others,

  • it is more of a voice chatting platform, which is the only way of communicating online imo.
  • small talk ain’t really a thing in Discord.
  • people on Discord are genuinely less Horny, unless you try you won’t come across freaks like those you find everywhere else on the internet.

So with that noted you can tell that people in Discord are actually a lot more connecting since they’re voice chatting most of the time and when they’re not they’re probably having a long/deep conversations about things they’re actually interested on. And what makes Discord like that is quite interesting, there you meet people who share the same interests as you since you join servers of your favorite game or favorite YouTuber or whatever, unlike the traditional social media where you text someone because you laughed at a meme they shared or because you liked their PFP (which another point for ppl in Discord since really most of them don’t put much effort on their PFP). With that you’ll find yourself surrounded with ppl who you’re actually a part of, now keep that in mind and let’s compare it to other platforms starting with the worst texting app ever in my opinion, Snapchat. First of all if you have a snap account Ew gross get therapy, we’re all GenZ here we know, and for those who are being like “stop snap ain’t a chatting app it is more about sharing moment blah blah blah” bullshit, it has a chatting feature and ppl use it so yeah I’m talking about it as a chatting app in this context and here it what I think about it:

  • disgusting and pointless.
  • people there are horny and low and in a serious need for therapy.

for other chatting apps like Messenger and Telegram it gets a bit tricky, see if you’re a nice human being that uses the internet mindfully your chatting experience may be different than mine, but my problem with most of these apps is the fact that 90% of the communication you’ll get is basically meaningless small talks and that’s it, and sometimes you may end up with some crazy people that do that like daily and never stop not even if you leave them on seen it’s fucking creepy, and this is mostly due to the nature of these platform which doesn’t put much effort on letting you meet people from the same interests you have. Also something about messenger since it is a part of Facebook and browsing Facebook feed makes you see more ads compared to when you’re chatting on Messenger makes Meta put so much effort on keeping you distracted while chatting that you won’t be able to have real long conversations, for example I won’t expect ppl to wait for my 10 lines replay and not go to scroll through reels while I’m typing forgetting all about the topic we were into.

There is Nothing Social about Social Media Link to heading

Now that we’re done with the chatting side of social media (well really I’m not I just didn’t want this post to become a goddamn book so yeah) let’s talk about what’s left of it starting with awesome trend of short content, imo short content is one of the worst things that happened to the internet. Like I can’t believe that people are actually capable of thinking that:

  • short content can provide value and knowledge of some sort.
  • short content is “entertaining” and “fun”.
  • it is okay for kids to consume short content.
  • short content has benefits.

Like… if you agree with any of these point… idk maybe I am the crazy one here but, short content is freaking pure evil bro, it has no value and no please don’t tell me that you can benefit from watching an educational 1 minute video about some random topic you don’t care about and you’ll most likely forget all about it the second you scroll down, don’t try to convince me that once you laughed at that short video of someone falling down the stairs or a cat doing something stupid that you were actually enjoying your time and not fucking up your dopamine levels making your self even more miserable and depressed. Bottom line short content is harmful, you need to stop convening yourself that it is not and quite it as if you’re avoiding drugs because guess what, biologically speaking it is a drug.
SM has some other sides as well which I won’t be talking about today I just choose the one that was pissing me off the most.

Pornography Link to heading

People act weird when I respond to “why don’t you have an Instagram account” by saying “I don’t want to sign up in a porn platform” and be like “the algorithms gives you what you want so if you see sexual content you’ve asked for it”, yeah… hold on into that thought for a second and imagine with me a 10 yo incest kid finding out about this beautiful platform called Instagram and how they can share memes and watch funny videos and all of that cool stuff. They find the search bar where they can find accounts and hashtags so they type the first thing they get in mind, Fortnite! their favorite video game! You and I both know the rest of that scenario, and if you don’t just go and replay the previous steps with your “clean algorithms”. Also the fact that this shit is getting support by the platforms is just insane, like… we are seeing what is happening with twitch, and trust me it is only the beginning, one day every single platform will support those bugs in a way, mark my words.

How I Use the Internet, and Why Should You become a Digital Minimalist like Me Link to heading

With all these negative things I say about the internet you’d think that I want everyone to just stop using it or something, actually that would be great but no, it is a bit too extreme. I’ll just tell how I use the internet as 20 yo IT student and hopefully this might help you, at least I hope so.

How I use the Internet on my Smart Phone Link to heading

  • no social media (unless it is really necessary, other than that Discord and Email are the only way to contact me online).
  • avoid short content at all costs.
  • all notifications should be off.
  • YouTube is fine as long as I don’t watch shorts or browse the 4u page, only check the channels I’m subscribed to at the end of the day and search for tutorials or things I need.
  • no video games, gaming on Android ain’t that fun anyway.

Like this my phone is basically an MP3 with a modem or something, I only use it to play music or as a Hotspot for my computer to access the internet when I’m not home, also I read books on it every now and then since I haven’t bought a Kindle yet.

How I use the Internet on my Computer Link to heading

All the rules about my phone apply here with a little bit of an addition about YouTube, I search YouTube from the Terminal using a tool called ytfzf, which I really love, but still to check the channels I’m subscribed to I use the browser which happens to be Brave. Other than that I can’t really tell what else is unusual about my setup so… yeah I guess this is it!

Again I still have many things to say on the matter but… a topic like this is a very complex and I really don’t want to spend more time on this post so… if you made it all the way here thank you so much I really appreciate it, I’ll be leaving some helpful resources that might be helpful for you since you’re interested. Cya!

Seth.