I miss the days before the Web got this big

[Reesays]

I seriously miss the 90s and early 2000s when we spent our time reading books, playing videogames (basically fighting/arcade games in my experience), went out often, and the internet hadn't advanced this much. Remember those days when Porn was not readily available and you actually had to work for it? You either had to be sneaky and watch some late night show or sneak a magazine into the house rather than everything being available by typing it in the URL box.

Whatever you did pretty much stayed in the circle and that was it. You actually had to go out and talk to people rather than sitting on facebook and making stupid statuses.

We didn't need "NO FAP MONTHS" because GUESS WHAT? Porn was not easily available and you had to find more constructive things to do than fap. You read books, you wrote and drew stuff, you spent time doing something other than spending time in front of the screen, and you even relaxed and watched TV rather than coming home and checking your facebook to see what is going on in everyone else's life and who is doing what.

I loved life back then and try to live it like that but too many of my friends (the few I do have) are facebook addicts, forum addicts, porn addicts, and online game addicts.

SAD!

[Zac]

It's just still new and weird time for the internet and I really believe this thing is one of the most important things that has ever happened to human beings.

Our strength as a species has always been our ability to work together. That above all else has got us to where we are. The internet is our greatest tool. It's also a baby. Give it time.

Plenty of people get a lot of help from forums. I've been seeing that a lot lately.

Quote:are facebook addicts, forum addicts, porn addicts, and online game addicts.

How many of those categories do you fall into?

[Tim]

Sounds like you've got a case of...Rosy Retrospection

I'm very wary of looking at the past too favorably. You say you things were better when we came home and watched TV instead of going on Facebook, but how can you argue that that was any better? People were/are equally addicted, and probably get/got equal value out of the activity they were/are doing. If I spend half an hour on Facebook I actually think I get more out of it than watching a half hour of TV, because if I'm on that long then I'm at least talking to a friend or contacting with someone. You could argue that it's not as good as connecting in person (and I'd agree with you) but that's not the comparison we're making here.

Yeah, maybe we spend too much time alone, and focusing on isolating activities disguised as social ones, but on the other hand we're more easily exposed to more knowledge and perspectives than ever before. There's less cultural isolationism, and more attempts at connection. I can't see how that's a bad thing.

While there's a lot to be learned from the past (and I'm constantly learning from mine) I'd argue that spending too much time focusing on it is likely a strategy of avoiding taking responsibility for your actions in the present, just as focusing on the future can be (which I'm more predisposed to). Unless we're looking at it to learn lessons to apply to the present, it doesn't matter if the past was better or worse. Similarly, the future might be a better or worse place than now, but focus on now to make the best of it.

[Leo]

How about the fucking "smart" phones. Now is even easier to become an internet addict. If you don't have a "smart" phone, you are not cool. BTW I've had dates with women that ask me: what kind of phone do you have? Just to know how "wealthy" I'm. Jesus Christ!

[Zac]

Maybe they just wanted to know if you could play Words With Friends together.

[IdEngager]

Dude aren't you like 19? Things always seem better in the past. It's like people who reminisce about how much things were better in the 50s, except for the whole Jim Crow and constant fear of getting nuked thing.

And for the record, I found plenty of ways to masturbate before an unlimited supply of streaming HD porn.

[FirstAidKit]

honestly? I love the internet and want to take it home, have rampant sex and also possibly babies with it. I love that the middle man has been cut out of so many creative processes, sharing music, publishing writing, films to an extent. I love that so much of the world's knowledge is literally at your fingertips, you can teach yourself anything basically for free - (I also think that this is going to burst the bubble of some college degrees, especially humanities one. Why should anyone pay ridiculous fees for a reading list and 4 hours a week contact time? It's stupid.) I also think that mass internet has improved writing overall (yes, even with lots of people using text speak and whatever. We've got more people than ever getting their ideas out there, and to have people pay attention over the noise they have to be convincing, persuasive and their ideas have to be good - or at least interesting.

I think it's a great collaborative effort by so many people, freely sharing the ideas they've learned.

I also like downloading a shit load of things for free, but hey.

I also would much prefer internet procrastinating than TV procrastinating, I haven't had a TV in nearly 4 years and don't miss it at all. I also find facebook a really good tool for getting aquaintances to friends that I wouldn't otherwise have made an effort with, as I didn't know them well enough to call. It's not facebook's fault that you aren't hanging out with people, just ask them to go hang out.

[SeXyBaCk]

Don't use it Ree, if it's so bad. I remember the days when I used a dial up 9,6 modem to play games across town, later mp3 came out and it was fantastic when a song would only take 15 minutes to download on a 56 k dial up. My first DSL, it was unreal, unlimited internet without keeping your parents phone line occupied. Life definitely sucked without the internet. You'd have to actually go to cinema to watch some crap movie you're only half interested in. To go on holiday you had to go to some travel agent who told you what he thought was a good place for you to go on vacation. Sports highlights? non existant. Finding information on some random topic you're curious about? You had to go into those encyclopedia books to get like one paragraph on what you're interested in.

Wikipedia for me is the best site in the world.

[Tim]

FAK I was about to write the same thing before about having babies with the internet but directed at Zac... If you would like to join us you can be the mother and we'll be the adoptive fathers. If Obama can just push same-sex marriage through then he should be able to get same-sex adoption. We need to encourage him though; I suggest an internet petition. Obviously.

Also, I agree with everything else you wrote to the point where I'm thinking you stole the thoughts from my brain and wrote them down.

On a completely unrelated note I am lying on a hostel bed typing this, and on the bunk opposite me there's this gorgeous girl sleeping. I know it's a bit creepy but I'm having trouble stopping myself from trying to get a better look and staring at her. As I type this and every time she turns in her sleep I can feel my heart beat faster. Weird thing to share here but I felt compelled to talk about it.

[Chaos]

(05-10-2012 10:39 AM)Tim Wrote:  FAK I was about to write the same thing before about having babies with the internet but directed at Zac... If you would like to join us you can be the mother and we'll be the adoptive fathers.

That would be the weirdest threesome I've ever heard of.

As for the internet it's the fucking greatest creation ever. First of all reesay, you wouldn't be able to be here telling us that story if it wasn't for the internet so I see a bit of a contraction there.

Secondly I wouldn't have grown fond of some of the people of this forum; a concept I find particularly beautiful: appreciating someone I know I'll probably never meet in person based only on the exchanges of opinions and the talks we have at hundred of miles of distance.

Third, the repository of knowledge in the internet is the biggest and greatest thing that could have happened to fight prejudice. Manipulation (even political manipulation) is harder and harder as more information is floating around and as the culture gets used to actually investigate before judging. You have more access to different opinions and different point of views, and a wider perspective will always help you form your own thoughts better than a narrow one.

And finally, Internet is not limiting, people is. You don't get sucked into the internet, you don't lose social contact. People who disregard internet as a risk to human interactions (in person) are the people who wouldn't have had that on the days of TV or the radio. Those who would critique the TV when it was new or the radio when it was new because it discouraged people from doing other things... it's not the new things, it's the mentality of the people...

[Tim]

That's why I said we'll be the adoptive fathers; don't want to freak out one of the only women on the forums .

Exactly... The openness, the infinite perspectives, the appreciation and understanding of people you've never even met. Why there's even a cheeky spaniard out there somewhere I'm quite fond of.

[FirstAidKit]

Haha you creeper! I am down for internet blended family for sure.

For sure there are some things I miss - I think I don't do enough outdoor stuff, or read enough. I think my attention span is shorter, and I basically outsource my social organisation to facebook. But they are my issue rather than the internet. I think the main thing is that the internet really makes it hard to make excuses for not doing things - you want to learn electronics? There's a metric fuckton of opensource software and tutorials. Just fucking do it. You want to make a website? Same. Learn a language? Play an instrument? Cook a feast? There's no excuses apart from your own laziness, and its sometimes difficult to admit that.

but yeah I honestly think it's a similar paradigm shift to the invention of writing - that was when knowledge could be stored for a long time and spread over large distances, you didn't have to be taught one to one anymore. and the internet is that multiplied by a billion. it makes me super excited.

[Tim]

(05-10-2012 11:09 AM)FirstAidKit Wrote:  I think the main thing is that the internet really makes it hard to make excuses for not doing things - you want to learn electronics? There's a metric fuckton of opensource software and tutorials. Just fucking do it. You want to make a website? Same. Learn a language? Play an instrument? Cook a feast?

Learn how to get good with women?

[FirstAidKit]

(05-10-2012 11:22 AM)Tim Wrote:  

(05-10-2012 11:09 AM)FirstAidKit Wrote:  I think the main thing is that the internet really makes it hard to make excuses for not doing things - you want to learn electronics? There's a metric fuckton of opensource software and tutorials. Just fucking do it. You want to make a website? Same. Learn a language? Play an instrument? Cook a feast?

Learn how to get good with women?

precisely

[Halo Effect]

The internet and our current technology is mind-blowing. It has many dangers and pitfalls as well as upsides, and it's up to us how we use it.

We can easily get more stimulation in a minute now than we would get in hours just a decade ago. The way our brains are wired, we have to watch out for bad habits and addictions to develop. This isn't just true for porn, but for all of the internet.

And Reesays, internet porn was widely available before your balls ever became productive. I think you're reminiscing about childhood, not the recent past.

[crazyhorse]

(05-10-2012 10:25 AM)FirstAidKit Wrote:  honestly? I love the internet and want to take it home, have rampant sex and also possibly babies with it. I love that the middle man has been cut out of so many creative processes, sharing music, publishing writing, films to an extent. I love that so much of the world's knowledge is literally at your fingertips, you can teach yourself anything basically for free - (I also think that this is going to burst the bubble of some college degrees, especially humanities one. Why should anyone pay ridiculous fees for a reading list and 4 hours a week contact time? It's stupid.) I also think that mass internet has improved writing overall (yes, even with lots of people using text speak and whatever. We've got more people than ever getting their ideas out there, and to have people pay attention over the noise they have to be convincing, persuasive and their ideas have to be good - or at least interesting.

I think it's a great collaborative effort by so many people, freely sharing the ideas they've learned.

I disagree with this though. The information you find on the internet isn't always reliable. You're far better served with going to a library and looking up information from certain books.

(05-10-2012 01:18 PM)Halo Effect Wrote:  The internet and our current technology is mind-blowing. It has many dangers and pitfalls as well as upsides, and it's up to us how we use it.

We can easily get more stimulation in a minute now than we would get in hours just a decade ago. The way our brains are wired, we have to watch out for bad habits and addictions to develop. This isn't just true for porn, but for all of the internet.

And Reesays, internet porn was widely available before your balls ever became productive. I think you're reminiscing about childhood, not the recent past.

Today's internet porn is different halo, much different! Particurarily with high speed internet, it's far easier to download it at such a quick pace.

Internet has it's benefits, but it's not without risk. So many men and women today are growing up with porn, without even realizing that they are addicted to it. this is an issue that really needs to be adressed. People start looking at porn at much younger age.

[Zac]

I'm down for a 3 way internet baby family. We can make it work.

[Mark]

(05-10-2012 05:24 PM)Zac Wrote:  I'm down for a 3 way internet baby family. We can make it work.

Not in my house!

[FirstAidKit]

(05-10-2012 05:50 PM)Mark Wrote:  

(05-10-2012 05:24 PM)Zac Wrote:  I'm down for a 3 way internet baby family. We can make it work.

Not in my house!

Well being as I'm in London, not Medellin, I guess you will have to take my place.

You will basically be making an internet baby out there anyways!

(05-10-2012 02:16 PM)crazyhorse Wrote:  

(05-10-2012 10:25 AM)FirstAidKit Wrote:  honestly? I love the internet and want to take it home, have rampant sex and also possibly babies with it. I love that the middle man has been cut out of so many creative processes, sharing music, publishing writing, films to an extent. I love that so much of the world's knowledge is literally at your fingertips, you can teach yourself anything basically for free - (I also think that this is going to burst the bubble of some college degrees, especially humanities one. Why should anyone pay ridiculous fees for a reading list and 4 hours a week contact time? It's stupid.) I also think that mass internet has improved writing overall (yes, even with lots of people using text speak and whatever. We've got more people than ever getting their ideas out there, and to have people pay attention over the noise they have to be convincing, persuasive and their ideas have to be good - or at least interesting.

I think it's a great collaborative effort by so many people, freely sharing the ideas they've learned.

I disagree with this though. The information you find on the internet isn't always reliable. You're far better served with going to a library and looking up information from certain books.

I think for a very few things, yes. But the writers of the books have inherent bias - internet writers do aswell, of course, but you can more easily sample differing viewpoints. It's also thousands of times easier to check your sources, cite court cases, look up academic papers, scientific studies, whatever. I actually think it's forced journalism to be more responsible in a way - in a print newspaper, if they make a mistake it's glossed over or a small retraction printed next issue, but publishing online allows millions of people to instantly look up and correct you.

Jumping on the bleeding heart liberal wagon for a minute aswell, our literature and textbooks (especially politics and history) are extremely biased towards a white, western-centric and male viewpoints - its what gets through the biases of the publisher. The internet is a great opportunity to hear events and arguments from different viewpoints - the example that's springing to mind is the Arab Spring - before such widespread internet access we'd be limited to mostly english and american reporters, but now we can easily access Al Jazeera, watch interviews and read writing from ordinary men and women who are in the thick of it.

[baller08]

Quote:I seriously miss the 90s and early 2000s when we spent our time reading books, playing videogames (basically fighting/arcade games in my experience), went out often...

I loved life back then and try to live it like that...

In 1999 you were 6 years old. What books did you read, what video games did you play, and where exactly did you go that made you "love life" back then......and why are you trying to live like that now at 19 years old?

Its truly amazing, you can find a way to blame anything.

[Leo]

(05-10-2012 06:03 AM)Zac Wrote:  Maybe they just wanted to know if you could play Words With Friends together.

Nah! This is a PRETTY COMMON test when I date americans in their 30s that make more money than me, lol! It doesn't happen when I date immigrants like myself.

[baller08]

Next time tell her that you carry a pager, but that you are seriously considering getting a mobile car phone and then ask her if cars have that built in yet.

[Reesays]

(05-10-2012 08:42 PM)baller08 Wrote:  

Quote:I seriously miss the 90s and early 2000s when we spent our time reading books, playing videogames (basically fighting/arcade games in my experience), went out often...

I loved life back then and try to live it like that...

In 1999 you were 6 years old. What books did you read, what video games did you play, and where exactly did you go that made you "love life" back then......and why are you trying to live like that now at 19 years old?

Its truly amazing, you can find a way to blame anything.

was not gonna comment but fuck it

seriously, does this guy find a way to break into all of my threads and pick some sort of a fight with me out of anything? I MEAN really now!?

grow the fuck up!

mark you can say all you want about being a bigger man but this guy has done this crap time and time again

[Chaos]

Truth to be told reesay, I was kind of thinking the same... You were way to young to be able to miss the 90's... After all I was 10-20 in that period and the things I miss the most are being able to enjoy Dragon Ball (I can't anymore, it's so childish... Comics are ok though)... The first time I played Stree Fighter 2 on the SNES.... Having NO FUCKING worries at all, getting drunk, losing my virginity... And I regret not having had any kind of abilities with women.

[FirstAidKit]

Yeah, I'm only 3 years older and even my shitty computer could get porn. It was in the dining room so I had to be sneaky about it but that isn't really the point.

Seriously though it's all the mindset, the surroundings is just background. For the late 90s early 00s I sat on my ass reading or sat on my ass playing videogames or sat on my ass on videogame forums and didn't have all that many friends. Hey, you know it's just as myspace and facebook started kicking off that I actually got a social life. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.

(P.S It's not coincidence, I just met more people and made an effort to socialise)