When I open the door to “the internet” these days, I see a typhoon of garbage swirling around. This is good if you’re trying to quit!
I came across a fairly passionate rant, I published in the forum, some months back….
“The curtain can be pulled back and the machinations, revealed, because our society is so degraded, we accept and consent to whatever. If you look around, this seems undeniable. I mean we may not like it but we do nothing about it.
The has the effect of degrading us further. It certainly doesn’t elevate us, which is why I have quit bothering with this for the most part. I’m just doing internal work, trying to peel myself off the internet and limit time spent scrolling.
I’m also trying to be creative, think my own thoughts and make my own ties, my own way. I don’t want to be addicted to looking for the next chum, in my preferred flavor, to be tossed out. It’s like that too. Like Celeb gossip? Here you go! Naked cartoons? Here’s an endless supply.
New heath remedies? Yup! Right here.
Rabbit holes? Everywhere.
Get rich stuff? No problem.
Doom astrology? Of course.
I think this is obvious. The internet is like a cigarette in that smoking is used to stuff feelings. Bad feelings, but also, when I smoked, it was tired – cigarette. If I was hungry – cigarette. Happy? Cigarette. Just ate lunch? Cigarette. Break at work? Cigarette.”
See what I mean?
~~~
Do you or have you used the internet like a drug? Do you feel it’s a problem, or not so much?
Since my husband passed, yes I have used the internet as my drug. Maybe even before when he was sick because I got so much comfort from online support groups. It helps to know there are people out there that understand what you are going through.
I understand. I have a private support group like that, but I don’t consider it “addictive” or garbage. The users are real and also extremely helpful.
i love twitter, and use it for news in my work field, and even through its super curated, the amount of bots that showed up after pluto going into aqua, is staggering. most of the for you page is ai photos and porn bot replies.
Yes! Twitter is my fave, by far, but I don’t see real people anymore and they don’t see me.
YES!!! it was very nice in the beginning as it grew and changed, when mostly creative people were on the internet. Pretty unbearable since the masses were force on by Covid. I too, want to get off but I mostly shopped and expanded my mind, lol. I still research hours every purchase, and my mind is so expanded now, lol. I bypassed the Myspace though caught many employees on it at work, and my son signed me into the FB era, there’s’ just no way I’m hopping anywhere else to be ‘social’ about as fake as you can sink imo. I certainly was hoping the internet would be the tool to stop the nefarious ones, but only for a naked critical period, then those steel jaws will close, and it will be our prison master. I keep remember how they told us to grab the popcorn and watch the show – and it’s been a nightmare. The good is only on the defense and can not make any offensive moves. America has scoliosis , and is very very sick.
Have faith.
It is always darkest before the dawn.
The Age of Aquarius will bring great healing to the USA!
I watch way less TV and movies than I used to and this was replaced with the internet. An upgrade? Not really. I used to skip meals, exercise and enjoying nature during great summer weather. Limiting my time just didn’t work until I started to feel the health effects and they were dire with weight gain and lassitude, not to mention dry eyeballs. I still find it very addictive but have chosen quality (like this site!) over quantity and trying to shop everything out there. For you own sakes learn to let go. I would never use it for romance or deep friendships but research correctly undertaken is worth the time!
100%
Yes, the cigarette/drug analogy is spot on. I’ve been using Solitaire like Nicoret gum for quite a while now (which is funny, because I think that game was one of the ways they first got us addicted to the screen). I quit going on my usual social media, and limited myself to that game instead. It has helped because it’s less of a rush than social media, there’s a beginning and an end, a single game usually takes just a few minutes, my brain is still active, and it gives me a little relief when I want a break.
Occasionally I do sneak onto my social media for a smoke, and it’s revolting. I enjoy seeing posts by friends, but it’s basically like turning on the TV to watch constant commercials. Or channel surfing with infomercials on every station. And the time just disappears. Poof!
I am engaged in groups in real life, so that helps. One group uses social media to promote real life activities, but I have plans to reclaim the physical bulletin board. I am also toying with the idea of reviving a blog that I started about 5 years ago, just to have a presence online where people can find me – so I have less reason to wade into the distractions and sink to the level set by the major platforms.
Lately I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the days of buddy lists and instant messaging. That was my adolescence, so it’s hard for me to imagine a social life without some form of internet.
Social Media is the furthest thing from social that exists.
I have never belonged to social media and only signed up for FB to put stuff on the marketplace and everything sold in a week. But I agree with other opiners… I use the internet mostly forresearch … and my computer is a tool for drafting documents and reading mail. I do shop online for the convienence of delivery. And to wind down at the end of the day … I play 3 games on mahjong solitaire. And I rarely do anything on my phones. Those smart phones are weapons for invasion of our civil liberties!
I know. People often justify it as a tool used by social groups. But the same could be said for cigarettes! Elsa’s analogy is exactly right.
I had closed my multiple Facebook accounts during the plandemic. I was being censored, they closed multiple accounts unable to appeal, be heard or talk to a meaningful customer service. The facebook or Youtube experience has given all the power to the platforms. We the people have accepted to renounce to our basic rights, bowing down to algorythms, abusive contract terms, giving them our personal pictures and content for free, accepting there are no more tribunals, judges or courts to protect our fundamental rights. We accept to be judged by the platforms opaque AI procedures. It is a toxic environment where people are handled like rats.
I couldnt stand the squealing, the threatening, the tipping-off. People were acting like nazis. So I left but, to my surprised, they refused to closed several accounts which passwords I have lost. I feel there are chuncks of me wandering in the space… digital rubbish floating in an intangible dimension. But, was it really me? In a way, they are traces, reminiscences of me, but so weak, so insignificant that taking someone by its Internet traces or manifestations is to crush its human nature, not to mention its divine spark.
I recently left Twitter but for different reasons. Fake profiles, self promotion, self glorification, unconsequencical scandals, fake friendships, Disconnexion with the real world… It felt like a cage, a digital prison.
I could never hook to Instagram, Tiktok or those kinds of snap, small format platforms.
Now I went back to my email but I must admit I am pretty much addicted to Youtube. I use it to learn practical things for my garden, political actualities. I am in Bitchute too, the system brand for outsiders and weirdos, but some worthy channels.
In a nutshell, I am addicted to my mobile phone as everybody else. I live alone and my social life is poor. People around me dont satisfy me. It is like there is a very low communication threashold. Conversations are trivial. No poetry. No beauty. No art. No thrill. The Internet works because our lives are empty and dont satisfy us. We still have the feeling that life could be so much better, and we are caught by the Internet trap. We need to express ourselves and we try doing it through the Internet. A mobile phone is so amazingly useful that it traps you. I believe this could be the fundamental meaning of Pluto in Aquarius. This is a purge of the wheat and the straw. If we dont get to reconnect to real things and real people, we will become a space wreck in limbo, David Bowie Space Oddity’s Major Tom…
I watch things on bitchute as well. My husband and my dog, Lila, like youtube. 🙂
Yes. It’s a problem. The positives are C an entire writing community and establishment in the literary space-publication, connections, passion. Credibility. Success based on my true passion and self. Transparency has worked for me.
Downside : I have addictive tendencies and this is medicine that can be turned against me. Interferes with my concentration, focus, and reading.
The internet falls into the category of all things in creation: everything can be used for good or bad purposes. I can use a paperclip to poke someone or to hold papers with.
Another thing, once a creation is created, it takes on a life of its own and is “experienced” by everyone personally as well as collectively. This is especially important to keep in mind when tempted to hold onto something that you’ve created. Holding on to something that doesn’t belong to you is a recipe for suffering. Hold onto only what is yours.
Living in this age is all about recognizing what to let go of. 🙂
Oh god now I want a cigarette 😂just kidding. I quit in 2019. But still want … occasionally …
OMG! I am considering canceling my internet provider because I’ve lost all self control and will scroll all day and keep going until midnight. Damn scary.
Good writing don’t stop you encourage good thinking and review of one’s self against backdrop of a spinning world.
For me growing up poor kept me from cigs alcohol drugs binge shopping etc.but to your point
Yes I grab phone first, first deep breath eyes open now sunrise calls
And I’ll ditch phone for my
Coffee gumbas 😘
Thank you!