This is something i've always kind of noticed. But before we get into that, let me start of by saying that I am posting this here because I believe TrekBBS, out of all place I visit on the internet, to be full of the most moral, intelligent and creative people. Now, excuse the ass kissing of that 
but honestly, thats the way I see it and I believe that we can all approach this subject in a most intellectual and in-depth.
Its given that internet and its anonymous nature leads to a breakdown in the natural social barriers that we create for ourselves, but can this also crossover into physical life? I've seen this kind of stuff happen a lot, even to myself. I have a tendancy to occasionly use "internet expressions" when talking to people and in the cases of some of my friends, we've talked more over the internet than in person, despite having a really good physical relationship. Now I know you might be thinking that this is "one of those" about how the internet is taking over our lives, but its more than that and I'll get to that in a bit (for the record, I've accepted that the internet is a big part of my life and I think everyone else should as well, its made life more accessible and convenient and does make the World a better place, more often than not)
You can really get to know a person, you can consider them a really close friend, a lover, etc. However, I feel that you can never "fully" know somebody, because as i've mentioned we all restrain ourselves for the benefit of society. People often have stuff they hide, people you might consider among the nicest and most upstanding you've ever known, could have some really dark and morbid secrets. In recent research prompted by trying to understand some problems I am having, I started to realise that many things that you consider wrong about yourself are very common and part of being human. Now, its given that we all have dark and intrusive thoughts from time to time, but the difference between "being human" and a psycho is whether we carry them out or dismiss them as part of life.
I'm in my 20's and like many people, regret some things that have happened in the past (nothing serious just stuff that you think back on ask "why did I do that?" or "what was I thinking?"), but what I have to consider is they happened when I was a child, I didn't know any better and it was part of growing up, they make me feel guilty and ashamed from time to time, but you can't dwell on it. The only thing you can do is take onboard you made mistakes and live by example, be as good a person as you can. Trial and error is the very foundation of humanity, people rarely get things right first time. Anyway i'm losing the point of my discussion, i'm sidetracking to help convey my point, but I have a tendancy to add too much detail!
I've seen and read some pretty anti-social stuff on the internet that has disgusted and upset me (and i'm not a overly emotional or sensitive person), but I feel its my duty to give examples of what I consider lack of boundaries from average people
Does anyone get any of the points I've made and do you have any suggestions or ideas about how one might survive a society dominated by lapsed internet culturalists with no morals or respect?!
but honestly, thats the way I see it and I believe that we can all approach this subject in a most intellectual and in-depth.Its given that internet and its anonymous nature leads to a breakdown in the natural social barriers that we create for ourselves, but can this also crossover into physical life? I've seen this kind of stuff happen a lot, even to myself. I have a tendancy to occasionly use "internet expressions" when talking to people and in the cases of some of my friends, we've talked more over the internet than in person, despite having a really good physical relationship. Now I know you might be thinking that this is "one of those" about how the internet is taking over our lives, but its more than that and I'll get to that in a bit (for the record, I've accepted that the internet is a big part of my life and I think everyone else should as well, its made life more accessible and convenient and does make the World a better place, more often than not)
You can really get to know a person, you can consider them a really close friend, a lover, etc. However, I feel that you can never "fully" know somebody, because as i've mentioned we all restrain ourselves for the benefit of society. People often have stuff they hide, people you might consider among the nicest and most upstanding you've ever known, could have some really dark and morbid secrets. In recent research prompted by trying to understand some problems I am having, I started to realise that many things that you consider wrong about yourself are very common and part of being human. Now, its given that we all have dark and intrusive thoughts from time to time, but the difference between "being human" and a psycho is whether we carry them out or dismiss them as part of life.
I'm in my 20's and like many people, regret some things that have happened in the past (nothing serious just stuff that you think back on ask "why did I do that?" or "what was I thinking?"), but what I have to consider is they happened when I was a child, I didn't know any better and it was part of growing up, they make me feel guilty and ashamed from time to time, but you can't dwell on it. The only thing you can do is take onboard you made mistakes and live by example, be as good a person as you can. Trial and error is the very foundation of humanity, people rarely get things right first time. Anyway i'm losing the point of my discussion, i'm sidetracking to help convey my point, but I have a tendancy to add too much detail!
I've seen and read some pretty anti-social stuff on the internet that has disgusted and upset me (and i'm not a overly emotional or sensitive person), but I feel its my duty to give examples of what I consider lack of boundaries from average people
- On a message board I came across a topic where people were talking about their sexual experiences growing up. Most people discussed normal development, usual kind of stuff, but some there went too far. One man even wrote what I would class as an erotic story about his experiences as a child with another child (something that particulary affected me from a disgusted pov) and not one post in that topic questioned his decision to write what he did, nobody disagreed with him and in fact others, perhaps inspired, took it upon themselves to write in the same style.
- Some of the people on 4Chan go really too far, although I am not a member of that community, I am often made aware of their latest memes (many of which are pretty funny). However, society seems to be lost there and people praise that as "part of the charm", to an extent I would agree its a good idea, however it really just does go too far. The site is lightly moderated and many of the users are minors, trading pornography with other minors, or worse, adult's who are aware of their age. I'm not going to argue the morals of the site, but I am concerned that a growing number of teenagers are turning into extremely rude and sarcastic adults with no idea about how respect works, due to communities based on these traits.
- I'm a man and I occasionly watch pornography, good pornography from my perspective (I watch it as an aid, not as an interest, if you understand what I'm getting at), that doesn't show too much disrespect and animalisation of women (otherwise it turns me off), however I am particulary disgusted with so called "casting couch" pornography, where porn actresses are portrayed as being 18, 19 years old and naive. The male leads in the movies, often operate the camera too and come across as pretty perverse. They get all high pitched and breathe heavily, whilst talking dirty in a tone that you would use to talk to someone who is overly sensitive (its horrible and I have little respect for anyone who is into this).
Does anyone get any of the points I've made and do you have any suggestions or ideas about how one might survive a society dominated by lapsed internet culturalists with no morals or respect?!
Last edited:
But that's different. I'm talking about everyday cell phone conversations that are totally pointless, unnecessary, and inappropriate.
That would've been a terrible thing to say, so I didn't say it, but the prospect of scaring him with something so morbid would've probably shut him up or prompted him to be a bit more discreet.
