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Actor/Writer Shawn Chatfield: "The internet got ruined when 'those people' joined it"

I blame...

  • The olds

    Votes: 584 51.5%

  • The youths

    Votes: 133 11.7%

  • Myself

    Votes: 85 7.5%

  • Mostly everyone

    Votes: 580 51.2%
  • Total voters
    1,133
brawndolicious

brawndolicious

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,923


You might wanna vote before you watch the video as there are some pretty strong feelings on display.

Personally, I think it's more about how quickly you joined the internet than at what age. Some of my favorite forumites are in the older Gen X/younger Boomer range but they often joined the internet in the pre-AOL days. Maybe it's more a question of how self-aware your approach to the internet was and whether you actively or passively curated the type of content you pay attention to and therefore how likely you are to fall into an echo chamber?

If the mods think there's too much hate speech going on here, I totally understand.
 
Last edited:
El_TigroX

El_TigroX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,210
New York, NY
Giving older Americans the power of the internet, without the years of training, ability to discern, and the tools to handle the communications challenges of it, is our worst mistake.

the amount of people in my parents peer groups (around 65) that have fallen prey to misinformation, and have made serious mistakes, has been tough to see.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,434
brawndolicious said:

You might wanna vote before you watch the video as there are some pretty strong feelings on display.

Personally, I think it's more about how quickly you joined the internet than at what age. Some of my favorite forumites are in the older Gen X/younger Boomer range but they often joined the internet in the pre-AOL days. Maybe it's more a question of how self-aware your approach to the internet was and whether you actively or passively curated the type of content you pay attention to and therefore how likely you are to fall into an echo chamber?

If the mods think there's too much hate speech going on here, I totally understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Damn this cracked me up. But yeah its probably going a little far. Ill admit to preferring the days before aunts uncles mom and dad were all over facebook absorbing fake news and bringing the shit up at thanksgiving dinner, but Im not gonna say it RUINED the internet. But it damn sure changed it.
 
Thorn

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
I miss the fucking frontier days of the internet. No copyright bullshit, no social media, no Tiktok.

The real world and internet were separate.
 
Teh_Lurv

Teh_Lurv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,098
Like most things, the Internet was ruined when people realized you could make money off it.
 
Einchy

Einchy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,659
The internet got ruined when the word "meme" just meant a funny picture rather than a "thing" becoming really popular and being posted and remixed a lot. We never went back once rage faces and advice animals started showing up outside forums.
 
Metal Gear Miyamoto

Metal Gear Miyamoto

Member
Oct 28, 2017
833
Netherlands
I'd say the internet got ruined when social media became absolutely dominant on it circa 2011. From there on out it seemed the harassment campaigns and amount of hate speech seemed to intensify.

Alltough I will say people tend to forget that a lot of the Internet's worst tendencies were well established even before 'the old people' got in it. 9/11 conspiracies and Loose Change being the prelude to fake news. The vitriol of message forums being a clue to how bad social media can get. Etc.
 
shintoki

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,112
El_TigroX said:
Giving older Americans the power of the internet, without the years of training, ability to discern, and the tools to handle the communications challenges of it, is our worst mistake.

the amount of people in my parents peer groups (around 65) that have fallen prey to misinformation, and have made serious mistakes, has been tough to see.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Same group that told you not to listen to strange people online and how they are all sexual predators also ended up believing that Hillary Clinton ran a secret underground pedo ring.

Being fair, a lot of the kids who grew up with online always being there also end up falling into the same trap. So its all age groups.
 
ForgeForsaken

ForgeForsaken

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,982
20 minutes into the future.
brawndolicious said:

You might wanna vote before you watch the video as there are some pretty strong feelings on display.

Personally, I think it's more about how quickly you joined the internet than at what age. Some of my favorite forumites are in the older Gen X/younger Boomer range but they often joined the internet in the pre-AOL days. Maybe it's more a question of how self-aware your approach to the internet was and whether you actively or passively curated the type of content you pay attention to and therefore how likely you are to fall into an echo chamber?

If the mods think there's too much hate speech going on here, I totally understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
He's like in his mid 30s right? His basic premisie is kind of wrong it was just "our age and and younger" a lot of us GenX folks were on the internet when it was Usenet Newsgroups and saw the web evolve.
 
GamerJM

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,627
Everyone outside of gen x/millennials. Facebook boomers and Tiktok zoomers are both a detriment to the internet.

Okay, not really, because I can mostly ignore both of those. The actual answer is that the internet was always bad, but it was less bad when there were just less people on it because The Discourse had less of a real world impact. Ironic nazism is always bad but it's less bad when it actually is an edgy joke that doesn't seem like it could bleed into real world activity.
 
Musubi

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
I kind of agree. We got people who barely know what a computer is voting on legislation designed to regulate the internet in a bunch of really stupid ass ways. The way copyright law is implemented on the internet has effectively ruined parts of the internet.
 
Chubnasty

Chubnasty

Banned
Sep 26, 2019
712
Corporations and people trying to protect their IPs and copyrights are what ruined the internet. No longer is it the wild west of information and a free for all. I understand why it happened and I don't enjoy it but would you be fine with someone taking your hard work and making a profit off of it?
 
Mentok

Mentok

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,598
I'd say the impact of social media was what ruined the internet. It's literally just "I have opinions about _____" without room for discussion. People do a Google search, grab whatever information they can (regardless of checking the source) and call that "research" to further drive their opinion. So instead of bringing dialogue (which I believe was the intent of social media), it's further divided with everyone hunkered down in their echo chambers.
 
Einchy

Einchy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,659
Remember when something like this could become popular?



Now every Youtuber can make something that looks and sounds ten times better in about 5 minutes. No internet for old men. 😔
 
Era Uma Vez

Era Uma Vez

Member
Feb 5, 2020
3,210
Before the internet, you would know 4 or 5 idiots in your day to day life.
Now you see thousands everyday.
And idiots come in all shapes and sizes... and ages.
 

Deleted member 21709

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
23,310
El_TigroX said:
Giving older Americans the power of the internet, without the years of training, ability to discern, and the tools to handle the communications challenges of it, is our worst mistake.

the amount of people in my parents peer groups (around 65) that have fallen prey to misinformation, and have made serious mistakes, has been tough to see.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Giving corporations the absolute freedom to monetize and thus incentivize misinformation was also a big catalyst.

Era Uma Vez said:
Before the internet, you would know 4 or 5 idiots in your day to day life.
Now you see thousands everyday.
And idiots come in all shapes and sizes... and ages.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Idiots are being cultivated and harvested at insane numbers.
 
data west

data west

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,012
It was smartphones. It was always smartphones.

When it became something you could do at all times, that's when it truly infected the human conscious at every level.
 
Wackamole

Wackamole

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,935
Knowingly spreading disinformation is ruining the internet.
Not just on the internet. In schools, at home (shitty parents), in holy houses, in the media, etc.
 
daegan

daegan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,899
yeah and no. I agree that olds don't have the ability to discern bullshit on the internet but part of that is just people being gullible and the other part is people have always had wild conspiracy theories and fallen too deep into them. they just couldn't find each other quickly to spread this information. regardless though they didn't start the journey to weaponization of it (although folks like Bannon and Watkins sure as fuck figured out how to use the *chan playbook and go off very quickly)

Pop-O-Matic said:
Zuckerberg is 36. He's Boomer as fuck.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
uh
 
Tobor

Tobor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,476
Richmond, VA
Era Uma Vez said:
Before the internet, you would know 4 or 5 idiots in your day to day life.
Now you see thousands everyday.
And idiots come in all shapes and sizes... and ages.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Every friend group back in the day had that one idiot who would say stupid shit like the government was trying to control us through radio waves, and we would all just tell them to shut the fuck up. Now they find each other on line and it festers.
 
DRock

DRock

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,167
The internet was ruined when non computer savvy users en masse started using it, regardless of age.
 
Clefargle

Clefargle

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,123
Limburg
El_TigroX said:
Giving older Americans the power of the internet, without the years of training, ability to discern, and the tools to handle the communications challenges of it, is our worst mistake.

the amount of people in my parents peer groups (around 65) that have fallen prey to misinformation, and have made serious mistakes, has been tough to see.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

first post nails it
 
Joe Shlabotnik

Joe Shlabotnik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,887

Eternal September - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

Eternal September or the September that never ended[1] is Usenet slang for a period beginning in September 1993,[2][3] the month that Internet service provider America Online (AOL) began offering Usenet access to its many users, overwhelming the existing culture for online forums.

Before then, Usenet was largely restricted to colleges, universities, and other research institutions. Every September, many incoming students would acquire access to Usenet for the first time, taking time to become accustomed to Usenet's standards of conduct and "netiquette". After a month or so, these new users would either learn to comply with the networks' social norms or tire of using the service.

Whereas the regular September student influx would quickly settle down, the influx of new users from AOL did not end and Usenet's existing culture did not have the capacity to integrate the sheer number of new users.[4][5]

Since then the popularity of the Internet has led to a constant stream of new users. Hence, from the point of view of the early Usenet, the influx of new users in September 1993 never ended.
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Click to shrink...
 

Ecotic

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,408
I do think the internet was much better when it was primarily inhabited by people born in the 80's, before old people got on it, and before the generation afterwards got on it with their youtube videos that are stitched together from 100 separate parts and the video cuts every five seconds.
 
deimosmasque

deimosmasque

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?
Moderator
Apr 22, 2018
14,205
Tampa, Fl
NrpjHUi.png
 
Sulik2

Sulik2

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,168
Machine learning AIs for targeted engagement and clicks is what fucked the internet. Most of the other problems people are mentioning are actually symptoms of the AIs. We must regulate these types of AIs online or there is going to be a global reality disconnect sooner rather then later. Also, watch the social dilemma.
 

4CornersTHSA

Member
Jun 13, 2019
1,555
What really ruined the internet, regardless of age groups, was when the neighborhood nutcases who would leave pamphlets on your windshield at the grocery store figured out that every computer and phone screen with social media access could be a place to spout their hate, racism and insanity.

QAnon, Birthers, FlatEarthers, etc would have been fringe as hell 30 years ago. Today there are millions of people that believe this shit because it comes up on their Facebook feed.
 
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