This is the first article in my series where I analyze Internet culture.
There’s a worrying phenomenon I see all the time in Internet discussions where people express, either directly or indirectly, “oh, this person doesn’t want to have a productive discussion with me so I’m not going to waste my time talking with them.”
How do they not realize, you’re on a public website! It’s not just one person who’s reading your posts, it’s hundreds!
You have other website members, you have website lurkers, you have people just arriving from a search result, you might even have some people from the future looking back at your posts for historical research!
The Internet is the only way an average person can make a unique difference in the lives of people who aren’t in their social circle. It’s strange that people are blind enough to stay oppressed instead of use Internet discussions productively.
I’m worried that some influential people will look at the way these people act and go, “people can’t be trusted with their privileges” and start limiting the public’s online communication methods. And even though it feels very wrong, we can’t make a good case against it because it’s not like most people are going to use their communication methods productively!
Here’s another thing. Most of the political despair people feel comes from a sense of being misunderstood. Just look at any political conflict and you’ll see that the heart of the matter is that each side feels misunderstood.
If influencers can use social engineering to make everybody feel anxious and paranoid, I don’t see why we can’t use it to help people get along. Sure, we’re not going to get rid of the former, but if we frame the issue as an option between “us vs them,” we should be able to get most people to prefer not being on edge all the time.
So this misunderstanding could go away if we got people to realize that even if their words don’t matter to the one person they’re fighting with, they matter to other people, and that they need to continue with the online discussion even if one person isn’t reciprocating.
Moreover, all of us should promote the urgency of standing up to anybody who echoes the oft-repeated mantra, “you’re wasting your time talking to this person on a publicly-accessible platform.” Because it is never a waste of time. “There are always people reading” should be the new mantra of the Internet.
I realize not everybody is successful at communicating themselves in a way that ensures harmony, and if you are one of those people, I am open to working with you to help you achieve that.
There is one obstacle when it comes to becoming conscious that your impact on the Internet is global. The obstacle is that some people abuse the block function, which obviously prevents other people from speaking to them. So, any campaign to showcase the benefits of what I’ve been talking about should be paired with an awareness about the damage to society that can come from blocking people.
This is the first article in my series where I analyze Internet culture.
There’s a worrying phenomenon I see all the time in Internet discussions where people express, either directly or indirectly, “oh, this person doesn’t want to have a productive discussion with me so I’m not going to waste my time talking with them.”
How do they not realize, you’re on a public website! It’s not just one person who’s reading your posts, it’s hundreds!
You have other website members, you have website lurkers, you have people just arriving from a search result, you might even have some people from the future looking back at your posts for historical research!
The Internet is the only way an average person can make a unique difference in the lives of people who aren’t in their social circle. It’s strange that people are blind enough to stay oppressed instead of use Internet discussions productively.
I’m worried that some influential people will look at the way these people act and go, “people can’t be trusted with their privileges” and start limiting the public’s online communication methods. And even though it feels very wrong, we can’t make a good case against it because it’s not like most people are going to use their communication methods productively!
Here’s another thing. Most of the political despair people feel comes from a sense of being misunderstood. Just look at any political conflict and you’ll see that the heart of the matter is that each side feels misunderstood.
If influencers can use social engineering to make everybody feel anxious and paranoid, I don’t see why we can’t use it to help people get along. Sure, we’re not going to get rid of the former, but if we frame the issue as an option between “us vs them,” we should be able to get most people to prefer not being on edge all the time.
So this misunderstanding could go away if we got people to realize that even if their words don’t matter to the one person they’re fighting with, they matter to other people, and that they need to continue with the online discussion even if one person isn’t reciprocating.
Moreover, all of us should promote the urgency of standing up to anybody who echoes the oft-repeated mantra, “you’re wasting your time talking to this person on a publicly-accessible platform.” Because it is never a waste of time. “There are always people reading” should be the new mantra of the Internet.
I realize not everybody is successful at communicating themselves in a way that ensures harmony, and if you are one of those people, I am open to working with you to help you achieve that.
There is one obstacle when it comes to becoming conscious that your impact on the Internet is global. The obstacle is that some people abuse the block function, which obviously prevents other people from speaking to them. So, any campaign to showcase the benefits of what I’ve been talking about should be paired with an awareness about the damage to society that can come from blocking people.