who else misses the internet pre modern-social-media

[evenifigoalone]

Back when forums like this one were the primary social media. I think it felt much more personal and cozier.

As a teen, my first forum was Dogster, a website that was like MySpace but for pets haha. Had many a conversation on the forums about dog related topics and educational dog stuff.
I was also on a dog breeding simulator site called DogRealm, and that site (defunct, now) had a very active community. This was back in 2008..... whew! DogRealm is gone, but I'm actually friends with the person who made administrated and made the site, coding and all.

 

[jasonc]

Back when forums like this one were the primary social media. I think it felt much more personal and cozier.

As a teen, my first forum was Dogster, a website that was like MySpace but for pets haha. Had many a conversation on the forums about dog related topics and educational dog stuff.
I was also on a dog breeding simulator site called DogRealm, and that site (defunct, now) had a very active community. This was back in 2008..... whew! DogRealm is gone, but I'm actually friends with the person who made administrated and made the site, coding and all.

I'm starting to miss pre internet era.life was so much simpler and we didnt have the divisive media

 

[Milk-Drops]

I miss the various forums. Now it's all reddit, Facebook, amazon, etc.

 

[Christ_empowered]

I just discovered reddit. Yes, I'm age-d (38!). I dunno...some of the subject areas that the reddit computers think must be a fit -aren't-, and I think its because...

social media has gotten to the point where it can bring people together on certain topics, but then it lacks the nuance and depth of social movements that developed more organically, pre-internet and definitely pre-social media. so...there's that. :-(

I deleted my own facebook over 10 years ago, thank goodness. that leaves the internet for info I need (more and more...cooking and baking, supplements, devotions and spiritual growth, extended family...in no particular order), plus this forum.

I did read an article in The atlantic...the author thinks social media has created a very unique sort of widespread stupidity. -awesome- (note the sarcasm). I don't...have a strong opinion either way, but I did find his arguments rather convincing (to be fair, no -major- counterarguments are presented in depth).

I do like -some- of how the internet has progressed. faster, more data protections in place at the consumer-level, one can do more on a 'smart phone' than an old school Mac connected to AOL could way back when (trust me on that one). And yet...

streaming. streaming services, omg. its like...my own personal last frontier. ditching cable to get one or two of those, omg...

more a -challenge- than a real -problem- , lol. I do hope they have fewer ads than cable.

 

[jasonc]

I just discovered reddit. Yes, I'm age-d (38!). I dunno...some of the subject areas that the reddit computers think must be a fit -aren't-, and I think its because...

social media has gotten to the point where it can bring people together on certain topics, but then it lacks the nuance and depth of social movements that developed more organically, pre-internet and definitely pre-social media. so...there's that. :-(

I deleted my own facebook over 10 years ago, thank goodness. that leaves the internet for info I need (more and more...cooking and baking, supplements, devotions and spiritual growth, extended family...in no particular order), plus this forum.

I did read an article in The atlantic...the author thinks social media has created a very unique sort of widespread stupidity. -awesome- (note the sarcasm). I don't...have a strong opinion either way, but I did find his arguments rather convincing (to be fair, no -major- counterarguments are presented in depth).

I do like -some- of how the internet has progressed. faster, more data protections in place at the consumer-level, one can do more on a 'smart phone' than an old school Mac connected to AOL could way back when (trust me on that one). And yet...

streaming. streaming services, omg. its like...my own personal last frontier. ditching cable to get one or two of those, omg...

more a -challenge- than a real -problem- , lol. I do hope they have fewer ads than cable.

The simplicity of life ,one thing I found in ga was that .

 

[Christ_empowered]

yeah...when I lived in small town GA, it was slower paced than my southern small town. I dunno...they had all the same problems with drugs, etc., but...slower paced, more traditionally southern. not that where I lived then (and near, now) is New South (LOL), just...

harsher end of southern culture? micro-aggression and all that 21st century stuff, but with southern accents? I dunno.

 

[King Dan of Great the 1st]

The breathing about the internet is you can just block or ignore annoying people. I never understand how people cry offended when there is a block
and ignore and turn off device button. That person keeps saying things I don't like I'm offended, well, just click ignore it's really simple most social media sites have ignore button.

 

[jasonc]

yeah...when I lived in small town GA, it was slower paced than my southern small town. I dunno...they had all the same problems with drugs, etc., but...slower paced, more traditionally southern. not that where I lived then (and near, now) is New South (LOL), just...

harsher end of southern culture? micro-aggression and all that 21st century stuff, but with southern accents? I dunno.

Where I go ,reminds me of what I grew up with.

 

[King Dan of Great the 1st]

I'm sure I remember this forum way back and it was a different set up.

 

[evenifigoalone]

I'm sure I remember this forum way back and it was a different set up.

Yeah, pretty sure it goes back to 2002 if not even earlier.

 

[farouk]

I have found that ppl with whom I have been Facebook friends for years can just cut me off if I happen to say something they disagree with....................


Kind of begs the question of why they use it at all: merely for others to confirm them in their opinions?

 

[Christ_empowered]

fb friends are often not friends as society once defined friends. back in the day...

i had a friendly acquaintance, from the netherlands. he'd complain about how in the us, people would say 'so and so is my friend,' when really...they were -maybe- acquaintances. the word had no meaning, 'friends' routinely back stabbed, and it was all over the us. and now...

that was 15 years ago. honestly, I think in part because of how widespread and influential social media is, things are worse -- and not just in the us, of course -- now than 15 years ago. a semi-friend (long term...20 years...somewhere between friendly acquaintance and friend) was talking to me about this...

its as if the line of what one can talk about with 'friends' keeps getting pulled back, in many respects. job? yes. money? in the us, yes. I don't know about other places. sex? with some sets of 'friends,' absolutely. anything of substance? not so much.

i dont mean all emo stuff, either. its like...there's really no depth to most "friendships," and they come and go, mostly depending one one's resources and education level, lifestyle, all that. its getting worse. my friend/friendly acquaintance are both 38. so...

here sister is maybe 2 years young, and she had some of her somewhat younger friends (whatever that means) over, and...

all they would talk about was their lifestyle and consumption -- i traveled here, im shopping here, i tried this salon and now im job hunting here and i might get another degree from there -- and its all wholly dependent upon their education level, lifestyle, and other demographic factors. basically...it does seem in the younger set that 'friends' are expendable, interchangeable, and the 'friendships,' themselves, are at best diverting attention from other things. often, they seem to turn stressful, even downright toxic...

and about 1 in 6 US adults now take at least 1 prescribed psych drug daily. ugh.

 

[farouk]

fb friends are often not friends as society once defined friends. back in the day...

i had a friendly acquaintance, from the netherlands. he'd complain about how in the us, people would say 'so and so is my friend,' when really...they were -maybe- acquaintances. the word had no meaning, 'friends' routinely back stabbed, and it was all over the us. and now...

that was 15 years ago. honestly, I think in part because of how widespread and influential social media is, things are worse -- and not just in the us, of course -- now than 15 years ago. a semi-friend (long term...20 years...somewhere between friendly acquaintance and friend) was talking to me about this...

its as if the line of what one can talk about with 'friends' keeps getting pulled back, in many respects. job? yes. money? in the us, yes. I don't know about other places. sex? with some sets of 'friends,' absolutely. anything of substance? not so much.

i dont mean all emo stuff, either. its like...there's really no depth to most "friendships," and they come and go, mostly depending one one's resources and education level, lifestyle, all that. its getting worse. my friend/friendly acquaintance are both 38. so...

here sister is maybe 2 years young, and she had some of her somewhat younger friends (whatever that means) over, and...

all they would talk about was their lifestyle and consumption -- i traveled here, im shopping here, i tried this salon and now im job hunting here and i might get another degree from there -- and its all wholly dependent upon their education level, lifestyle, and other demographic factors. basically...it does seem in the younger set that 'friends' are expendable, interchangeable, and the 'friendships,' themselves, are at best diverting attention from other things. often, they seem to turn stressful, even downright toxic...

and about 1 in 6 US adults now take at least 1 prescribed psych drug daily. ugh.

I take your point....ty

 

[King Dan of Great the 1st]

I don't post anything on FB. I go on it but I never post anything or comment on anything. I like posts but that's about it. I just like to see what's going on with fishing and stuff with the pages I'm on. I got hardly any friends on FB because I basically deleted everyone except close friends that I actually know and talk with. At the start i had like hundreds of so called friends but they not friends just people I knew and everyone just boasts and only shows there fake side so I deleted everyone .


It might seem disrespectful but in reality why do I want to see peoples stuff who I will probably never talk with or see ever again. They not my friends. Its reality. But it's not just that I mean I don't want someone I haven't seen or spoken with in 20 years knowing my life story, I don't know them anymore or who they are anymore and I don't need to know other people's business and they don't need to know mine if we not close friends. I keep my circle small. Always have.

This is the only site I acturally post and say things. I don't post on FB, I don't have or use IG or Twit or any other social medias or forums , nothing at all. I watch videos on YT that is about it.

 

[jasonc]

fb friends are often not friends as society once defined friends. back in the day...

i had a friendly acquaintance, from the netherlands. he'd complain about how in the us, people would say 'so and so is my friend,' when really...they were -maybe- acquaintances. the word had no meaning, 'friends' routinely back stabbed, and it was all over the us. and now...

that was 15 years ago. honestly, I think in part because of how widespread and influential social media is, things are worse -- and not just in the us, of course -- now than 15 years ago. a semi-friend (long term...20 years...somewhere between friendly acquaintance and friend) was talking to me about this...

its as if the line of what one can talk about with 'friends' keeps getting pulled back, in many respects. job? yes. money? in the us, yes. I don't know about other places. sex? with some sets of 'friends,' absolutely. anything of substance? not so much.

i dont mean all emo stuff, either. its like...there's really no depth to most "friendships," and they come and go, mostly depending one one's resources and education level, lifestyle, all that. its getting worse. my friend/friendly acquaintance are both 38. so...

here sister is maybe 2 years young, and she had some of her somewhat younger friends (whatever that means) over, and...

all they would talk about was their lifestyle and consumption -- i traveled here, im shopping here, i tried this salon and now im job hunting here and i might get another degree from there -- and its all wholly dependent upon their education level, lifestyle, and other demographic factors. basically...it does seem in the younger set that 'friends' are expendable, interchangeable, and the 'friendships,' themselves, are at best diverting attention from other things. often, they seem to turn stressful, even downright toxic...

and about 1 in 6 US adults now take at least 1 prescribed psych drug daily. ugh.

It was that way pre internet,thus,a true friend is the one who is there when the chips are down ,when you are broke ,dying and divorced .