💾 Archived View for midnight.pub › replies › 4319 captured on 2023-03-20 at 20:48:19. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-06-04)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
< Drunk ramblings @ 2 in the Morning
Probably not one anyone wants to hear/read at this point, but it occurs to me no one - including corporate America or everyone's favorite whipping post (capitalism) - is holding a screen to our heads.
In fact, "capitalism" as some inexorable, evil force isn't even a thing apart from people incessantly saying it is. That aspect is way more a seeming phenomenon emergent "at scale" from the (mathematical) integral of each and every one of our self-centered, greedy impulses.
To me, that we use it as a scapegoat for our collective behavior instead of individually addressing the real issue deep within our self definitions only emphasizes the actual problem's true location....
That rather poorly said... I enjoyed your post. Lately I've been finding most if not all my problems to be rooted much more closely to within than without, which carried over into this reply, which likely sounds anything but welcoming... but I'm very happy you arrived here, and hope to read more from you sooner than later regardless the degree of real and/or poetic slosh!
(LATER: "In fact" should have been "To me".)
Hello ~inquiry.
I am now fully awake so I can give a coherent answer. I definitely see where you are coming from and I do believe that it is important to hold individuals accountable for their behavior. Excuses like, "I-it's not my fault! The internet made me do it!" definitely does not work. I used to act out online as well when I was younger until I matured some more and finally came to my senses. So, to some degree, yes. It does come down the individual.
Though, with that being said, I think we have reached a point in history where it's hard to deny the hand capitalism plays in all of this mayhem. People act the way corporations see as "marketable"(whether it's good or bad behavior) because they know if they do it, they will eventually get famous and be rewarded for their behavior ($). Why? Because they bring traffic and attention to the social media platforms that they're on. As long as it brings high engagement, the algorithms and companies will push you into the Limelight and reward you with more money you could ever imagine. I am already thinking of a couple of famous "e-celebrities" right now, but I hope you see what I'm trying to say. At this point it is a "collective behavior", because so many people are acting this way it has been normalized in our modern society to a certain degree. Individuals do not exist in a vacuum, especially not in this day and age where everyone is connected through the internet. We are influenced by one another and the culture that surrounds us and commercialism plays a big part in that believe it or not (at least in America it does).
The main thing that separates the people of today vs yesterday is just how integral technology and the internet is in our lives now and our behavior because of it. No one is forced to be online, but a good 90% of the human race is (I'm making a rough estimate, but the point is almost everyone, especially in 1st world counties use the internet in 2022.) online and we use it for many many things. Work, school, etc. Very important things that one needs to survive in our modern world. Using the internet is almost 2nd nature to us now. To suggest one can and should just unplug to avoid being monitored and spied on by corporations and the government is borderline impossible to do at this point. Our devices should not be monitored and bugged by these people in the first place. And while I do have to admit that capitalism has made life more convenient I can think of a lot of very very bad consequences of capitalism (child labor in 3rd world countries, pollution, harsh working environments, contaminating waterways/water supply, etc., etc.) People criticize capitalism a lot for good reason! Not just to complain or blame someone else for their problems.
No one's holding a screen to our heads, except that in order to do simple things these days -- online shopping, browse the news, get simple answers to simple questions -- we have to dive through a sea of advertisements actively targeting and tracking us across all domains. This is the default.
It doesn't have to be like this, and sure, if we take the time to set up blockers, other barriers, and minimize our online footprints, you can mitigate a lot of it. But, the vast majority of online users aren't tech proficient enough to achieve this, nor know where even to begin, nor have the time after their increasingly more demanding jobs, nor have the willpower after their increasingly more-dependent dependents demanding their attention (due to, say, a deliberately underfunded/overpriced school/childcare system).
The system is so stacked, it's hard to cope without just giving in and letting it shred you by degrees each day, because it's easier than fighting against each and every injustice.