I would argue that the internet has died partly as a result of removing anonymity from the internet, not because of it. The massive centralization of the internet into corporate walled gardens where they can control the narrative is what made your criticisms possible. The early internet was a wild west where you could find anything and everything, for better and worse.
The big issue I have with this is that it isolates queer kids from any sense of community. Trans kids can’t avoid permanent damage from the wrong puberty if they don’t have access to the knowledge that they could be taking puberty blockers. Without access to that community, I didn’t even learn that trans people existed and I could put a word to that existential distress until I was in college.
The corporate walled gardens are certainly a huge issue (with a fairly easy fix). But you can’t argue that anonymity “protects” queer kids who need online spaces to find acceptance when these exact spaces are now infested with bots and AI slop and ceding control to fascists. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit. What do you think happens when Ellison fully takes over TikTok? What is the upside of a teenager watching that pointless garbage instead of, say, reading a book?
These websites need to be inaccessible to anyone other than a human over the age of 21 who is verifiably who they say they are, or they need to cease to exist.
Also, I work with teenagers. They can’t read. Every year standardized tests get easier. The average ACT score in Florida is now 18. That’s almost the same as answering at random, and these kids pay for the exam in an effort to go to college. Why the fuck do they have smart phones? Why do they have access to YouTube or TikTok? Seriously what is the upside here? 54% of the population reads at a 6th grade level. What the fuck are we doing?
Drugs are way less harmful than ANY of this shit and we ban them until people are at least 18~21. Honestly, anyone who hasn’t interacted with the next generation let me paint you a picture: boomers, but proudly illiterate. It’s sad.
I would argue that the internet has died partly as a result of removing anonymity from the internet, not because of it. The massive centralization of the internet into corporate walled gardens where they can control the narrative is what made your criticisms possible. The early internet was a wild west where you could find anything and everything, for better and worse.
The big issue I have with this is that it isolates queer kids from any sense of community. Trans kids can’t avoid permanent damage from the wrong puberty if they don’t have access to the knowledge that they could be taking puberty blockers. Without access to that community, I didn’t even learn that trans people existed and I could put a word to that existential distress until I was in college.
The corporate walled gardens are certainly a huge issue (with a fairly easy fix). But you can’t argue that anonymity “protects” queer kids who need online spaces to find acceptance when these exact spaces are now infested with bots and AI slop and ceding control to fascists. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit. What do you think happens when Ellison fully takes over TikTok? What is the upside of a teenager watching that pointless garbage instead of, say, reading a book?
These websites need to be inaccessible to anyone other than a human over the age of 21 who is verifiably who they say they are, or they need to cease to exist.
Also, I work with teenagers. They can’t read. Every year standardized tests get easier. The average ACT score in Florida is now 18. That’s almost the same as answering at random, and these kids pay for the exam in an effort to go to college. Why the fuck do they have smart phones? Why do they have access to YouTube or TikTok? Seriously what is the upside here? 54% of the population reads at a 6th grade level. What the fuck are we doing?
Drugs are way less harmful than ANY of this shit and we ban them until people are at least 18~21. Honestly, anyone who hasn’t interacted with the next generation let me paint you a picture: boomers, but proudly illiterate. It’s sad.