How has 2020 changed you? - For the better or for the worse?

[Euler's identity]

It sent me spiralling down a rabbit hole that's eventually led me to the farms.

 

[ArnoldPalmer]

Quoted for Truth.

Do they only know how to behave like they do on the internet, or do they prefer to behave how they do on the internet, because the dopamine hit fills them with warm fuzzy?

I think one part of it is the feeling they get from upcummies, as you say, but the other is that normalfags are keenly adaptable to changes in culture. They took on the TV 2.0 internet and meshed with it well, but they probably don't know how to turn it off like, presumably, you or I do.

I've seen it happen already with the Tumbltards and Faceboomers of the past, now it's happening to otherwise well-adjusted millennials and zoomers.

 

[Billy Beer]

I think one part of it is the feeling they get from upcummies, as you say, l but the other is that normalfags are keenly adaptable to changes in culture. They took on the TV 2.0 internet and meshed with it well, but they probably don't know how to turn it off like, presumably, you or I do.

I don't think they know that there's an off button, or that they're strapped in for a ride.

Spoiler: OT Ramblings

Talk to co-workers who aren't close friends and monitor how often they whip out their phone, for no reason other than to 'check' it. Ask them to put their phone down on a table within arms reach, for 15 minutes, then strike up a conversation.

It's amazing how many people will instinctively reach out and grab their phone a few minutes in to talking. If you ask them why they picked it up, they won't know, or will give a generic 'check messages' (5 minutes after the last check?!) answer.

People are addicted to the internet worse than any addiction i've seen, be it booze, smoking, caffeine, weed or even smack, and 2020 was like a mega-injection straight in to the veins for 9 months solid.

Spoiler: More ramblings

They did an experiment with rats, where they attached an electrode to the pleasure centre of the brain. When the rats pushed a lever, they got a hit of pure pleasure. the rats were hitting the lever over 10,000 times a day. After a few days, more rats had died of dehydration or starvation, as pressing that pleasure lever was better than anything else.

Makes you wonder when you see fat people ordering fast food, while on their phones, and lashing out aggressively to anyone who tries to break them away from their phones, if Twitter et al is a pleasure switch for people with a psychological disposition for artificial stimulation, because they lack the ability to find or enjoy natural stimulation

 

[Lagomorph Guy]

I don't think they know that there's an off button, or that they're strapped in for a ride.

Spoiler: OT Ramblings

Talk to co-workers who aren't close friends and monitor how often they whip out their phone, for no reason other than to 'check' it. Ask them to put their phone down on a table within arms reach, for 15 minutes, then strike up a conversation.

It's amazing how many people will instinctively reach out and grab their phone a few minutes in to talking. If you ask them why they picked it up, they won't know, or will give a generic 'check messages' (5 minutes after the last check?!) answer.

People are addicted to the internet worse than any addiction i've seen, be it booze, smoking, caffeine, weed or even smack, and 2020 was like a mega-injection straight in to the veins for 9 months solid.

Spoiler: More ramblings

They did an experiment with rats, where they attached an electrode to the pleasure centre of the brain. When the rats pushed a lever, they got a hit of pure pleasure. the rats were hitting the lever over 10,000 times a day. After a few days, more rats had died of dehydration or starvation, as pressing that pleasure lever was better than anything else.

Makes you wonder when you see fat people ordering fast food, while on their phones, and lashing out aggressively to anyone who tries to break them away from their phones, if Twitter et al is a pleasure switch for people with a psychological disposition for artificial stimulation, because they lack the ability to find or enjoy natural stimulation

And then when you criticize them for this they call you a boomer dismissively. No hope for phone addicts. It’s genuinely depressing.

 

[Billy Beer]

And then when you criticize them for this they call you a boomer dismissively. No hope for phone addicts. It’s genuinely depressing.

It is. At once point i felt sorry for people who were constantly hooked on their phone, then I laughed at them, now they're no better than a smack head.

Homeless drug addicts and wankstains with their face planted in their phones are the same thing to me.

 

[Kornula]

I have found myself wanting to really stand out in my yard in my bathrobe and yell for everyone to get off my lawn a lot more maybe...

It changed my former friends and relatives though.

 

[TheProdigalStunna]

2020 made me a hell of a lot more left-wing. Even in my right-wing populist phase I knew the elites in this country were totally out of touch, but I had no idea until COVID-19 hit how there really is no one at the controls, and how this fact is inseparable from unchecked market forces (something right-wing me tried to ignore). Learning about the depth of the ecological crisis was also a hard pill to swallow, but a necessary one. It's very hard to see how not only our country (which is inevitably headed towards dissolution) but our species is going to get out of this one. Learning that Uncle Ted and Linkola weren't just memes was a tough one.

It sucks. I miss being right-wing.

 

[Unassuming Local Guy]

The federal government is now at a 0 on my scale of respect (0=No Respect...10=Respect).

 

[Myles the Potatophile]

Right before everything shut down I lost a family member and my best friend. Life just hasn't been the same after I lost them, and looking back at it now, I withdrew from a lot of things that I used to do after they died. I tried to keep myself together through Spring and Summer, but as the riots popped off I started to lose my nerve. From the beginning of the lockdown I wasn't afraid of Corona anywhere near as much as I was afraid of what other people might do. I thought things might get rough as people could ran out of patience or resources, but instead it took Big Floyd overdosing to cause coordinated mass rioting throughout the Western Hemisphere within 48 hours. We went from 'Thank you healthcare workers!' to 'Fuck 12! ACAB!' really quick.

I cant' really say anything that hasn't been said about last year. I got sick watching the riots, the destruction, the politics. All of it dragged me down. I joined Kiwifarms to have a place to discuss and read about the greatest happening of our time. It's important to be able to do that, especially in a world that seems to be getting more and more restrictive. I was watching livestreams of the riots almost every night. Watched Rittenhouse clean up the mean streets of Kenosha live through a stream linked in the riot thread.

Made it out of all that alright, but I have anxiety for the future in a way I didn't have it since I was a teenager. The whole world seems uncertain in a way I didn't think it could be. On the bright side I've still got my job, a place to live, almost no debt, and stability in life. The only thing to do is to keep moving forward.

 

[The Last Stand]

I thought I was Black. But Joe Biden said if I didn't vote for him, I ain't Black.

So I guess my race changed.

 

[Afinepickle]

All 2020 really accomplished with me is making me genuinely stop giving a shit about the world in general. As far as I am concerned the past two years have demonstrated that we are fucked beyond belief as a species in nearly each and every way from financially to culturally.

I'll just concern myself with my own little pocket of the world and my own little niche shit while ignoring everything that doesn't effect me directly because there frankly isn't even a point in righteous indignation at this stage.

 

[The Big O]

I went from reasonably optimistic upon having a comfortable new job in 2019 after a rather PL-worthy previous few years to 2020 once more shattering my faith in humanity as well as eroding trust with much of my family members over everything that went on with the COVID clown world. Let's see... I couldn't talk all of my immediate family members out of getting the COVID vax. One sister now thinks I'm close to being an insurrectionist due to being pretty open about my support of Trump during the election and having bought guns after the Floyd riots out of precaution. I burned a lot of my several-years-long online social circles trying fiercely to question a lot of the false narratives surrounding COVID, BLM, the election, etc. and am no longer maintaining any social media presence save for Steam.

It wasn't all bad that year, though. I re-took up vegetable gardening, which while not so successful last year due to drought-like conditions in New England all summer, I still managed to grow some things and learn a few tricks about specific plants along the way. I got to also vacay in Georgia for a week with a friend whom I was supposed to meet earlier that spring but couldn't due to COVID being new and unknown and my family freaking out about me trying to fly on airlines at the time., but got to do in the summer while Georgia's economy was not locked down. And despite getting laid off for about 9 weeks at my job and getting spotty work throughout the rest of the year, I still had a nest egg of savings that carried me through it without being paranoid about my finances.

Now, I feel more jaded and on edge than I used to be given the last 6 months of clownery in the world. Yet my veggie garden this year is wildly exceeding my expectations and it's not even the end of July yet! I might have found my green thumb just in time in case food disruptions or shortages become a thing in the future. Still a few skills shy of being a prepper or survivalist, though. But at least I'll only get caught with my pants partially down should some boog shit or The Great Reset/WW3/second coming of Juses Crust come to fruition.

tl/dr: I'm not fully at peace of mind, but I'm still going through sheer force of will.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

January 1st 2020 I felt on top of the world and I just *knew* great things were coming my way that year. Lol.

Some things (i.e. work/pay) have circled back to pre-coof status quo for now at least. But part of me is still salty over some golden advancement opportunities that evaporated when DeWine locked us down.

If anything, I've gotten more cynical and angry seeing so many people roll over for bullshit and reenact the medieval church but with "science". I've also developed serious goal apathy. What's the point? Another round of lockdowns can come down from the Order of St. Fauci or they can start up anti-semitism for the goyim with coof passports and blaming vaccine reactions and breakthroughs on those dirty subhuman anti-vaxers

 

[Kermit Jizz]

I also don't believe NASA ever went to the moon. Where are the tapes then, bitch? Where are the tapes?

Forgot how, my ass.

In you have ever worked anywhere near the feds, you'd know this is actually an extremely plausible explanation. Federal jobs are basically welfare daycares for people with degrees.

 

[DiscoRodeo]

Didn't have much faith in institutions of power to protect me,

Now that lack of faith has turned into antagonism, because I know that when push comes to shove, they won't protect me and in fact will do much to fuck me over. Really made me just want to bail on society, and go full gran camino,

and also, yeah, BLM made me less trusting of people overall and less willing to tolerate idiots. For years, didn't care about the liberal friends I had (I'm farther on the left than most of them). The riots came around and "OMG DISCO, YOURE NOT DOWN WITH THIS? YOURE A FASCIST" etc.

I'm just shocked at my willingness to be chill with people, give them the benefit of the doubt for years, etc. Shit in my head like "alright, I know you voted for Obama and don't seem to register that he's bombing middle eastern nations, but your heart is in the right place" was met with "you don't think transwomen are women? You have the wrong opinion, blocked, bigot, prick" from said same people.

I've really learnt that people who lack cognitive thinking, have a dissonance, even well meaning people, are really susceptible to cult like thinking when its pushed on them, that said cult like thinking can turn real sour, real fast, and I really need to value cynicism in people more.

It seems like I've really just lost a lot of patience with idiocy, and when the riots were going on, at some point something just went off and I accepted the whole "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" thing. People still have my sympathy, but not my patience for their idiocy. It just shifted my outlook to wanting to insulate myself from that sort of thing even more, even while wanting to try and be there to attempt to offer a helping hand, but in a glove this time because fuck going bear skinned.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Quoted for Truth.

Do they only know how to behave like they do on the internet, or do they prefer to behave how they do on the internet, because the dopamine hit fills them with warm fuzzy?

Algorithmic insanity. The internet and social media in particular have driven a large segment of society mad. To include our political class. Since most conservatives tend to live in rural areas without much internet connection and also tend to be busy working in fields that don't require sitting at a computer with ready internet access,, the effects are far less Pronounced on the Right as they are on the Left.

To the people constantly plugged into the internet we live in a horrendous dystopia where cops hunt unarmed black men for sport, their are nazis and white supremacists everywhere, the earth will literally die due to climate change in a few years, and if we somehow survive all that COVID is going to kill us all. To these people, those awful right wingers seem to be either completely oblivious to how awful everything is, or more likely, are actually complicit in the horror that is daily life in this horrible country.

It would be sad and hilarious if not for how dangerous this is. These people are absolutely crazed and the consequences for those of us who don't share in their madness is going to be severe.

 

[Coffee Shits]

I hate everybody.

I did before, too, but now I have a lot of good reasons to.

 

[MrJokerRager]

Well the year started great and then went deeper and deeper into the jungle towards Colonel Kurtz.

I felt like I was on the boat in Apocalypse Now, or a character from the book known as Heart of Darkesss.

 

[mario if smoke weed]

I started out depressed as fuck, lost all my friends and became even more depressed. That's life.

 

[Saint Alphonsus]

It changed me, but not for the better. Though I think one thing that has definitely improved is that I no longer value worldly goods as much as I used to (not that I did that much to begin with).