jray4559
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2024
I'll admit, I'm one of those people that is a constant internet user. Morning to night, every single day for 5 years now since I've gotten out of high school, it's been using the internet, watching videos and reading stuff. I'm just gonna say this simply, 99.999% of people who are addicted to the internet are using it as a replacement for some kind of belonging that the outside world does not give them. Due to my autistic traits and other realities that mostly stop me from being able to make and keep true friendships, I've been basically addicted to some form of internet community/timewasting site since I first got a computer in 2008. Used to be a lot of Flash Games, couple years of Flipnote Hatena with the DSi, then it was surfing Reddit for quite a bit, a sprinkle of 4chan and now this sneeding ground.
Most people who truly have an addiction to screens are people who are going to have a very hard time just replacing them with something in the real world, all at once. They are people who have hardened their own personality and habits, way of life and way of mind based on them not squaring well with the real world they grew up in. They know that just putting down the device means that they're going to be adrift in a world where they are that ugly duckling that most will not easily want to be around. You're not going to convince them to give it up, even if it would be the better thing for them in the long run, when they are smart enough to take an honest look at both themselves and the people around them and then say "I won't be able to connect with anybody, I don't like most of what they like and will constantly make things awkward." They'll have lived experience with that in their school and work lives, after all. (This is me, basically, I'm talking about both myself and the abstract)
What do I think is an honest solution for this? Might be unpopular, but essentially a forced bootcamp solely consisting of those internet-addicted, throwing them all out of their comfort zones and ways of habit at the exact same time. No internet there, no or very little screens period. You and everyone else in that group just commsierate over a shared commonality of being ripped away from the internet and, crucially, being in a kind of environment they've never had to try and be in before, Easy commonality that'll allow those types to find their way together with each other, become friends, and rebuild their existence from just about square one.
Too bad that very few of those kinds of places exist right now. I wish I had advice to get out of this trap that could actually be followed, but honestly I just don't. Being social is not simple if you're not already naturally disposed to being agreeable with the people around you. It's a sad state that'll probably only manage to get worse in the Western World, the more things we do online and the more picky and choosy we all become. It might legitimately break us.
Most people who truly have an addiction to screens are people who are going to have a very hard time just replacing them with something in the real world, all at once. They are people who have hardened their own personality and habits, way of life and way of mind based on them not squaring well with the real world they grew up in. They know that just putting down the device means that they're going to be adrift in a world where they are that ugly duckling that most will not easily want to be around. You're not going to convince them to give it up, even if it would be the better thing for them in the long run, when they are smart enough to take an honest look at both themselves and the people around them and then say "I won't be able to connect with anybody, I don't like most of what they like and will constantly make things awkward." They'll have lived experience with that in their school and work lives, after all. (This is me, basically, I'm talking about both myself and the abstract)
What do I think is an honest solution for this? Might be unpopular, but essentially a forced bootcamp solely consisting of those internet-addicted, throwing them all out of their comfort zones and ways of habit at the exact same time. No internet there, no or very little screens period. You and everyone else in that group just commsierate over a shared commonality of being ripped away from the internet and, crucially, being in a kind of environment they've never had to try and be in before, Easy commonality that'll allow those types to find their way together with each other, become friends, and rebuild their existence from just about square one.
Too bad that very few of those kinds of places exist right now. I wish I had advice to get out of this trap that could actually be followed, but honestly I just don't. Being social is not simple if you're not already naturally disposed to being agreeable with the people around you. It's a sad state that'll probably only manage to get worse in the Western World, the more things we do online and the more picky and choosy we all become. It might legitimately break us.