The Internet Is Evil! WAKE UP!

[Gaston]

Today, the proliferation of Internet advertising, forced to give you some things you do not want

[Synthestesia]

Today, the proliferation of Internet advertising, forced to give you some things you do not want

[pianoforte]

deleted my twitter account tonight.

[Zwei Kreise]

Best way to navigate the internet : AdBlock Plus + NoScript.

That way you see exactly what you want to see.

[Techboy]

hey man, dont use adblock plus, use adblock.
adblock plus is actually a commercial product and the company who own it sell space on the whitelist for cash.

[pianoforte]

hey man, dont use adblock plus, use adblock.
adblock plus is actually a commercial product and the company who own it sell space on the whitelist for cash.

Good to know, thanks!

[Zwei Kreise]

Duly noted. Just switched to Simple Adblock, which seems to be the only other ad blocker not based on AdBlock Plus, and which claims to not whitelist anything. We'll see how this goes. Thanks for the tip !

[tymeworkbeats]

The internet is a reflection of us... So WE must be evil

[naicob]

The internet is a reflection of us... So WE must be evil

In a nutshell.

[Beacon]

It scares me how much time and energy I can waste on the internet. It's extremely distracting and I think it causes everyone to more heavily need instant gratification. But I love it. The internet feels are real and important to me as real life.

[pianoforte]

if you're not comfortable with the amount of time you're spending online, turn off your computer. it isn't as hard as it seems. i've done it, and it's great.

[2020k]

if you're not comfortable with the amount of time you're spending online, turn off your computer. it isn't as hard as it seems. i've done it, and it's great.

Sadly, it's not that easy for me. Currently, my day job is an office job where I'm forced to be connected to the internet and speak with my co-workers through Skype.

Can you imagine working with 12 other people, in the same room, and being forced to talk through an instant messenger program instead of face to face interaction? That's how this place goes. The reason why is so you do not disturb your colleagues that are taking phone calls, but management doesn't take phone calls and downright despise when you walk across the room to speak to them in real life instead of Skyping them.

Thankfully, I'm quitting at the end of the month. That's another chapter that will be published very soon. It's been two years too long.

[pianoforte]

Can you imagine working with 12 other people, in the same room, and being forced to talk through an instant messenger program instead of face to face interaction? That's how this place goes. The reason why is so you do not disturb your colleagues that are taking phone calls, but management doesn't take phone calls and downright despise when you walk across the room to speak to them in real life instead of Skyping them.

that's fucking ridiculous. not even though, more like... something. i don't even know what. jeez. good for you for quitting, that's not a healthy environment in my humble opinion.

[pianoforte]

we could start a twoism revolution by convincing people to drop smartphones and get unlocked nokia 3310s instead

[Mexicola]

Seriously, manufacturers and marketing execs, just f*** off.

[jcnporter]

Seriously, manufacturers and marketing execs, just f*** off.

Why are we supposed to get excited about what are either pointless gimmicks or technology that enables us to part with our money more easily?
The mind power wasted on producing an app that tells your toothbrush how long to clean your teeth for, it's tragic.

[pianoforte]

The mind power wasted on producing an app that tells your toothbrush how long to clean your teeth for, its tragic.

this. a million billion asdfllion times this. it's just so fucking pointless.

[jcnporter]

Reminds me of this quote, from 'Small is Beautiful' by E.F. Schumacher, written in 1973.

"If human vices such as greed or envy are systematically cultivated, the inevitable result is nothing less than a collapse of intelligence. A man driven by greed or envy loses the power of seeing things as they really are, of seeing things in their roundness and wholeness, and his very successes become failures. If whole societies become infected by these vices, they may indeed achieve astonishing things but they become increasingly incapable of solving the most elementary problems of everyday existence. The Gross National Product may rise rapidly: as measured by statisticians but not as experienced by actual people, who find themselves oppressed by increasing frustration, alienation, insecurity, and so forth. After a while, even the Gross National Product refuses to rise any further, not because of scientific or technological failure, but because of a creeping paralysis of non-cooperation, as expressed in various types of escapism on the part, not only of the oppressed and exploited, but even of highly privileged groups"

[Mexicola]

Reminds me of this quote, from 'Small is Beautiful' by E.F. Schumacher, written in 1973.

"If human vices such as greed or envy are systematically cultivated, the inevitable result is nothing less than a collapse of intelligence. A man driven by greed or envy loses the power of seeing things as they really are, of seeing things in their roundness and wholeness, and his very successes become failures. If whole societies become infected by these vices, they may indeed achieve astonishing things but they become increasingly incapable of solving the most elementary problems of everyday existence. The Gross National Product may rise rapidly: as measured by statisticians but not as experienced by actual people, who find themselves oppressed by increasing frustration, alienation, insecurity, and so forth. After a while, even the Gross National Product refuses to rise any further, not because of scientific or technological failure, but because of a creeping paralysis of non-cooperation, as expressed in various types of escapism on the part, not only of the oppressed and exploited, but even of highly privileged groups"

Superb quote. I'll have to check this out. Cheers

[IanRedpoint]

Thank you for that quote too. Highly prescient.

I've been closely involved with technology from a very young age, due to the fact my dad programmed mainframes in the '70s. It always used to be that the technology did what we humans asked it to do, enhancing our capabilities but ultimately being nothing more than an extension of ourselves. A couple of weeks ago I had Facebook messaging me to suggest I send someone a birthday greeting. What struck me was that we've crossed over to a state where we humans are doing tasks for the computers rather than them working for us. I don't need to tell anyone how wrong that is.