Internet Culture

The Internet is the largest gathering place for humans on the planet. It's hard to quantify sometimes; I need to study culture more in general, how cultures evolve through time in language, mythology, etiquette, art, etc. I would like to go back to school at some point. I know I want to study Anthropology, Archaeology, possibly Sociology. I mean, I guess they all go together. You can tell probably I am less enthused about the last one.

 I just know I have got to get out of custodial. My adult child commented the other day that they feel custodial is killing me. I get sick more often, and it lasts longer. I think it was working in a hospital during the pandemic, plus the pandemic itself, and all the wildfires we had here that got really close to some friends of mine, turned the sky and sun a raging shade of orange, and destroyed a town. I awoke to my plants in my flowerbox covered in ashes.

I don't even know all the ways that changed me, who I even was before. Certainly, not confident, not remotely assertive. I am still a quiet person, but that quietness has taken on a different tone. Instead of unconfident, I am knowing in my abilities. There were times I was unsure of myself, but now I am knowing. I am aware that just because someone has all the same interests as me, does not mean they belong in my life or should have access to me. I am also aware, acutely, of my own empathy, and how often I see the potential of someone, instead of who they are and how they are behaving in the moment. 

Ultimately, what really matters is temperament, whether or not you're kind to service workers, the elderly, and the underpriveleged and marginalized, and mutual respect. I am describing acquaintances and co-workers, as well as the general public that we all interact with in our lives in some capacity. For friends and significant others, the requirements to have my friendship are more strict. At any rate, I don't know where I am going with this. This is my second blog post in the last 10 years. Haha. I'm rusty.

I am reading more. Working at a library, surrounded by books, a few titles have caught my eye, and I'm actually reading the books I am checking out, instead of letting them sit for months in the same position, auto-renewing, until the inevitable anxiety when the remaining renewals dwindles down to 1, and I realize I have not touched the books since placing them on my shelf the day I checked them out of the library. 

Currently, I am reading "Living with Honour: A Pagan Ethics" by Emma Restall Orr. I randomly opened the book on page 160 and began reading right there. Perhaps I'll actually finish the book if I give myself permission to jump around between chapters that interest me in the moment, rather than starting on page 1 and getting overwhelmed, because I have not read a book that was not an instruction manual in years. It's sad, I know. A large part of that is getting sucked into the internet. I read comments. I read articles, but books have fallen by the wayside.

I feel it more important than ever, nowadays and always, that I remember that books exist and give the reader time to think, absorb, relax, and get away from mundane world for a time. Books are magical.  The internet ... gives the reader time to react and respond, often without separating the two. I remember a teacher in high school saying how great the Internet is, because we can stop and think before we respond, without the stress of the person being right in front of us, staring a hole into our psyche. Well, sure... The internet also grants anonymity, (less so since the advent of social media and the push to use your real name, even leading Facebook of all places to implement facial recognition software for opening a new account. What's up with that?), but there are still ways to "disappear" on the Internet, in a way, that is a lot harder when we disengage with the large common space that is the internet and retreat to a smaller group, one that may be more sympathetic to us, than strangers in the void. You can be sucky and rude and combative on the internet a lot easier than in real life, provided you are not in a toxic environment that enables your toxicity, but outside of the world in the computer, you are more likely to encounter situations that do not reward a hostile, rude, maladjust. 

So yeah, internet culture, and what drives it, and is it money? Is that what ultimately drives everything? Since it is money that enables survival in this world, sadly. I don't know, but I am learning I need to occasionally speak with other humans and share something about myself, so I guess I'll start here, on the wide open internet, instead of social media, where despite billions of users, the almighty algorithm keeps the experience insular.

I remember a much more open internet from 20-plus years ago now, as opposed to now. I don't know what I would do for a living with a degree in Archaeology/Anthropology, but I need something to wake me up from this intellectual slumber I've been in. 

This whole entire thing made no connecting sense. I kind of just rambled about this and that, and tried to tie it all together. Perhaps it's the weather. It's overcast today. Autumn is upon us. I ate my last Ben & Jerry's of the year. Phish Food. Baked goods season is here. I need to get my stove fixed.