As much as the internet has become an extraordinary tool, we have to admit, it's changed the world in ways that aren't so great.
I enjoy working from home on this computer.
But I do see people less.
Not that people are all that great.
Am I lonely? Maybe...
It was just a simpler time then.
Redditor Accomplished-Town636 wanted to talk about all the ways the web has changed the world, not for the better.
"What was ruined by the internet?"
I miss not being addicted to the internet. That's my issue.
Messages
season 9 episode 24 GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
Giphy
"I used to have a pen pal. Then we both got the internet and the novelty was gone."
i_like_flies_
"I’ve recently started writing letters on aged paper and using a wax seal kit. It honestly makes the process a ton of fun and I’m loving it more than texting or email."
JacksonianEra
Endless Streams
"My attention span."
landonh12
"This. I don't feel like I can just wonder about things anymore, I have to look it up. Never thought endless streams of information would be my downfall, but here we are."
starladear82
"Reading books helps me getting my attention span back to normal. Maybe you can give it a try. In the beginning it’s a nightmare, though, after 30 min I feel tired and ready to go to sleep. But it gets better quickly."
darth_vladius
Amplification
"I think the internet just amplified everything humans do, both good and bad. Like music? Here's a few million aspiring artists, some of which have a few dozen followers at most, have fun! Like art? Here's thousands of drawing every day. Like murdering people and lighting buildings on fire? Here's hundreds of tips on how to do it!"
RelinquishedGhosts
Not for public consumption...
"Privacy."
Supplyguy404
"Up until, I want to say, maybe 3 years ago, companies were the main threat when it came to privacy. They still are bad, but there's a new trend of individuals not understanding why anyone would want privacy."
"Particularly young people who never knew the Internet pre-privacy violations, and always thought it was okay to give away information, asking for and providing loads of private stuff, and don't understand why someone wouldn't want to be filmed in public."
"Even stuff that doesn't matter. I've seen so many people asking trans and nonbinary folk their AGAB, even when the point of transitioning was to be addressed by a different gender, and it's wild that people just expect them to be okay with sharing it."
LR-II
Cheating
season 5 episode 10 GIF by Workaholics
Giphy
"Trivia pursuit night at the bar/pub."
Feels2old
"People who cheat at trivia night at bars are crap people. Most people play honest."
micmea1
I admit it... I'm one of those cheaters. I can't help it.
Love is Dead
chris hemsworth tinder GIF by lunarpapacy
Giphy
"Romantic relationships. People on social media spread oodles of toxicity and make you overthink every little thing, it’s insane."
thetonkaguy2
From Within
"The internet was ruined by the internet."
Jimmybobhorton2019
"No it was when webpages became monetized by showing ads. Suddenly every webpage including the obscure blog you like to read had become infested with 5-30 ads."
"Once people and corporations found out they could just jam a ton of ads on a page, suddenly articles and pages that have no reason to exist pops up everywhere. Remember when sites with lists would show them on one page? Now you get one result per page. This way they get 20x the ad revenue."
kkehoe5
It's a Mess...
"Childhood innocence."
W0nk0_the_Sane00
"I read in Time Magazine a few years ago the average age a child is exposed to porn is nine years old, and not finding your dad's Playboy either. That just seems wild. That and seeing execution videos drug cartels upload. That has to mess a kid up."
arlenroy
"This one I agree with. The Internet made it easy to see some pretty nasty stuff you can never unsee."
blurri
Good Stuff
"Yard sales. All the good stuff gets sold on FB Marketplace/Kijiji etc. now."
Logical-Guide-2437
"Same with thrift stores. Every jabroni thinks they're an entrepreneur because they scan everything and list it on Amazon, now good deals are harder to come by because they sit and wait all day for the shops to put stuff out."
MechaSheeva
"Pawn shops too. You're not finding that 61 Gibson SG at a pawn shop, and the owners don't know what they have, so you buy it for a couple hundred bucks and play it every day for the rest of your life. (This happened to a friend of mine in the mid 90s, but will never happen again)."
CowboySpencer
What a Difference...
Make It Rain Vhs GIF by Polyvinyl Records
Giphy
"Blockbuster."
FluffyTid
"Well, to be fair, they kinda did that themselves, Redbox DID try to get with Blockbuster, but they just laughed at Redbox and Netflix."
yeah_yeah_therabbit
I forgot how much I missed life before the net. Ah memories.
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit