The internet was suppose to be the way to save humanity. That was the promise. No? Now it feels like it will soon be the downfall of humanity. It feels like what we used to be excited about the technology is now the enemy. How many of us can relate to the internet ruining the plans?
Redditor u/Karm_Me_up wanted to discuss when we all finally gave up on the internet by asking... What was perfect until the internet ruin it?
Nothing is perfect. Perfect doesn't exist. So waiting for the web to destroy that for you seems... delayed. But better safe than sorry. The internet is all about breaking the illusion. So let's crack some walls...
Who Am I?
Excuse Me What GIFGiphyAnonymity!
No way. For all of human history, practically, we've known EVERYONE we encountered. A new person was like seeing an angel. The industrial revolution changed that with huge cities and then the internet provides even MORE anonymity again. This is the unnatural state. We're supposed to know each other down to the colour of our poop as babies.
Finding the Deal...
Going to thrift stores and yard/garage sales. Before everything was sold online it was a great way to find cool/slightly rare things for a reasonable or cheap amount of money. I'd even say that early EBay was still pretty decent at finding things cheaply. However, now everyone thinks that everything they own is a rare, one of a kind, super valuable item that's worth hundreds of dollars.
I think that shows like American Pickers, Storage Wars, and Antiques Roadshow have also fed into this, even though those shows can be fun to watch.
For example: Back in high school I used to go to this indoor flea market and get vintage vinyl for ridiculously cheap. I got The Beatles white album for literally $6. Cheapest price for the same thing on Ebay is around $50.
Agree to Disagree... and so on...
Not saying it was perfect but disagreements were a lot more civil. You used to have to disagree with people in person, it meant you actually had to be somewhat considerate both of their views and of them as a person, and very few people were convinced they knew everything so they were a bit more humble in argument and you usually went for a pint with the person afterwards.
Now you have a screen between you and the person you disagree with which means people don't see the person in the other side of it. They don't have to consider their point if view because they have some echo chamber they can retreat into and indulge in confirmation bias.
And people think they know a lot more than they do because they have google in their pocket so people aren't as humble as they used to be and are not so willing to consider that they might be wrong on something. You also don't have to be around the person afterwards you can act in really bad faith throughout without paying any price.
Like the Movies...
Liking movies or TV shows based on your own opinion. There have been so many times I've seen a movie and thought, "That was a pretty good movie, I wonder what other people thought about it... and my opinion was apparently wrong and I'm a horrible person".
Retouch
adult swim photo GIF by Rick and MortyGiphyTaking photographs - retouching has always existed but good grief, photos are edited to filth, it has become the norm to wear a filter or remove totally normal features to create a glittering perfect shot to post on the internet.
People don't just take photos of things to privately keep as memories, they also take them as a perfect advertisement of their lives. Especially travel photography with the sheer amount of photoshopped monuments and skies, I don't even know what's real anymore.
See there? Trust nothing on the web and also... trust it all. I know, it's a conundrum. You do realize the internet is a host of strangers spewing truth, lies and all of the in between? It's all about relating stories...
Years Later...
High school reunions. No one hardly has any anymore. Everyone can see what everyone is doing, plus it's easier to keep in touch with the people you liked back then.
I keep hearing about classes younger than me (I graduated in 07) that have big fun reunions around Thanksgiving or Christmas.
My 10 year was lame. A lot of people that committed to buying tickets just totally blew off the girl who organized it and she ended up having to pay the difference at the venue. They also blew her off when they volunteered to set things up. Only about 50 people showed up out of the 120 that actually planned on buying tickets. Doubt we'll even have one for our 20th. I thought our class was better than that but I guess not. She was really upset.
"Jennifer's"
Professional photography
I don't think it was ruined because everyone has a great camera in their phones. It was ruined by oversharing.
It was ruined by what are referred to as "Jennifer's" in the photography business. Essentially people who buy an expensive camera, use mostly it's auto functions, and pass themselves off as photographers. They undercharge, produce mediocre/garbage work, and drive actual trained professionals out of business by sheer numbers.
The OG
Having an original thought.
Before the internet, you could come up with a great joke, insight, idea or whatever, and you could go on believing you were the first person to come up with it. Now, almost any such idea that you have turns out to be pedestrian and commonplace as soon as you check with a search engine.
(I want to use a verb other than 'google', since I use DuckDuckGo. It'd be ironic if that was an original idea.).
Don't Doubt Skill...
Video games, but in a very specific way.
Specifically with competitive games. Playing against people is freaking amazing, and testing your skill at the game is something I love more than you could imagine. What got ruined was now for every little thing there's 20 articles about it and 300 youtube guides from pros on how to just META cheese anything.
It's completely unfun facing someone, and 10 seconds in you can tell the EXACT IGN page they ripped off from; and now instead of fighting them, you're fighting the strategy made up by the best player in the game. It's the must unfun, unoriginal experience and the entire time you just wait for it to be over. RTS games used to be tons of fun, but now there's a play-by-play guide for each second of the game. Games like TFT for League of Legends are only fun for the first 2 days before everyone and their mother plays ONLY the very same META OP 100% KILL THEM KOREAN STRAT from Youtube. Even fighting games like Smash brothers suck now.
I remember playing smash 4, and just horsing around with a buddy. He refused to do anything but play Mario, grab D-Throw up-tilt, up-tilt, up-tilt, up-tilt, Up-special true combo, rinse and repeat until 78%, fire ball to 80+, then grab>Pummel>side throw, footstool. Every single game, hours a day, for weeks because that's what the guide said to do.
I'm so bitter about it.
We Love Karen...
Megan Mullally Nbc GIF by Will & GraceGiphyThe name Karen. Might not have been "perfect," but boy was it ruined.
Information in general. Truth, maybe... The Internet made it so easy for malicious people to spread false information. The increasing popularity of any opinion makes it easy for people to have a bias regarding its truth. I hate it so much that I have stopped correcting people on the internet.
Ok. The best we can do is the best we can do. The internet can only host so much. So let's just figure out the nonsense together. This way no one is disappointed from what we thought was true.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Sad Michael Scott GIF
Monsters Inc Hug GIF