the internet doesn't feel safe anymore
I mean, was it ever safe?
but, in between being a kid and having my parents warn me about the dangers of the world wide web and having AIs creating deepfakes of minors while they drink up all the potable water in the world, there was a moment where things felt... right. and call me cringe if you want but I am indeed talking about early twitter times, learning how to code in html and css on tumblr and buzzfeed quizzes about which type of pasta I am. I know, such a millennial-core. ugh, as if! ¯_(ツ)_/¯
those were simpler times, times when I still enjoyed writing and reading blogs all day long. and honestly, maybe I am too young to feel this nostalgic, but things were ok, you know? like, who else remembers a time when you could message or reply to someone on twitter and not start an online war because they said they like pineapple on pizza (which is weird, but on we move).
nowadays, though, it honestly feels like everyone's on edge (I know I am). not sure if it's yet another covid consequence or the madness created by capitalism and imperialism. or even the fact that we're fast-moving towards a world war 3. or maybe it's the fact that instead of discussing sustainability and how to improve on social practices, we're questioning same sex marriage and women's rights to vote. or, who knows, it's a f*cked up economy and no one has enough money to survive anymore, even though they're working full-time jobs. also, whose idea was it to make up some crazy numbers and now we live by it? in a planet that already has everything we need, but we can't enjoy it because we're busy making money. maybe it's also the fact that we're being bombarded with news and social media feeds all of the time. I don't know; I know people are on edge because of something, but I can't pinpoint it - what do you think?
and yeah, I'll admit I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here; I do use GenAI sometimes (I'm trying to completely stop, though), and yes, I love it when I can afford little trinkets (or more expensive ones). but honestly, I need to do better. and to feel better, I need a break. I'm trying to break free from these things that don't improve my general well-being: GenAI whenever I'm feeling lazy; doomscrolling on endless social media accounts, jumping from one feed to another; consuming fake or paid ad content; being mindful about my offline time and actually enjoying it; and more (I kind of ran out of things to list).
it's (not) funny because I already know I'll fail at some of these. I do work with social media management, after all, and while this is trending, I need to be on top of GenAI and how to use it. but on a personal level, I feel like going back to 'simple' might actually be helpful. and I think a nice blog where I can just post whatever, whenever might help me there. and reading blogs from real people, not companies and influencers, might help as well.
Idk, man, not sure if I'm up to something here or not. and it feels scarier than ever to post about my life online. but at the moment, I'm counting the small wins, and as the saying goes, if you can't beat them...