Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#41

Post by fapjacks »

api wrote: post #16
chx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Same is true with music. There's a whole world of amazing music out there that never gets a second of radio play or mainstream exposure. Occasionally it shows up in movie and TV scores but that's as close as it gets. Same goes for art, literature, etc. The great and ground breaking stuff is out there but you have to look for it. There is and probably always will be a pop "matrix" and a "Zion" known to those who stray…

This I have always not understood. There is some amazing stuff out there. Even music from genres I hate that sounds amazing when I listen to it, so you know it has to just be incredible. But that kind of thing is not what the establishment in are pushing.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#42

Post by gambler »

chx wrote: post #12
Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Chat rooms, forums, comment sections of smaller, targeted, online magazines. I miss a lot of those. Centralized platforms pretend to replace and "improve" those technologies, but the end results are fake on many levels and ripe with problems that just weren't there before.

Indeed, many forums are still there, and they're living proof that what I feel isn't just nostalgia. For me, they're the only only online places that still feel like... well, places. With certain space and boundaries. With people having conversations. You can get to know people on a forum. Can't imagine that happening on Reddit, especially on more popular subs.

-

I think that a large part of it is UI. "Social" media has marketing-driven UI, which might look cool, but encourages bad behaviors from users. Just look at YouTube comments. Do you think they would be so horrible if there was more separation between different videos and more effort required to post something?

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#43

Post by nostrademons »

api wrote: post #16
chx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Same is true with music. There's a whole world of amazing music out there that never gets a second of radio play or mainstream exposure. Occasionally it shows up in movie and TV scores but that's as close as it gets. Same goes for art, literature, etc. The great and ground breaking stuff is out there but you have to look for it. There is and probably always will be a pop "matrix" and a "Zion" known to those who stray…

A lot of it is popping up on YouTube, actually, in compilations. My new favorite work music is this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmZtTxgGyk

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#44

Post by PhasmaFelis »

sverige wrote: post #34
ori_b wrote: post #31

I think this may be partly because the internet is becoming a lot less anonymous. There are lots of things that I would not mind discussing online, but which I really don't feel like putting into the public eye, or having related back to me. They're pretty bland, honestly, but for many of them they're not things I'd like to discuss. Hell, even recipes for pork are something I'd rather not have popping up in my strong…

It's harder but not impossible. An email can be on a domain with anonymized WHOIS and a burner phone paid for with cash bought at a place without surveillance cameras. Hell, I do that sometimes and I'm not even doing anything criminal.

It doesn't need to be impossible for Big Brother to win. It just needs to be hard enough that it's not worthwhile for the vast majority of citizens.

(And both of the things you mentioned are things that would take hours or days to hunt down and figure out for the average internet user. A privacy mechanism that isn't really, really easy to use is--in terms of the global internet and its citizens--worthless.)

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#45

Post by aaron695 »

Bullshit.

People might be saying it, but it's obviously not true.

Commerce is continuing to rise.

Social media is continuing to spread across different mediums.

Old people who were afraid or couldn't use the net are dying and new young people are coming into the fold.

People are now more aware of privacy and security because they are using all the things so much.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#46

Post by xufi »

CaptSpify wrote: post #6
jpeg_hero wrote: post #2

>Nearly one in two Internet users say privacy and security concerns have now stopped them from doing basic things online — such as posting to social networks, expressing opinions in forums or even buying things from websites, according to a new government survey released Friday. Ha! I was asked to put in my email address before I could read the article. I almost didn't read it, but I put in a fake address and they le…

usually just turning off JS fixes this

That's a godsend for Facebook ... I can't stand those live videos on my feed

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#47

Post by Godel_unicode »

nsxwolf wrote: post #33

I will sometimes stop myself from googling something I'm curious about. I imagine a situation where I become falsely accused of a crime and the search I'm about to make coincidentally incriminates me and is discovered with a subpoena.

You're being paranoid, that will never happen. Full stop.

I realize this attitude is unpopular around here, and tin-foil hat one-upsmanship is the name of the game, but seriously. Relax. You're over thinking it.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#48

Post by [deleted] »

electricEmu wrote: post #14
chx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Where would someone find these pockets? I've felt a real lack of pulse since reader went away and the IRC channels I used to frequent sputtered out.

[deleted]

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#49

Post by Godel_unicode »

fapjacks wrote: post #41
api wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same is true with music. There's a whole world of amazing music out there that never gets a second of radio play or mainstream exposure. Occasionally it shows up in movie and TV scores but that's as close as it gets. Same goes for art, literature, etc. The great and ground breaking stuff is out there but you have to look for it. There is and probably always will be a pop "matrix" and a "Zion" known to those who stray…

This I have always not understood. There is some amazing stuff out there. Even music from genres I hate that sounds amazing when I listen to it, so you know it has to just be incredible. But that kind of thing is not what the establishment in are pushing.

Confirmation bias. Or are you really saying that there's no pop music you think is good?

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#50

Post by sreenadh »

api wrote: post #16
chx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Same is true with music. There's a whole world of amazing music out there that never gets a second of radio play or mainstream exposure. Occasionally it shows up in movie and TV scores but that's as close as it gets. Same goes for art, literature, etc. The great and ground breaking stuff is out there but you have to look for it. There is and probably always will be a pop "matrix" and a "Zion" known to those who stray…

Honestly, even I was just thinking today the amount of garbage that has become radio today. Everyone just keep playing the same list of crappy songs by few artist, that I do not even understand why they are famous. Many times, when I switch the channel to escape a crappy song, the next one is also playing it. Once the same nikki manaj song was playing in 4 channels, that was scary.

I viewed radio as a medium to find new good songs and listen my favorite ones.

Post reply on HN