41–50 of 331 posts
It's fascinating how someone can feel like they've been "raised by the internet," almost as if it’s a parent in this digital age. I'm curious to learn more about how that experience shapes a person!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like i wrote, the question was probably ill formed, but it is a question, not an opinion nonetheless. I am a bit touched that it seemed like i did not read or understand the article, in fact i read the article in its entirety, as one of the first to comment, even to my surprise for such a compelling story. I understood he was getting support and feeling strengthened by his learning on the internet. I feel my question…
Your reading comprehension is being interrogated because, in speaking of the article as though it did not say several of the things it says, you make such questions seem necessary. You are being told that the question you asked is "not even wrong": it is without meaning and so not meaningfully answerable, because it could only be asked at all from such a fundamental ignorance of the American situation around poverty…
What specifically does it say that is being ignored? That the author happened to find things he hadn't gone looking for directly?
> fundamental ignorance of the American situation around poverty
Are you claiming that terrible parents are uniquely American, in a way that is incapable of being explained to outsiders?
[flagged]
Back in the 80s kids were left for hours in front of a TV watching cartoons. I suspect this was the case even earlier that that too.
YouTube Kids is better in this respect, but more recent.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From how you all use the language, I suspect you and your critical interlocutors are speaking across the Atlantic to one another. Poverty in Europe looks a lot different from poverty in the US. It is not wise to assume much at all about one from the other. You also failed in reading the article to notice that the author plainly did derive considerable psychological support from improving his skill. This was not expli…
> You also failed in reading the article to notice that the author plainly did derive considerable psychological support from improving his skill. This was not explicitly stated but was trivially implicit There's a difference between happening to find psychological support in something, vs asking for it directly . I assumed the comment you're trashing was asking about why they didn't do the second and only the first.…
The writer of the article was poor when young but at some point got internet working on an old computer and suddenly they would have access to learn a lot about information technology, thanks to mostly freely shared info. What I wonder... would they have reached out back then not just for computer info but also for psychological support and a way out of poverty, would that have worked? And why didn't they?
Joining someone in their hobbies is a much much smaller ask than having that same someone listen to (and maybe advise about) your problems, or having them provide career coaching / direct financial support.
One is "lets have fun together", the other is "please stranger, do me this huge favor".
> And why didn't they?
Knowing who to ask might be a bit much to ask of a kid. Even aside from asking for unreciprocated favors being generally not a thing most people do easily (or look on favorably).
The author seems about a decade younger than me and "raised" isn't the word I would use for myself, but I doubt I would have made it if not for the friends I made and the things I learned that way. The thing about pulling yourself up out of a bad situation is that you learn to be usually very deliberate in how you talk about it and what you talk about. People who've never really known anything but stability in their…
Well said, something I had not yet put to words. It came up on HN recently, about how work is a place where it can be best to leave some things unsaid, because it invites assumptions about your character and capabilities that might not be true, or positive.
(Not saying I agree or disagree with the essay but it seemed topical)
It's fascinating how someone can feel like they've been "raised by the internet," almost as if it’s a parent in this digital age. I'm curious to learn more about how that experience shapes a person!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well said, something I had not yet put to words. It came up on HN recently, about how work is a place where it can be best to leave some things unsaid, because it invites assumptions about your character and capabilities that might not be true, or positive.
That isn't even unreasonable as a cultural norm, although it is that those who most firmly enforce it also cherish silly habits like saying "bring your whole self to work." The expectation of not oversharing needs to be met by a commitment of not over- asking, but I suppose that's really too much to expect in an age so degraded that all the obligations across lines of social class are understood to run in only one di…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
20 years later, some of my closest friends are those I met in 97 in a MUD. I have other friends, of course, but it's notable that friendships have endured entirely online for twenty years. Some of those friends I've talked to every day, or every few days, for decades, but I've only seen once or twice IRL.
Online friendships can be more durable than in-person ones. They aren't affected by physical changes and moves.