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I think I hate the internet

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Re: I think I hate the internet

#61

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

jesucresta wrote: post #49
arjie wrote: post #16

Every time people use costs I really wonder what’s going on. My wife still uses an iPhone 13 and life for her is not particularly different from my iPhone 16. You don’t have to do any of this stuff: > I have to service and finance a £600 phone, pay a monthly contract and subscription to Apple, I then have to install an adblocker because otherwise sites are just unusable No one is going to connect you to a network fro…

Are you kind of implying that you can have a bank account without internet access in 2026? Extremely disingenuous

They're inconvenient but physical banks still exist

Re: I think I hate the internet

#62

Post by alansaber »

thfuran wrote: post #47
pembrook wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the top comments on ANY article on HN. It's a bunch of people endlessly frustrated they never self actualized, hurling this frustration onto whatever random topic comes about. Constant whining about anything new or any change in the world...because of course everything was better in the past and anything new is worse. But things weren't better back then. These people were just happier in the past, because whe…

Are you saying that nothing has ever gotten worse or just nothing in the last twenty years?

Obviously, any pullback in technology or society comes secondary to our psychologically rooted need to whinge.

Re: I think I hate the internet

#63

Post by djeastm »

pembrook wrote: post #25
the_af wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying the same people that are pessimistic about the internet are also AI hypers or tech entrepreneurs? Because HN isn't monolithic, it's entirely possible -- in fact, likely -- that these are two distinct sets of people who both read HN. I know I'm pessimistic about much of what the hype people like. Edit: or if you meant the grandparent claims not to be a doomer but is pessimistic about something, I don'…

Look at the top comments on ANY article on HN. It's a bunch of people endlessly frustrated they never self actualized, hurling this frustration onto whatever random topic comes about. Constant whining about anything new or any change in the world...because of course everything was better in the past and anything new is worse. But things weren't better back then. These people were just happier in the past, because whe…

World Happiness Report finds this:

"In general, most Western industrial countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010. Fifteen of them have had significant drops, compared to four with significant increases."

"In eight of the ten global regions shown in Figure 2.2 (covering roughly 90% of the world’s population), those in the youngest age group have higher life evaluations now than in 2006–2010, either in absolute terms or relative to those over 25. Youth wellbeing has only fallen in the NANZ countries [United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand] and Western Europe, both absolutely and relative to adults. [Emphasis added]"

https://www.worldhappiness.report/ed/2026/executive-summary-...

Re: I think I hate the internet

#64

Post by folkrav »

arjie wrote: post #16

Every time people use costs I really wonder what’s going on. My wife still uses an iPhone 13 and life for her is not particularly different from my iPhone 16. You don’t have to do any of this stuff: > I have to service and finance a £600 phone, pay a monthly contract and subscription to Apple, I then have to install an adblocker because otherwise sites are just unusable No one is going to connect you to a network fro…

I wouldn't disagree if in-person service was even comparable, but nowadays, for the banks available to me in the area, opening hours are even worse than they were in the 00s, there are way less branches still opened than there used to, and there's barely any staff, most are just a room with a branded ATM. I wouldn't call it gracefully degrading so much as them keeping minimal service (legal reasons, maybe, I don't know).

Re: I think I hate the internet

#65

Post by 72deluxe »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #41
jiraiyasarutobi wrote: post #36

Internet and largely tech is a tool. How you interact with it and how pervasive it becomes to the point of genuine hate towards a tool comes largely from choices on how you interact with it.

Sure. But it didn't used to be as pervasive or hateful.

It did. The Internet has always had awful views on it, because it was used by humanity, who also had awful views on things.

What is a hatred of the Internet seems to be a hatred of humanity or at least its ability to freely express itself.

The solution is to reduce the noise, in much a way someone 100 years ago would only visit clubs or establishments they enjoyed.

Re: I think I hate the internet

#66

Post by pjc50 »

fyredge wrote: post #58
raincole wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's why we should deanonymizing the internet. Everyone should need a government-issued license to access websites. That's exactly what the modern society needs. (in case it's not super obvious, /s)

But why not? I want to make the distinction on public and private speech. In the physical world, no one should ever have their private speech scrutinized, that's why there are laws banning covert recording. But in public, speech is very much moderated. We don't allow hate speech and we don't allow harassment of others. Social media is a public platform. We can't enforce moderation if we can't identify the abuser, the…

I generally agree with this, but a problem I can't solve is: at what point does a "large group chat" become a "public channel"? If, hypothetically, someone is organizing a thousand people in balaclavas to turn up outside a business they want to intimidate, over Telegram or Signal, is that "private" or "public"?

(also everyone in this thread saying deanonymisation does not on its own solve the problem is correct)

Re: I think I hate the internet

#67

Post by BirAdam »

I am old enough to remember the world before the web rather clearly. There are tradeoffs, but on balance, I do believe the world is better now than it was.

There has been a massive disintermediation of information, it's cheaper and easier to start and run a business, it's cheaper and easier to do accounting and taxes, it's cheaper and easier to find the exact products for which one is searching, and communication is cheaper and easier.

In general, more people have more ability, greater abundance, and a higher quality of life. Are there downsides, absolutely. There are tradeoffs for every advancement. Housing is unaffordable for many, but it is also no longer laden with lead, asbestos, or radium. For the internet, while it has been used to create addictive usage patterns, surveillance, and radicalization, it has also fostered the creation of communities, life saving interventions, cost reductions that have meaningful impacts on daily human lives, and far better optimized supply chains.

Re: I think I hate the internet

#68

Post by probably_wrong »

hkpack wrote: post #15

Was I the only one thinking that the author of Careless People was careless herself? I felt that she is much closer in values to the Facebook executives than she was trying to make it seem. Yes, she failed at her job because it was an impossible one, and she got no shares because she was too late to the party, but the bravery and carelessness she showed were absolutely mind-blowing, for my taste at least.

I couldn't finish the book because my Kindle died halfway, but based on the opening chapters I agree with you.

I admire her for the stance she's taking today and the personal sacrifice it's costing her to this day, but I won't deny that her own account sounds like someone who thought "this will be big" and decided to help without thinking "should this be big?" first.

Re: I think I hate the internet

#69

Post by amelius »

They forgot to mention SaaS, and that everything is a subscription now.

Also, automatic updates that are forced on the user.

And of course that the internet is breaking down our democracies.

Re: I think I hate the internet

#70

Post by tao_oat »

alex1138 wrote: post #46
alexgieg wrote: post #45

Alas, in my country WhatsApp is obligatory. Everyone uses it, businesses and banks included, and no one, at all, uses SMS. Most don't even know what SMS is for, all they know is they get random spam by their ISP, and sometimes 2FA bubbles, on an app called "Messages", but that's it. Now, technically it's possible to go without it, but life becomes so much harder it just isn't worth the hassle.

You know why? Because Acton and Koum arranged the carrier deals prior to the acquisition. That's what Zuckerberg bought, to enlargen his war chest. It's not his product, it's something he effectively stole

> effectively stole

Could you say more about this? I'm not very familiar with the WhatsApp acquisition, or necessarily happy about it, but at first glance I don't see what part would come anywhere close to theft.

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