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Being Raised by the Internet

jimmyhmiller.github.io

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Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#81

Post by throwanem »

nuancebydefault wrote: post #73
throwanem wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing remotely similar. Have you noticed it's only in our cities you seem to really hear about the homeless poor? It isn't the corollary of overall population distribution that it might intuitively look like.

I just read following are available throughout the entire USA so I guess there is some hope? Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline. This hotline provides 24/7 support for children and adults concerned about child abuse. National Runaway Safeline (1-800-RUNAWAY) Boys Town National Hotline (1-800-448-3000).

Oh, I didn't say we have nothing that we could call a system, just that there's nothing remotely similar. There are some people that some of those don't fail, and one on that list with so pervasive a documented history of child sexual abuse among its caretakers that I'm honestly shocked if they still answer the phone - although if I recall correctly, Boys Town also has a history for giving kickbacks to judges in exchange for remanding children whose unpaid labor the organization then can exploit, so I suppose it's worth some money to them to take the calls. I might misremember, though; there are so many such stories, it's hard to keep them straight without checking. Churches also answer much of what need anyone does, most places this being small, poorly resourced local evangelical congregations. These also, in the form of the revelations around the conduct of the Southern Baptist Convention, have this year seen the breaking of a major child sex abuse scandal which has not yet ceased to ramify. There is no general oversight or coordination anywhere, and for entry into "the system" to result even in safe, much less beneficial, placement, is much more than anything else a matter of chance. And you only hear about homeless poor as a city problem because those who can't make it to a city typically end up imprisoned or dead.

I was being a little hard on you earlier, maybe. If I'd lived a life in the environment of a northern/western-European style system of social welfare, it would also I think be easy for me to see something in America that looks vaguely similar and assume it must be much the same.

I took that as a rather arrogant sort of assumption, and might in that have earned the accusation of incharity that I earlier criticized. Specifically, I think I might have failed to account for how, to someone raised in a country that looks after its people, the situation in America might seem far too grim to easily credit. If I did make that error, I apologize.

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#82

Post by throwanem »

tightbookkeeper wrote: post #74
throwanem wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a remarkable reading of my comment, in which I identify where black-and-white thinking has led your analysis into error, that can mistake that criticism for the error it describes. It really isn't a simple question you're asking, is the problem. If I thought it needed less than a book to answer, why would I be about to recommend books?

I think the response was an uncharitable reading of my comment. Obviously you get 10 people together and you have all kinds of demographics even in the same neighborhood. The question is about which of many are dominant, or which are simply missing. I didn’t think that needed to be said. > It really isn't a simple question you're asking, I agree. I apologize for miscommunication and if you have any books to share ple…

It needed to be said because that question makes no sense in the situation of which you ask it. That any demographic or mix of same would necessarily be "dominant" in the context of early Internet culture, indeed even the unitary integrity the phrase "early Internet culture" grammatically implies, is an assumption. As long as you keep that, no history I can recommend is going to help you, because read with that assumption they will also make no sense. (I'll still recommend them, of course; just that I don't see them doing you any good this way.)

The scare quotes are because I honestly do not understand what you mean by that term here; I think you and I might be speaking across an ocean, too.

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#85

Post by throwanem »

krapp wrote: post #77
throwanem wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would instead say, as many have, that the entire wonder of the young Internet was that it couldn't be tied to just one demographic.

We have to differentiate between the "young Internet" that existed before Eternal September and the internet that existed afterwards, which is just "young" relative to most current users. The former was definitely an elite monoculture composed of primarily young, white, nerdy American college students and faculty. It would be correct to say internet culture, for better or worse, comprised the common interests and aff…

Yes, that's true. After "Eternal September" the Internet for the first time had real cultural relevance, and this is important to take into account.

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#86

Post by toastau »

pityJuke wrote: post #63

I’m glad this author had an endearing experience. I can’t say that I did. I’d blame “being raised on the internet” as a consistent contributor to a lot of negatives in my life. Certainly, I picked up a lot of the rage from people in the IRC circles I ran with, and like a parrot exhibited it in my personal life. Beyond that, the general degradation of IRL social skills. I can say my life took a significant upturn once…

There are online communities for all kinds of addictive activities. They offer perfect validation, and it's easy to lose track of how little you're actually doing in the real world or how few people you're interacting with face-to-face. Some people stop trying to meet others locally once they find their intellectual and emotional peers online. This can go on for years, and it's not something I'd recommend.

I interpreted this piece as focusing on how information is being made more accessible. People are taking complex textbooks and university-level knowledge and turning them into understandable tutorials and examples. Anyone who can break down and share complicated information has a valuable skill that really helps others.

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#88

Post by fermigier »

I wasn't raised (as a technologist) by the internet, but by cassettes, floppies, magazines and books. But we share at least one experience: the horrors of ndiswrapper.

20 years later, I recently tried to install Ubuntu on an old Intel MacBook Pro that I got somehow, and I realized that in 2024 you still can't install Linux on a laptop (at least, on laptop of a certain popular make) without jumping through hoops, due to, IIRC, lack of support for the particular Wifi chipset this computer uses.

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#89

Post by tbrownaw »

throwanem wrote: post #56
nuancebydefault wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really can't imagine these kind of initiatives not to exist on the other side of the ocean. From all i read here, i must assume so though.

There is nothing remotely similar. Have you noticed it's only in our cities you seem to really hear about the homeless poor? It isn't the corollary of overall population distribution that it might intuitively look like.

> Have you noticed it's only in our cities you seem to really hear about the homeless poor? It isn't the correlate of overall population distribution that it might intuitively look like.

I don't see that claim anywhere in this comment chain though?

Re: Being Raised by the Internet

#90

Post by yapyap »

throwanem wrote: post #28
ehnto wrote: post #19

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…

you can just… lie
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