You’re not wrong - The internet is, in some aspects, an inherently atomising and isolating thing, that is also addicting. I do think the pre-corporate internet was a significantly healthier (though also significantly flawed) ecosystem. And I do think the world sans capitalism would return to significantly more local and ‘friendly’ services, stalls, and public areas that would largely improve the problem.
That being said, further help, initiatives and incentives probably would still need to exist to coax people out of addictive self-isolation. I personally have no idea what that would look like - I can only wish I had meaningful experience and knowledge of how to coalesce people into fun joint activities - but it’s an important question that should be answered.
Maybe if we get rid of online services that are paid for solely by advertising or data selling?
This would kill almost all social media services (the big ones anyway) and it would return to a decentralised system of hobbiest-run online communities over time.
I still think this began before social media though.
That’d certainly help massively, I suppose I just bundle that measure up in my idea of moving away from capitalism. I agree there’s more to be addressed than just social media (though that’s a large part), but it’s hard to predict precisely what the internet would become after that measure alone.
I would guess it could take a long time of trial, error, and research into how to best incorporate the internet into our lives without compromising actual quality of life.
You’re not wrong - The internet is, in some aspects, an inherently atomising and isolating thing, that is also addicting. I do think the pre-corporate internet was a significantly healthier (though also significantly flawed) ecosystem. And I do think the world sans capitalism would return to significantly more local and ‘friendly’ services, stalls, and public areas that would largely improve the problem.
That being said, further help, initiatives and incentives probably would still need to exist to coax people out of addictive self-isolation. I personally have no idea what that would look like - I can only wish I had meaningful experience and knowledge of how to coalesce people into fun joint activities - but it’s an important question that should be answered.
Maybe if we get rid of online services that are paid for solely by advertising or data selling?
This would kill almost all social media services (the big ones anyway) and it would return to a decentralised system of hobbiest-run online communities over time.
I still think this began before social media though.
That’d certainly help massively, I suppose I just bundle that measure up in my idea of moving away from capitalism. I agree there’s more to be addressed than just social media (though that’s a large part), but it’s hard to predict precisely what the internet would become after that measure alone.
I would guess it could take a long time of trial, error, and research into how to best incorporate the internet into our lives without compromising actual quality of life.