StumbleUpon was my jam. I could procrastinate my homework for HOURS with that toolbar!
The temptation to explore felt real. Not like clickbait.
It was that wonderful time on the internet where you got the chance to enrich your knowledge without having an algorithm force stuff on you because it thinks it knows what you like.
I love being surprised and love learning new things. The algorithms, AI, and SEO have stripped all of that curiosity and discovery away.
A friend of mine also did Peace Corps work there. She had to pretend she was married to someone in an adjacent village to deter getting kidnapped and forced into marriage.
A more lighthearted (but scary at the time) moment was when a bat peed into her eye while she was using the outhouse. No diseases, thankfully. She’s been back in the US now for a number of years and loved the work she did while she was over there.
It’s necessary. I agree. Admins exist for a reason and serve a purpose. But when you get into a “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” debate it becomes a topic that needs to be addressed. I don’t have enough expertise to give an answer to such an existential question so I’ll have to leave it to anyone else to hash it out from here.
I want an internet where admins don’t control the world. Where moderators don’t become megalomaniacs that get to control the way submissions and comments get banned without reason.
I want a place where someone’s passion for their unique hobby doesn’t get stripped away by corporate interests, exploitative third parties, and ad agencies.
I know it might be a pipe dream but I’ll keep trying to fight for what I believe.
SEO and Ai have been very heavy influincers in the degradation of journalistic integrity and reporting facts *while dumbing things down for clicks.
It led directly to a more radicalized and less informed public.
The vast majority of people think that the first answer on Google is still correct. That simply isn’t true anymore because people started to game the system and Google let them do it to gain a shitloat of ad money.
It’s disgusting that they don’t have the morals to rein things in.
That’s why early age sex education is equally important. Porn isn’t going away. Being proactive and teaching that there are ground rules to consent and that “no means no” is huge.
There should always be a clear line between experimentation and outright molestation and that’s what modern sex ed should be emphasizing.
“Do you mind if we try this?” or “I saw this in a porno, can we try it?” should be normalized just as much as “When were you last tested?” or the simple “Are you ok with this? We’re about to have sex, right?”
*Molestation might not the right word. I struggled to come up with one. I’m settling on non-consent unless someone can come up with a better term.
Detroit has entered the chat.