Kumquatqueen
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2017
- Posts
- 4,544
I was using computer networks and Usenet etc in the early 90s. Being able to communicate with other people across the world - well, mostly Europeans, Americans, a few Australians, just like Lit now - about all sorts of topics, was amazing. I don't know how to set up a home computer as a server and email domain and host websites, but I know guys who do, which means as long as there's electricity and fibres, independent media will continue to exist.
The key thing I learned from Usenet, back when only a few geeks were on various fora, was the value of moderated groups. The unmoderated versions of alt.polyamory etc were still there and available, but the value was in the moderated version which got rid of spam (about 1 in 50 messages at the time), and got rid of the threads where certain people went off on one. I learned about straw men, ad hominem arguments, and how to spot bad faith nitpicking. Threads were forced to divide when they got too off topic. People might argue with moderators, but appreciated their curation of the mass of debate.
I think a turning point and mistake was when institutions like the BBC switched from their Have Your Say letters page being a representative selection of views received but only publishing literate ones which made clear points, to enabling anyone to post and to reply and upvote. Within a month, it was proving what sections of society had way too much time on their hands, but more importantly, that a lie (or unresearched assertion, to give them the benefit of the doubt) will be across the world before the truth has got its boots on. Similarly 24-hour news wanted more new content, more excitement, rather than more of the detailed analysis I'd hoped for. Commercial channels had to provide what viewers wanted; state ones should have resisted and supported more trustworthy and reasoned news. That boat has sailed, but there's various tools and sites to help you find the useful stuff among the ever-increasing dross. Google isn't so useful any more, but Qwant and other browsers are better. I admit I mostly get my news from a circle of friends who post about anything important. Biased, sure, but the function is like that of a good newspaper, filtering in only what I find important - and linking to the source.
I've raised kids in the internet era. The dangers of predators don't worry me - they can't physically get at my teens online. They know how to block strangers adding them on social media, and do it. Getting across the message that your number of Likes doesn't equate to self-worth - that's harder (and look at us on AH hoping for more views and votes...) The big issue is getting them to cope without the lifeline of calling mum or dad at every hurdle, combined with a society that expects you to know where your children and teens are at all times, or you're a bad parent, until they're about 16 when they should magically be independent. There's some advantages to communication devices, obviously - a non-verbal kid can type to strangers, and have tracking on rather than bothering to tell anyone where they are, which would be a lot scarier otherwise. You can get an app to tell you how to get home with one button press (saving huge amounts of time for family with no sense of direction, or me in a strange city). These things make some people more adventurous, counteracting the telephonic apron string.
I think over the next couple decades we'll see a balancing, tech only used when useful, and less for its own sake - while companies desperately look for a use case for new abilities of computer power (or AI, to the marketers...)
The key thing I learned from Usenet, back when only a few geeks were on various fora, was the value of moderated groups. The unmoderated versions of alt.polyamory etc were still there and available, but the value was in the moderated version which got rid of spam (about 1 in 50 messages at the time), and got rid of the threads where certain people went off on one. I learned about straw men, ad hominem arguments, and how to spot bad faith nitpicking. Threads were forced to divide when they got too off topic. People might argue with moderators, but appreciated their curation of the mass of debate.
I think a turning point and mistake was when institutions like the BBC switched from their Have Your Say letters page being a representative selection of views received but only publishing literate ones which made clear points, to enabling anyone to post and to reply and upvote. Within a month, it was proving what sections of society had way too much time on their hands, but more importantly, that a lie (or unresearched assertion, to give them the benefit of the doubt) will be across the world before the truth has got its boots on. Similarly 24-hour news wanted more new content, more excitement, rather than more of the detailed analysis I'd hoped for. Commercial channels had to provide what viewers wanted; state ones should have resisted and supported more trustworthy and reasoned news. That boat has sailed, but there's various tools and sites to help you find the useful stuff among the ever-increasing dross. Google isn't so useful any more, but Qwant and other browsers are better. I admit I mostly get my news from a circle of friends who post about anything important. Biased, sure, but the function is like that of a good newspaper, filtering in only what I find important - and linking to the source.
I've raised kids in the internet era. The dangers of predators don't worry me - they can't physically get at my teens online. They know how to block strangers adding them on social media, and do it. Getting across the message that your number of Likes doesn't equate to self-worth - that's harder (and look at us on AH hoping for more views and votes...) The big issue is getting them to cope without the lifeline of calling mum or dad at every hurdle, combined with a society that expects you to know where your children and teens are at all times, or you're a bad parent, until they're about 16 when they should magically be independent. There's some advantages to communication devices, obviously - a non-verbal kid can type to strangers, and have tracking on rather than bothering to tell anyone where they are, which would be a lot scarier otherwise. You can get an app to tell you how to get home with one button press (saving huge amounts of time for family with no sense of direction, or me in a strange city). These things make some people more adventurous, counteracting the telephonic apron string.
I think over the next couple decades we'll see a balancing, tech only used when useful, and less for its own sake - while companies desperately look for a use case for new abilities of computer power (or AI, to the marketers...)
