10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
The internet (or information superhighway) is the frontier of the online landscape. Things started out safe and easygoing, but the times have changed. There are no shortage of distracting or flat-out disgusting things you will find online. People struggle to go to a website without dealing with some sort of harassment or bullying, and it’s only gotten worse. The scam artists are everywhere, and the pay-to-play mentality is only more abrasive. It’s not to say that it did not start out this way, but the internet is now fully run by greedy corporations. Everything happens on a massive scale, and the principle of our service providers has gone completely down the toilet. These are the 10 reasons why the internet sucks without going into too much detail.
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Again, the internet has always been a place waiting to be turned upside-down. Everyone was jumping in and doing whatever they could to take advantage of it. Things were never perfect, but there were plenty of reasons why it used to be better. While we did not have everything at our disposal, i.e., extensive search engines and social media, we still had less maliciousness (Netscape). When going back to the earliest days of Google, we were already seeing it happen. Before the dawn of our one internet creator, we were relying on smaller companies to run the business. They eventually got swallowed or absolutely destroyed, and now there is little that can be done about it. If anything, it’s worth looking at how things have changed for the worst and what it all means.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
1. Death Threats
If you are a stranger to the internet, then prepared to get your mind blown off with numerous firearms. This is what we call a death threat or threat of personal endangerment, and it happens all of the time. People are big online, but if this threat were discussed in person, the threatener would run with gold. This fear is something you will hear a lot of, but it’s not like you will ever have to deal with it. This does not means that you will not deal with petty backlash or abuse, but why whine. Although people online are often nice, there is always that little devil waiting inside us all; there is no use in trying to avoid it too much. It does not take much for you to run into a strange person if you veer off the beaten path.
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Although the world is full of insane people, the internet allows us to see exactly who they are. The internet is full of keyboard warrior tough guys who think they can threaten death without consequence. There is little that will ever be done about it, but we also have little to worry about. It takes a level of insecurity and inaction to make these threats, but the immaturity never fails to shine. These kinds of threats are what give the internet such a bad name, but it does little to stop it from happening. Most websites allow this kind of behavior to happen, and before long, a mob is threatening your life. It is fortunately limited to the dark web, but that is only if you stay away from YouTube and Facebook.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
2. Doxing
For someone to act on a death threat, they likely has to find your personal information first. This usually involves peeping into someone’s history until something is found. It can be your address or mother’s last name — it does not matter. Any kind of personal information that is found and spread to someone else on time is called doxing. It can involve a select group of people or be shared anonymously throughout public domain. If someone is doing this to you — death threats as well — you should contact the online authorities. You may even consider calling the police if the threat becomes personal enough to take action. Thankfully, most doxing leads to no personal endangerment and can be amended.
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Regardless of personal offense, doxing is considered a crime and can lead to lawsuits. There is nothing that makes this justifiable, and the consequences are quite real. It is typically done by one unlucky person or through a coordinated effort by a group of people. The mob that persists beyond the perpetrators often finds this behavior acceptable and helps out. This can lead to the victim feeling violated, threatened, or personally abused. Someone may even feel a need to move to another location because of fear through retribution. A compensation is often in order, but the petty criminals online will often avoid it. If the harassers decide to show up to someone’s house, the online group of violators end up bailing out. When someone does show up, the end result involves handcuffs and a police cruiser.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
3. Contrived Controversy
Believe it or not, a lot of people make money by stirring up fake controversy. The internet is no different, and it happens all of the time. You may not even be aware of it, but someone could be doing this to you right now. It does not matter the consequence, because the scammers will find a fashionable loophole. The world is full of rats, so why not take full advantage of this lowly position. Everyone deserves to be scammed or solicited under false pretense to these people, and so what. They often find ways to avoid capture and end up doing the exact same thing over again. It can be a website company or a single guy trying to start his online business, but there is no end to the debauchery.
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As you can see, most of what makes the internet impassable are the people. Human beings are some of the most frustrating “things” you will ever have to deal with, online or not. The tools they are given and the scheming methods they take advantage of are their weapons of failure; the internet provides this. You could be blamed for a threat, or a company can be noticed for ripping someone off; the list never ends. People even think to take advantage of this by doing it to themselves. It can then lead to an untrusting environment where little gangs are created; it becomes a game of my word against yours. They will then gain a following while the unfortunate victim is being horribly cancelled.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
4. Immature Behavior
The most common term used for this online debauchery is called trolling, and it happens everywhere online. It does not matter if you are on Quora or the backseat driver’s end of YouTube, you will find it. More often than not, these trolls do not end up being a threat, but they can get on your nerves. This is exactly what they want, but it is very important for you not to feed them. They will often invoke anger in numerous ways by use of “slang” language or immature behavior. They are generally vivacious and verbally malicious, but they are simply there to pout. While there is very little we can do, it does not mean that we cannot fight back with reasonable vengeance. In the end, a troll is just a clever fool looking for attention in all of the wrong ways.
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Anyone can be labelled a troll, and this is part of what makes it a problem. Even a child could be sharing their anger and vitriol, but the end result seems mostly the same. While not everyone intends to be a troll, there is still the fact that being can be trolling regardless of intention. The intention can be overtly malicious, or a person can have a reasonable purpose for it; this barely makes a difference. Being a troll typically involves any number of clever answers to help instigate a “flame war.” A flame war is there to divert the topic to something entirely different than the original subject matter. The intent of the video then gets thrown out of the window for the sake of someone’s desire for failure.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
5. Partial Juries
If someone decides to screw you over online, it is no different than it is in real life. We have a judiciary online that likes to backup people who abuse the system. If someone has more likes or subscribers, they are likely to be dealt the winning blow. It does not matter if the person was wrong or right, they will have an easy scapegoat. This does mean that any particular kind of person is impervious, but the jerks often get off scot-free. Even if you retaliate, you are stuck wasting your time with a court that will never hear your alibi. There is often no point in bothering, as the hearing would be no less complicated than a claim of rape. If you are lucky, then the small fry you cook will end up with a slap on the wrist.
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The system is inherently lazy, so the best you can expect is an algorithm to look at your case. Since people at the top like to abuse their power, they are (less) likely to get flagged. The problem is that most of the copyright and malicious claims are ignored. Someone who does not have a million followers will have to go the mile to get something done. The guy with more subscribers will then have his personal mob make the difference in verbal violence; they get away with it. It’s not to say that the so-called bottom dwellers cannot get their way or cause trouble, but it rarely happens. If it does, then they deserve the same one-sided justice that the successful people have.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
6. Online Capitalism
While it is easy to accept why a YouTuber decides to roll ads on their video, other trespasses are less trivial. Every single corner of the internet is littered with commercials and schemes, but the average joe cares little to stop them. You will see them on your favorite website and channels, but what can you do about it. They can be selling a shoe, a supplement, or even a glass of champagne; the commerce never ends. Even if you tried, you would be giving the rich and powerful a larger margin of error. There are ad-blocking services, but this does little to alleviate the issue. When advertisements are being displayed every few swipes or seconds, it still becomes too much of a burden.
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Most of the time, these ads provide little for the person displaying them. The money benefits the company providing them, but this does not stop the abuse. There are people who feel a need to take advantage of commercials as they see fit. Since every website is trying to make money, they will look to Google for help. This means that you may have to deal with an ad every other second on your favorite display. Although there is purpose in viewing ads, they provide little but frustrating stupidity. Those who typically avoid ads are those who simply dislike the convenience. You are simply a consumer to them, and this means that your feelings mean very little. As long as you are lining their pockets, you will find their appreciation.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
7. Anonymity
One of the biggest reasons why any trouble exists online is the blatant anonymity. You will see it everywhere you look, and it usually invites all sorts of trouble. While not every anonymous profile leads to a federal crime, the opportunity for deceit is there. People enjoy the so-called privacy a blank account brings, but it can also indicate a problem. This problem is usually pretty easy to detect, but some slimy scummers are pretty wise. They may even provide a real person’s username who happens to not be them and make themself look bad. It then becomes all part of the fun to walk around and pretend while harnessing a fake identity. Thankfully, places like Facebook make it difficult to walk around with names like Freddy Wanklebomper.
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There is no doubting that without anonymity, people would consider the safer options of ridicule. Unlike what most people think, the average human is less likely to cause problems in public. If their real identity is displayed, it may even be the last time you hear from them. The issue here involves people using this public display as a means of honor. This is the last thought that should be entering someone’s head, but the pride never gets thrown out. There is nothing about being responsible that is honorable when it is what you should be doing as is. It almost seems to give people a reason to act out anyway, and there is no shortage of this. Unfortunately, in a world full of morons, you cannot expect much in the way of apology.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
8. Persecution
Online persecution is a real thing, and it mirrors many of the other problems on this list. You can walk into a room or type out a comment and be blasted with negative feedback. Before long, everyone’s phone is out, and you are being inundated with pure and unmitigated hate. It may even happen before you understand the gravity of the situation, but who’s to stop them. While they would not like it if it were done to them, at least they can think they are immune for now. This is the thoughtfulness you can expect if you simply said something against the grain. They are on the right side, and you are just another petty human to be abused. It happens all to often, but the mob mentality of the human race does little to stop it.
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On occasion, this feedback does little to help you. You can apologize and say grace, but the average blow cares little about it. Everyone likes to pretend, but they also love to watch a fight. Some may call it cancelling, and others call it justice, but it often does no good. Since you are the victim of this mass termination, you will forever be forgotten anyway. Although this punishment can serve a useful function at times, the way it gets dolled out is extensively shameful. Even if you only made a small scene at a restaurant, you will become the next internet superstar. You may have done nothing wrong, but you will take that long walk of shame on demand. No matter what you do, every single persecutor will view what you do and twist it to their ends.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
9. Plain Shaming
The internet allows a lot of things, but one thing that never gets old is public shaming. This is a little different than cancelling, but it involves shaming through sharing pictures and videos. Men seem to do it more often, but anyone can be labelled responsible. It can destroy a person’s self-esteem, and all it takes is a click and disagreement. For example, some guy can end up having an argument with his crush before throwing a fit. This anger can lead to posting any photos or videos of her online without her permission. If that is not good enough, then the media may even go viral on places like 4Chan. After this, the guy may even hold her hostage through a mean case of blackmail. At this point, the entire world knows what she look like and what she indulges in.
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Back in the day, you only had to worry about cousin Bobby and uncle Jack seeing you nude. While it is not necessarily a perfect crime, this kind of dirty blackmail can be taken to court. The law may even consider it a form of illegal public humiliation. Any kind of blackmail can lead to harsh consequences, be it before or after posting the content. There is nothing you can do, and once you are convicted, you are doomed. Any trouble the felon is in barely makes up for the embarrassment the sufferer is dealing with. It makes sense because of the kind of people who perpetrate this behavior. These people are generally anonymous, and they also believe that they are invincible. The hypocrisy is real, but once you ruin someone’s life, you cannot take that back.
10 Reasons Why the Internet Sucks
10. Lack of Freedom
If you want to be successful online, then you will have to get on your knees a little. There is no way around it, and it just so happens to be the way of the world. It could be related to making money with advertisements or only sharing your quietest opinions the most. To get large online or in a world where the internet is crucial, you will have to make some sacrifices. These sacrifices may seem worth it to some, but the long-term ramifications seem more important for most. There is no avoiding the fact that being online involves a lot of bending over, but how far are you willing to bend. The question never seems to get answered, but people find a way to make it acceptable.
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It’s not all bad, and there are some freedoms that still exist. They are few and far between, but the “easy” success you can accrue might be worth it. There are a lot of successful people online, but the vast majority of people fail. It is no different than winning the lottery, and on the way, you may end up wasting some time. A lot of effort is involved, but simplicity often works. You just have to be very careful with what you do and say, but even this fails to work for most people. There are a select few places you can look to have more freedom online, but they come at a price. It also comes down to what you want to accomplish and what freedoms you cherish. You may even become one of the lucky ones who spoke up and made a name for themself.
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