Denver Post Comment Section

I won't say it's not a matter of degrees, of course. Just that there certainly were Xers in the trailing end that started getting online at some pretty young ages. I am right in the middle of the Xers, and I know my younger siblings were on the 'net before they left high school, for instance. Many of my friends - granted, we were all part of the digerati - were running BBSes or at least using them. I got a modem as soon as I was able to afford one, and I lived out in the sticks. Very few BBSes were local calls. I imagine there were Xers that lived within the reach of The Well, and I bet it played a large role in shaping them...

Again, this would only be certain pockets of the world and people of a certain class. I'm just saying it started shaping people much, much sooner than Gen Z and finding a hard edge of when those effects might show up might be rather difficult. I mean, people like to mock younger people for always having their face in their phones, but I sure as hell have seen boomers all worked up over online drama and sitting around in social situations with their faces in their phones, too, LOL.

I'll chime in as someone who was on BBS scene back in the early 90s. Back then, the internet was a godsend for a nerd (unaware of being on the spectrum) like me since I was able to connect with like minded people around the globe, reading and sharing conversations that would not exist in real life since I was stuck in a small town. It was a place of learning and acceptance since in real life I couldn't connect with my peers in school and my awkward social gatherings. The majority of online interactions were positive and I was able to learn from those experiences, which looking back helped me grow as an individual.

Fast forward to today, the majority of internet is garbage. The bane of it is unhinged social media and it's AI moderated crap coupled with corporate interests to profit off of everything. Advertising is toxically being forced fed everywhere, as are unrealistic expectations for every aspect of life for young people to consume. There are very few places to go that offer those experiences like I had in those days past. Watching what today's kids and teens are subjected to break my heart as the majority are being exposed to the worst of humanity.

I think without some sort of internet revolution and regulation of the crap, it's only getting worse... Especially when reports like this have been more prominent lately. Sad to see the (d)evolution of something like the internet experience go on how it's been going. I really hope something changes or stories like this are going to be more mainstream and the situation will be taken out of context for the profiteering corporate class. Unfortunately the clowns running this country (USA) have no concept of what is really going on and only see profit in corrupt bribery. I'm thankful for communities like Lemmy but it's only a matter of time before this goes to shit like everything else before it.