I was in my 20’s when I really had access to the internet. I loved it! I spent so much time researching things or visiting forums. Classic forum, jazz music forum, comic book forum, sports, video games. Whatever. I could discuss all my interests with people for the first time. That was the value of the internet to me. Bring able to look up the history of the Three Stooges or something. In 2009, a friend said I needed to get on Facebook. I didn’t really get it but I joined and got in touch with classmates that I’ve maybe interacted with 4 times since. I did enjoy FB because I could join various hobby focused groups but that was it.

By the time I looked into Reddit or twitter around 2016, being online was different. Now, going online is so draining to me. It’s not going to a forum where everyone is discussing “The Godfather”. It’s people sharing opinions on everything. Not a lot of positivity. Growing up without internet, I was blissfully ignorant of the world. I don’t think I fully realized how poor I was until I was about 17. I was always pretty happy & optimistic. Having access to the world is beneficially & I would never argue that my lack of awareness is a positive thing. However, I couldn’t imagine living most of my life with so much negativity right at my fingertips. I’m not saying it’s not warranted but I try not to immerse myself in social media too much. There are things that need changing definitely but I also want to enjoy my life.