Does anyone else feel the same way that I do about the internet?
Basically, I'm bored shitless with anything anyone writes on it.
Okay, so I turned 40 a couple of days ago - so I guess I'm supposed to be disillusioned what with a mid-life crisis setting in - but I think my contempt has more to do with how the internet has mutated over the last ten years.
Don't get me wrong, the web has way more to offer today than it did a decade ago. For example, I can just about download any album or movie I want without forking out a single penny, and I can avoid watching TV entirely by going online and selecting the programmes that I want to watch when I want to watch them. At the moment I'm learning how to play the banjo and the quality and variety of online help and free video tutorials is so impressive it has eliminated any need for me to seek out a private tutor. In fact, there's all kinds of amazing funky things I can do online which has enhanced my life and fast-tracked me through pursuits that would have been laden with obstacles ten years ago.
So what the fuck is my problem?
Well, basically, the internet is boring as hell because most people are boring as hell. Whilst it has so much to offer if you are selective and know precisely what you're looking for, it is also saturated in shit. Take this website, for example. One of the main reasons I no longer post a load of news stories to it every day is that there's no goddamned point when every other fucker is doing that elsewhere. If I find something interesting or have some kind of opinion that I want to convey, then I'll post something, however, I don't even read most of the posts on the other websites that I follow any longer, so what's the point of me repeating what they do here?
Ten years ago it was fun seeking out curious and unusual articles of interest. These days, however, weird is the new normal and every goddamned website is like a ten second BoingBoing blurb about fuck all. If you have a website that you're posting around twenty items to per day, then you'll be lucky if I read even one of them (and that's probably the same for most people). Why? Because the whole internet is like that these days and I no longer care what you think might be of interest to me in order to help sell your product or generate you advertising revenue.
You don't need to come here or follow any other website to get your news or find out what's happening in the world. All you have to do is be selective and seek out the information you are looking for. Believe me, somewhere in cyberspace you'll come across the information you want.
And that's the bottom line.
Besides, everybody has an online presence these days and it has gotten old to me. Even people who have nothing to say have a fucking online presence. Just about every dick with a laptop or smartphone has a Facebook and Twitter account. Why? Who gives a shit if your coffee in Starbucks is stewed senseless or if you're taking a dump in McDonald's and there's no toilet paper? You're just wasting time telling people about your nondescript life and everyone else is wasting time reading about it.
Which brings me on to my next point: is it really necessary for every goddamned website to have a link to its Facebook page and Twitter account (and I'm directing this question at half the websites that I myself used to think were of value)?
Do you really need it? Does anyone need it? Why are you even doing this?
Christ, how about you break the mould and try something original for a change? How about you create your own culture and movement instead of piggybacking on what's popular? Facebook and Twitter are fads. They'll be gone in a year or two and replaced with something as equally banal that you'll all get into and think is hip for a while but will ultimately bore the pants off anyone with taste.
Where the fuck is your originality?
I'm going to do something original. It was going to be to close this website down for good, but after almost ten years it has become like a deformed child that I hate having but can't let go of.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to shut the fuck up and post nothing until I find something worthy of posting or have a point I think is worth expressing.
There.
I think I've just expressed a point worth expressing and it didn't even require a Twatter or Spacebook account.
media-underground.net