thefifthnote

Solstice

@thefifthnote

Trying out different platforms atm

  • They/them

21+ | PH
Weeb, book enthusiast, amateur artist. Dabbles in a lot of things.

log inask
thefifthnote
@thefifthnote
Iro
@Iro
lutz
@lutz

one thing that's been very helpful for me in grasping how the internet works at scale is recognizing that there's so many people on here who just want Attention and they have no real preference for the form it takes. i don't mean they want fame or influence, though they might, but more fundamentally people want the sense of having pushed upon a structure or a discourse and then seeing that structure or discourse at least seem to respond in a way that authenticates the initial push, that makes it all feel real, and which suggests the individual who did it is Solid and Exists. this whole ecosystem is a vast machine for making you feel like, by writing your thoughts down in a place others might read them, you have "done something" and any response you get, positive or negative, feels like proof that it's working: I am here, I exist, the world has no choice but to recognize me

Inumo
@Inumo

This is a good phrasing for an impulse I feel I'm always fighting. I've been calling it "clout-chasing," but this isn't really clout, is it? It's digital validation & recognition, digital witnessing of presence. Still not an impulse I want to indulge, but maybe this framing'll help me find better management strategies.

Scampir
@Scampir

I think about this too with the practice of taking photos of people in public in order to shame them online!

You must log in to comment.

in reply to @lutz's post:

aeneas-nin
@aeneas-nin

"I post, therefore I am."

I do think there's something of genuine philosophical interest in what you've observed here, though. Like the Internet is a one giant exercise in transforming the self from the Cartesian conception of the most irreducible unit of a world/worldview to something contingent upon an external community. (This latter conception of selfhood may have always been the case, but it still feels rather seismic to see its implicit acceptance on such a massive scale.)

login to reply

in reply to @Inumo's post:

Science
@Science

That's literally what motivates internet trolls, right? Both the fully hate-filled kind. But also the people who, if you in their presence said "don't feed the troll", would protest that they are genuine and this is actually their opinion. When it's very obviously just someone who has been posting about this ONE THING for like years now, forever in the comments, saying nothing but this one thing, annoying everyone about it, everyone is already predicting the arrival of This Guy to derail the discussion again and lead it into only one direction (and I am thinking of an exact example, but you probably know various people like this throughout internet history).

This is in contrast to a different social media website that described its lack of engagement metrics, mechanics and @ functionality like this:

Q: so if someone is talking about me here, i might not know about it?
A: exactly! you don't even need an account for this feature! people can talk about you here even if you've never heard of us! what people you don't know are saying about you on the internet is none of your business.
Q: why would i even want to post anything here?
A: For yourself. And your friends.

login to reply
Inumo
@Inumo

I wanna point out that 1) this applies to way more than just internet trolls—that's kinda the whole point of the OP—and 2) those people saying they sincerely have outlandish opinions are prolly telling the truth, because those opinions got them witnesses and so they followed them into becoming single-issue posters (e.g. JK Rowling's descent into terminally online TERFery).

login to reply

in reply to @Scampir's post:

vivien
@vivien

theres this moment of utter confusion when i see someone post a paragraphs long take on something like AGAB being transphobic or necessary for transfeminism or w/e (insert any other eternally discoursed topic) with what they present as the Right Take that will fix the whole thing after all these years

and its almost worse when it comes from “sensible” people, those people who have learned to say all the right things and developed a little following and are admins of some respectable discord, and the question comes back of, who asked for this? what is this accomplishing? and its this! it gets them attention, and people repost it or agree and feel Morally Good for having Thought the right thing

astonishes me (and i am not immune, am i doing it right now? oh no!)

login to reply