Jeff JarvisMay 31
Maybe because you read too much moral panic...
Why am I filled with nostalgia for a pre-internet age I never knew?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/31/internet-age-young-people-world-phones
Why am I filled with nostalgia for a pre-internet age I never knew?

Almost half of young people would prefer a world without the internet. We are haunted by the feeling that it has robbed us of something vital, says writer Isabel Brooks

The Guardian
Show threadJeff Jarvis
Let's talk about life before the internet. I had to buy newspapers and had few choices with less diversity (couldn't read the Guardian); was stuck with Hollywood's culture; had fewer friends; had less access to facts; had to pay bills by mail; had no public voice (well, I did when was a columnist).
May 31 at 12:50pmWeb
Show threadVincent Van DinskyMay 31
@jeffjarvis I'd hear an author on the radio on Wednesday, and I'd have to wait until Saturday to go to the library and get their book, or read about whatever their subject was.
Show threadVincent Van DinskyMay 31
@jeffjarvis I've worked from home for 20 out of the last 25 years.
Show threadShoqMay 31
All true, but I read her as acknowledging all that, while still feeling that something larger has been irrevocably lost while developing all those things she admits all living generations are taking for granted. There has been a cost for our modern conveniences. It’s just very unclear how high it was, and who will pay the most for it.
Show threadMastodon MigrationMay 31

@shoq

Feel like this is a good opportunity to mention the work of Neil Postman eg. Technopoly 1992 (https://archive.org/details/235p-technopoly-neil-postman)

235p Technopoly Neil Postman : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The mass media critic (1931-2003) was called prolific and influential in the NYT obituary. He published this late book on the Technopoly in 1992 to...

Internet Archive
Show threadjmhtMay 31
@jeffjarvis As a counter .. the limitation of news sources meant that funding for journalists was more adequate, access to power more assured (pols *needed* the press), oversight was simpler, and pressure to be truthful more effective.
Now .. anyone can say anything, few (serious) sources have sufficient funding, pols can ignore anyone who doesn't say what they want, and truth is (virtually) unverifiable.
The internet democratized speech they say, but it seems to have evolved into a shouting mob. 🤷‍♂️
Show threadDebbie Goldsmith 🏳️‍⚧️♾️🇺🇦⧖May 31
@jeffjarvis The Internet saved my life by making it possible for me to discover what my gender dysphoria meant and that it was possible to treat it. It makes it possible for me to be informed on subjects (like trans people, LGBT in general, politics, science, climate change, colonialism, etc etc etc) that the mainstream media does (and always did) an awful job covering.