Last week contractors undertaking some building renovations on the property, damaged the fiber internet connection. Fortunately, I only had to endure around five days of WiFi purgatory, before entering internet heaven again.
I was made to contemplate how everything’s fine until your internet service goes down. It’s only then you realize how intricately your life is enmeshed with your WiFi, and how ubiquitous it has become. Indeed, one’s very happiness in these complex times seems to depend on being connected – to the world, to everyone else.
On a deeper level that admission is an indictment of a pitiful or shallow existence. And yet, there’s much to be said for being connected to everything, even if most of it is enough to make you heave repeatedly.
This cursory examination of things we couldn’t do before the advent of the internet, may raise a few laughs, but should actually force us to take stock of how we are perhaps abusing a true gift. These are some the perverse pastimes we engage in without a second thought: buying useless stuff from corporate capitalist thieves like Amazon, random online dating, writing insensitive and inciting crap on virtual walls, trolling, sharing flattering pictures of yourself, looking for approval for some dumb shit you just did, and allowing yourself to be infuriated by just about everything that affects your fragile sensibilities.
There is of course the good stuff, but I’ll get into that shortly.
When the internet connection was broken I was compelled to watch the previously largely abandoned satellite television for five days. This meant choosing from over 100 channels of pure unadulterated garbage, mostly carefully curated to ensure that your brain cells are never given any hope of a workout. It was a painful reminder of why it was shunned in the first instance. Oh, the agony!
I’m reliably informed that this drivel is mass produced for American audiences, to be consumed apparently without much thought or resistance. Given how low in esteem and stature the US has shrunk over the years, I’m not at all surprised. Hollywood probably started out with good intentions (and production values), but slowly became the propaganda arm for the illusion of American exceptionalism. In recent years, the veil has been dramatically lifted, and we now observe daily, not much of the famed greatness, but mostly the sheer depravity of a society and empire in decline. Imagine being reduced to making the abysmal choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump for US President this election cycle?
Anyway, back to what makes having an internet connection so great.
Cable, satellite and free-to-air television is in radical decline, and with it, all the major broadcast companies. Even mainstream news channels are being abandoned in favor of independent sources. It’s a natural and desirable outcome, especially for news as the reputation of mainstream media is now beyond redemption, given their penchant for lying, misleading the public and serving the often vile interests of their corporate overlords. Content created by individuals and small outfits, independent of corporate masters far outstrips anything produced by the usual suspects.
An internet connection gives one the flexibility to stream entertainment and news at ones leisure on a multitude of devices. Being chained to the television set in your living room is a past evil. Streaming content providers like Netflix, Disney and YouTube also gives the viewer an almost unending supply of entertainment at the press of a button (or voice command). The main benefit ironically is the freedom to choose your poison, and how and when you down it.
The internet also brings mountains of information to you instantly, without the need to painfully search through physical publications like Encyclopedias. Other benefits include instant communication, not having to write and post those letters any more, and playing video games take on a new dimension for those so inclined. I’m sure I’m missing many other benefits of the internet; these are off the top of the my head.
The entertainment content available through the internet is certainly not all good or desirable, yet the now unfashionable alternatives will hardly inspire a resurgence or win back our affection.
It’s therefore become imperative to exercise extreme discretion and skepticism over the content we consume. That can only be the best possible outcome for humankind though, as we once again take responsibility for what we feed our brains.
lenny unencumbered 