
Why does the internet suck?
This post has been a long time coming.
It popped up on my ‘to blog about’ radar a few months ago. Every time I thought about it, about how to write it, I got angry.
It’s like that time I was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I grew up reading these books so when the 7th came out I was on it like shit on a blanket.
It took me about a month to read it. I was impossible to live with in that time. The Dolores Umbridge character in that book so annoyed me. So frustrated me. Got soooo under my skin that reading the book put me in a permanent vile mood. People were literally begging me to finish the book so my mood would end. Luckily I can watch the film without becoming an angry ball of angry anger.
This article is like that.
A lot of shit things happen in this world. Human trafficking, slavery, forced prostitution, child labour, murder, kidnapping. To name but a few.
That’s because humans suck. Because we aren’t perfect. Whether by accident or design we fuck things up on a regular. Not to say we don’t occasionally get it right. I’m not a total pessimist. But let’s talk about our most recent fuck up.
The one thing we should never have invented.
The Internet.
Yes I know — I’m spinning my words all over the damn thing, but bear with me.
We were never ready for the internet. It grew too quickly to be policed, it wasn’t limited in any way. By the time politicians were talking about censoring parts of it humans were up in arms. You can’t give freedoms then take them away.
The internet gives people a place they can access easily. A place they can do things, unseen. A place they can build a presence they don’t have to live up to IRL.
Because of the anonymous element of it, people talk, they share things and feelings they wouldn’t have shared before. Then you end up with 17 different frigging genders — OK WTF.
Honestly. I’m not even mad about that. First world problems. Whatever you got to do to keep happy, long as you aren’t hurting anyone I’m not one to judge.
What I do mind is paedophiles grooming children online. People filming violent acts and suicides and posting them on Youtube and Facebook for the world to see. People using the internet to encourage hate crimes and propagate racist viewpoints.
What I mind is that we are horrible people online. Read any forum on Money Saving Experts or the like. It’s rare you’ll find one that’s not full of haters. Even if you do, there’ll always be that one person who argues, gets spiteful, there’s no need.
I could write at length about each of the reasons why the internet has fucked us up. But neither of us have time for that, so here’s an easily digestible list.
- Brands can now stream marketing messages into our eyeballs at an alarming rate, this is fueling consumer culture
- Any Tom Dick or Jane (inclusivity matters) can publish anything they want online it’s harder to know who to listen to
- The vastness of the internet allows crime to perpetuate on a larger scale
- Our health suffers because we’re spending too much time glued to our devices, too much blue light, too little sleep, too little outside time
- There’s so much opinion online about who to be, what to be that it keeps us in existential angst
- The world of ‘on demand’ makes us impatient
- Online fraud has become a thing, it’s so easy to start businesses.
That’s as many as I can list without having a breakdown. There are so many evils associated with the internet that I get truly distressed about it.
It’s why I show up three times a week and I write. Because somewhere among all that bullshit there has to be someone who’s just willing to tell the truth.
I don’t think any of us are in a position to renounce the internet. It’s too crucial, it’s insidiously become something we can’t live without.
But the least you can do. The least any of us can do, is just not be a dick online.
This post got me thinking about freedom of speech. That’s what I’ll be writing about on Sunday (probably). Follow me so you don’t miss out!
Ooh and on Thursday I’m talking about caffeinated dreams.
Did you miss this one about following instructions?

