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tarpitt • yesterday at 6:22 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

There is no life outside of the internet. The nexus of canonical, shared reality now exists online.

You can try to make friends outside of the internet, but all of those friends will use the internet, or their friends-of-friends will use the internet. Eventually you realize that the social group is centered on the internet, and by trying to avoid the internet you separate yourself from reality more than you connect with others IRL more by avoiding it.

Not to mention people have their social needs met by the internet that would otherwise force them to go out and form IRL friendships. So people who would otherwise be friends with you aren't available in the real world. So it's this social involution.

Before the internet was this sort of escape from reality for nerds, but now it IS reality. It is super-real. You are a dork if you don't use it.


Replies

chantepierre • yesterday at 10:52 PM

I don't know man... join groups related to your interests IRL, meet people, and you'll see that for a lot of groups, internet can be summarized as "whatsapp to plan the next gatherings". Things do happen offline

Barrin92 • yesterday at 10:04 PM

>It is super-real. You are a dork if you don't use it.

who cares? As long as the number of dorks is larger than zero, and it is, you can build your own community. People used to settle towns in the dirt when they scarcely had anything to eat and what, we now can't open a community center, or a maker space?

The very place you're living in right now was created likely by some complete nutjob who thought reality was too boring. There's always a 'life outside' because that's quite literally the nature of life. There's no box tight enough life can't get out of.

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