We must be on some psychic wavelength, because I was thinking about something similar to this recently--due to going through...a lot of archived old websites. Mainly in how, back in Ye Olden Days, you arguably had way more safe spaces to escape (whether idk MSN Messenger, your own site, your own site AND forum, what have ye) and even if there were trolls or "flamers" (i feel old, I forgot that term even existed), after a while, you still had some support--and people respected whatever hard boundaries there were because everyone understood that while the internet was real, it was also "not real." We knew what was the real world, and what wasn't.
So the "disengaged cruelty", to a certain degree, was kept offline. But there were still very much places that caused trauma back then, almost perhaps a proto-version of "disengaged cruelty." But you also had to know how to navigate to avoid those if you were ever lucky enough to hear whispers. (Newgrounds was so different in the 00s. At least, its rep back then is why I avoided it.)
I'm not going to wholly doxx myself but let's just say I've been in situations where I've seen people chat with "disengaged cruelty" online on steroids, to the point where people will ask *me* on why do I insist on treating trolls or scum humanely as possible. And it's like...unless the person actively tries to do harm (and my standards are admittedly very different from everyone else's in this sphere; I often get seen as disciplinarian! o.o), if the person's just trolling, whatever, you know they have nothing else to do, just kill them with kindness. And often times than not, the troll turns out to simply be someone trying to figure a topic out, finding an active place, and we'll end up having a tense convo that ends in a stalemate but nobody at least stopped seeing the other person as human.
I feel like a select group of people have willingly decided to lose the skill of knowing what's real and what's not, just because they think being blunt and REAL is cool and better than being nice, because being an asshole makes people afraid of being trolls. And yet. All I ever see is most people going, "why the HELL are you here, go away." Heck, I'll see some folks being made fun of because they don't like swearing. Someone not liking swearing doesn't mean they deserve to be made fun of. But maybe that's just me.
tbh, feels like it's on the same axis as "ew cringe, why are you being SINCERE on main about this thing?" Just today, I read this article and it's very interesting, because I've only heard adults use this online but they use it sexually because duh, of course they would--but kids use it in the same vein as "ew, sincerity." https://www.parents.com/what-does-glazing-mean-in-slang-11747148
I don't know. All I know is, I agree with your worry, while at the same time unable to not feel grateful that I'm not growing up as a kid and teen these days.
no subject
So the "disengaged cruelty", to a certain degree, was kept offline. But there were still very much places that caused trauma back then, almost perhaps a proto-version of "disengaged cruelty." But you also had to know how to navigate to avoid those if you were ever lucky enough to hear whispers. (Newgrounds was so different in the 00s. At least, its rep back then is why I avoided it.)
I'm not going to wholly doxx myself but let's just say I've been in situations where I've seen people chat with "disengaged cruelty" online on steroids, to the point where people will ask *me* on why do I insist on treating trolls or scum humanely as possible. And it's like...unless the person actively tries to do harm (and my standards are admittedly very different from everyone else's in this sphere; I often get seen as disciplinarian! o.o), if the person's just trolling, whatever, you know they have nothing else to do, just kill them with kindness. And often times than not, the troll turns out to simply be someone trying to figure a topic out, finding an active place, and we'll end up having a tense convo that ends in a stalemate but nobody at least stopped seeing the other person as human.
I feel like a select group of people have willingly decided to lose the skill of knowing what's real and what's not, just because they think being blunt and REAL is cool and better than being nice, because being an asshole makes people afraid of being trolls. And yet. All I ever see is most people going, "why the HELL are you here, go away." Heck, I'll see some folks being made fun of because they don't like swearing. Someone not liking swearing doesn't mean they deserve to be made fun of. But maybe that's just me.
tbh, feels like it's on the same axis as "ew cringe, why are you being SINCERE on main about this thing?" Just today, I read this article and it's very interesting, because I've only heard adults use this online but they use it sexually because duh, of course they would--but kids use it in the same vein as "ew, sincerity." https://www.parents.com/what-does-glazing-mean-in-slang-11747148
I don't know. All I know is, I agree with your worry, while at the same time unable to not feel grateful that I'm not growing up as a kid and teen these days.