I'm not sure that I can pin-point one place on the internet in particular that I avoid. There are some sorts of websites that I dislike, but not to the point where I won't visit them.
The logical answer to the question "Where don't you go on the web?" would be, simply put, every website that I don't regularly visit.
Something tells me that isn't a valid answer to the question, though.
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| Image sourced from shmoop.com |
One genre of website that I don't particularly like are the celebrity news sites that focus on paparazzi shots, rumors, and interviews. They seem to be a form of Soma (from Alduous Huxley's classic Brave New World) for the masses which of itself is harmless enough, although it's just not my cup of tea, per say.
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| Credit for comic goes to Foul Language Comics |
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I do admit, though, that there is one website in particular that irritates me: Tumblr. It's like a gigantic echo-chamber where communities thrive off the banter of those with the same views as their own, which fosters an "I'm right and you're wrong" mentality. Although Tumblr hosts communities with content which does not adhere to any ideological or political agenda, and the words or actions of a vocal minority does not define a population at large, that minority sure does a great job at making it easy to do so.
When it comes down to it, I'd never self-censure any website on the internet. If there is a news article or any other form of content that I am looking for on a website that I dislike, I will still visit it if that is the only site that has it. This question wasn't easy for me to answer for that reason, and also because of the many nuances to the question.
Considering the question of where I do not go on the internet has made me realize that if there was an internet economy, it would definitely be capitalistic. There are an innumerable amount of web spaces, and we each choose our favorite ones.
I don't like how this blog post came out -- I feel that it reads like I put almost no effort into it, although that is not the case. I simply cannot relate to the question because it seems terribly black-and-white.
ReplyDeleteWhat I mean by that is how can one define where they absolutely do not go on the internet? As I stated in the post, would someone that absolutely does not go on a particular website still not go on that website if it had unique content that the person was interested in? If they used the website for that unique piece of content and only that, would they still be able to claim that they absolutely do no go to that website? I am sure that there are those that would not, but I am not one of those persons.
I plan to continue thinking of my answer to the prompt with hopes that I can discover more about my internet habits.
Thanks for reading!
Sharif A.
Hi Sharif,
ReplyDeleteI understand your concern here--and the topic (where we don't go) wasn't a trick question, but I agree with you--it was a personal question. We all have those places that fill us with positive energy and interest--good places we go on the web. There are also places (insert social media) that we might go that might be neutral to us (Weather) or even negative influences, like the soma-esque sites you mention here. I guess the question would be more, where do you *refuse* to go, versus where haven't you considered yet? Keep thinking about your answer, and remember, you'll get to edit/modify at will until week 16.