Every day that I spend scrolling through never-ending feeds of inane drivel is one more day that I’m not enjoying life.
Hi. My name is Jeff, and I hate the internet.
More specifically: I hate social media, and the effects it has on my brain, to the point where I’m considering whether I should even be using the internet at all.
Yes, really. Here’s why:
The modern web 2.0 is completely toxic to me, my ability to enjoy life, and my ability to get things done. It is intentionally designed to hijack my attention span, and keep me from doing things I actually want and need to do.
I don’t want, or need, to have anything to do with the modern web at this point.
“But aren’t you using the internet to publish this?” I can hear you type, with your cheeto-stained fingers poised to enlighten me of my own hypocrisy.
No. When I think of as “the internet” is pre-2.0 days. When web pages were straight HTML, there were no annoying ads or spyware, no cookies, no tracking pixels, no customer profiling and fingerprinting.
Back then, the internet was simply a digital bulletin board- and in fact, before the web came along, that’s what they were called. The dial-up BBS: Bulletin Board Server.
But now, that version of the web no longer exists. And sure, I could stick my flag in the ground and swear my allegiance to pure HTML websites… which I might still… but that doesn’t remove the garbage that’s everywhere else. It doesn’t remove the distractions.
If I’m distracted, I can’t be productive. Not in any sense of the word. And that brings me stress.
“Can’t you just, like, not use the internet?”
Sure… and if you have problems controlling your food intake, do you just stop eating forever? No. It still has some uses, as much as I hate to admit it. And I do hate to admit it.
The sad reality is, I really can’t be a “productive creative” while the internet has a death grip on my ADHD brain. I still need it for some things, but I don’t want to use it for anything.
I need to build groups, local groups of people, that I can spend time with.
I need to build routines that keep me away from computers and phones as much as possible.
I need to have some sort of portal, preferably one-way, that aggregates anything I actually need notifications for. I would use Feedly, but they screwed me over, as did Google, and I won’t be fooled again.
How am I supposed to build an online brand, and break free from corporate America, when I can’t use the internet?
Ah, yeah. See, that’s the actual problem. I can’t. I will be forever relegated to Cubicle Hell unless I can find a way to make money outside of an office environment. And that isn’t going to be easy.
Even if I decide I want to try my hand at selling hard goods that I make with my own hands, where am I gonna sell them? That’s right- online.
I’m at a crossroads.
I’m going to sit here until I have a proper direction of which way to go.
As of right now, I have no clue.