Posted in Canada, Environment, Family, Food, Internet, Movies, Uncategorized

The Internet Has Spoken

Posted on by D. Parker

1funny301I feel like I’m drifting away.

Connection is such a tenuous thing, physically or emotionally. You want to connect, to trust, but how do you know when the connection is toxic, or failing, or broken?

Each day, I try to tiptoe around the world for as long as I can, but the internet has made this challenging.

It’s a Catch-22, if I don’t connect to the internet I drift apart from the world, but if I connect to the internet, I’m bombarded with stuff : news, ads, studies, misery and success, and just, well, stuff.

Page after page, link after link of:

  • People with diseases and those pretending to have diseases, really? Pretending to have a disease? Stuns me every time.

  • Finding life on other planets – shouldn’t we concentrate on keeping what little intelligent life we have on Earth first?

  • What’s getting deflated? Definitely not the egos of athletes!

    1funny310

  • Governments lying to us again…still?

  • Bragging, boasting, whining, complaining, rudeness, trolls and trouble.

  • Turtles and snakes in toilets, transformed food, books, social media, movies, cats, TV, music, royalty, and endless things going viral we won’t remember next week.

  • Riots, wars, conflicts, comets, poverty, abuse, slavery, rape, murder, mutant ants, fires, biker wars, shootings, floods, terrorism, volcanic eruptions, killer bees, public shaming, teachers having sex with students (in the wise words of Pink Floyd, Hey! teachers! leave the kids alone!)…1funny304

  • Hoaxes, scams, and stunts, aarrgghhh, my head is spinning!

  • NSA, CIA, IRS, CSIS, OMG, ISIS, UFO, LOL, NASA, it might be fun to stay at the YMCA, if we weren’t drowning in abbreviations.

  • Studies explaining things they think I should know, like: food, drinking, sleeping, the environment, politics, parenting. I figured out parenting, at first you’re disoriented, exhausted, scared to say or do the wrong thing, a bit like being abducted by aliens, then you realize, they’re adorable aliens, like ET and then, they have you, you have X-Files Stockholm Syndrome and you can’t get enough…or wait, is that politics, not parenting?

    1funny311

  • Ads and commercials for things we don’t need, but apparently should want more than breathing.

  • And remember when we only knew a little about celebrities and their lives? I miss that.1funny283

Remember in Poltergeist, where the eldest daughter is standing in the street screaming, “What’s happening?!?”…sometimes, that’s me, inside my head.1funny331

Don’t get me wrong, despite my woes, I’m happy to wake up alive every morning, as opposed to waking up dead, which is most inconvenient and usually alters your plans, not only for the day, but the foreseeable future. Yet I’m struggling, dear readers, to find a balance between using technology and being consumed by it. I suppose it’s the same with any relationship, you need boundaries, compromise and…

1. Mutual respect. If you’re feeling bad when using the internet, take some time away, explore other interests.

2. Independence. If you depend on it for everything, it’s likely to let you down one way or another.

3. Dreams. Does it inspire you to write that novel you’ve always talked about writing, talk to an old friend, travel, try new things, explore, take a chance…dream?

Perhaps sometimes you have to drift to make connections; strong connections, not overpowering ones.

1funny315

Author:

Very me

134 thoughts on “The Internet Has Spoken”

  2. I find it hard to strike a balance, not in terms of time, more the negativity that one is exposed too. Gets too overwhelming. Has really changed the world, sometimes, I feel like disconnecting from all of it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. There’s good stuff on here too, but sometimes it feels overshadowed by the negativity. It’s tricky to find the right balance. 🙂
      Thanks for dropping by, hope this week is being kind to you so far. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Yes I agree, made some great friends on social media and read lots of great articles. You’re welcome.

        Like

  3. I like a lot of it and try like hell to avoid the parts of it I don’t, Donna. I like your part of BloggyWorld, so I jumped on this THANG right soon darn quick. Part roadrunner, part ostrich, I guess. Beep beep beep boop. 😮

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you kindly Mark, I’ve been staying off for close to a week, just checking here and there, needed a break…but now I’m back! 😉
      Hope everything is great in your corner of the world. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I noticed your absence, Donna. I kept checking your house and kept seeing “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and kept saying in my head, “Yes, you can, Donna Parker, yes, you can.” 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Awww, you’re sweet, yes, I needed some time off to sort through some things and other various issues, but I kept up with my favourite bloggers, that’s right, you know who you are. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I can relate too. I spend a lot of time online ( I should be writing, but I get pulled to the dark side i.e. Facebook), so I’ve decided to set my limits too. I’m going for walks around my neighborhood, and I find it energizing. I’m not bringing my phone with me, so I can truly disconnect. I’ll let you know know if I manage to do it for more than a month.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. I think a lot of us have a love/hate relationship with the internet and the “permanent connection” that comes with it. I do sometimes take a break and unplug everything – I find it’s good for the soul 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Donna, i was exhausted from a(nother) day at the office with no air conditioning (this keeps happening, has been happening for 6 years, and it’s just the floor i’m on, not the whole building). I think you’ve given me the lift i needed to get through the evening.
    >Just as i’ve had to limit my TV exposure to “news” (news always = bad, somehow never = good, so why don’t we call it something else? Got any ideas for the new name for “news”?), you are spot on — Internet exposure sometimes needs a boundary. So i think i’ll abandon the Internet for everything… except your blog! Mega hugs my friend. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. Sorry to hear about the floor-specific no air conditioning issues – I’d be on the floor, the actual floor. I’m glad I could give you a lift and hopefully tomorrow is a better day. 🙂
      I used to be a news junkie, especially political stuff, but I’ve cut back because it was making me cynical, especially about politics.
      I hope your limited exposure never includes your posts because I look forward to them so. 🙂
      Megahugs and to a cooler day tomorrow, my friend. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  8. Some days it’s like walking through treacle and you wonder if you’ll reach the other side.Then out of 300 emails is the one that lifts me up washes my feet and sets me on firm ground again. There are a few of you who do that for me so I can bear the rest.
    xxx Huge Hugs xxx

    Like

    Reply

    1. David, you’re so wonderful. Yes, even though I wasn’t writing I was still wandering around reading my favourite bloggers’ posts (you being one, of course), I was busy, but I couldn’t deprive myself of the joy your posts give. Hope this week treats you well, can’t wait to hear about it!!!
      Massive hugs.

      Like

      Reply

  13. I must agree, I prefer waking up alive rather than dead. I tried to wake up dead once, it just didn’t work out for me. I had to go stay at the YMCA which I preferred over the FBI lockup. Thanks for making me laugh.

    Like

    Reply

  15. It IS too much. Now I’m getting notices on Google+ too and had planned to figure out what all the fuss is about regarding Twitter. Can’t fit it all into my day. Over the past year, I’ve manage to streamline more but if I don’t play the ‘tough love parent’ I get sucked in more and more.

    Another fantastic and timely post, Donna. Sigh. ❤

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thank you kindly, Tess. I love some of the internet, but it can be overwhelming. I’m learning to pace myself and enjoy the good stuff and let the bad stuff go. 🙂
      Hope this day treats you well, Tess. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  16. I can’t believe you’re dissing cats. I’m gonna have to report you to the Cat League, and boy, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when they attack. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  18. As soon as I feel my head is about to explode because of the information I have taken in, I press the ‘off’ button and go and do something else. Sometimes I come back, sometimes I don’t.

    The ironic thing, is that most companies and our life styles now dictate that we have to use the internet. I do all my banking on it and I save so much time by doing that by not having to go to the bank in town, yet I do sometimes wonder who I may have bumped into for a catch up at the bank? Sometimes it can take real human connection away from you.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I agree, and that human connection is so important. We seem to have gained so much, I hope we don’t notice how much we’ve lost when it’s too late to change.

      Like

      Reply

  19. “Ads and commercials for things we don’t need, but apparently should want more than breathing.” Absolutely! Is it any wonder I hardly ever watch t.v.? On top of little to no valuable content, I have to pay twice: first to my cable company; second I pay again with all the annoying, inane commercials that run for six to eight minutes after a three to four minute segment of the program they sponsor.

    Like

    Reply

    1. And now those ads and commercials are all over the internet too so we’re paying again, probably in ways we don’t even fully understand yet. And then they include brands all over the programs as well. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  20. I’m and IT Admin so I definitely struggle to find balance on what I look at on the Internet. One of my main issues (besides keyboard warriors) is that it bombards us with sad topics we may not be privy too otherwise. I truly feel sorry for the person that has a problem in (insert far away place), yet I feel it draws my gaze from local issues that I could actually do something about. People will gripe about what happened in another state, yet their neighbors might be going hungry. “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. I was in a difficult predicament a few years ago. My blog is reflective but also has a bit of humour. The sort of humour which usually involves me laughing at myself..a bit quirky. Anyway, after having quite a few life changing breakthroughs, things went pear shaped. I developed pneumonia and was having chemo and for a good 6 months I was fighting for my life. I was a bit torn how to approach this on the blog because I had friends I was connecting with by this stage and people aren’t made of stone. At the same time, when they’re reading you to have a laugh and suddenly things get serious…Well, I did feel quite bad about that. It wasn’t what they signed up for. Indeed, to be fair, it wasn’t what I’d signed up for either.
      Through necessity, I blogged about what was really happening and I also took quite a break from the blog as I just wasn’t well.
      Reflecting on it now, life has its ups and downs and when you get close to anybody, there’s always that risk that things could get heavy. That they may need your help.
      Through my own battles, I have not only become more resilient with handling my own problems but also with being stronger for my friends. Being able to be that rock in their crisis. They also tend to know what I’ve been through which gives me credibility.
      For me helping those close to me now not only means my close friends in the “real” world but also my online friends. xx Rowena

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. It’s so difficult to know how much to share and when to take those much-needed breaks. 🙂
        I’m glad you were able to help not only yourself, but others as well, that’s a wonderful gift. 🙂
        Hope this day is being good to you. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Oh yes. Today should be very good to me. I am running away from hom eto the Sydney Writers’ Festival with a friend. Tonight we’ll be attending Dr Norman Doidge who wrote”The Brain which Changes Itself” and “The Brain’s Way of Healing”. He’s a neuroplasticity guru. Can’t wait. His books really helped change my life.

        Like

      3. That sounds amazing and relaxing. I’ve read both those books, and I watched a documentary on it too (he’s Canadian). His thoughts on how the brain changes, changed my brain. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Have a wonderful time. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Donna, I’ve posted some insight today. There must be so many people he’s touched and changed all around the world. Truly amazing. I hope I can do so much good and help so many!

        Like

      6. I really was in seventh heaven. If I am well tomorrow, I’ll be taking the kids in. They’re pretty keen but my husband is working and they’re often not “little angels”. But, I talk a lot about nurturing the kids and it would be fabulous to share my world with them.

        Like

  21. All I know is that thanks to Facebook I know how many of my friends don’t think. Every time I see a meme “If I get a million likes I can bring awareness to organ donation and my mom says I’ll get a new kidney”
    No, no, that’s not how it works.

    Or, the “Please share this post, my daughter is missing” and you know what I’ve done, I’ve clicked through and found the original post… that is like 3 years old and that kid was found (or came home or the custody battle was resolved) like the next day.
    Research – don’t blindly share! Seriously, people!

    I’ve also discovered that I like being a stalker, or voyeur, because I like seeing what everyone else is up to, even if it means I pull a muscle rolling my eyes at the posts!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes, Slacktivism combined with blind following/sharing is scary. You’re so right, Kate. I saw one the other day, ‘if this gets a million likes we’ll cure cancer’…Really? In what magical world do these people live in? The net has allowed us to peek into the lives of others, even if sometimes it’s slowing down just long enough to rubberneck. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  22. Great stuff Donna! You’re so right, I always imagined the internet was intended to streamline our lives and in fact it just clogs up the pipes and buries us in gobledygook half the time but then there’s the other half that is truly inspiring and would be hard to do without – rationing is the only way! 🙂 (PS I lIke that Goethe quote!)

    Like

    Reply

  25. My problem with the Internet has been a bunch of relationships that went south all at once, part of the same fight. I’m miserable about that but haven’t got much I can do. It’s only Internet-mediated misery, though. The same dynamic could happen more or less anywhere.

    Like

    Reply

  26. Fortunately, I miss most of the garbage happening in the world just by not having my computer having a landing page full of that stuff. I have it open to just the firefox search page. It’s blank until I hit something then it opens a screen of sites I visit regularly. I used to use MSN as my home page and long ago Yahoo but it’s such a distracting waste of time that I said NO MORE. I don’t miss being in the “know.” If something I need to know about happens, everyone I know will tell me about it. 🙂 #peaceatlast.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I have mine open to a blank page, but still the world intrudes. But there’s great stuff out there too, I just have to wade through muck to get to it. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  27. “Does it inspire you to write that novel you’ve always talked about writing, talk to an old friend, travel, try new things, explore, take a chance…dream?” Exactly! Does it teach a new skill, help you to be brave, inspire? Does your time spent online leave you “doing” better, not just “feeling” better? These are some of the questions I ask myself from time to time.

    Like

    Reply

      1. Donna, I find it so painful to be stuck, just so hard. You are right, there is something positive and powerful about questioning ourselves which I try not to confuse with doubting ourselves. Oh, this is a topic for a book!

        Like

      2. It is a fine line, questioning yourself and well, everything is crucial, but doubting yourself can be counterproductive, hmmm, you’re right, this would need a whole book. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

  28. Another story that will keep you up at night – did you see they discovered a warm blooded fish? It’s about the size and shape of a large pizza. Forget about life on other planets, the aliens are here!

    Randomness aside, yeah I have found I occasionally have to take a break from tech and just go for a walk.

    Like

    Reply

  29. Sometimes I feel the same way as far as the internet and other forms of “social” media. I try to find a balance, paying attention to the few online things I enjoy most. If you think about it, the internet is about stuff that’s not on the internet, but I wonder for how much longer that will be the case…

    Like

    Reply

  30. I think your post broaches the subject of whether we use the internet or the internet uses us. I decided to evaluate the various uses and the research (googling) aspect was a necessity for today’s world, blogging was critical because I love writing, reading and getting to know other bloggers, but social media doesn’t really add to my life in a positive manner so I opted out on most days. Some days I check in but have found that my day-to-day life is enhanced without knowing what someone ate for lunch, where they took their latest selfie, who pissed them off or what they bought at Macys. It’s not for everyone but it works for me. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  31. Sometimes the Internet is so overwhelming that I have to turn away from it, at least for part of the day. My job is online so I do have to go there a lot but I like to minimize what I look at. It can be info overload!!

    Like

    Reply

  33. Yup. The Internet’s full of nastiness, but lots of positive stuff out there as well. I try not to let the negativity in if I can help it.

    Thanks for joining the #geekpasticheblog party! I’m surfing around visiting all the posts and collecting links today.

    – Gene’O
    Instigator-in-Chief at Sourcererblog

    Like

    Reply

  36. I think earning a BA degree in journalism back in 1973 was a blessing, because I learned just how biased and faulty the so-called free media is, and that explains why I tend to only read what I want and even then if I have doubts, I fact check through a number of sites that only offer mostly reliable fact based data to support or prove a media report is false, biased or dishonest.

    I don’t trust most of the media, because 90% of the traditional media is owned by six for profit corporations and they are going to report what attracts an audience and studies show that bad news attracts more interest than good news.

    Then once we take into account that mostly old very wealthy and powerful white guys control those media corporations—-for instance, Rupert Murdock who controls Media Corp the second largest media empire in the world—-can we trust any report that is political, financial or environmental in nature when the CEO can manipulate the news to support his biases.

    Imagine what a media source own by the Koch brothers would report about global warming.

    To avoid all those ads, or as many as possible, I don’t watch regular TV. I only watch shows that I buy on DVD’s. If they start putting ads on those DVD’s, then I might have to give up watching films and TV series.

    To avoid the ads that plague the media, I also don’t listen to the radio when I’m in the car. Instead, I listen to books on CD’s.

    Like

    Reply

    1. You’re so right, it’s scary how people quote the news like it’s the gospel, it’s so vital to keep using our critical thinking skills.
      I’m shuttering at the image of the Koch brothers, they’re right out of a horror movie. 😉

      Like

      Reply

      1. The Koch brothers get the most media attention but they are only the tip of the iceberg. There’s the Bill Gates Cabal and his multi-billion dollar war against democratic, transparent, non-profit public education in the United states; there’s the Walton family that has been spending about $160 million annually for more than thirty years to get rid of the public schools and replace them with vouchers and for profit (anyway you look at it) opaque corporate charters that throw science out the window and teach creationism and these schools have been found to be mostly worse or the same as the public schools they are helping to get rid of. This is just a sample of what the oligarchs are up to.

        In fact, a film that came out last Friday, touches on this issue. The film is called Aloha. You have to see the film to discover what I’m talking about. If you see the film, pay attention to what happens to the billionaire character at the end of the film and why.

        Like

      2. It’s so scary and weird, yet too many people seem so awed and intimidated by wealth and power and just let them take over, the news, schools, business, everything. Haven’t seen ‘Aloha’ yet, now I;m intrigued.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I enjoyed Aloha. I expected a light heated romantic comedy and I think that what what I got wasn’t the stereotypical Hollywood film. It seemed more complicated in a number of revealing levels.

        Like

      5. When I went to see the film, thought I was going to get a romantic comedy. I think there was an attempt at a romcom in the film. but the serious issues (more than one) exposed in the film changed all that.

        Like

      7. True. The film touched on more than one sensitive/controversial issue (one historical and one current). I think that romcom part was small in comparison to the more serious side of the film. The film touches on the wars in the Middle East and there is even a bit about independent contractors taking part in the Middle East wars. Who are they loyal too—the corporations or oligarch they work for or their country?

        Like

      8. That is an excellent subject to explore in a film, maybe they added the romcom and big name cast to attract people to this serious issue.

        Like

  38. Hi Donna,
    I like seeing the Psych clips. I miss the show and watching it with my family. The end of an era.
    Thanks for linking up at last week’s Pit Stop.
    Janice, Pit Stop Crew

    Like

    Reply
  39. Pingback: The Weekly Headlines – My Daily Musing

  40. Not all connection is tenuous, and not all relationships need boundaries. Also, voyeurism is not okay, unless you are actually in a relationship where it’s mutually agreed upon.

    Like

    Reply

Please follow, like, leave comments. Thanks.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.