Net Neutrality

I don't particularly care for getting political, especially not on the internet.  I prefer to keep my mouth shut, because there really are no right answers, and you can't think of everything.  Someone, somewhere will present you with facts that could shut down your whole argument.  It's a maze of compromises, and it's a headache to get into.  But, there is something that's been in the news of late that is of political nature, and its something I feel very strongly about.  It looks like the FCC is going to get rid of net neutrality.

What is net neutrality?  Basically, what it means is that internet providers have to provide the same internet speed to all websites, no matter what the content.  Without it, providers can slow down connection speeds to whatever websites they wish.  Let's take a site like Netflix.  It takes a lot of bandwidth, and a lot of people use it.  With net neutrality in place, everyone can access Netflix freely, at whatever their connection speed is, and everything is fine with the world.  This irritates the providers, because Netflix eats up bandwidth and that is a bad thing, apparently.  Without net neutrality, providers can slow down people's connections to Netflix, which means less bandwidth is being used, but the user is less able to use the web.  Unless of course they're willing to pay more money, in which case the provider will be happy to give the user a nice, fast connection.  Don't forget, in order to even have the opportunity for people to use their site, Netflix has to pay money to the provider, which raises subscription costs.  So, internet users have to pay twice to get the same service they had before.

This whole thing reminds of modern-day gaming.  Back in the day, you paid money, you got a full, complete game and that was it.  Now, this is still the case sometimes, but unless the game was developed by Nintendo, it probably isn't.  Now, you buy a game for the same price, but it isn't the full game anymore.  It's playable, and you can finish the game, but unless you buy the twelve different DLC's that eventually come out, you're missing part of the story, and that's annoying.  What's basically happening is the gamer is paying for two games, but only getting the content of one game.  That same basic idea is what will happen without net neutrality.  You'll be paying for two internets, but only getting the content of the internet you had before.

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Internet Comment Sections

Let's face facts here, internet comment sections are terrible.  They just are.  Sure, there might be the very occasional bright spot in most of them, but 99% of the posts are just not worth reading.  Youtube comments have the worst reputation, but honestly, I don't think they're the worst.  A couple of Youtube people I'm subscribed to actually have comment sections that aren't immediately terrible, but I think that's more attributable to the fact that they are channels based on a video game with a very small, devoted fanbase who in general know what they're talking about.  No, in my experience, the worst comment sections I've ever seen are on the CNN site, which I suppose I shouldn't find to surprising, but somehow it still does.  I have literally never read a single comment on any article that I felt added something to the discussion. It's awful, but I think that it's just as much the fault of journalism tending towards the sensational in order to attract the worst parts of the internet, who have absolutely no attention span and constantly pipe into discussions despite having absolutely no knowledge on the subject, or worse, incorrect knowledge.

Where am I going with all this?  I've seen a lot of internet comments over the years, I've cringed, I've beat my head against a wall at the sheer brain-melting stupidity, and it has conditioned me to never, ever comment on anything.  I know that I would definitely add something to the discussion, but I've trained myself to believe that anybody who comments on something else on the internet is a terrible person.  I don't want to be like them, so I don't say anything.  I know that's not true, but the conditioning is there, and it's difficult to surmount.  I don't even use social media that much anymore for the exact same reason, and it's the same reason doing blogs has been such a chore for me.  I convinced myself that there isn't a single voice on the internet worth listening to, not even my own, so I basically shut myself out completely.  It's slow business overcoming this, I have a Twitter, but I know I'm not using it properly, and as for the million other social media sites out there, I am completely clueless.  I do have these blogs.  It's a start, anyway.


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