Thoughts on State College

I've spent most of the last four years of my life in State College, but that time is coming to an end.  I went back home for a few months after I graduated, but I've spent the last month and a half in State College as a non-college person, so the experience compared to when I was in school was a bit different.  I'd like to say that I've enjoyed this town, and going to school here, I know there's a lot of people here who could say that, but I just can't.

The problem is that State College has a ton to do, a lot to see, and all sorts of people to talk to.  It's perfect if you're the sort of person who can strike up a conversation with anyone, who can find a friend anywhere you go, but I'm just not that sort of person.  It doesn't help that I never really felt connected with my peers, and there's a very good reason for it.  I didn't connect with them because I'm not connected in general.  I don't spend the day with a phone glued to my hand, I don't know what social media site is in fashion because I just don't care.  Also, I don't really care about sports, and up here, sports is a big deal.  I like a quiet bar, but finding a quiet bar in State College is not easy, because so many of them have loud music going, or have a band, and I don't want to listen to either of them.   Well, unless it was my friends band, but they're the exception.  I really do have to review their album at some point here, I'm writing down now, it'll have to be done now.

Anyway, I don't want to get down on State College, I think it's a really good town.  It just wasn't for me.  I could have dealt with it if there had been an affordable nine-hole golf course in town where I could have spent a couple of hours by myself.  I think I would have had a much better time if I had played golf regularly, living here made me realize that golf is something that I need in my life, it really does make me much happier.

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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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