It probably hasn’t even been two weeks since a CERN discussion was held about the rather troubling path the internet appears to have taken in its development. While the rather low-key discussion which featured the father of the internet himself, Tim Berners Lee, coincided with the 30th anniversary of the net, the need for this beast to be tamed somewhat has never been more urgent.
Far too many people are falling for the subtle yet very powerful mind-control and behaviour altering techniques being applied to the mass consumer market of the internet, all in the name of harvesting credit card swipes. It does teeter on some rather questionable ground at times too though, such as when political views are altered so that some very powerful groups of people can cling on to and consolidate the power they already have.
Beyond that however, the average user of the internet is really just milked for every action they can take in order to generate someone, somewhere some money out of nothing essentially. You get lured into providing “clicks” with the promise of some easy money while those very “clicks” you provide generate sellable value for whomever it is who is behind the scam. Your time is precious so something like this should never be dismissed as just one moment in time that’s lost. It all adds up and these types of scammers are coming out in full force as a result of their initial efforts being rewarded and proving to be profitable.
The internet was conceived and developed with some specific intended value in mind, which largely has to do with the quick accessibility of valuable information for free, beyond what you’d be paying for your connection, of course. So next time you jump online without even noticing the action, since it has indeed become second-nature, do so with a clear goal in mind. That’s the only way we can begin to fight back against the increasingly intuitive algorithms designed to keep you bouncing around from one corner of the web to the other, at the end of which session you will have gained nothing at all by way of what you really wanted to achieve.
Use social networks to keep in touch with loved ones and use professional networks for exactly that – networking. There’s nothing wrong with engaging in activities that entertain you online, but that should be a definition of fun which you have come up with yourself and not one which has been suggested by whomever might be trying to make money out of providing that entertainment.
Instead of engaging in mindless debates about petty sports issues for instance, rather put your money where your mouth is with the likes of the Guts Sportsbook so that should you turn out to have been right in your analysis of the organised sports, you can come away much richer for your efforts.
So it’s not a matter of just boycotting everything, but rather just a matter of finding ways to really get some value out of what you do online.