Wow, this is where I end up on the internet tonight.

I'm also a 22 year old (born in 1989) who has spent too much time on the internet. I joined my first forum as a kid (really embarrassing posts ugh) in 2001 and haven't really stopped browsing since. I never watch TV, I don't party hard or get in the 'wrong' crowds and have a healthy balanced lifestyle BUT I feel the internet is almost as responsible for this as my parents. I feel my generation is the first to be really 'raised' by the internet.

I'm not talking email/facebook/twitter but, as this article talks about, the deeper levels of the net. The 'masses' have only just gone internet social in the past couple years. Heck, the fact twitter is so hyped up in the media is that the 'public conscious' doesn't know any better. But technology to work twitter has been around since the 80s! I feel there is becoming a bit of a class structure in terms of information access and broad knowledge. Facts and reality are starting to win political arguments and make redundant a lot of social norms. And the 'majority' or 'mainstream' seem to be fighting tooth and nail to keep it away.

They demonize the internet. They spread word that it is 'filled with lies' and 'you can't believe anything you read on it'. Which, we know, is more of a reflection on man's ability to be in denial than man's inhered-ed dishonesty.

It makes me mad, to have access to all this truth and information about everything ever – and have so many people unaware of their opportunity to be exposed to it too.

The internet is exposing western society's social norms and culture as a lot of bunk. Not all bunk but some pretty key elements. For example, religious affiliation is correlated with geography more than any other variable and yet its members still see themselves as possesses of the 'ultimate truth'.

All I know is the internets seem to have slowly turned me into a cynical hippy and I have a feeling there are others out there.

It makes me mad, to have access to all this truth and information about everything ever – and have so many people unaware of their opportunity to be exposed to it too. The internet is exposing western society's social norms and culture as a lot of bunk. Not all bunk but some pretty key elements. For example, religious affiliation is correlated with geography more than any other variable and yet its members still see themselves as possesses of the 'ultimate truth'.

All I know is the internets seem to have slowly turned me into a cynical hippy and I have a feeling there are others out there.

Actually the conservatives I know tend to be more interested in tangible things such as reaping crops, hunting for deer, and building houses. It never sit well with me that the Internet can never grow crops or build a house. It's quite vulnerable and needy, and the threat of a solar storm doesn't instill confidence. The Internet is a glorified telephone, that's about it.

Wait a minute, isn't it the women who like to talk to each other on the phone all day long?

Thanks for the essay (I really don't mind the length as it shows engagement) and I basically agree with you in my points 2 and 3.

Optimism is not difficult to have in this age of free information but unfortunately I can't avoid having some pessimism when I see how much the status quo is trying to stiffle online dialogue and engagement. We can only hope they don't succeed.

I'm a huge internet addict. I'm only 22 years old, but I have been using the internet socially for over 10 years and at first, the internet seemed much more diverse than it is now. Today, liberals seem to own the internet. The only places to find conservative views is on conservative websites and even those blogs are inundated with liberal comments slamming those views to the ground. I certainly don't agree in some of the tactics used by those on the internet such as demoting conservative digg posts simply because they're conservative. Some arguments are legit and should be heard. However, a question came about recently to me: Why is the internet so damn liberal?!

I googled this and this article is what I found. I definitely agree in a lot of respects about it, however after taking a sociology class and writing a research paper on the effects of the internet on sociology and culture, I feel that the internet is actually breding liberals. Especially after the election of Obama and the humongous generation he created in young votes through internet sources such as facebook, it seem only to further my point. The internet is a global culture, and those who partake in the internet as a social means soon learn to be more open-minded to other ideas and different cultures. Eventually, you find large numbers of people backing things that do not further their own goal but merely show their empathy for others. An example of this would be the gay rights movement which is growing by the day, way beyond the population of homosexuals.

In order to be an active participant in the internet as a social means, you constantly have to accept differences, because there are very few online communities where everyone agrees on the crucial topics. Those from other countries have their own biases and cultures that you must learn to accept as different but not inherently wrong, or you will simply be banned or shunned by the community. Disagreement is accepted, but personal attacks and disgusting tactics are not.

Anyway, I didn't mean to write a giant essay rivaling this blog, but I had to speak my mind on the topic. I hope that this worldwide internet community will create more open minds and respect among people with different opinions. I see it more and more in the new generations who have grown up using the internet. I have great optimism for our future.