....and it came from freaking cracked.com:
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2370
I got pointed to that from a thread on RPGnet, and frankly, I have to agree with almost every single point. I don't want to get all emo about it, but dealing with depression myself I know that a lot of the points they bring up are the exact things that make things worse for me. As great as the internet has been, the fact that social interaction has taken a drastic turn for the worse for a great many people can't be a good thing.
The thing that crystallizes this for me is the experience I had after going to GenCon this year; I had a great time, as usual, hanging out with the NSDM folks, going to the RPGnet meet, and talking to some of the ISD people at the CCP/White Wolf booth. I was out almost every night till crazy hours (still pissed I missed the White Wolf party, but my own fault for not talking to the Eve folks earlier) and had great, challenging conversations with tons of people on a huge range of topics. For a few days, I actually got excited about something again -- which doesn't happen nearly enough anymore.
But the week after I came back, it was like crashing after a high -- the fact that I don't have that kind of social engagement here was just all the more apparent. Despite the fact that most of the people I met up with at GenCon are people I talk to pretty regularly online, it wasn't even close to the same. The worst part was sitting there and knowing that a good part of it was just my own damn fault for not getting out and doing something about it. Now, I know I have other reasons for social maladjustment, but I can't help but think the fact that I have been knee-deep in the internet in a variety of ways since I was in my early teens hasn't been a good chunk of the problem too.
Anyway, I don't want to get all emo here -- I don't want to have that kind of a blog -- but that article definitely put into words some things I've been feeling for a while.
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2370
I got pointed to that from a thread on RPGnet, and frankly, I have to agree with almost every single point. I don't want to get all emo about it, but dealing with depression myself I know that a lot of the points they bring up are the exact things that make things worse for me. As great as the internet has been, the fact that social interaction has taken a drastic turn for the worse for a great many people can't be a good thing.
The thing that crystallizes this for me is the experience I had after going to GenCon this year; I had a great time, as usual, hanging out with the NSDM folks, going to the RPGnet meet, and talking to some of the ISD people at the CCP/White Wolf booth. I was out almost every night till crazy hours (still pissed I missed the White Wolf party, but my own fault for not talking to the Eve folks earlier) and had great, challenging conversations with tons of people on a huge range of topics. For a few days, I actually got excited about something again -- which doesn't happen nearly enough anymore.
But the week after I came back, it was like crashing after a high -- the fact that I don't have that kind of social engagement here was just all the more apparent. Despite the fact that most of the people I met up with at GenCon are people I talk to pretty regularly online, it wasn't even close to the same. The worst part was sitting there and knowing that a good part of it was just my own damn fault for not getting out and doing something about it. Now, I know I have other reasons for social maladjustment, but I can't help but think the fact that I have been knee-deep in the internet in a variety of ways since I was in my early teens hasn't been a good chunk of the problem too.
Anyway, I don't want to get all emo here -- I don't want to have that kind of a blog -- but that article definitely put into words some things I've been feeling for a while.
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