Grex Cyberpunk Conference

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Grex Cyberpunk Item 48: Backlash against the net?
Entered by raven on Fri Jun 28 03:50:13 UTC 1996:

        This is the item to discuss the backlash against online culture.
Probably everyone has heard about Ann Landers comments about the internet
as a trysting site, and a place for "lonely" people. Furthermore we have
Clifford Stoll's thoughtful "Silicon Snakeoil," a new collection of essays
(for the most part decent) called "Resisting the Virtual Life," and the
infamous Unabomber manifesto as evidence of a growing backlash against the
internet.
        I myself have a certain abivalence against some aspects of online
culture.  I have personaly been burned when trying to use e-mail to sort
out personal problems with friends, showing  to me that e-mail is a poor
place to communicate emotions.  I have also been saddened to watch the
world wide web devolve towards endless demos, and sales ploys and ruthless
commercalism.  When I first started net surfing in early 1993 it seemed like
there was much more of a volunteer and "do it yourself" spirit on the net.
        Ofcourse I'm typing my gripes onto a BBS and I'm employed selling
computers and designing web sites so I can't quite call myself a luddite
though I sympathsize with many luddite arguments.
        Is the backlash against online culture just sour grapes from the 
technicaly ignorant, or do we all have something to learn from these 
critiques of our societies mad rush to embrace everything "cyber?"

6 responses total.

#1 of 6 by srw on Sat Jun 29 21:02:25 1996:

It seems like the Ann Landers types are at risk of being
trampled by the horde heading for inet on-ramps. I don't want to minimize the
negative influence that grossly inaccurate statements can have on people's
understanding of on-line culture, but it isn't deterring growth.

#2 of 6 by scott on Sat Jun 29 22:58:45 1996:

I think there will some backlash against the net by those who tried it and
found it didn't live up to the hype.  That will be a lot of people, given the
hype level.

However, I think it will be absorbed and will influence mass culture in a way
that just swamps resistance.  Kids, for instance, get into it, and have
learned how to communicate more effectively than a lot of adults in this
medium.  E-mail can be a tricky place to work with emotions, but so can
face-to-face.  Right now it's like we've got all these people who have never
had a face, so of course they blunder about and get into all sorts of scrapes
because of their lack of familiarity.

My own history goes back a bit.  I got onto the net around 1990, mainly just
Usenet.  I got very excited by the communcation possibilities, although I had
to drop off when I left college.  Then I got into Grex a couple years ago and
ran into people who already had a solid background in this new medium.  For
me, it was (and is) a great way to communicate.  It *is* tricky, at times.
I have to put some thought into how to communicate delicate issues properly.
Sounds hokey, but love letters in email aren't much different than in
snail-mail.  Both take a lot of work to write.

#3 of 6 by srw on Sun Jun 30 01:18:34 1996:

It is my sincere hope that this medium will increase literacy and cause more
people to learn how to express themselves clearly.  Well, that's dirft I
think. Back to "backlash".

#4 of 6 by johnl on Tue Jul 9 11:33:51 1996:

The backlash was inevitable don't you think? Heaps of people forming strange
ideas from various advertisements and then being dissappointed. I've been on
since 93 as well and I feel like a grizzled veteran! The spirit has changed
that's for sure (in an overall sence) but the people who made the Net what
it once was are still mostly there and I'm cautiously optimistic about the
future especilally the role people can (hopefully will) play in democracies
with the Net.

#5 of 6 by scott on Sun Jul 28 19:43:18 1996:

A guy at the Ann Arbor Art Fair was carrying a sign board that said "The
Internet Ends in 1 Day - Repent Now", and handing out fliers for a local
computer art club.

#6 of 6 by font on Sun Apr 20 04:27:55 1997:

Backlash is a nessasary vent and "gathering place" for ann landers types and
others.  I mean, there may be some good that comes out of people gryping about
something that is big.  I am not saying that I agree with Ann Landers, or
any of those people, just that there might be others who join in the complaint
cloud who will have some good ideas about what to do about some of the
problems of the internet.  Personally, I hang around grex because it's one
of the few places that hasn't been conquered by omnipresent commertialism.
(we have one place for it, and it stays there....and it doesn't blink at you
or charge you for looking at it)

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