This isn’t going to be a happy post. In fact, this is a vent post about something I’ve wanted to get of my chest for a while now. The internet.

I’m going to be honest, outside of chatting with friends, these past two weeks I’ve been coming onto my computer to browse the internet, or I guess rather social media, less and less. Twitter I’ve been trying to stay off the most only really logging onto that site to either check my DM’s since at the time of me writing this I’m getting a commission worked on for me by someone on Twitter or to like something someone sent to me on Discord but never really scrolling thought my feed, Youtube I’m only using for guides for games or to listen to music that’s not on Spotify, the only sites I haven’t changed how I use recently have been Newgrouds, DeviantArt, Furafinity and Tumbler for catching up on art by artists I follow. Then it's usually straight to hopping of and playing some video games or doing whatever I need to in real life and not coming back on for a long while, sometimes not even until the next day. I mean I still occasionally make posts to Twitter but never scroll though it.

And there is kind of a reason why I’ve been feeling less and less motivated to browse the internet as much as I use to. Because I REALLY do not have the best opinion on this platform and I feel like I’ve made that pretty obvious in the past. And this isn’t me saying “Oh, the internet use to be good in my day but now it’s awful” like I have some rose tinted glasses on or anything. No no, I am fully aware that the internet has always been a bit of a hellhole of toxicity and negativity. I mean if people genuinely believing that Wind Waker was the worst Zelda game before it even came out all because of the cartoony art style doesn’t show that then the shit Jake Loyd and Ahmed Best had to put up with after Phantom Menace came out in theatres will.

Despite all the negativity and drama I’ve seen over the decades I’ve used this platform, I’ve always tried my best to ignore it and do my own thing. Note that I said tried! Because sadly, that has gotten harder and harder for me to do because it feels like the internet has just become even more negative and hostile than it already was. And that negativity can sometimes rub of on me and some of my posts. Which then bleeds into how I’m feeling in my own personal life which isn’t helped by how bad my year has been so far. It’s even gotten to the point where I’ll sometimes delete certain status posts after a few hours, maybe even minuets, because I worry I’m making things even worse which then that negativity rubs off on other people and I don’t want to be doing that because I’ve always tried to spread positivity, either through my commissions, jokes, memes or just generally trying to be a good person.

In fact, for a few years I have even wanted to just up and quit the internet entirely because I couldn’t stand some of the worse aspects of this place but always stop myself for a few reasons. As someone who’s made some really great friends thought this platform leaving it would be a terrible idea because I’d basically be abandoning the only good and real friends I’ve ever managed to make in my life. As someone who uses this platform to commission artists to turn my ideas into art leaving would also be a terrible idea because aside from just not really having the patience to learn how to do art myself there wouldn’t be a whole lot of options for making those ideas of mine a reality and my motivation to write actual stories still isn't there anymore. That’s not even counting how the internet has become such a key part of our day to day lives weather we like to admit it or not from online shopping and movies and shows exclusive to streaming sites.

So no, I’m not leaving the internet. Tempting as it would be I’m not going though with it nor will I ever for the reasons I just listed especially the friends part. However, as I mentioned before I've been coming onto the internet less and less recently and I likely will continue to be trying to not spend as much time on it as I use to only really using it to chat with friends, browse art or shop for things online because with all the reasons I’m going to get into soon paired with how hell my years been so far causing my emotional state to plummet and be inconsistent somedays, I’m sorry but I’m at my limit! I don’t know how much more of this I can really take. I have grown so many issues with this platform over the years it’s amazing I’ve braved though it for this long!

1: Sharing your opinion about anything just isn’t worth it most of the time. I mean this is one of the most obvious reasons as to why the internet sucks right? You’ll either get people being absolute party poopers or questioning how you could even like something in question if you talk positively about something or get fanboys treating you like you’re the next Hitler or wanting to dig up any dirt on you they can if you say a negative opinion. And this is under the assumption that your being reasonable and level-headed with your opinions because this issue goes the other way two! There are people who are so extreme in their opinions that even just seeing someone thinking the opposite of them even if they aren’t being dicks about it get’s them so triggered they have to be rude towards them. Oh, and let’s not forget the people who share opinions they don’t even really mean and only say them just to get attention.

I have had a handful of bad experiences in the past when it came to sharing my opinions believe me! I’ve openly admitted that I had fun with Pokemon Sword and Shield and that if I was personally having fun with a game then that’s all that mattered to me which resulted in someone with an extreme hate boner for modern Pokemon and I do mean REALLY extreme telling me that I was the reason we will “never get another good Pokemon game again.” I opened up that I didn’t really like Spec Ops The Line and gave legitimate reasons as to why and wasn't being a dick about it only to be told that me not liking it was a “me problem.” I’ve even had random extreme Anti Bronies back in the day calling me cancer and telling me to kill myself when I use to use mainly pony based PFP’s on YouTube even if I never say anything relating to MLP in the first place. Just simply having those PFP’s made me a target! I’m even scared of admitting which of the three modern consoles I personally prefer playing on the most even though I feel like it’s obvious which one I do prefer at this point because I know if I do I’m going to get a bunch of detractors calling me a shill or fanboy or whatever.

2: The amount of miss information that gets spread on here and the amount of people who are so willing to believe it and not do any actual research on the topic is actually concerning and it’s another one of those issues that’s been a thing for years now with it only getting worse and worse. I mean at the start of this year alone there was a rumour that God of War 1 and 2 were getting remade. Where did this rumour come from? Good question! Because the source for these rumours were literally NOTHING! Yet despite the baseless rumours people were still talking about it as if it was actually going to happen and it went on for several days until people just stopped talking about it entirely. Literally the only reason I could think of as to why this rumour was getting spread was because of the Valhalla DLC for Ragnarock which had a bunch of returning enemies, music and even locations from the Greek saga.

One of my favourite examples of miss information getting spread that people believed as true was the infamous Solo posters without guns drama. Back in 2018 leading up to the release of Solo A Star Wars Story there were some variants of the posters making their way online that showed the characters without guns. And because this is the Star Wars fanbase we are talking about of course they reacted to it in the worst possible way claiming that guns were going to be removed from the film entirely and that this was some kind of anti gun message that Disney were trying to push… Only for it to come out a few days later that these specific posters were exclusive to Brazil and Brazil only and is mainly a result of how differently movies can be marketed depending on the region!

Pair that with the number of fake leaks and rumours that circulate that despite being obvious at this point that anyone can make a leak people still believe anyway and then get super upset about it when something comes out and those leaks end up not being true even though it’s their own fault for getting there hopes up on a leak! (Looking at you Smash Bros fanbase.)

3: I touched on this a little before but why is everyone so overly negative and angry about everything!? Because it feels like no one can be calm or level-headed about anything anymore. You always got to make a big deal about everything now! And look, there are thing going on in the world that are worth making a big deal about and I’m not saying we shouldn’t be calling attention to those. Wars, corruption, unfair work environments, actors and animators not being paid enough for there work and corporations doing shady and greedy business practises. That sort of stuff is worth making a big deal out of because that stuff does matter. Where my issue lies is when people do this to movies, video games, shows or just fiction in general. Mainly media that people don’t like. And it’s fine to not like certain media. There are games, movies and shows I’ve played and seen that I haven't liked and probaply won't even if I give them another try just as much as there is media I love and adore. But usually if I do, when I’m asked about it I’ll just say I don’t like it and even explain why if I have to and just move on. I won’t make a big deal about it or drag out any sort of drama for several days because that’s what get’s me the most clicks and ad revenue on YouTube or because it’s the “cool thing” to hate on something. (Looking at you Anti Bronies.)

Not to mention how obsessed with hyperbole everyone is now! You can’t just say “Oh, I didn’t like this particular thing. It wasn’t for me personally” anymore. You got to ramp it up! You got to say stuff like “WORST MOVIE EVER!” or “THIS SHOW IS SHIT!!!” or “GAMING IS DEAD” or “CINIMA IS DEAD” or “THIS THING RUINED THE FRANCHSIE!!!” I’m not even fucking joking when I say that if I had a dollar for every time someone pulled the “it ruined the franchise” card just because they didn’t like a certain entry in a series, I’d be able to buy a yacht. I hear “IT RUINED THE FRANCHSIE” and “IT RUINED MY CHILDHOOD” so much and every time I do I groan and roll my eyes. Thing is, this sort of thing would actually be funny if it was mostly being played up as a joke or for satire but no, most of the people who use hyperbole like this do genuinely mean this. I mean I wasn’t the biggest fan of the 2022 Saint’s Row reboot either, I think there’s A LOT about that game that could have been handled a lot better especially the writing, but I’m not going say it “ruined the franchise” especially when I can still load up those original games and still have the same enjoyment of them now as I did back then.

I get it. Negativity sells and any publicity is good publicity and all that. That’s not even just a saying either, that’s actually been proven. Prior to their removal from the site entirely dislikes on YouTube videos still technically counted as likes and leaving negative comments on a video was usually enough to get that video trending. Plus, you’re more likely to get engagement on a video or post if your being negative about something over being positive. People do this sort of stuff for a reason, because negativity sells and that’s my issue! The algorithm prefers pushing people who are negative about everything, and the loudest voices are usually the angriest! Which leads to people making a carer of being negative.

Even if the shit they are complaining about is so petty and so not worth making a big deal out. ESPECIALLY if the stuff they do complain about makes them come off as bigots! I mean we got people who were getting upset over Starfields character customizer for daring to have pronouns in it! We got people being upset because Splatoon 3 Side Order confirmed that Acht was Non Binary. We even got people trying to convince everyone that Vivian in remake for Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door was "retconed into being trans" even though she was ALWAYS trans in the original Japanese version of the Gamecube release of Thousand Year Door and this remake was a more faithful translation of that original version compared to the international Gamecube release!

4: Even if you’ve never met anyone like this personally chances are you know about at least one example of someone who’s life has been ruined because of the internet. From harassment to death threats to doxing to people just being generally really wired and creepy to others, something about the internet just invites people to being awful to each other.

Take for example what happened to Erica Lindbeak last year. You might not know her by name, but you likely do know the characters she’s played. For me personally I know her from her roles as Futaba from Persona 5 and Loona from Helluva Boss. Well, last year she spoke about her dislike of AI generated covers of songs using her voice and even asked for some of those videos to be taken down because of how uncomfortable she was with them. And what happened in response? People were telling her to get over it and that she was “ruining people’s fun” and just being big bullies to her to the point where she couldn’t take it anymore and had to close her social media account. And I’m sorry but if the real voice actor of a character expresses discomfort with there voice being cloned like this without there permission or consent and they ask you to take something down you respect their wishes! Especially when we live in an age where corporations are seriously considering use AI to cut costs and avoid paying anyone! Double so when AI cloning of dead voice actors is possible which is not something I’m fine with the idea of!

And I know I already made fun of this particular fanbase earlier but I’m sorry, the amount of people who have worked on Star Wars project that got their lives ruined because of Star Wars fans, good god! Jake Loyd; got bullied so much that he want’s nothing to do with Star Wars anymore. Ahmed Best; once tried taking his own life because of the harassment he got for simply playing Jar Jar Binks. Daisy Ridley; was driven off social media because of harassment. Kelly Marie Tran; not only had to also close her social media account because of harassment but had to check herself into therapy as well. George Lucas; openly admitted that he didn’t want to make these movies anymore because it wasn’t fun anymore! I could go on about other examples especially with recent examples like with how people were treating some of the actors of Kenobi and The Acolyte but I’d be here all day if I did. And people wonder why the phrase “No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans” is a thing.

And let’s not forget how Sakurai was getting harassment over Waluigi not being playing in Smash Ultimate or over what other characters he did or didn’t add, Pokemon fans harassing Masuda on a post he made celebrating someone’s wedding day and the team that worked on the Definitive Edition of the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy apparently got bullied and harassed just because of how it turned out. I’m sorry, but no mater what issues you have with a piece of media you do NOT go out of your way to ruin the lives of the people involved in it. They are people just as much as you or I.

So there, those are all the reasons as to why I hate the internet and have no shame in wanting to spend less and less time on it recently. It has nothing to do with people still sending me random friend requests or RP requests or me being tired of any over used memes or phrases although quite frankly I could still probably count those as minor reasons if I wanted to. Again, I’m not going to leave this platform or anything given the friends I’ve made and how I have to use it as a necessity at this point for certain things but with how close to my breaking point I am I feel like trying to limit myself on how much time I spend on here outside of talking with friends and shopping is going to be for the better. Anyway, I’m sorry for such a downer post but I really can’t keep this to myself anymore. If I can end this with something positive though, I hope anyone who actually bothered reading this has a better year than I've had so far...