I agree. The tool's only as good as the person wielding it.

I think the unhealthiest thing about the internet is also one of its greatest benefits: it allows people of minority viewpoints to share and discuss things they otherwise couldn't.

This site, for example is an excellent repository for information and discussions that I couldn't typically have with people in my day to day life. This is a powerful and egalitarian tool, that brings information to the masses. Nothing has benefited the middle class like this since the printing press.

On the other hand, people with destructive, inaccurate, or hateful viewpoints are able to find echo chambers to reinforce those viewpoints and entrench them. There is a feedback loop where these groups reinforce viewpoints, creating a feeling of disconnect from the world at large, leading to individuals spending more and more time isolated in their particular subculture.Society reflects this in the increasing radicalization and fragmentation of political and ideological groups. As one's world-view stops being challenged and is only reinforced, people stop critically examining their beliefs and become beholden to the large-scale cultural memes of their in-group. I think this is one place where entheogens can be powerful--nothing like a DMT-hyperspace-slap-in-the-face to get someone back in the habit of self-examination.

Some very valid points made on this thread.

For me, the most worrying thing about the internet (and modern media) is the ability it gives to devious and manipulative people in all walks of life to extend their destructive behaviour outside their immediate circle to a much wider population where it is likely to influence vulnerable minds. There are no checks and balances to control this.

Although I don't condone censorship of any sort, I can understand why the Chinese and North Korean governments want to control what their citizens can access even though it is a bit hypocritical of them.

For me, the only worrying thing in this is that such vulnerable minds exist to begin with (but I trust it's mostly a fleeting, transitional thing; of course some sort of bell curve will always be there; every village has its fool).

The internet is only exposing them. It's doing a great job. For something to be healed or changed, it needs to be exposed first.

We each need to grow our own shields against manipulation, rather than rely on our hopes that no one will try to manipulate us, because that's an unrealistic expectation.

In that pursuit, knowledge is our friend, and what gives us better access to knowledge than the internet?

I trust that the internet will lead to the creation of a new human; one that is knowledgeable, skilled, critical, responsible and more self-reliant. Because that's what the internet promotes. This process of improvement may be mediated through some sort of natural selection.

The only way is forward, and that can't happen without free, decentralized, authority-less access to and production of content, because someone who appears crazy may turn out to be a genius in the end.

Knowledge of the heart (the soul) is not found on the internet or computers, or other diversions, it is also not found by search engines...nor alternative search engines or the waybackmashine or in gathering information about how the brain functions...and when it is lost, and when there ain't much of a difference between the human 'mashine' and the actual mashines, then we are indeed dead, the walking dead....

The soul-sucking email world makes people crazy, just like my hatred of leaf blowers. The internet is cool though.

Knowledge is about how you learn, more than what you learn. To have everything a click away, written on a flat screen. It's no experience. You know things you don't live, and that is the core problem of the truth of our lives. The distance is appealing, feeling far out is appealing. But you can't always send probes in the ocean or read about it, you can't cross it by building bridge because that's not you. You have to swim.

Knowledge is addictive. We like to piece things together, we feel a sense of fulfillment from it (maybe it reminds us of the oozing of our spiritual nature). And that's partly why we like to read: you can piece together all the letters and words and get the bigger picture.

But externalizing knowledge will always be separating us from the world, because it goes another way than the body knowledge, more ancestral and universal, the instinctual. The one that is experienced, beyond words, only felt.

This thirst for knowledge is only the better face of the bitter hunger that tears us and makes us devour the world. To seek a truth that is born out of a desire for control will only lead to more control and pain. The surface "goodness" won't change much to that.

It's known that you will be more inclined to believe information passed through an self generating light screen than a paper. This highlights greatly how we have associated light with knowledge. From the darkness, the primordial mud, we can now differentiate things. Light has come our way.

This ill representation of knowledge, that denies the "shadow" any form of wisdom (and the shadow is death, indefirenciation and so unity), leads us to rely too much on our visual senses. The body is unseen, most senses are. We have literally lost the ability to see the unseen, to feel. And that's what the 'form' of the internet, but even books, partakes in, what they will keep promoting. We can see far, but can only feel what is near. Relying too much on our eyes, those windows, we have become estranged with the world, we feel lonely, but our body, nature, they're calling us to be closer. There's warmth in bathing even in the most terrible cold, because you're not bathing alone.

Recently some research on conspiracy theories has shown that the main contributor to the rise of "flat earth" is youtube.

The youtube algorithm learns that controversial video's generate more traffic.

So in a way, social media (i don't expect facebook to be MORE ethical than youtube here) are pushing controversial, polarising content on us.

This definately fits my personal experience. I have watched a flat earth video once, several months ago, and youtube is STILL recomending me flat earth video's.