The internet has really and truly changed what people think is a normal way to communicate with a stranger
So much this. Imagine someone coming to the door of your home and trying to speak the way people do on the internet!
and clearly not even remotely for the better!
Way back in the late 90s/early 00s (yes kids, nearly the dawn of the internet) I made a personal rule to never say anything to anyone online that I wouldn’t say to their face. It has served me well. Of course, it has required me to say some pretty silly things to people, but still worth it.
Social media duped us. Connect ppl my ass. These are prescribed outrage farms. Social media is a veneer for "advertising/revenue generating machine". Rage and drama == impressions == $$$ and it's repeatable.
I can totally relate. You used to have to go open the trunk of your car.
It's really exhausting to have had my brain involuntarily trained to scan what I say for the most wild reads of it. That sucks!
I’m not even convinced what happens on the internet *is* communication, honestly.
My working theory is that the engagement and promotion algorithms on most social media have rigged us to approach people as content/entertainment instead of people
Even before the Internet became public I had no problem talking to strangers. ;)