The good, the bad, and OMGSTOPTALKING of the internet

1 May

Recently the internet was in an uproar because the east coast cried out about an event that happened on Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t watch the show myself, but I knew from opening Facebook, well before the episode aired on the west coast, what had happened.

This happens ALL THE TIME.

Honestly, we, on the west coast, tend to have to shut down our social media and just disconnect if we want to avoid spoilers. Which I get- when something cool or crazy happens on our shows, we want to talk about it. That’s the point of social media… to connect with others. Personally, a huge group of my friends are connected to me because of old school social networking around our shows. Alright, mostly Buffy, but can you blame us- that show rocked!

So there’s the good. Social media, the internet, etc brings people of like minds together.

And the bad- those like minds need to talk about the things they emotionally connect to. And they often do so without considering others.

And the ugly… the spoilers. I opened twitter a few weeks ago- the night a favorite Arrow character died- and knew everything that happened because it was plastered on the pages. The NerdLush crew knows how much I despise being spoiled. I don’t even watch previews or trailers anymore because too much is leaked (I’ve seen exactly 1 preview for Avengers: Age of Ultron). And people (not just individuals… but “news sources” and companies) just don’t seem to think about anyone else. I’ve seen things that are spoilery in the titles of articles. Or even used as the URL and so clicking a link shows exactly what the spoiler is.

Personally, I want to see either really vague things- “I can’t believe Nygma just did that!” (all someone learns is that Nygma did something)- or opinions (“I loved Avengers: Age of Ultron and can’t wait to go again!”). Is that so wrong? Is it wrong that we get pissed off when someone can’t keep their mouth shuts? Now don’t get me wrong, after 3 or 4 days, a week at least, it’s fair game. If someone was that psycho about a film or TV episode, they’d have seen it by then. But the same night? It isn’t too much to ask that people have a little courtesy. It’s really not.

Anyways… just something I needed to rant about. I have to go ponder my Ultron thoughts now.