The outernet is not safe for everyone. Many immunocompromised people would be risking their lives by going to in person meetings, especially since so few of you wear masks. Many queer people live in areas where even so much as giving a hint of your queerness can be dangerous. So, for many, reaching out to a person who may be leftist to build a connection is gambling with your life.
The internet allows you to build connections and find people with a much lower risk of retaliation. The information and connections provided through it has been essential for so many getting out of abusive situations. If nobody is there for these people to reach out to, many just die.
I have seen many people move across the country to be closer to the people they had safely built a community with. Internet communities can become physical ones if the need and bonds are there.
Tradition is not more important than using all the tools available to you, and that should be extremely clear for anarchists.
One important thing to remember as well, if you don’t think your action can be useful you won’t even try to make it useful. Keep that in mind when reading any comments on this.
Agreed. The people on the internet are real, living their lives out somewhere else in the world. They are just as important as anyone else. I’ve had times in my life where I’ve socialized extensively offline and times where I’ve socialized extensively online. I don’t see a fundamental difference to the relationships I make. The people I’ve become close with who I exclusively talk to online and haven’t shared physical proximity with are some of the most important people in my life.
I do think it can sometimes be harder to build an initial rapport online. The lack of body language can make it tricky to convey meaning sometimes in the same way you would offline, and you don’t get these other cues that tell you about what a person is thinking. That said, though, sometimes face-to-face interactions introduce a lot of noise that isn’t necessarily helpful either. The body language of anxiety, to me, isn’t typically super usefully communicative, and it can often become a component to offline interactions.
Also, like, some video games do have pretty compelling body language. DayZ, in particular, is incredibly good at being emotive. It does a great job of translating tiny movements that convey a lot of personality. Everything from moving your head around to different ways of gesticulating while talking and even the way people walk can have a huge impact on communication. A lot of the time I can spot my friends, even in totally different outfits, just based on the way they move around in-game. It kind of reminds me of the ‘body language’ of vehicles on the road, but with much greater articulation.
Personally, for me, I find a lot of comfort in online spaces and in the relationships I’ve developed with people I’ve become close to through those spaces. As someone who isn’t always super comfortable with eyeballs on me, and as someone who mostly grew up in a place where people were pretty fucking hostile, I think it’s enriched my life substantially.
Also, like, I get to have relationships with people all over the world. I feel like it gives some perspective that it’s tough to have otherwise without extensive travel.
im autistic, that makes it easier. People can use tone indicators online.
Yeah, it very much depends on the person. I find that just my voice isn’t as helpful as my voice and visible body and face, but only if I’m in a space where I feel confident and self-actualized.
A biiiig part of that though may be that I’m trans and my voice is the least passing part of me. Also my voice and text don’t have dimples.