Would you consider yourself "raised by the internet"?

[litten]

I just turned 20 recently, and I've been on the internet since around 9 years old? I've been online for half of my life. I learned a lot about myself and my identity through the internet, interacting with people my age also going through similar experiences I was (growing up as a mostly online kid) in online spaces where you get to unabashedly be yourself with people like you who like the same things as you. That's the part of the internet that I love, the community and self-expression.

My obsession with the internet was unhealthy. I'd come home from school every day and mindlessly scroll for hours on end, neglecting my life outside of the web and isolating myself from everyone. As I grew up, I found myself tangled up in circles online where everyone was negative all the time and constantly at each other's throats and every single online interaction felt like it had to be perfectly crafted or else someone would take something you said out of context or dig up an old post or even make shit up to frame you in a bad light and call you out for it. I was desperate for community and wanted to fit in with these people. Every interaction with a person online or offline made me extremely anxious, I felt terrified of messing up and doing something "wrong" or being awkward in a social situation. It completely changed my mindset and my view of the world as a whole.

I snapped out of it last year, deleted my socials and got away from the negativity. I started participating more in my actual life outside of the internet and found better online spaces to frequent. It's been a difficult journey, and I'm still struggling with interacting in the "real world" and hobbies outside of the web, but I'm in a much better place than I ever have been.

I still do love the internet. I love connecting with people across the world, sharing experiences with all different kinds of people. I love looking at webpages from years before I was even born and seeing them chat about interests that I have now. The internet is what you make of it, everyone has different experiences with it and everyone leaves their mark on it one way or another.

[Pinklady]

Oh God yeah. Couldn't have started earlier, by the age of 6 I was already on instagram constantly, and after school i'd spend hours on top of hours on my fathers phone.

 Fortunately my parents forced me to go outside and play, even taking electronics away from me every now and then to ensure I wouldn't be a total shut-in, so I was never an 'ipad kid' but still the things I saw and learned on the internet will stick with me forever.

[livingdeadgrrl]

Totally, I was a relatively quiet kid growing up but not to the point where i ever felt too lonely. A lot of my early online experiences id say was a lot better than my recent to current online experiences  . A lot of it was on youtube which by itself prevented a any like bad social interactions but i still got exposed to pretty gnarly stuff  . I was rlly into anime and other fandom-y things which ultimately led me to tumblr and amino although i was still mostly on tumblr. This was around pre-nsfw ban so it was still pretty active. So yeah, i was in fandom ALOT but i was still just lurking around reblogging stuff without interacting w people (mostly because most of the ppl there at that point steered on the older teen side while i was a pre-teen) even tho i didnt have interactions online, i still had enough socialization irl to the point where i didnt mind not having any online friends. Being in fandom still gave me that sense of community and all that

To be honest, i kinda regret not making any friends back then, mostly because i cant rlly connect w people my age in the current twitter fandom scene, i dont dig the vibes there. i tried to participate but then the pandemic happened and ppl were getting discours-y and it cause a lot of damage to my mental health (all while i still didnt rlly make any friends  ). tbh i rlly havent been interested in a lot of things for a while now and its isolating which is why im here just scrounging around the internet for a community.

[goldenspiral]

102% yes. i started playing video games and watching youtube pretty early on in my life, although i didn't get to any online chatting until later in life. most of the schools i've been in were very isolating experiences, and i didn't (and still don't) live near anyone else around my age, so most of the people i got to know were online friends.

How do you think it's shaped your world view?

people in this topic have already stated similar, but it ruined me, pretty much. i'm only getting better recently, one reason being i found people (online) who care about me. for better and for worse, it formed who i am today.

What places have you hung out in, in the past?

before i used anything like direct messenger apps, i played animal jam, before later moving onto roblox. i had my first roblox account for around 3 years? before i fell for a scam, got really scared, and just made a new account (because i didn't know what to do at the time). that new account was made in the beginning of 2020, and it's the one i still use today.

Who have you met?

i've met a ton of people, including the great people i know today, through the internet, but there's one specific person i'm thinking of that relates to the topic of this thread. i had a friend on roblox named evie, and we played this specific roleplay game together all the time. i don't remember much about her besides from that though. i just wonder how she's doing now.

[Paprika]

I wouldn't say "raised by" since internet is a shitty baby-sitter but I grew up along internet. I remember my first discussions on Caramail, my first MSN messenger convo. It was fun and nice because nothing was predatory as today before. Sure we had scams and malicious websites forcing us to download a gorillion toolbars for navigating the web. Some things were important for me, some stuff shouldn't have been important and some things should've been important. But such is life and I would probably do it more or less the same.

My ALTTP Zelda fansite is dead now, MSN doesn't work anymore (I haven't given escargot a try tho) but it's probably better that it evolved at the same time than me, I learned a lot of stuff. I just wish that my parents who warned me about strangers and not giving your info on the web actually did what they told. Damned social media.

[Capybara]

Yes and I consider it a net negative, honestly. I grew out of my "being an outcast recluse is cool" mindset a long time ago, so I just find it sad and developmentally stifling that my formative years were behind a screen instead of having friends in-person and formative experiences offline. But at the same time, it's not solely "the internet's" fault, it's just a symptom; Moving around a lot during childhood, changing schools, my IRL friends living far away, not fitting in with peers due to autism/PTSD, etc. was also a big reason why I was so glued to the internet when I frankly didn't want to be. The old internet was prone to be really mean (especially to kids), so that wasn't a good bandaid either. At the very least I developed a backbone and still have 101 internet safety that isn't taught now.

It makes me sad how this is increasingly the norm for kid's communication to be online during single digits. I was fascinated by computers and electronics as a really little kid (5-9), but I'm thankful I didn't go online often until I was a tween and there were kid websites like Yahooligans then. I envy the older crowd's experience with the internet as an accessory instead of the necessity it is now. Nowadays I have to find out about IRL and local events via going online which... It is what it is, but I wish I got to know when things were more organic. In a Discord server I'm in I met someone in their late 40s who didn't go online until 1999 (mid 20s), which sounds awesome to me.

[zj]

Definitely yes. I spent my teenage years super into fandom spaces, tumblr, etc. The internet was the only place I could be openly transgender and escape my female body and social outcast status. The internet is full of weird people who will accept you as one of them. As a result of that, and the internet being an easier place for me to find community than irl, I ended up being raised by the internet, lol. It's so much easier for me to socialize by text than IRL, and always has been. I'm shy and much more clueless as to how to connect with people IRL, so the internet has beeen my saving grace. It's still a huge part of my life.

How do you think it's shaped your world view?

I think it's been a mainly positive impact. The internet is where I firist found out it was an option to be trans. I would not be where I am today, had I not had that experience.

What places have you hung out in, in the past?

I used to be super active on the now-gone The Blockheads forum, centered around the sandbox survival mobile game of the same name. The forum was not just a place to talk about the game, but a place to hang out, play forum games, and discuss anything in the Off Topic section. I joined in 2013 a couple months before I turned 13, and basically grew up there.

I also spent a lot fo time in fandom spaces, initially on instagram, and later on tumblr. It gave me a sense of community, which made me feel much less lonely (I was kind of an outcast as a teenager).

Who have you met?

I met my partner on tumblr. I'm actually writing this post on their computer, lol. We're long distance and I'm here for the week. I¨'m so grateful that the internet led me to them.

I have many fond memories of people I used to hang out with on the Blockheads forums. I wish I could bump into someone from there again to reminisce together.

[GeceAzrak]

How do you think it's shaped your world view? What places have you hung out in, in the past? Who have you met?

I didn't grow up thanks to the internet, but I'm developing thanks to the internet.

The internet is not my parent but it is my life. The best part of my life.

I have been on the internet for 7-8 years and have been using it most actively for the last 4 years and I am very happy with it.

Real life didn't bring me anything.

The information I learned in school? I forgot most of it after I left school.
 
Is it the morality and manners I learned in my family? I call it cowardice and not being yourself. I don't care about morals, manners were learned somehow anyway.

The "friends" I know?

I experienced severe trauma because of 3 different "friends" in primary school, secondary school and pre-school. I don't talk to anyone in the neighborhood. My primary school life was like hell. My middle school life is the source of all my psychological trauma and problems. My high school class was good, but I purposely never got close to any of them because eventually it would end, and it did. I don't remember any of their names. My last real-life friend ended our friendship because she was now so different from me.


Bad things happened on the internet, too. I received harassment messages, I was frendzoned, and I ended my 2-year friendship, which I thought was much better than real life ones, but it hurt me, with great difficulty.

But wonderful things also happened. I met my friends on the internet, I made my best friends thanks to the internet, I wrote stories thanks to the internet, I learned to draw and shared my drawings, I learned to code, I learned how to make my own visual novel, I bought many of my cherished items, and most importantly, I found happiness.

Every moment I am not in front of any technological device is torture for me. I'm tired of crying every moment I'm not in front of the screen.

Internet is my addiction. My poison. My antidote. The internet may not have raised me, but it was the only person who opened his arms to me.

[ravioliandcheddar]

100%. The Internet was a light source of entertainment for when my parents weren't looking back when I was 8 - only continued getting more involved with it years after years. It became a "safe" and "comfortable" place in a way where I could live and escape "my existence", in a way, although that does sound super emo.

The web gave me virtual world (club penguin, transformice, cromimi, ma-bimbo, so much more...), it gave me spaces to express my creativity (art gallery, flash dress up game making, forums and especially for a long time roleplay forums), it gave me a place to discover who I was (2012 - it was the old web and all the website older trans person and especially trans women did who made me realise I was a transgender teenager, gave me words to phrase my feelings, and gave me the courage and knowledge I could do something about the big boss - puberty - (at least, after it passed later in life).

The internet gives knowledge and power to the people. It is a giant collaborative encyclopedia where everyone collaborates, participates and create.

Although the internet did not raise me alone, it did brought me a lot that I wouldn't have gotten if not from it. 

[ORANOID]

It is a surprisingly difficult question for me, because I was born in 2006 and most of my values are from the web (for example, I had only one not homophobic friend in real life over the span of 18 years of my life. Yet my access to internet was always restricted and i havent spent a lot of my childhood in forums and such.

[fin600]

To say I was raised by the internet would be a massive understatement. I've had unrestricted internet access since I was an itty bitty kid barely able to read, with my own computer just as long. This is on top of several life-long disabilities, but the one that led me to being raised by the internet was an inability to sweat which meant I couldn't go outside during summer, at all. My parents actively encouraged me to become a 'computer whiz' and my father taught me how to safely pirate all the movies and video games I wanted. I didn't end up in any particularly bad spots on the internet despite the massive recipe for disaster that was, but I was definitely desensitized to porn before I was 12 thanks to all the sex ads on piracy sites. I'm not sure if I'd say I became internet addicted, but it became my main source of socialization and entertainment very quickly and it still is. My health made maintaining any meaningful real-life friendships hard, and the few I had revolved around what we were going to be doing online that night. Nobody's parents knew what they were up to online, and my parents in particular put no restrictions on my time online and barely interacted with me other than calling me for dinner. Heck, I met who would be my significant other in middle school, online. When my parents found out I was dating online they didn't do anything to stop it and soon came to encourage it. We're still together almost two decades later. I don't know what kind of person I'd have become without the internet.

[Absentmind]

I've not replied to this thread in a good while but I'm glad everyone has shared their perspectives and feelings and I have read every single story in here (wow!), I didn't expect this thread to blow up as it did! There has been a lot of love and a lot of melancholy and I just want to take a moment to reflect that on that.

I've got to say there seems to be a lot of patterns, particularly unfiltered access to the internet at a very young age. I myself was exposed to the internet at a young age, I was 11 in 2005 I started using the internet on a regular basis and I have certainly seen some insane stuff. It's honestly kind of crazy for me to think that people were born around the time I started using the internet and have been raised adjacently to it. My heart goes out to those who've had a rough start in life and have used the internet as their digital crux. Life's hard, one of my favourite quotes ever is from Seneca: "Sometimes, even to live is an act of courage". I hope posting here has been a nice way to lament your pain.

I think the biggest wake up call for me personally is that as much as I love the internet, it cannot replace real life. I am fortunate enough to have the ability to navigate life with a bit more ease than others. I used to sit in my room all day with the curtains closed playing video games and talking shit on forums, and I was pretty miserable because as much as I wanted it to, the internet could not replace what I wanted most... and that is to live life. Now it only takes the sun on my face to make me happy and time spent away from the computer. I've gone from an irony poisoned "hate everything" loser and changed into a something way more positive and happy and I don't think I could have done that without the internet. Becoming a sincere individual was only achievable through going through, what I like to call my "rotten bastard" phase. I love the internet for all of it's bumps and warts and I think ultimately it's made me a better man because I've had opportunity to reflect upon the things i've done, the people i've met and the complicated feelings I've felt. Things like my first online girlfriend dumping me to meeting my best friend and forming a life long bond with, it's crazy isn't it?

If you get anything from this thread, be you a poster or a lurker, I hope that it's been a healthy way of not only reflecting your time spent in the digital ether but as a life lived also. I hope you all find the peace you seek in your lives and hope you all continue being the awesome people that you are. I TRULY see you all as my digital comrades who have suffered and loved whilst  navigating the tricky being that is life, and I can see myself in almost all of you. I wish you all the best in your futures!

Great... now you guy's have got me all sentimental!!!   I am not the best at writing so I hope I got my feelings across. 

I am eager to see more posts after this one!

Love you lots Melonlanders

[candycanearter07]

Yes and I consider it a net negative, honestly. I grew out of my "being an outcast recluse is cool" mindset a long time ago, so I just find it sad and developmentally stifling that my formative years were behind a screen instead of having friends in-person and formative experiences offline. But at the same time, it's not solely "the internet's" fault, it's just a symptom; Moving around a lot during childhood, changing schools, my IRL friends living far away, not fitting in with peers due to autism/PTSD, etc. was also a big reason why I was so glued to the internet when I frankly didn't want to be. The old internet was prone to be really mean (especially to kids), so that wasn't a good bandaid either. At the very least I developed a backbone and still have 101 internet safety that isn't taught now.

It makes me sad how this is increasingly the norm for kid's communication to be online during single digits. I was fascinated by computers and electronics as a really little kid (5-9), but I'm thankful I didn't go online often until I was a tween and there were kid websites like Yahooligans then. I envy the older crowd's experience with the internet as an accessory instead of the necessity it is now. Nowadays I have to find out about IRL and local events via going online which... It is what it is, but I wish I got to know when things were more organic. In a Discord server I'm in I met someone in their late 40s who didn't go online until 1999 (mid 20s), which sounds awesome to me.

I feel like I was always kinda reclusive (autistic) and the internet and tech kinda gave me something to latch onto.. my dad got me into learning how to code when I was very very young, so I've always kinda been interested in that field.. and I always absolutely adored the "old computer asthetic" to the point I tried to "live in the terminal" long before I learned about Linux

Oh God yeah. Couldn't have started earlier, by the age of 6 I was already on instagram constantly, and after school i'd spend hours on top of hours on my fathers phone.

 Fortunately my parents forced me to go outside and play, even taking electronics away from me every now and then to ensure I wouldn't be a total shut-in, so I was never an 'ipad kid' but still the things I saw and learned on the internet will stick with me forever.

My parents were also kinda strict about me using the internet, though I was slightly older (I think around 10).. I was interested in the weirdest stuff like I was one of the 5 people to unironically like Windows 8.1 and use Google Plus (I had no friends so I just kinda made posts into an empty void that are lost forever now).. still didnt have any real irl friends until high school (and even then they kinda stopped talking to me the second we graduated (also it was a very very very small high school like 70 people in the graduating class small so I was kinda forced to make friends with them) i just kinda suck at making friends in general and stuff :P

[Tommie ΘΔ]

Absolutely. While I still spent a fair amount of my time outside and doing typical 2000s kid stuff, I was always drawn to the internet. Since schools in the 2000s were starting to integrate electronics more into planning, I spent a lot of my extra time in class on Poptropica or CoolMathGames

The internet really shaped my younger years, more than I wouldve liked it to. Its changed me in ways that ill never be able to undo, and for that im a bit sour but that only proves that the internet truly did raise me, to some extent, at least. Despite this, I strongly hold the belief that those -13 should not be online at all. I just view it as a danger that can easily be avoided.

My old tagline used to be "born n' raised on the internet!" and I think it still holds true to this day

[sokil]

i've spent a bunch of time reading through this thread and it's extremely fascinating to hear everyone's experiences. this topic always gets me thinking because of how rapidly the internet has changed throughout my lifetime and how my relationship with the internet has developed.

i'd say yes, i would consider myself raised by the internet. at a fairly young age, i was spending time on forums for browser based chat spaces, games, and some of my primary interests at the time (pokemon, warrior cats, harry potter, percy jackson, plus whatever video game(s) i was really into). i spent lots of time posting and trying to get to know people, and i would eventually get into creating my own digital art after seeing what others would make. there's definitely a case to be made that i shouldn't have been in some of these communities, but at least i got some cool art skills out of it i also spent tons of time in virtual worlds like club penguin, animal jam, toontown, wizard101, feralheart, transformice, poptropica, and probably countless others i'm forgetting at the moment. i made some friends here and there in these places, and we'd sometimes chat via email, msn messenger, or over skype; unfortunately, i lost contact with all of them but i still remember a lot of them fondly. when we had free time in the school computer lab, my friends and i would always be playing poptropica, co-op stuff on coolmathgames, or other sites that had flash games. as i got a bit older - about middle school age - i started to become a heavy user of tumblr and met a lot of other people who were really into sherlock and doctor who (i know, i'm one of the odd ones who wasn't a fan of supernatural as well! xD); we'd always hang out on skype group calls, watch shows and movies together on rabb.it (rip), and it was all a lot of fun.

i have to point out that the introduction of minecraft was a huge player here. to have a bit of context: i had just started at a new school and only had one friend there who i knew from before. i had a hard time making friends when i was younger, but i did manage to befriend someone in my class who was really into minecraft (and, to this day, we are still extremely close friends). she and i would talk constantly and play together, and she would show me different minecraft youtubers that i hadn't heard of before. this was also around the time social media started to really become a thing (so 2014ish?) and she was fairly active with posting minecraft related stuff; this is how we would meet tons of new people, including one of our best friends. countless hours spent watching videos, playing minigames, and even creating our own server where we'd just hang out and build. it was awesome! (fast forward to the present day - we all have a realm together )

i was already a tween/younger teen when instagram and all came about and didn't quite grasp the whole social media thing. i had accounts, but didn't use anything heavily until i was about fifteen or sixteen. in recent years i've curbed a lot of my usage and went back to spaces such as these, but i digress. i mention this bit because it's when i began to really notice how internet culture was shifting - things went from being out there and unique to everyone turning into a colorless blob providing updates every few minutes. in short, this marked a turning point where me being "raised by the internet" in a sense started to become a problem. i don't really know how to explain and i don't wish to derail the thread with a tangent about it, though i suppose i could try explaining what i mean sometime since i know it likely sounds confusing.

despite that last bit, i would largely say that being raised by the internet has had a mostly positive impact on me and my worldview. sure there have been lots of ups and downs and things weren't always super nice, but it really was the one place where i was able to explore new things and actually be myself. i was picked on a lot as a kid and didn't really have many friends, and not many people i knew around me shared my interests. online, i didn't have to pretend to be somebody i wasn't or like things that in reality i didn't care about at all. i could just do what i wanted and that was that. i learned a lot, too, and i still do; growing my art skills was only one example. i've also found so many books or pieces of music that i'd likely not have found anywhere else, and met some of my closest friends who i probably wouldn't have ever met without the internet. there are quite a few negative aspects here, i'd say, but i choose to focus on the positives as much as possible because the internet can truly be a nice place sometimes, and it's given me a lot. should i have been this active online? no, probably not; despite my parents' attempts, it was near impossible to pry me away from the old family computer xD but i think it worked out okay in the end. there's definitely much more i can touch on, but for now i'll leave it here as these are some of the main instances i can recall. the world (and web!) is yours o7