Towards a More Balanced Internet Presence

The interweb is great in order to contact people from other sides of the world and get to know their music, their literature, learn more about their ideas and lives. This is all good because it serves to inspire us to live our own lives in a better manner. It us awesome to take from other people and learn stuff. But then we have take a step apart and use this knowledge in order to progress with our own lives as physical beings in the ‘real’ world, even if we’re alone.

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What’s so important about being vegan and straight edge when we have a whole complex of other addictions, even if they may not be drugs, alcohol, smoking and meat? If we want to take a good look at ourselves, we might just realize that most of us now develop our personalities through our internet presence. Let’s face it - most of what we do and say, most of the ways we express ourselves is done online. This comes to a great contrast with our real personalities, at least what we show out there in the world. How many times can we encounter the kid who is all friendly online and then see him/her at a show and they don’t even want to talk? The truth of the matter is that it’s easy to construct and maintain a persona behind the façade of the internet, but it is impossible to keep it real when you’re face to face with other people.

For a person who is after truth and is into lving naturally, this can’t be right.

Individuals who value their time on Earth will realize that our time here is limited and that each day needs to be nourished with time for thinking, reflection, and real relationships. The internet doesn’t provide much towards our natural need for the essence of personal interaction. And when I say 'personal', I don’t only mean with other people. I am talking about the type of honest, heartfelt interaction with people, animals, nature and the world around us in general.

The people I look up to work hard to make time for compassion, not consumption. The interweb, however, goes against that; it is a marketplace of information which provides more than we can actually handle. The online information is way too much compared to what we actually need to stay informed and up to date with the world. It is the kind of mindfuck that we used to blame TV for. Maybe people these days don’t spend so much time in front of the TV box, but they have surely replaced it with brain dead hours in front of the computer screen, and it’s pretty much the same thing.

It may seem too self-contradicting to put this article up online. Like everyone else, I too hve found myself feeling burnt from interweb overtime and that's what makes me want to change my scope. Having an internet presence is all good, as long as it aims to have a constructive power behind it. In other words, the interweb is fine, as long as we enjoy it correctly and make a healthy use of it. But most of us don’t use it in this way. It is no surprise that the most progressive people you’ll meet are usually hard to find online; or at least, they make a reserved use of the internet if you will. It’s far from being reclusive or antisocial. It’s just that these people have other things to do, that are more worthwhile -- not in the sense of importance, but in the sense of living as the archetypes nature intended us to be. Look at many of the bands and people who are a step ahead. They have stopped being highly visible on the net, cut out the crap, and have turned to living in its original, pure form.

So… it’s time get out there, ride your bikes, play in bands, cook and eat with your loved ones, play with your pets, do your DIY shit, go to shows, meet people and start turning your back at the interweb. You won’t regret it. Because, after all, like any other web, its main functionis to enslave you and pin you down.