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zanaelf
I am an artist that produces a wide range of art types , I love science fiction, fantasy, extraterrestrials,elves, fairies, space, science, art and cats,

Age 42

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Ra,Terra, UK, Sunderland

Joined on 8/25/13

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The way the internet has changed for me.

Posted by zanaelf - April 24th, 2016


The internet has changed a lot since I last made my first connection and said "Hello World".
I first connected to the internet in 1998, when I used to live in South Africa and started making friends around my interest in a singer called Dana International who one the Eurovision in 1998. The Internet back then was more open minded and friendly, and having net pals was a great escape for me, when I used to be Isolated because of being different. Meeting people on mailing lists around the topic of interest and making friends, evolved to into forum based interactions, which then lead to instant messageng. ICQ was one of the first apps, where in those days apps were called programs. Moved from ICQ to AOL, then Yahoo messenger to MSN messenger. I had quite a few pen and net freinds more than what I have today.

During the instant messaging days at the start of the new millennium while I was student at university, I joined Deviantart which was just starting off to be the art site like it is today, but it was more forum based in function and appearance. 

Then Facebook made its appearance, it was quite different from what it is today. It was more of a site to send someone wishes and virtual gifts of useless collectables which had sentimental value. Much of my friends migrated to Facebook, including myself. I did what i had done ..

Then things changed , Facebook became a pile of  retarded policy based pile of 1984 big brotherish tripe, which seemed to have an influence on a lot of websites including deviant art. Now Facebook has designed the trends of GUI appearance for operating systems (FLAT DESIGN), and web design as well as policees and the big brothersih hive mind set on content.

Being a natural maverick , because of the way i as born and having otherworldly experiences in my existence , and expressing myself in ideas and feelings that are unusual and alien to the norm in my artwork and creativity even to this present day. The very reason why I first went on the internet was to escape intimation and simple minded people who had a very narrow minded perspective of life, the universe and everything, seemed have invaded my "safe space" which was the internet. 

Things changed, people changed. i never changed, its just that I cant freely express myself and be myself where ever I go and have been forced to split myself on what I can and what I cannot share  with the enforcement of punishment. The very freedom that the internet gave me slowly deminished and became the very narrow minded , hard, non-understandng ,a freedom-less place, that I had had escaped from in IRL, where I was around people and acquaintnces who had antiquated , conservative, religious narrow minded views about life, the universe and everything. Where they would look at my art, and freak out at the boobies and naked shiny bodies and think I am sex offender of some sort. Not realising that I am an artist and this is how I express myself, especially in a way that gives me comfort and relief from the fact that I would never in my life meet up with people who would be like minded and be intimate with. It was a way to express these feelings out. On top of it all , since being born intersexed, and then later in life discover that I had been born intersexed, and then given an apology from my parents about what they had done in my late 20s, which lead me to have a brake down, and cause drama with a few of my friends I knew here on this website, which caused a series of events which lead to further isolation from people, as well loosing my character...

The internet today is bigger and more lonely than it ever was once before, because of Facebook, and the influence it has on online social life and perceptions. One would think the opposite would have happened. Seriously what is the NSFW crap ? I don't get it , because it is my work and it is what makes me feel safe as an individual away from narrow minded idiots, and conservative viewpoints...

All the people I had made friends with in the past from the days of joining Dana International Mailing lists to ICQ, AOL, Yahoo Messanger, web forums, MSN Messenger  are gone and forever lost because of Facebook.  I left Facebook because of the regular threats and punishments for just being myself by sharing my artistic expressions for my friends. You would think if friends wished to keep in touch they would keep in touch in other mediums, such as twitter, tumblr, google+ and so on... nope... they found themselves stuck on Facebook, and because I am not on Facebook anymore... its out of sight , out of mind.  I just remembered a friend the other day , she likes Apple computers, and I had windows back in the day... maybe I would add her with FaceTime , and perhaps play an OSX game... nope nothing, she probably does not use that email anymore, and is pst definitely still on Facebook. in the puritan hive mind. Well she is a full on musician in an orchestra , she does not get penalised like I do for visual art...

Fuck you Zuckerberg, you ruined my online social life..., especially now when the UK has gone like the days when I was trapped in South Africa , and locked in a bedroom.  I am now locked in my flat hoping that some crazy drunk does not kick the door in because he/she wishes to use me as an emotional punch bag because they got kicked of the dole , on the basis that I stand out in appearance. It feels like I am back in South Africa. Looking at South Africa now... Eish ... that could be what the UK be like in the next 10 years if the Tories are still in.

Life is shit ... I am being probed and procrastinated with and don't know when I would get my operation... No longer it is my parents , its now government. History is repeating itself... and wishing to go to another country has become wishing to go to another planet.


Comments

I get what you mean about the internet.
It used to be an awesome place back in the day. Full of unusual and interesting people getting together because all of us were outcasts because of different (but similar on essence ) reasons.
The internet was the shrine for all of us who didn't have a place to be.
Now days most of it is tainted with politically correct bullshit and average individuals have take it over. Facebook is indeed a steaming pile of bullshit (or an "endless parade of human misery" as I like to call it) being online is the cool thing to do, and everyone jumped in, leaving us the "good 'ol weirdos" with little choices, just as IRL.

Yep you very much sum it all up. Funny thing is I got responses on this website... my deviant art post remains unanswered. Thanks ^_^

Good point about the internet, the internet has change in a lot of ways. It's pretty much the gate way of the Matrix, you can say it's the digital world of life. And now the VG gaming will soon change all that. Far as these social media sites, it's best to find one you feel comfortable at like Instagram or DA and any other artistic sites that's out there where people don't judge or try to downsize your creativity.
Don't let people tell you who you should be or what to do. People tend to forget that the meaning of life is what you make of it. ;)
~MS~

Thanks, well I am on DA, and have been on for years, had a period of suspension because of the content of my art, and protesting against the mature content tags , and during those 4 years of being suspended and returning back, DA feels so dead , tried to link up with old friends, somehow they don't interact anymore , which I find strange or disturbing like something changed , it feels like DA is having its own zombie apocalypse. Ys i don't let people tell me what to do and what not to do,... but somehow they can get to me with a ban or suspension because of the art.

I feel the same way about DA, it was more active back in the day. But now people are distance there, which kinda made me switch to Instagram. All thou I still post on DA.