yeah same. I also used to have IRL friends, except they basically became online friends due to everyone moving. they aren’t all bad but one guy is so bad I left the whole group a couple years back and haven’t had friends since

I guess it’s easy to blame your lack of success with women on your height or dick size instead of facing the fact that they would still be unfuckable if they were 7 feet tall and had an 8 inch dick

"Wow I loved that AI generated movie I wonder what these people will do next” nothing they don’t exist they will never wear something crazy to the met gala or go rogue in an interview or have a fascinating break up for you to obsess over, you just watched a screensaver

lol is he trying to make a case for replacing actors with AI? I don’t want to hear about these people’s stupid relationships or what they wore to some party for rich assholes

you mean it’s the time of year when you watch Joss Whedon’s short-lived cult-classic space western series Firefly™?

I wouldn’t judge cultural trends by what’s happening on X dot com, the cool people have either left or are spending significantly less time on the website formerly known as twitter, now that it’s a project of the far-right. remember that people who donate to Musk literally get boosted by the algorithm

if people are saying it more in real life, especially young people, then that’s a problem. I don’t know if that’s the case or not because I don’t spend any time around teenagers

well, I think it’s important to recognize that people are products of their environment, and we’ve all been indoctrinated into this media-obsessed culture from a very young age by predatory capitalists and marketing ghouls

the social fabric of the west is practically non-existent. we’re dealing with pretty extreme social atomization and lack of community, there are fewer and fewer IRL opportunities to have fun or socialize, and what little there is has become prohibitively expensive to the average person. this was all true before COVID, which made all these problems significantly worse

so taking this all into account it’s not hard to understand why so many spend the majority of their free time consuming media as an escape from the cruel, unjust banality of contemporary western society. so maybe cut 'em some slack, idk

unless they watch reality TV. there’s no excuse for that

I saw a lot of people on reddit complaining about wasting time applying just to get ghosted on that appen site

well I hope it works out for you though, I was considering trying it as well

so much of our culture is now based on media consumption, it’s hard to avoid. too expensive to do anything but sit at home and watch TV

I guess movies etc can be a segue into talking about other topics. so if they talk about Furiosa you can bum them out by talking about the real climate apocalypse

thanks for taking the time to read my story and respond, appreciate the solidarity

I have some dreams but they feel largely incompatible with the world around me, like working in archviz for a free/public housing project (America lol). I’ve considered going into archviz anyway since I have CG skills, it just bums me out that most buildings are being built for the rich. and it would still be a computer job lmao, but at least it genuinely interests me

good on you for joining the Palestine protests, I’ve never protested but getting involved in activism is a great idea and might put me in touch with more cool and like-minded people as well

the isolation is absolutely demotivating and getting out of that mode is my main concern now

a while back I compiled a list of youtube links from mainstream western media sources about Azov and other nazis in Ukraine

seems like a good time to share this again

https://hexbear.net/comment/3728530

the top reply to my comment contains archive links as well

you’re right and I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss programming as a profession based on big tech companies or startup culture, when there are a lot of different types of coding jobs out there. that said I don’t feel that a programming career is the right path for me. to fully explain why will require a lot of context about my history with computers so I don’t expect you or anyone to read all this shit lol but I feel like writing it down

tl;dr I don’t want a job where I’m on the computer all the time, because I’ve now spent most of my life staring at a computer, and that’s precisely what I need to get away from, for my own wellbeing

we need to take their gaming PCs away until we figure out what the hell is going on

thanks for taking the time to write all this out, I very much appreciate you for caring and it’s all good advice

community college is something I definitely plan to do - specifically IRL classes because I need to regularly be around people who are not my immediate family members. I love learning but most of the learning I’ve done in the past decade has been solitary. this might be a good next step because I genuinely want to do it

I actually was lifting weights for a while until late last year when I stopped because of a stupid health problem which is still kinda recurring but I think I can get back to it, might have to start slow and focus mostly on form and proper breathing techniques. cardio for sure, my weight is good but my stamina is shit and I could use those endorphins

therapy - that’s the most difficult truth here but you’re right

I do have access to a car and still have some money of my own, so I don’t need to ask for cash just yet. It’s hard to justify spending it without any income, though tbh running out of funds might help light a fire under my ass lol. but yeah, I do need to start making some moves before it gets too dire

It’s difficult to find motivation to get a job when you’re already not finding much satisfaction in life

totally, I often get into the negative-thought cycle of “well what’s the point in trying, I’ll still be miserable with a job, just a different kind of miserable” which is probably true but like, something’s gotta change and the way I’m living now is just not sustainable. I know where this lifestyle leads and it’s not good or healthy

Also, how did you manage to be life avoidant and not like videogames? Impressive

lmao well, I used to play video games. though I always disliked most game genres there were a few specific games I would sink a lot of time into, probably too much time… and that’s a big part of why I’ve become gaming-averse. also seeing how gamers act really turned me off to the whole thing. now it just doesn’t appeal to me at all, although lately I just waste time on other unhealthy activities tbh

I think the only anime I’ve watched are feature films, I’ve seen all of Satoshi Kon’s movies and like, Akira and Ghost in the Shell. but for whatever reason I could never get into any anime series past a few episodes

well unless you count western-produced anime, I have seen all of Castlevania which was pretty mid and written by a sex pest but the art was cool

I only saw the live-action One Piece, the anime seems a bit intimidating at like 1000 episodes lol

I do very much hate the idea of giving money to a landlord, I guess one good thing about my situation is that no landleeches have ever leeched off me

but yeah I still just don’t want to have people over at my parents house. it’s not a big house and they’re home all the time, so is my brother. this place was built in the 50s and it was built cheap, these walls are thin. I like to stay up late and listen to music and watch movies with surround sound and none of that would really fly I’m afraid

edit: this is kinda a moot point cause I don’t have any friends here at the moment anyway, although I do have hope that will change

now let me make something clear, I do not watch anime. not all socially avoidant outcasts are weebs, alright! but yeah jobs where you can watch stuff on your phone or listen to music/podcasts are chill. my warehouse job had banned headphones due to “safety concerns” but I sometimes did it anyway because fuck the police.

eventually I got to a position where my job was to pick up after robots and I had long shifts of just chilling on my phone or work computer. that was nice and cushy but then they kinda took the position away from me and that’s why I quit lol

I probably wouldn’t ask, I think it’s enough that they let me live here and have me on their phone plan for free, so I don’t ask them for cash. they aren’t exactly wealthy, though they’ve got boomer privilege and own a home, they are retired working-class people

It’s a fair point, my parents are not awful or abusive so I’m lucky there. they’re kinda dull boomer libs who watch CNN and Shark Tank so they’re not exactly epic either but it could be a lot worse

but truly I would like to live apart from them and have my own place for a number of reasons, especially social ones. I’m lucky to live here for free but I don’t want to invite anyone over, and I mostly live in my bedroom.

they also at one point had planned to move to a fucking exurburan white enclave in the desert where my chud family lives, and I would have been forced to move with them. luckily that never happened because moving there would be the death of me. while I wouldn’t mind getting to see my 4yo cousin grow up, her dad would probably shoot me in the face if I tried to turn her into a commie