[WhyOhWhyQ]

When I was a kid I joined a random BBCode forum with a group of 10 people who taught me how to program. There were challenges some passionate person set up and he would give tips to me and a few others for free. We hung out all day. That's gone.

[soulofmischief]

We can create spaces like that again, and teach the younger generations, instead of antagonizing them, coddling them and banning them from congregating on the internet.

[WhyOhWhyQ]

The actual forces promote toxic platforms like TikTok, Sora, Twitter, BlueSky with no real productive value at all. Even HN is a waste of our lives yet here we are.

[soulofmischief]

I have a great time on the internet. I meet new people all the time, and I have met many of them in real life, and many of them have become good friends. I am sorry you're having such a bad time, but if you looked around, you'd see there are many healthy communities built around all sorts of interests.

Some of them even live on TikTok. I don't use TikTok, but my girlfriend uses it quite a lot and while there is plenty of brainrot, she also learns a lot from it, too.