My take would be that these type of channels attract internet people who are consciously aware of what they must do in regards to internet usage or other lifestyle choices, but lack the willpower or are afraid of making that final step. By watching the default Runescape character in his bizarre Minecraft mod, they can vicariously live out that which is just beyond their reach while listening to the thoughts of their conscience come out of Luke's mouth and feel validated. I can bet a 100$ Luke could make a POV video of himself walking through that forest and most of the viewers would watch 30 minutes of that instead of taking a 30 minute walk.
This is a rather cynical take on the tendency, by some people, to want to surround or immerse themselves with things they like, want or aspire to. It feels like building mental momentum for a given thing when something is made, if not real, at least more concrete. In other places this might also be called lurking and it works pretty well.
Def on the money. A lot of people live vicariously through ecelebs. I know that I watched Luke for a bout a year before I ever installed Arch or touched shell script.
@@sicsempertyrannis3782 hypocrisy is a boring accusation, argue the argument instead. For example I agree it's good to do what you can to fend off internet addiction. Actually, even me posting this comment is me falling off the wagon, cause I try to not use reddit, twitter, youtube etc during a workday cause it's just a fuckin waste of time. Regardless though the internet and internet communities have been objectively good for me, such as for example when we had covid hit taiwan finally we were organizing hackathons in online spaces (like literally we had a little 2d game thing we were using to simulate hanging out lol) and doing book clubs online, that kind of thing. It's such a dangerous place full of addiction and rage bait and like, truly horrific stuff, but it's a really useful tool as well. Especially for someone as isolated as luke, i can't imagine just outright rejecting community, but some people prefer far more isolation and peace. Doesn't mean it's for everyone, I LOVE community, being surrounded by people, etc, but I agree with him that the fake sense of community you get from dick measuring apps like instagram should be avoided
Most social media today isn't social media, they're RSS feeds for consumming media. They give you content to distract yourself which doesn't benefit you in any way, and meeting people in one-on-one dms or chats is borderline impossible. They're getting more evil too, forcing non-voip phone verification (so they can track you and permanently ban you if you say the wrong politics), having insane spam limits if you try to dm more than 2 people, insane data collection / AI profiling, banning people for having controversial opinions, and frontloading gigabytes of jabbascript to the client to save on server costs (reddit). Compare that to the bulletin-board forums in the 90s and early 2000s where there were actual communities ran by human beings, you could have long discussions on threads and actually meet people through these websites, and they just use basic email / password to sign up, and the sites weren't insanely bloated and unusable Technology has the power to do great things, it's just being ran by the wrong people
Honestly I agree on the news part, news these days aren't informative anymore, they are just rage bait, or bias bait. Both sides work together but lately they have started doing combos on us.
The news is also pushed on us way more now than at any other point. Most big webpages now push news stories onto you whether you want them or not. TH-cam being the worst offender.
I had this conversation with a friend a couple of months ago about how we're (born in 1998) the last generation to know what it's like to not have Internet. My family got reliable Internet pretty late, like 2005 or 2006 (I remember not using the Internet during my first year of school, because we didn't have any). There will never be a child not having access to the Internet ever again. Trippy to think about.
Yep. Similar case here. I remember not having the Internet back when I was playing my DS. So many myths were spread by word of mouth, no way to tell of they were true or not. Nowadays everything is datamined before release lol
@@tivvy2vs21 fuck man, 97 kid here. It's trippy indeed and feel so fucking lucky, even tho I'm a dev like Luke, I didn't have internet in my household until I was like 11, I feel great knowing I had an internet free childhood
Fireship mentioned Mental Outlaw too. Fireship + Luke Smith video when? They could do a Hugo video where Luke tells the masses they're Chads for using Hugo. Or not. I'm a programmer, not a YT videos guy.
After refreshing your page every 20 minutes for a month, waiting for my best friend to finally post a video, he says he doesn't want to be my friend anymore. I couldn't even post this reply yesterday because I was shaking so much. This has to be a really bad out of season April Fools joke, right?
Escapism and playing Unabomber is not productive either. The only solution would be to get a time machine and travel to a time in which family and communities existed.
Unironically true, those pine trees are really Ents. Luke's walks in reality are part of his research to finally finish his thesis, "How Entish is more closely related to Proto-European than Elvish".
@@telotawa probably because genuine words without sarcasm and cynicism are as hard to come by as genuine friendship without fame and status these days.
3:49 "The vast majority of you guys, I will never know. ... I don't mean to be mean, but I don't care to know you." Other channels: "Hey fam!" Based Luke: "I don't care to know you."
One problem with going offline is that our kind is so acculturated to the internet-grew up or spent many of his formative years there-that we're effectively foreigners to the land of Real Life. We speak a different dialect, hold different values, have an altogether different culture. This alone would be no excuse, as one may well emigrate to a foreign land, do as the Romans do, and make an effort to assimilate. But at the same time, our parent and grandparent generations have themselves eroded or downright abandoned many of the cultural institutions (churches, organisations, traditions, common expectations, proper manners, ancestral homes, family businesses) into which you even could assimilate. There is less and less to assimilate into: our societies are so fractured that internet friends with anime avatars are, in fact, more genuine friends than even our parents are often left with. Multiple (internet) friends who spent some time living in Japan enjoyed the experience because they were foreigners there, conscious of the fact and treated as such; and as foreigners, they had a designated place in Japanese society, with expectations to fulfill, manners to adhere to. Then they came home to America or Europe and lacked even that, and were but strangers among strangers. (I myself had a lesser version of that experience when I lived & worked in a village in southern France for a few months, barely speaking French.) To resign and just go back to cynical shitposting is no answer, but neither is sending young men out into a dreadfully lonely & often insane world to fend for themselves with no proper guidance (or even a good reason to bother, other than their own strong principles & ideals).
@@PPAChao This. The few people I managed to form strong bonds with have moved out of my country long ago. Some of us live in shitholes with bug people with whom I refuse to connect on principle. Maybe I'm just autistic.
Luke is like that cool dude in high school, with cool ideas, he doesn't talk much, but the times he speaks out, he says thoughtful stuff. Then he shuts up for some months, we all return to the everyday stuff, sometimes he does a video about a new FOSS tool, like a kid who found a new toy, talks a bit, another hiatus, then he posts another philosophical video. His way of doing TH-cam may not be the mainstream or the one generating money, but because we know he doesn't get financial sustainment from it, we know he isn't biased and he only does it because he likes it. Honestly, you're the only public figure I know that does it, and it's gigachadly in the same way some Greek philosophers just got in the agorà, said something then left.
This is the case for everything that becomes "an activity". Once a routine continues after the goal has been achieved, it becomes damaging. It's even worse if the goal gets lost before it has been achieved, or if the routine is established before the goal was even conceived(usually the result of indoctrination). Take dating for example: there are ever more people who wouldn't even be able to recognise their ideal partner if they went on a date with them, yet they go on dozens of dates every year and then complain they can't find anyone. It's almost like they should be doing something else instead of routinely going on dates.
You, Kaczynski, and The Buddha might be a weird combination, but all three have had a profound impact on my life and philosophy. I'm very close to pursuing a monastic life, which even just a few years ago seemed impossible to me. But the anxiety and depression from chasing societal validation and material wealth has really taken its toll on me, and practicing loving kindness is such a wonderful light when you're blind in the dark. Thanks Luke, truly, and may all sentient beings achieve liberation
Goddammit we follow the same people. Which order did they get you in? I read Kaczynski, was too struck by the fact that i couldn't many flaws in it and then eventually went on to find refuge in the Buddha. If I didn't have a long term relationship i would have been a monastic by now.
@@korpen2858 Ha, well it's nice to know others are on similar paths! For me it went Luke, then the Buddha, then Kaczynski. Basically, I became concerned with data privacy and corporate control. 2 years ago I was severely depressed and completely lost about purpose and meaning. Existentialism didn't seem good enough as any subjective meaning I created felt arbitrary and baseless. I read about psychedelics and eventually got some... that changed my life forever. My second trip, I experienced ego death and sought out a philosophical framework to explain how such an experience was possible. That framework was Buddhism, and I've been studying and meditating ever since, also reading Schopenhauer and Heidegger as well as researching the field of neurotheology. I find the Dzogchen tradition to be the most intuitive for me personally. I'm at a crossroads in life right now. About to graduate university without any relationships, and the job I have lined up doesn't bring meaning into my life. Part of me really wants a long-term relationship, and another knows that a Sangha in a monastery would provide love and support as well as being the best setting for awakening. I think I will continue practicing on my own for a while after graduating, and if I feel compelled to give up everything and seek ordination and refuge in the 3 jewels, then that's what I'll do. I just want to use this life skillfully and not make the wrong choice, but I'll only know by doing. Peace and love to you!
Without the internet I would not be doing as many things in real life the way I do them now. There's value in the wealth of information, it should not be confused for interaction with people however.
The internet has become a second brain and I would not do well without it. Sure, I could read more books as a substitute, but who would I share my gained knowledge with? Be enthusiastic with about some cool tech that can make our life easier?
Facebook and Twitter can just die and nothing of value will have been lost. OK, maybe Twitter had some minor uses (updates on some large tragedy were always well executed), but we'll survive without.
But my internet friends I’ve had I’ve always had a deeper connection with than just random people that live within my vicinity that usually have not much in common with me, I never considered people I’ve gone to school with as friends and it’s risky to befriend coworkers. I’ve only considered a couple people offline real friends and I actually met them from off the internet using meetup. I’ve been ghosted as well as have ghosted people. I don’t have any friends anymore, I just don’t want any friends.
Same. I've never really fit in with people irl and internet has been a god sent for learning, socialising and creating pleasant moments with other people. I don't have any physical or intellectual impairments, which makes it kinda odd, but it's hard to find common interests with people
Hey, Luke. You're right that we don't need you, but I think you should consider the good you do on the internet. I think I speak for many of us when I say that I really appreciate you and your videos. They have given me a lot of value, especially the life advice and philosophy ones.
The best way to start getting away from the internet is to give yourself less reason to use it. Don't use social media to talk to people instead go outside and find a makerspace or some kind of hobby club. Don't play video games instead go outside and play sports. I don't use the internet for much other than for keeping up on technology using TH-cam, downloading books, reading manual pages and downloading source code. Much less overwhelmed.
those pine trees in the background seem to be planted for the logging/paper/lumber/cardboard industry. It seems to just be one species of pine tree and meticulously monoculturally planted.
There are a lot of insane tax incentives for running a "tree farm" in rural America. Most grow softwoods like pine due to their relatively short lifecycle. Leases to tree farmers are also quite common.
I needed this, if you uploaded this video a month ago I wouldn't care, it's been rough, I've tried having online friends, but it doesn't work out, the one friendship that worked is the one I've met in real life and I'm a bad friend to him, yet we are still friends, but all the online friendships, which I have invested a lot more time and effort, have ended, every single one of them. I really feel like I was torturing myself by being part of an online community and trying to make a connection with other people that way. If it wasn't for this video maybe I would've clicked on a parasocial youtuber video, distracted myself and I would've kept trying to make online friends, so thank you
All I know is in my very last seconds I will turn to my wife, laying on a hospital bad. I will hug her and wisper "Baby, I just wish I had argued with more people on the TH-cam comment section"
Reminds me how stereotypical guy who sat on internet all time in 00s was usually a social reject who either wasn't liked by other or lacked social skills. Two decades passed and it turned around, internet took over social life and a lot of stuff is primarily going through there, for many people this seems much more rewarding than actual real life. People have easier alternative than going out and socializing, resulting in even larger numbers of hermits.
I think it's good to take what is understood implicitly and state it explicitly. There's a qualitative difference between a community where people know your name, your face and your reputation and what are obnoxiously and deceptively described as "online communities" where everything can be gamed with not much effort. There's also a painful cost for not realising it sooner, especially if you're young or naive. The online interactions are not a substitute for the real-world relationships, but for someone feeling miserable or lonely there's a temptation to treat them it like that is the case. Once that happens it's a brutally hard habit to break and one that has to be done without a lot of support from community. Social media is a form of subtle fractional slavery, because nobody involved is a slave, but a fraction of them reliably act as though they are. That it can't fit traditional categorisations of addiction also means it's potential harm is widely underestimated. And like slavery and industries of products with addictive properties there's a lot of financial incentives to have others simply believe it's OK or accept it and do nothing about it. Good video Luke, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I use youtube but I don't use any other social media, and I don't have an online social life...or an offline one lol...I can understand the desperation to want to talk to someone...anyone...but I also don't want to socialize with just anyone so I resist the temptation to do desperate things like seek out facebook friends and such
I stopped playing video games for relaxation because it would steal my time. I would play for hours, only to “wake up” from the game without producing, or experiencing anything real. Now I get things done, my house is now a living project, and instead of jumping through time producing nothing, I can see, feel and smell what I experience. The enemy always gives us a fake version of the real thing. Don’t bite, the real deal is better and whatever the enemy suggests to you, it can never replace what our heavenly Father has already given us for free.
Then I'll take your silence about Elon and Twitter to be an agreement with my own sentiment: he's not /ourguy/ and nothing will ultimately improve. And people that think it will are fools that he's playing. There's a very real possibility that he's going to help usher in a real ID system and prevent anonymity on social media , which will make it even shittier than it currently is.
Elon has never been /our guy/, because he's a business man first and foremost. He posts semi-entertaining memes, sometimes. That was all that was needed to form his own internet cult with soyjacks defending his every move. Its weird.
I think most people grow out of that situation though. Last time I watched a youtuber religiously was when I was like 16 years old. I’ve made a list of the few good books in your website that I want to read. Read some of your articles, and that is it.
You've taught me so much about linux and computers its priceless, but I get this video. I've recently been on a discord for veterans and would go on VC almost every day. I'm a disabled veteran and cant work so I really don't have a social life at all. But I realized that its mostly lonely people on there, but a lot arent looking for friends, they just come and go. So Ive been only going on like once a week, and probably will stop because it doesn't fill that void of friendship that i think it should fill like actually meeting people in real life
Besides family and best friends, real life is over rated. I prefer the internet by a mile. I agree parasocial “relationships” are seriously weird but there is more to the internet than that. How bout don’t use the internet… for relationships that can’t lead to deep friendships. Nuance 😮
@@fsmoura join a group man. Clubs are great. I've been to all sorts; aquarium clubs, boxing clubs, meet ups for tech starters, plant swaps, D&D games, car clubs... im pretty introverted, mainly seem extroverted around really introverted people but very introverted around super extraverts. You don't even have to talk you just ask questions and let people talk.
I think Luke's fundamental message of "the connections you make and the things you do outside of the internet are the only real and meaningful ones. Spend your time creating in real life and not binging on the internet" is a message I can ideologically get behind. I would however say that the internet is like alcohol. Something a small minority can use sensibly for recreational use. Something that can have very useful legitimate work related uses. Something that has the potential to help connect us but is not actually what connects us; it just helps enable us. If binge drinking teenagers is to alcohol what tiktok is to the internet then we can all point and say it should be outright discarded but prohibition never works and never tackles the route causes. I think we can keep the internet for recreational, social and work purposes but just like alcohol, we shouldn't let it become the reason for socialisation, recreation and work only a tool that we use sensibly and in a measured manner.
I stay around for substantial content. Before I go on a binge I ask myself "is this substantial? Will I become more smarter, more aware after doing this action?" I find that letting people know the difference between what is and isn't substantial (Aristotelian) is a healthy way to begin understanding how to get the right information in your head.
You could argue any activity to spend your free time that takes over your life to the point it becomes an obsession or addiction is bad for you. I wouldn't say that's unique to just the internet. Everything is about finding the right balance.
I know what you're going to say. The main thing I will say about this channel, and very few others, is that it has done a public good. Maybe some will go into meme "Arch BTW" or SoystemD mode for a bit, but eventually they'll recognize that consumerism and it's consequences has been a disaster for the human race. Less accounts, less "notifications", less "urgency". Slowly becoming human again.
Getting rid of notifications is so OP. I've been switching to the normal human model of checking your unreads daily and it feels so much better than getting notifs all the time. I used to be the person who responds to DMs within 10 seconds, but only now I'm learning why that's bad for me.
I knew what he was going to say but I watched this anyway, because Luke is my internet friend. The endings of these forest walk vids have been funny as of recent
I've always found the notion of "friend simulator" content to be peak bizzaro world. If I'm completely honest the only reason I watch this channel is to feed my confirmation bias.
Parasocial relationships are almost always harmful. Actual close internet friends with a symmetrical relationship are usually fine tho, that’s basically just traditional long-distance relationships
@@tissuepaper9962 a cope lol. I only check my email like once every week so it's similar for me and I usually have 1 or 2 things going back and forth slowly with people not on social media
I think the internet is great and so is technology and computing. I just don't take it seriously, that really helped me. Also after like a year of no use i finally really started to use my laptop, it was so freeing. It had none of the old trash of my desktop pc and it has no pretext of being a replacement, just something fun i could tinker with. Throw this thing out of the window, as long as you reimburse me i couldn't give less of a shit what happens to it. Windows updates? all disabled, Windows Security, 100% disabled, also all my files are physically back-upt on 3 other devices so bricking this thing also doesn't matter. I finally achieved what i wanted for all these years, an operating system i am 100% happy and comfortable with. I switched from Linux to wanting to make my own templeOS and back to Windows and i think this is the perfect os to work off of, it has that ultra compatibility with obscure programs i like to use and it has an install base big enough to have enough workarounds for the stuff that Microsoft puts me through. Then the glorious moment when i realized i had nothing to do on my laptop happened, it made me realize how much this all just doesn't matter. Computers were always such a mystical thing, when i entered my computer it was entering a universe of so many possibilities. I didn't understand how deep down it really worked and weirdly i didn't grasp all it could do. I thought so much more of its abilities but then when i finally finished changing windows to my liking there was nothing. I knew that computers just calculate things you put in and display it on screen and it uses that data it collected for more complex programs to display more interesting stuff but i think i didn't really internalize that. That's all it does. It displays info and plays off media which you can manipulate with your inputs. That's it. There is nothing more. Computing is fun and for creating experiences gaming is highly cost effective, you can experience so many unique events with just 1 device and some old roms, its way better of a hobby for a kid or anybody to have compared to basically anything else but that's still only it, a hobby. My old obsession of having legacy devices like dvd's be compatible, having internet privacy from isp's or having full control of my os just don't matter anymore. What would it matter if i achieved these trivial pursuits? I get to finally relax and stare at my desktop? I use my device to have a fun now and i have nothing to complain or worry about anymore. I would equate a computer to a car, it has to a way lesser extend with computers something that makes it feel alive and its fun to tinker with and it can do so much for you but at the end of the day its just transportation and it just displays media.
I'm pretty sure he when he says "internet", he really means social media. I would like to know, if Luke smith would use the internet if it was very different than it is now and how people think it could actually be ok. Or maybe it is just dumb concept. Would love to hear you're thoughts. edit: nvrmind he means "internet".
@@LukeSmithxyz Hey Lucas..anyone ever say u look like a skinhead cormac mccarthy. Check out Jaime Santa yt who does a lovely Mass an is a Orthodox ordained Priest but see for yourself on what's goin on.
0:00 Got Time. Yes. Ok. What are the consequences of technology? 3:25 One need not have a statement on every matter 4:09 Social Media is weirdness 6:08 Yes you can grow influence online BUT it’s not really anything Spend more time in real life 7:33 Viewer, You should already know
My take would be that these type of channels attract internet people who are consciously aware of what they must do in regards to internet usage or other lifestyle choices, but lack the willpower or are afraid of making that final step. By watching the default Runescape character in his bizarre Minecraft mod, they can vicariously live out that which is just beyond their reach while listening to the thoughts of their conscience come out of Luke's mouth and feel validated. I can bet a 100$ Luke could make a POV video of himself walking through that forest and most of the viewers would watch 30 minutes of that instead of taking a 30 minute walk.
This is a rather cynical take on the tendency, by some people, to want to surround or immerse themselves with things they like, want or aspire to. It feels like building mental momentum for a given thing when something is made, if not real, at least more concrete.
In other places this might also be called lurking and it works pretty well.
30 min silent POV walking in the forest livestream when!?!?!?
I would rather take the walk myself.
Meh, I usually watch a couple minutes of every other video of his that somewhat peaks my interest and then move on as soon as he starts ranting lmao
Def on the money. A lot of people live vicariously through ecelebs. I know that I watched Luke for a bout a year before I ever installed Arch or touched shell script.
If you don't want to be my friend anymore, fine, just say it. No need for all these shenanigans.
lol
"It's not your fault, it's just me."
This is the best reply
Your reverse psychology won't work on me computer man. I'll watch this channel even harder now.
He Doesn't care
@@debeatox1282 I do
@@debeatox1282 n word
Luke friend-zoning his internet frens with this vid, is Luke's way boosting the algos on his other deep fake out account mentioned at 3:03.
@@tealc6218 TIL Kenny is a deep fake and in fact not Jayson Tatum's twin brother.
I'm so impressed I left the video half way through.
wow, lukesmith has bots spamming on his channel as well now. This is so huge!!!
@@anggatd massive win!
Easy to say for a man with 167k internet friends
but but but I don't care about them mannn
@@sicsempertyrannis3782 hypocrisy is a boring accusation, argue the argument instead. For example I agree it's good to do what you can to fend off internet addiction. Actually, even me posting this comment is me falling off the wagon, cause I try to not use reddit, twitter, youtube etc during a workday cause it's just a fuckin waste of time. Regardless though the internet and internet communities have been objectively good for me, such as for example when we had covid hit taiwan finally we were organizing hackathons in online spaces (like literally we had a little 2d game thing we were using to simulate hanging out lol) and doing book clubs online, that kind of thing. It's such a dangerous place full of addiction and rage bait and like, truly horrific stuff, but it's a really useful tool as well. Especially for someone as isolated as luke, i can't imagine just outright rejecting community, but some people prefer far more isolation and peace. Doesn't mean it's for everyone, I LOVE community, being surrounded by people, etc, but I agree with him that the fake sense of community you get from dick measuring apps like instagram should be avoided
Yeah, but how many are going to come over and help him cut his grass?
@@rockymtns99 I'd come over and help, maybe we could shoot guns or play in the woods after 🙂
@@hockeymaskbob2942 hopefully he has a zero turn. 😁
you're the only internet friend I need Luke
kind of missing the point tho
@@evandrofilipe1526 HAH?
@@Vingul ????????
@@evandrofilipe1526 Never mind.
@@evandrofilipe1526 the joke went over your head
Internet friendships are temporary, runescape gold is forever
Most social media today isn't social media, they're RSS feeds for consumming media. They give you content to distract yourself which doesn't benefit you in any way, and meeting people in one-on-one dms or chats is borderline impossible. They're getting more evil too, forcing non-voip phone verification (so they can track you and permanently ban you if you say the wrong politics), having insane spam limits if you try to dm more than 2 people, insane data collection / AI profiling, banning people for having controversial opinions, and frontloading gigabytes of jabbascript to the client to save on server costs (reddit).
Compare that to the bulletin-board forums in the 90s and early 2000s where there were actual communities ran by human beings, you could have long discussions on threads and actually meet people through these websites, and they just use basic email / password to sign up, and the sites weren't insanely bloated and unusable
Technology has the power to do great things, it's just being ran by the wrong people
>gets Soylink
>doesn't even use the Internet
That's called getting MUSKED.
he only uses the internet to upload videos of him talking about how he doesnt use the internet
@@chronotriggerfan Musked is when Elon sits on your face.
“I was an idiot for not spending more time in real life.”
Thank you Luke. I needed to hear this today.
Honestly I agree on the news part, news these days aren't informative anymore, they are just rage bait, or bias bait. Both sides work together but lately they have started doing combos on us.
The news is also pushed on us way more now than at any other point. Most big webpages now push news stories onto you whether you want them or not. TH-cam being the worst offender.
They're tabloids now
lol "both" sides
you know, it doesnt matter how much you agree with Luke he still wont want to be your internet friend
lol They're just doing a combo juggle on us at this point.
I had this conversation with a friend a couple of months ago about how we're (born in 1998) the last generation to know what it's like to not have Internet. My family got reliable Internet pretty late, like 2005 or 2006 (I remember not using the Internet during my first year of school, because we didn't have any). There will never be a child not having access to the Internet ever again. Trippy to think about.
Yep. Similar case here. I remember not having the Internet back when I was playing my DS.
So many myths were spread by word of mouth, no way to tell of they were true or not. Nowadays everything is datamined before release lol
I was born in 02 and have been on TH-cam daily since 3 years old
@@tivvy2vs21 >account created in 2014
@@oldgrub its not my first account, same google account but I made a new one for some reason, they're still connected through google
@@tivvy2vs21 fuck man, 97 kid here. It's trippy indeed and feel so fucking lucky, even tho I'm a dev like Luke, I didn't have internet in my household until I was like 11, I feel great knowing I had an internet free childhood
I too find our non-existent friendship revolting
I got to the realisation that Internet is a problem more than a solution.
I've got to a similar one, that what not to do being more important than what to do
@@ThoughtsInVideo it's too much complicated if you don't have real life skills and bibliography got from local tools
Don't downplay the value of having an encyclopedia so vast that couldn't fit in any book
We need a final one
Always has been
Mental Outlaw mentioned +11 karma points
nice try shill. we all know that kenny and luke are the same person
@@thechadbuddha Only Justin Trudeau is more convincing in blackface.
Fireship mentioned Mental Outlaw too. Fireship + Luke Smith video when? They could do a Hugo video where Luke tells the masses they're Chads for using Hugo.
Or not. I'm a programmer, not a YT videos guy.
After refreshing your page every 20 minutes for a month, waiting for my best friend to finally post a video, he says he doesn't want to be my friend anymore. I couldn't even post this reply yesterday because I was shaking so much. This has to be a really bad out of season April Fools joke, right?
Watching videos telling you to stop watching videos
Escapism and playing Unabomber is not productive either. The only solution would be to get a time machine and travel to a time in which family and communities existed.
Of course Luke doesn't need internet friends, look at all those lovely trees keeping him company.
Unironically true, those pine trees are really Ents. Luke's walks in reality are part of his research to finally finish his thesis, "How Entish is more closely related to Proto-European than Elvish".
and they also offer ample opportunity and places to dispose of Gaby Petito's body
You usually sound sarcastic and calloused when talking about this topic but in this video you sound warmer and honestly concerned.
i like it when he doesn't do the soyboy voice and isn't being sarcastic and cynical
@@telotawa probably because genuine words without sarcasm and cynicism are as hard to come by as genuine friendship without fame and status these days.
He found "Jesus"
He realised, one day he will die
It's almost as if he is. Imagine.
Thanks for uploading this, Luke, your videos help me make it through the day. Don’t know what I’d do without them.
Bait.
3:49 "The vast majority of you guys, I will never know. ... I don't mean to be mean, but I don't care to know you."
Other channels: "Hey fam!"
Based Luke: "I don't care to know you."
you would think that the bots would chose a channel that at least has a chance of doing shit like this lmao
I wish I had mo- ACKKKKKKK!
no arrow therefore you say this and look like this
"Man on internet says internet is teh bad"
Wow Luke, great video. Looking forward to the next one!
haha!
One problem with going offline is that our kind is so acculturated to the internet-grew up or spent many of his formative years there-that we're effectively foreigners to the land of Real Life. We speak a different dialect, hold different values, have an altogether different culture.
This alone would be no excuse, as one may well emigrate to a foreign land, do as the Romans do, and make an effort to assimilate. But at the same time, our parent and grandparent generations have themselves eroded or downright abandoned many of the cultural institutions (churches, organisations, traditions, common expectations, proper manners, ancestral homes, family businesses) into which you even could assimilate. There is less and less to assimilate into: our societies are so fractured that internet friends with anime avatars are, in fact, more genuine friends than even our parents are often left with.
Multiple (internet) friends who spent some time living in Japan enjoyed the experience because they were foreigners there, conscious of the fact and treated as such; and as foreigners, they had a designated place in Japanese society, with expectations to fulfill, manners to adhere to. Then they came home to America or Europe and lacked even that, and were but strangers among strangers. (I myself had a lesser version of that experience when I lived & worked in a village in southern France for a few months, barely speaking French.)
To resign and just go back to cynical shitposting is no answer, but neither is sending young men out into a dreadfully lonely & often insane world to fend for themselves with no proper guidance (or even a good reason to bother, other than their own strong principles & ideals).
Sink or swim f word.
Sink or swim.
@@teamacio9043 Social skills are the easy part, finding people whom you connect with IRL is the problem.
@@PPAChao This. The few people I managed to form strong bonds with have moved out of my country long ago. Some of us live in shitholes with bug people with whom I refuse to connect on principle. Maybe I'm just autistic.
Luke is like that cool dude in high school, with cool ideas, he doesn't talk much, but the times he speaks out, he says thoughtful stuff. Then he shuts up for some months, we all return to the everyday stuff, sometimes he does a video about a new FOSS tool, like a kid who found a new toy, talks a bit, another hiatus, then he posts another philosophical video.
His way of doing TH-cam may not be the mainstream or the one generating money, but because we know he doesn't get financial sustainment from it, we know he isn't biased and he only does it because he likes it. Honestly, you're the only public figure I know that does it, and it's gigachadly in the same way some Greek philosophers just got in the agorà, said something then left.
Runescape Character Becomes Self Aware, Becomes Critical of MMOs
We’re beginning to round the circular bend of the full circle with the internet and technology. Yes, I see the irony of me even typing this comment.
I want more internet friends.
same
More friends is always good 🔥
I want to live on a farm
let's be friend, bro
*_*friendship intensifies*_*
3:30 Explains his break
This is the case for everything that becomes "an activity". Once a routine continues after the goal has been achieved, it becomes damaging. It's even worse if the goal gets lost before it has been achieved, or if the routine is established before the goal was even conceived(usually the result of indoctrination). Take dating for example: there are ever more people who wouldn't even be able to recognise their ideal partner if they went on a date with them, yet they go on dozens of dates every year and then complain they can't find anyone. It's almost like they should be doing something else instead of routinely going on dates.
"Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.."
Commenting to boost my internet friends youtube algorithm.
oh god im gonna coomenting
You, Kaczynski, and The Buddha might be a weird combination, but all three have had a profound impact on my life and philosophy. I'm very close to pursuing a monastic life, which even just a few years ago seemed impossible to me. But the anxiety and depression from chasing societal validation and material wealth has really taken its toll on me, and practicing loving kindness is such a wonderful light when you're blind in the dark. Thanks Luke, truly, and may all sentient beings achieve liberation
Goddammit we follow the same people. Which order did they get you in? I read Kaczynski, was too struck by the fact that i couldn't many flaws in it and then eventually went on to find refuge in the Buddha. If I didn't have a long term relationship i would have been a monastic by now.
@@korpen2858 Ha, well it's nice to know others are on similar paths! For me it went Luke, then the Buddha, then Kaczynski. Basically, I became concerned with data privacy and corporate control. 2 years ago I was severely depressed and completely lost about purpose and meaning. Existentialism didn't seem good enough as any subjective meaning I created felt arbitrary and baseless. I read about psychedelics and eventually got some... that changed my life forever. My second trip, I experienced ego death and sought out a philosophical framework to explain how such an experience was possible. That framework was Buddhism, and I've been studying and meditating ever since, also reading Schopenhauer and Heidegger as well as researching the field of neurotheology. I find the Dzogchen tradition to be the most intuitive for me personally.
I'm at a crossroads in life right now. About to graduate university without any relationships, and the job I have lined up doesn't bring meaning into my life. Part of me really wants a long-term relationship, and another knows that a Sangha in a monastery would provide love and support as well as being the best setting for awakening. I think I will continue practicing on my own for a while after graduating, and if I feel compelled to give up everything and seek ordination and refuge in the 3 jewels, then that's what I'll do. I just want to use this life skillfully and not make the wrong choice, but I'll only know by doing. Peace and love to you!
What do all these people (Luke Smith, Kaczynski, and The Buddha) have in common?
@@UnixOath Dukkha.
@@korpen2858 care to explain?
Without the internet I would not be doing as many things in real life the way I do them now. There's value in the wealth of information, it should not be confused for interaction with people however.
The internet has become a second brain and I would not do well without it. Sure, I could read more books as a substitute, but who would I share my gained knowledge with? Be enthusiastic with about some cool tech that can make our life easier?
Facebook and Twitter can just die and nothing of value will have been lost. OK, maybe Twitter had some minor uses (updates on some large tragedy were always well executed), but we'll survive without.
So... am I enrolled in the sweepstakes or not?
But my internet friends I’ve had I’ve always had a deeper connection with than just random people that live within my vicinity that usually have not much in common with me, I never considered people I’ve gone to school with as friends and it’s risky to befriend coworkers. I’ve only considered a couple people offline real friends and I actually met them from off the internet using meetup. I’ve been ghosted as well as have ghosted people. I don’t have any friends anymore, I just don’t want any friends.
my internet friends and i have fun and interesting conversations almost daily. i wouldnt even know where to look to find a friend irl lol
Sad.
Same. I've never really fit in with people irl and internet has been a god sent for learning, socialising and creating pleasant moments with other people. I don't have any physical or intellectual impairments, which makes it kinda odd, but it's hard to find common interests with people
Same for me
I speak more with people here than i do in reality
Thanks for the Ted talk - very informative!
"Uncle Ted Talks"
@@fsmoura LMFAO
3:04 Nice shout out to Luke's favorite Deepfake internet friend.
Hey, Luke. You're right that we don't need you, but I think you should consider the good you do on the internet. I think I speak for many of us when I say that I really appreciate you and your videos. They have given me a lot of value, especially the life advice and philosophy ones.
Seconded
When Luke said he doesn't care to know me, that really hurt my feelings. APOLOGIZE
The best way to start getting away from the internet is to give yourself less reason to use it. Don't use social media to talk to people instead go outside and find a makerspace or some kind of hobby club. Don't play video games instead go outside and play sports.
I don't use the internet for much other than for keeping up on technology using TH-cam, downloading books, reading manual pages and downloading source code. Much less overwhelmed.
I don't think I will wish to had more friends when I am dying. I will rather regret dying.
those pine trees in the background seem to be planted for the logging/paper/lumber/cardboard industry. It seems to just be one species of pine tree and meticulously monoculturally planted.
he has mentioned that he (I think) and others in his area rent out some of their land for tree farming
There are a lot of insane tax incentives for running a "tree farm" in rural America. Most grow softwoods like pine due to their relatively short lifecycle. Leases to tree farmers are also quite common.
I needed this, if you uploaded this video a month ago I wouldn't care, it's been rough, I've tried having online friends, but it doesn't work out, the one friendship that worked is the one I've met in real life and I'm a bad friend to him, yet we are still friends, but all the online friendships, which I have invested a lot more time and effort, have ended, every single one of them. I really feel like I was torturing myself by being part of an online community and trying to make a connection with other people that way. If it wasn't for this video maybe I would've clicked on a parasocial youtuber video, distracted myself and I would've kept trying to make online friends, so thank you
But, Luke, I need to consoooome videos!
True. "Social" media is the most asocial and toxic thing I can think of on the Internet...
All I know is in my very last seconds I will turn to my wife, laying on a hospital bad. I will hug her and wisper
"Baby, I just wish I had argued with more people on the TH-cam comment section"
uncle luke end game. if this is just his last video that would be a statement.
I don’t even really know anybody in real life.
Same. Wanna be internet friends?
Reminds me how stereotypical guy who sat on internet all time in 00s was usually a social reject who either wasn't liked by other or lacked social skills. Two decades passed and it turned around, internet took over social life and a lot of stuff is primarily going through there, for many people this seems much more rewarding than actual real life. People have easier alternative than going out and socializing, resulting in even larger numbers of hermits.
I think it's good to take what is understood implicitly and state it explicitly. There's a qualitative difference between a community where people know your name, your face and your reputation and what are obnoxiously and deceptively described as "online communities" where everything can be gamed with not much effort. There's also a painful cost for not realising it sooner, especially if you're young or naive. The online interactions are not a substitute for the real-world relationships, but for someone feeling miserable or lonely there's a temptation to treat them it like that is the case. Once that happens it's a brutally hard habit to break and one that has to be done without a lot of support from community.
Social media is a form of subtle fractional slavery, because nobody involved is a slave, but a fraction of them reliably act as though they are. That it can't fit traditional categorisations of addiction also means it's potential harm is widely underestimated. And like slavery and industries of products with addictive properties there's a lot of financial incentives to have others simply believe it's OK or accept it and do nothing about it.
Good video Luke, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I use youtube but I don't use any other social media, and I don't have an online social life...or an offline one lol...I can understand the desperation to want to talk to someone...anyone...but I also don't want to socialize with just anyone so I resist the temptation to do desperate things like seek out facebook friends and such
I stopped playing video games for relaxation because it would steal my time. I would play for hours, only to “wake up” from the game without producing, or experiencing anything real.
Now I get things done, my house is now a living project, and instead of jumping through time producing nothing, I can see, feel and smell what I experience.
The enemy always gives us a fake version of the real thing. Don’t bite, the real deal is better and whatever the enemy suggests to you, it can never replace what our heavenly Father has already given us for free.
this guy just came out of the forest and called me cringe for having internet friends
Then I'll take your silence about Elon and Twitter to be an agreement with my own sentiment: he's not /ourguy/ and nothing will ultimately improve. And people that think it will are fools that he's playing. There's a very real possibility that he's going to help usher in a real ID system and prevent anonymity on social media , which will make it even shittier than it currently is.
Imagine giving a fuck about let alone actually using Twitter
Elon has never been /our guy/, because he's a business man first and foremost. He posts semi-entertaining memes, sometimes. That was all that was needed to form his own internet cult with soyjacks defending his every move.
Its weird.
I want more internet friends actually.
I think most people grow out of that situation though. Last time I watched a youtuber religiously was when I was like 16 years old. I’ve made a list of the few good books in your website that I want to read. Read some of your articles, and that is it.
I don't care about technology anymore. Only God matters now. Thank you for opening my eyes, Luke. "Trust the logos."
boa mlk
Lord bless every video you make. Immensely missed your content, Good Sir!
You've taught me so much about linux and computers its priceless, but I get this video. I've recently been on a discord for veterans and would go on VC almost every day. I'm a disabled veteran and cant work so I really don't have a social life at all. But I realized that its mostly lonely people on there, but a lot arent looking for friends, they just come and go. So Ive been only going on like once a week, and probably will stop because it doesn't fill that void of friendship that i think it should fill like actually meeting people in real life
Besides family and best friends, real life is over rated. I prefer the internet by a mile. I agree parasocial “relationships” are seriously weird but there is more to the internet than that. How bout don’t use the internet… for relationships that can’t lead to deep friendships. Nuance 😮
A lot of people are better off with the Internet friends they have than without any friends.
Nice to see you here lol. Ford here.
@@jamesspencer550 funny to see you below a vid about internet friends.
Internet friends are not real friends
oh boy i cant wait for the next video where he says i shouldnt watch his videos
Ah yes, Luke "Definitely not Mental Outlaw" Smith name dropping hisn't alias.
So this guy is a generic 4chan npc right? No way this guy is actually a human right? Kinda like a sjw or redneck clone?
I think I will say "I wish I had more Internet friends" or " I wish I played vieeo games" on by deathbed. Just out of spite.
I have a job and a girlfriend. I still enjoy internet friends.
too alien for me to relate, or even conceive ( o.o)
@@fsmoura join a group man. Clubs are great. I've been to all sorts; aquarium clubs, boxing clubs, meet ups for tech starters, plant swaps, D&D games, car clubs... im pretty introverted, mainly seem extroverted around really introverted people but very introverted around super extraverts. You don't even have to talk you just ask questions and let people talk.
i really liked your blog articles. more coming soon? :))
Reading is for degenerates
I'd really like for you to join the council
100% agree. With Mark's Metaverse, everything is going downhill !
Imaginary friends are better then IRL friends and internet friends
They are not
I think Luke's fundamental message of "the connections you make and the things you do outside of the internet are the only real and meaningful ones. Spend your time creating in real life and not binging on the internet" is a message I can ideologically get behind.
I would however say that the internet is like alcohol. Something a small minority can use sensibly for recreational use. Something that can have very useful legitimate work related uses. Something that has the potential to help connect us but is not actually what connects us; it just helps enable us. If binge drinking teenagers is to alcohol what tiktok is to the internet then we can all point and say it should be outright discarded but prohibition never works and never tackles the route causes. I think we can keep the internet for recreational, social and work purposes but just like alcohol, we shouldn't let it become the reason for socialisation, recreation and work only a tool that we use sensibly and in a measured manner.
Internet is cheap. An own garden is costly.
Is image stabilization nonfree or something?
I only use the internet so much becasue of my health issues
I have Kanner's high level autism, so yeah. but I'm filtering topics so much that I end up to these kind of videos
I only have so many health issues because of the internet
That's not an excuse
Ok Kenny
It's difficult to get to know people in real life if you don't know people in real life anymore because of spending too much time in the internet.
I stay around for substantial content. Before I go on a binge I ask myself "is this substantial? Will I become more smarter, more aware after doing this action?"
I find that letting people know the difference between what is and isn't substantial (Aristotelian) is a healthy way to begin understanding how to get the right information in your head.
You could argue any activity to spend your free time that takes over your life to the point it becomes an obsession or addiction is bad for you. I wouldn't say that's unique to just the internet. Everything is about finding the right balance.
I know what you're going to say.
The main thing I will say about this channel, and very few others, is that it has done a public good.
Maybe some will go into meme "Arch BTW" or SoystemD mode for a bit, but eventually they'll recognize that consumerism and it's consequences has been a disaster for the human race.
Less accounts, less "notifications", less "urgency". Slowly becoming human again.
Getting rid of notifications is so OP. I've been switching to the normal human model of checking your unreads daily and it feels so much better than getting notifs all the time. I used to be the person who responds to DMs within 10 seconds, but only now I'm learning why that's bad for me.
Joke's on you, I don't have friends on the internet either.
I was really banking on being your close personal friend any day now. I'm devastated.
Luke Smith: You dont need to follow me, you are all individuals!
internet rando's: yes, we are all individuals!
I too thought of that Montey Python sketch. From Life of Brian, IIRC.
I for one can say that having internet friends is a hell of a lot better than having none at all...
Cope
Sad but true.
@@non-playable :^)
@@jimbotron8552 ;P
@@non-playable 😼😼😏😜😝😝😛🤣
I knew what he was going to say but I watched this anyway, because Luke is my internet friend. The endings of these forest walk vids have been funny as of recent
We've created a pretty dope prison If I say so myself.
where livestream
The enlightened glow at 7:20 is a nice touch.
I've always found the notion of "friend simulator" content to be peak bizzaro world. If I'm completely honest the only reason I watch this channel is to feed my confirmation bias.
Parasocial relationships are almost always harmful. Actual close internet friends with a symmetrical relationship are usually fine tho, that’s basically just traditional long-distance relationships
With internet friends like these, who needs enemies...
Talking to people online(email long form usually) is really no different then people corresponding through letters in the 19th century
@@tissuepaper9962 a cope lol. I only check my email like once every week so it's similar for me and I usually have 1 or 2 things going back and forth slowly with people not on social media
Dawg chill
ive been waiting months for more Luke content
You were my one friend and now you are gone. It's over.
I heard he died while backpacking in mogadishu. Rip.
I think the internet is great and so is technology and computing. I just don't take it seriously, that really helped me.
Also after like a year of no use i finally really started to use my laptop, it was so freeing.
It had none of the old trash of my desktop pc and it has no pretext of being a replacement, just something fun i could tinker with.
Throw this thing out of the window, as long as you reimburse me i couldn't give less of a shit what happens to it.
Windows updates? all disabled, Windows Security, 100% disabled, also all my files are physically back-upt on 3 other devices so bricking this thing also doesn't matter.
I finally achieved what i wanted for all these years, an operating system i am 100% happy and comfortable with. I switched from Linux to wanting to make my own templeOS and back to Windows and i think this is the perfect os to work off of, it has that ultra compatibility with obscure programs i like to use and it has an install base big enough to have enough workarounds for the stuff that Microsoft puts me through.
Then the glorious moment when i realized i had nothing to do on my laptop happened, it made me realize how much this all just doesn't matter.
Computers were always such a mystical thing, when i entered my computer it was entering a universe of so many possibilities. I didn't understand how deep down it really worked and weirdly i didn't grasp all it could do. I thought so much more of its abilities but then when i finally finished changing windows to my liking there was nothing. I knew that computers just calculate things you put in and display it on screen and it uses that data it collected for more complex programs to display more interesting stuff but i think i didn't really internalize that. That's all it does. It displays info and plays off media which you can manipulate with your inputs. That's it. There is nothing more.
Computing is fun and for creating experiences gaming is highly cost effective, you can experience so many unique events with just 1 device and some old roms, its way better of a hobby for a kid or anybody to have compared to basically anything else but that's still only it, a hobby.
My old obsession of having legacy devices like dvd's be compatible, having internet privacy from isp's or having full control of my os just don't matter anymore. What would it matter if i achieved these trivial pursuits? I get to finally relax and stare at my desktop? I use my device to have a fun now and i have nothing to complain or worry about anymore.
I would equate a computer to a car, it has to a way lesser extend with computers something that makes it feel alive and its fun to tinker with and it can do so much for you but at the end of the day its just transportation and it just displays media.
Sooo . . . do you have a Discord server where we can gather and talk about the need to cut back on the internet?? ( o.o)
I'm pretty sure he when he says "internet", he really means social media. I would like to know, if Luke smith would use the internet if it was very different than it is now and how people think it could actually be ok. Or maybe it is just dumb concept. Would love to hear you're thoughts.
edit: nvrmind he means "internet".
I mean "internet." I've never used social media myself.
@@LukeSmithxyz Aw man sorry for misquoting you there then.
@@LukeSmithxyz Hey Lucas..anyone ever say u look like a skinhead cormac mccarthy. Check out Jaime Santa yt who does a lovely Mass an is a Orthodox ordained Priest but see for yourself on what's goin on.
@@LukeSmithxyz Other than TH-cam
@@LukeSmithxyz Didnt you use Twitter?
I wish I had more internet friends.
One of the top 10 things never said by a reasons human.
"IRL friends"? yeah... i've heard about it ( o.o)
0:00 Got Time. Yes.
Ok. What are the consequences of technology?
3:25 One need not have a statement on every matter
4:09 Social Media is weirdness
6:08
Yes you can grow influence online
BUT it’s not really anything
Spend more time in real life
7:33 Viewer, You should already know
Not all heros wear capes.