"Internet is serious business"

[Invincible Summer]

So I don't understand this pejorative. Why do some people make the accusation that others "take the Internet too seriously?"

The Internet is a medium for communication, to allow people to share information, ideas, etc over long distances. It's cheaper than trying to conference call a bunch of people all over the world, and most people say that phone calls are more "serious" than the Internet.

But why? What makes this medium (the Internet) any less meaningful than other mediated forms of communication (e.g. phone calls, text messages, letters, speech, even e-mails seem to be considered serious although they are part of the Internet)?

Of course, for some purposes, the Internet has less efficacy (e.g. political activity to a certain extent, sex), but otherwise I don't see how communicating with more than "LOL GAY PWN" is "taking the Internet too seriously."

[Q]

It's a meme.

[Blackscare]

Thus, if you take the inane shit that many people say on the internet seriously, and without a giant block of salt, you may need to lrn2internet.

[Tatarin]

Maybe I can agree with that people take Facebook and Myspace too seriously, I don't know. Never used them, nor will I probably ever do . Anyway, I guess you "can take stuff seriously" since much of the net is stuffed with all kinds of crap.

I mean, just watch 1 hour on YouTube, stuff like 14-yolds nazis and cappies trying to be smart and know the world... AAAGGHHH!!!

*Computer flies out the window...*

[Invincible Summer]

It's a meme.

Thus, if you take the inane shit that many people say on the internet seriously, and without a giant block of salt, you may need to lrn2internet.

I'm aware it's a meme, but I'm wondering about the intent behind it.

Why do people see the internet as "less serious" or "less meaningful" than other forms of communication?

[Blackscare]

Why do people see the internet as "less serious" or "less meaningful" than other forms of communication?

It's not that everyone's attitude is that it's less serious, it's that they know there will always be crazy assholes who ruin good discussion for everyone else, and that it's not wise to have too much emotionally invested in an internet discussion for said reason.

[MarxSchmarx]

At the end of the day, the meme rings true because internet "relationships", such as they are, have a highly abstract quality to them. Internet discussions miss all the nuances of direct human contact. As such getting worked up over them is in some sense akin to getting worked up over a passage in a book - of course we can all get fired up about it, I know I have, but you close the book and look outside at the clouds and get drunk with another person.


And well there is something about the words on the page that aren't the same. Hume called it "vivacity", I think the internet similarly lacks this kind of vivacity and sponteneity. There are certain natural signals (visual, aural, olfactory, sensile) that humans recognize that are not adequately captured by words on a page, in the internet or on the printed page.

It is also to some extent a classical bourgeois sneere at the "intellectual" as opposed to the "pragmatic" (er... profitable).

Ultimately, the combination of our generic unease with abstract interactions with others, combined with the vulgar materialism of capitalism, has produced this meme.

[Outinleftfield]

Could there be a deeper reason for this "norm" that the internet isn't supposed to be serious?

A lot of people just go online play games, chat, comment on funny videos, and of course watch porn. Nothing wrong with that, just that a lot of people only do that. Few people come on here like we do and have engaging, intellectual discussions and use it to learn more information.

If they did we might see an explosion of activism and interest in radical left thought. On the internet many ideas that would've only been discoverable by going to the library and finding the right book are now a click away, and finding people to discuss ideas and their implications with is easy. Add to that how some people might force themselves to believe certain things just because society says so, but on the internet its easy to find enough like-minded people to feel secure about adopting views out of the mainstream (that is if you take the time to look).

[Chambered Word]

It's used to mock lifeless fuckwits who get into e-punchups with eachother and end up exchanging threats and practically foaming at the mouth - because in the grand scheme of things, no one cares about people getting angry at eachother over the internet and it really does not matter.

[Q]

It's used to mock lifeless fuckwits who get into e-punchups with eachother and end up exchanging threats and practically foaming at the mouth - because in the grand scheme of things, no one cares about people getting angry at eachother over the internet and it really does not matter.

Orly?

As with most social constructs memes, I doubt there was much thought into it originally.

[Chambered Word]

Orly?

As with most social constructs memes, I doubt there was much thought into it originally.

Ya rly.

The Know Your Meme page you linked to pretty much explains it:

Dramatica brought the “Serious business” meme to a larger audience and introduced a new context in their recount of some MMORPG drama.
In 2005, a random player of the “Dark Age Of Camelot” MMORPG tried, for 3 days consecutively, to obtain a precious item called “Cloudsong” but, when he was about to get one, some other players stole it from him right before his eyes.
The whole story can be found on Dramatica:
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/YOU...E_MY_CLOUDSONG
Or here:
http://wiki.ytmnd.com/Cloudsong
The unlucky player exploded in a great internet rage that later became the subject of a number of remixes.
YTMNDs were made from it. But, actually, they were misnamed with the World of Warcraft game, adding to the rage and confusion of numerous players:
Serious business version
Original version
Animated version
Youtube version
It contains variations such as “Internet… Serious Fucking Business”, “The Internet: Serious Business”, “Internet = Srs Business”, “SRS BIZNS” or “INTERNET!!” and is commonly used as a text in an image macro to begin with, but can also be found as a simple phrase.

Basically it's used whenever someone on the net uses a serious tone about something that doesn't matter.

[ComradeOm]

The ability to argue with someone halfway around the world does not mean that you should necessarily spend hours arguing without someone halfway around the world. You wouldn't do it on the phone and you wouldn't do it in person. There comes a point where you have to say 'enough'

[Wanted Man]

Why do people see the internet as "less serious" or "less meaningful" than other forms of communication?

It's not really about "the internet" as a mode of communication, but rather about how you use it.

A discussion on Revleft, for instance, is utterly inconsequential to the "real" world. So if someone is visibly upset because someone dares to disagree with them, the phrase can be used to put their feet back on the ground.

[JazzRemington]

The ability to argue with someone halfway around the world does not mean that you should necessarily spend hours arguing without someone halfway around the world. You wouldn't do it on the phone and you wouldn't do it in person. There comes a point where you have to say 'enough'

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