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I feel the need to ask to please try to refrain from minimizing the very real and valid concerns of your comrades when they are explaining how bad this can be for queer or otherwise marginalized youth.
Another aspect here is that some people wouldn’t be around in here or other aligned spaces if they didn’t have access to the internet. In my personal experience of being a homeschooled church kid, I probably would’ve ended up being a straight up christian conservative if I didn’t have access to the internet. It is a bit of an oversimplification, but it is true to a degree.
Counter-point: won’t they just start using small websites like this one instead? I remember interneting before social media, there’s always anything you’re looking for on a website too small for Australia to know about.
Yes and No. Modern social media worked well to convince consumers that there’s no other way. But I was a queer teen online before majority of these tools existed and from the list I saw, tumblr wasn’t included nor was deviantart and discord was explicitly excluded.
So yes we shouldn’t minimize valid concerns but queer and marginalized communities are not dependent on the existence of social media and shouldn’t be tethered to such.
Queer people used to just use forums that catered exclusively to queer people. Joining centralized social media site and sharing space with queerphobic reactionaries has been disastrous.
I feel the need to ask to please try to refrain from minimizing the very real and valid concerns of your comrades when they are explaining how bad this can be for queer or otherwise marginalized youth.
Another aspect here is that some people wouldn’t be around in here or other aligned spaces if they didn’t have access to the internet. In my personal experience of being a homeschooled church kid, I probably would’ve ended up being a straight up christian conservative if I didn’t have access to the internet. It is a bit of an oversimplification, but it is true to a degree.
Counter-point: won’t they just start using small websites like this one instead? I remember interneting before social media, there’s always anything you’re looking for on a website too small for Australia to know about.
Have you considered the internet is a bit cringe tho?
Yes and No. Modern social media worked well to convince consumers that there’s no other way. But I was a queer teen online before majority of these tools existed and from the list I saw, tumblr wasn’t included nor was deviantart and discord was explicitly excluded.
So yes we shouldn’t minimize valid concerns but queer and marginalized communities are not dependent on the existence of social media and shouldn’t be tethered to such.
Queer people used to just use forums that catered exclusively to queer people. Joining centralized social media site and sharing space with queerphobic reactionaries has been disastrous.
Besides updates to adhoc HRT, some of the old forums may still exist too. And with discord still available, I think queer youth can be alright.