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(5/5) of 'ITTIRML' by 2503181 👩‍🎓

when i first presented this project, i was told i should be less lenient with my opinions. i was told i should pick a side and i should be harsh and i should be cruel... but something about that seemed wrong. you see, this project was never intended to sentence the internet, but to subject it.

i did not start this project with an outcome already predicted. i formed my opinions the same time as you. that was the purpose of this project. i could not create this with an existing opinion in mind, for i am a pessimist to no one's actions but my own. it is how i have always been.

still, as our journey reached its final stop, i became anxious thinking about where it would end. the internet is vast and scary and endearing. but i’m not anxious anymore now that we’ve reached the end. for i have made up my mind... have you?

ruin (verb) ru·in ˈrü-ən -ˌin; ˈrün: to damage irreparably...

'irreparably'. the internet's damage is not irreparable. it may hurt us, but as we grow, we grow out of it. instead, the internet is inescapable.

the internet is a digital cauldron of pressure and expectation, man-made murk that stems from people and boils over back into the physical. the internet is what we have made it. to face him is inescapable. if you choose to subvert it, you are outcasted and 'behind' and judged. beyond that, you are brave - but that does not matter much to others.

to 'ruin' someone's life is to scar them. to hurt them beyond healing... but the internet offers both. hurt and healing. it depends on what you view and how you view it. a platform can present ideas that hurt you, but the antidote to that hurt is only a few scrolls away. that's why there's 'no harm' in scrolling on and on and on. it's addictive, just as nicotine is supposed to be. digital nicotine is very real. and we all are victims of it.

the internet is nothing but a vessel for the thoughts of others. those thoughts are what is good and what is bad about the internet. the internet's role in our life is to share, not to speak.

he does not think nor does it feel. those sentiments are left for the rich white men who govern it and their algorithms. the internet is not at fault for anything, for just as all those who are not rich nor white nor men, it is pressured and moulded by the calloused hands of others.

the internet may be technology, but its problems stem from people. people post everything. people code its algorithms. those algorithms show us what we want or don't want to see in its own race for attention and money and above all - fame. so, even the code can't truly be at fault.

the internet did not ruin my life, but its people certainly tried.