Sometimes even we long for a simpler time
1 Trolling
Before we had the internet, if you wanted to casually insult someone, you had to do it in person or over the phone. Nowadays, of course, you just head onto an internet forum or social network and abuse people as much as you like - all without the burden of being identifiable. Predictably, this anonymity brings out the worst in many people and has led to the phenomenon known as trolling, which before the internet came along, would just have been known as being a really, really terrible human being.
2 User Comments
In the good old days, when someone wanted to make a complaint about a newspaper or magazine article, they would have had to write an actual letter, with pen and paper. That took effort and ensured that people had time to consider what they were saying. In the age of the blog, it's far easier to just spout vitriol and abuse, without a second thought. And unlike trolling, some of the worst abuse you find in user comments is from people who genuinely believe they're right and, more importantly, that everyone else is wrong. No wonder Popular Science and a few other sites decided to turn off comments completely.
3 Text Talk
Whether people are being nice or nasty, we personally prefer it when they write in actual words, rather than saying they 'h8’ us or writing 'lol' in response to our jokes. We're not saying we've never used text talk before, but that was back when typing a letter 'i' on a phone meant tapping the 4 key three times. These days, it's easy to write full words, and voice dictation means you don't even have to type. So there's really no excuse for text talk. Agreed? Gr8.
4 Selfies
Were folk always as self absorbed as they are today? We can still remember when people took pictures of things, people or places they liked or found interesting, rather than just constantly snapping themselves. Before we had social networks and digital cameras, narcissists would have got their 'me' fix by simply looking in a mirror, but nowadays they not only have the ability to take limitless photos of themselves, but they also get to force their pictures on everyone else via Facebook.
5 Selfie Sticks
If you look at the design of the human body, you have to applaud the engineering and design, but it's not without its flaws. Chief among these, of course, is the shortness of our arms, which sometimes makes it difficult to get a really good picture of yourself when you're eating your breakfast, waiting for a train, buying some shoes or whatever. Thankfully, some genius gave us selfie sticks, so now you can satisfy your vanity no matter where you are, without having to hand your phone over to someone else to photograph you. Who cares if you look like a walking satellite dish when you use it?