This is like, my first totally serious post in a while. <_<
Anyway, I've discussed this in IRC before, and my question is: Does involvement in online communities and exposure to the commons of the internet help speed up maturity? Below are my examples.
First of all, out of personal experience, I have found myself to have matured profoundly over the last four years (I know what you're thinking already, this will be mentioned at the bottom of the post). I believe that my mental development was partly influenced by my exposure to the internet (leetspeak, 4chan, memes, all that). At first, I was illiterate. Eventually I learned about leetspeak, and abused it HORRIBLY. Then came memes. After that, I reached the point where I began typing with correct punctuation and for the most part correct grammar, but only because other people were doing it. This was the cause of my abuse of leetspeak, memes, and several other things like what music I listened to, etc; because other people were doing it. I know, this is common for someone in their early-mid adolescence to do. But now, at the age of 17, I type how I want (i normally type like this outside of forums, i just try to make my posts grammatically correct), I listen to the music I actually like, and basically, I'm independent. I started observing this about two months ago, in July, two months before I turned 17.
Now, my main obstacle and the thing that will probably overrule all this that I just bothered to type: The likely cause of this was just the state of adolescence, the internet just happened to be a coincidence.
Yes, that is what I believe REALLY is the cause, but if I'm right in that huge paragraph I just typed, then I might be going somewhere. This thread is open for discussion of what I just typed. I'll answer any questions, I guess.
EDIT: I also realize that another problem with this is that I only have examples from my perspective.
Anyway, I've discussed this in IRC before, and my question is: Does involvement in online communities and exposure to the commons of the internet help speed up maturity? Below are my examples.
First of all, out of personal experience, I have found myself to have matured profoundly over the last four years (I know what you're thinking already, this will be mentioned at the bottom of the post). I believe that my mental development was partly influenced by my exposure to the internet (leetspeak, 4chan, memes, all that). At first, I was illiterate. Eventually I learned about leetspeak, and abused it HORRIBLY. Then came memes. After that, I reached the point where I began typing with correct punctuation and for the most part correct grammar, but only because other people were doing it. This was the cause of my abuse of leetspeak, memes, and several other things like what music I listened to, etc; because other people were doing it. I know, this is common for someone in their early-mid adolescence to do. But now, at the age of 17, I type how I want (i normally type like this outside of forums, i just try to make my posts grammatically correct), I listen to the music I actually like, and basically, I'm independent. I started observing this about two months ago, in July, two months before I turned 17.
Now, my main obstacle and the thing that will probably overrule all this that I just bothered to type: The likely cause of this was just the state of adolescence, the internet just happened to be a coincidence.
Yes, that is what I believe REALLY is the cause, but if I'm right in that huge paragraph I just typed, then I might be going somewhere. This thread is open for discussion of what I just typed. I'll answer any questions, I guess.
EDIT: I also realize that another problem with this is that I only have examples from my perspective.