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Ending the Age of Outrage (at least in ourselves, if not in the world)

2016-07-22 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: fundraising ask, community lore

Hank argues we have entered an age of outrage because the first age of the social internet rewards angering content regardless of truth; internet communities need conscious leadership and engaged citizens, and he points to plussing, a kind Nerdfighteria and VidCon's Pulse fundraiser as signs of a coming better age.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The age of outrage: humans mixed with the internet, the first age of the social internet, and who keeps internet communities healthy

  • ★ Hank is going to Comic-Con and, mid-video, is in San Diego after getting on his plane. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says the internet has become a less kind place; unpleasant as it is for an internet lover to admit, we seem to have entered an age of outrage. (hedged) — 00:00:06

  • ★★★ Hank says the problem is not humans or the internet but humans mixed with the internet. — 00:00:17

    “it's a problem of humans mixed with the internet.”

  • ★★ Hank says we want to talk as much as we're listened to: fine with two people, frustrating with six or eight, and in a billion-person conversation a deafening roar with feelings of powerlessness. (hedged) — 00:00:21

  • ★★★ Hank says we are in the first age of the social internet, whose job is to suck us in and keep our eyeballs close to revenue-generating ads. (hedged) — 00:00:50 · attention economy
  • ★★★ Hank cites research that, over cute, inspirational or amazing things, angering things that outrage us are what our brains are on average most prone to share. — 00:01:01
  • ★★★ Hank says whether something angers us matters to whether we share it, while whether it is true or productive is not really a factor. — 00:01:11
  • ★★★ Hank suggests we need a new stage of the social internet, where we choose and create places that bring personal and societal satisfaction rather than addiction or distraction. (hedged) — 00:01:21
  • ★★★ Hank says we must work to keep ourselves, relationships and communities healthy; the internet is now a huge part of our communities, much of it unhealthy, and it won't take care of itself. — 00:01:33
  • ★★★ Hank says land doesn't keep a city's community healthy, government and citizens do; likewise internet communities' health is the job of their owners, workers, leaders and citizens. — 00:01:50
  • ★★ Hank says without conscious leadership these communities decay, destroy themselves and leach into the real world, harming individuals and culture. — 00:02:09

00:02:20 — Linked perspectives; plussing's effects and Melvin's Chrome extension that removes plus comments

  • ★ Hank has linked a couple of videos in the description that help him think about this, for other perspectives. — 00:02:20
  • ★★★ Hank says he has been inspired by the positive effects of the plussing the community has been doing. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Hank says the best comments are content themselves: they add instead of just reacting. — 00:02:31
  • ★★ Some say plussing makes discussion harder in a sea of pluses; for them a nerdfighter named Melvin made a Chrome extension removing plus comments, and Hank thanks him. — 00:02:36 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:50 — Pride in a kind community: VidCon wristbands for Pulse victims, almost $40,000 raised, leftovers at DFTBA.com

  • ★★★ Hank says he has always been proud of this community and known it is almost entirely kind, thoughtful people, from the comments and from meeting many in real life. — 00:02:50 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ At VidCon this year (2016) volunteers gave wristbands to anyone donating to help the families and victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. — 00:03:02 · VidCon
  • ★★ Hank says VidCon, the talent agency and YouTube matched the donations until almost $40,000 was raised. — 00:03:10 · VidCon, YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says some wristbands are left over; viewers who want to keep supporting the effort can buy them at DFTBA.com for $5. — 00:03:17 · DFTBA Records

00:03:23 — Shareability versus kindness; a coming new age of the social internet; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says in a world of infinite content where shareability is king, kindness and empathy sometimes play poorly, so we forget they exist. — 00:03:23 · empathy
  • ★★★ Hank thinks a new age of the social internet is coming, not immediately, where platforms and users work together to promote good community, kindness and empathy. (hedged) — 00:03:33
  • ★★ Hank says this is already happening in corners of the internet and he is proud it is happening here. — 00:03:45 · Nerdfighteria

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank will start asking, whenever he puts something online, whether it makes him proud to be part of the internet. — video description
  • ★★ The description says that, especially in US election years, there is a sense that winning matters more than not being terrible. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★★ The description says Hank can't go along with friends who say truth doesn't matter in pursuit of the right outcome: his life online has to be about being part of something, not just achieving goals, because he is a human being first. — video description
  • ★★ Among videos to watch, the description recommends CGP Grey's 'This video will make you angry' and Satchell Drakes's 'How to Speak on the Internet'. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: moral outrage · online community

Also: Projects: DFTBA Records · VidCon

Works: Love Is Love wristband

Concepts: attention economy · empathy

Places: San Diego

Events: Pulse nightclub shooting · San Diego Comic-Con

Products: Google Chrome · YouTube comments

Only in the description or credits: CGP Grey · How to Speak on the Internet · Melvin · Satchell Drakes · This video will make you angry · United Talent Agency · YouTube

Also centred on moral outrage: Addicted to Outrage · Feeling Thankful in Portland · Crime and Outrage · I Keep Thinking About Taylor Swift · I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts · The People I Hate Most in the World

Also centred on online community: Happy Birthday John Green! · YouTube's New Thing (and a New Thing of Our Own) · The Most Interesting Thing I've Ever Done · It's Like Shark Tank, but for Charity

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