024: you could shut the f*ck up🤫

crazy idea, i know, but give it a ponder 🤔

A high school history teacher of mine once declared the printing press as the most important invention in human history. It opened lines of communication that had never been available. It made literature accessible for those who were too poor to worry about anything except survival. It brought education to the masses and pulled them out of ignorance. It spread ideas and movements and helped bring a world separated by lack of communication closer than ever before. It propelled us forward faster, stronger, and smarter than anything ever had.

You ask any reasonable person who was once her student, and they would agree she made a strong argument. It's hard to think of anything that had such a wide-ranging impact at the time of its inception and continues to do so today.

It truly is something humans will look at in awe for millennia to come.

But then The Internet came through with its fucking swag on, took one look at the printing press, and was like, you fell off, L + ratio & youngboy better 😝

And, I gotta say, it's been beautiful to witness. The internet has given a voice to billions of people who never had one before. It made more knowledge, more culture, more literature, more ideas, more movements, more truth more accessible to more people in less time and with fewer barriers to entry than anything that came before it.

The internet is like if you injected the printing press with super-soldier serum (the one they used on Steve Rogers combined with the one they used on Red Skull), that shot of adrenaline Uma Thurman gets in Pulp Fiction, everything Jason Statham took in Crank and Crank 2 to keep himself going, original Coca-Cola with cocaine in it, that green shit the Kree gave Carl Danvers along with the power of the Tesseract she absorbed, whatever the fuck is in Lil' Wayne's styrofoam cups, a Mountain Dew that's been in hot storage since 1999, the original Four Loko, and a single shot of cortadito from a cafeteria window at a gas station on Calle Ocho all at the same time.

The internet to the printing press is like whatever crack's crack is to crack. That shit even crack is like, "Woah, buddy, you need to calm down now. This is getting out of hand. I said I liked to party, but you're taking it a bit too far here. We might need to rethink this."

Now everyone can share and read everything!

And you can find cute dog pictures, videos of beheadings, terrible memes, great memes, stupid-long Twitter threads, threads that are long and stupid, conspiracy theories, beautiful words assembled together that help inspire communities, nations and bring those from different walks of life together under a common purpose. The internet helps bring light to the darkness (while also bringing darkness to the light).

And the best thing about it all is that (almost) anyone, (almost) anywhere can share any random thought that crosses their mind. And it's accessible to almost every single corner of the planet.

Anyone can say whatever they’re thinking or feeling at any moment.

You have an idea? Get it out there! For free! Let the world hear what you have to say!

I'm here today to ask, what if you didn't?

What if you decided to not share every single thing you're thinking?

You know Complex (and all those brands that were originally dedicated to reporting on hip-hop and now just post any viral news) is going to post about this right?

You know we're all going to see it in every single "news" or "culture" profile, right?

You know TMZ is going to have 8 videos and 4 eye-witness accounts of what happened, right?

You know I'm going to find out about the tragedy of AstroWorld Fest and the nine-year-old who lost his life yesterday at one point or another, right?

You don't have to be the one to tell me. And you don't have to share every single funny meme that comes across your feed so you can have a story that looks like - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - with a bunch of someone else's posts and zero original thoughts, right?

Just because you have the power to share whatever the fuck is going through your head at any moment with the entire world doesn't mean you have to do it.

Remember what Uncle Ben said

Sometimes, it's okay not to give your opinion on the latest crazy ass news story. We're all terribly sad that people died at that concert. We're all terribly sad about that explosion that killed hundreds and decimated half a city.

We all know it's Veterans Day, and we all know you haven't done a single thing in your entire life to support any veterans once society has chewed them up and spit them out with no help to deal with the traumas they had to endure.

You don't have to share that stupid ass political meme that makes no sense if you stop and think about it for more than 10 seconds. Seriously, please, I beg you, just sit with an idea for like 15 minutes before resharing.

You'll realize the majority of what people are putting out there is so fucking stupid it only works because most people don't take more than 10 seconds to analyze anything.

Sometimes, it's better to sit back and observe, learn, contemplate. Draw conclusions from different bits of information. Wait to see how things turn out before jumping to an opinion or a conclusion that could change because of a developing story.

Not only does it give you the chance to form a better, more cohesive, more informed understanding. It also stops you from looking like an idiot. Because most people won't tell you, but, my friend, we're seeing your stories and the shit you post, and what you share in the group chats, and you're a fucking idiot. You did not have to say all that shit. You're really giving yourself away there. Leave something to the imagination, please.

I once told a friend that I felt it was wiser to sit in silence than talk too much and say something stupid (he confidently types into his laptop after writing a gagillion words for the 24th week in a row).

My friend responsed, "Busca que tus palabras sean mejor que el silencio."

And I felt he had a great point.

The internet is pretty awesome. And it's given birth to movements, helped bring down corruption, toppled bad people doing bad things. And it can help spread beautiful ideas and hope to people in need. We've learned so much, and we will keep learning more and more.

It gives you incredible power. The power to say whatever's on your mind at any given moment. And you could do that.

Or you could also choose to just shut the f-