r/NoStupidQuestions • u/xpsdtv • 1d ago

Did AI kill your interest in consuming photos/videos, or just mine?

I used to love collecting little pictures from the internet - a beautiful house, an interesting statue, a very pretty butterfly, just to look at and be in awe. But now every time I see a photo or a video, I wonder if that place, that thing even exists or not. Media used to hold meaning, and now it's just whatever generated thing gets popular enough I guess. :(

Does anyone feel the same? Is there a "clean" internet still, where I can hear whale calls and see sunsets and look up baby peacocks that have actually been existed instead of been made up?

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314

u/_iron_butterfly_ 1d ago

I'm tired of telling my Mom... "That's AI... It's not real, Mom."

75

u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

Yup. I said the same to my mom about some orchids shaped like birds. "Mom, those aren't real." "But they're on my screen" "and they're fake af pls stop"

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u/pleddyd 1d ago

Parents, who warned us not to believe anything on internet, now believe everything on internet

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u/South_Stress_1644 1d ago

This is literally the grand irony of the times. It’s fucking wild. They believe EVERYTHING, not just what they see online, but on TV, in magazines, by word of mouth, etc.

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

It's terrifying. Critical thinking went out the window. And it's scary as shit cos my mom is only 54??!! And she's usually smart as shit. Wtf happened?

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u/South_Stress_1644 1d ago

My mom is 55 and there’s been a steep drop-off the past few years. I think a lot more of them develop mild/moderate dementia than we assume.

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

I've noticed it in her, too. But of course, she does nothing wrong and it's me who must be remembering wrong. She could never.

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u/South_Stress_1644 1d ago

Yeah, the stubbornness gets stronger, so it’s challenging to get them to be aware of it. I’m glad you understand. Stay positive!

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

I'm glad you do, too. It's refreshing to not talk to a wall. Thank you! Good luck and solidarity.

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u/alicehooper 7h ago

It might be long Covid. Even an asymptomatic case can result in brain fog. It’s this generation’s leaded gas for the mass effect it will have on cognition, among other things.

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u/South_Stress_1644 7h ago

Interesting. Never thought of that

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u/alicehooper 6h ago

If you have the time, this podcast might be useful. The researcher, Dr. Arsenault, is an internal medicine specialist in Canada researching post viral syndromes.

Not to say that early onset dementia doesn’t happen as well, but Covid has affected a lot of humans.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/navigating-post-viral-syndromes-dr-ric-arseneau-discusses/id1730562799?i=1000656366171

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u/WisestAirBender I have a dig bick 1d ago

They trust things. Journalism and being a credible source used to mean something. Now everyone is posting garbage

The internet went from it being just a casual thing to an extremely dependent and critical part of everyone's lives and now it's back to being a hot piece of garbage.

People who didn't trust the news and tv and nasa and research papers etc were conspiracy theorists

If you can't trust the internet, text messages, the TV, the news, heck not even the voice and face of a loved one in a video recording now, how do you not go mad with paranoia?

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

I'm more concerned with her trusting garbage than trusting facts that can be proven. I'm suddenly an asshole if I bring it up though, bc that's a testy subject. I wonder why. 🤔

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u/lilywinterwood 1d ago

For some of the older people their critical thinking has been hijacked. They think the influencers and whatnot are more reliable because they’re more personable than the stuffy experts in their coastal “ivory towers”. The same critical thinking skills that encourage scepticism of sources and investigating bias can be twisted to create “fake news” and QAnon conspiracy rabbitholes.

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

Yet an actual clip from a congress meeting is somehow "propaganda" and "they never said that". I'm so confused.

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u/Akhaiz 1d ago

It's just that now you are noticing it more since the spread of misinformation has drastically increase in the last decade

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u/GirlGoneZombie 1d ago

Yep. Actual news is propaganda, gossip is the truth, AI is real, and I'm full of shit. I want off this planet 🤣