apology
When I was young, we moved around a lot. I was a quiet child who struggled to make new friends every time we moved.
At some point, we got access to the internet.
One of my favorite memories with it is joining a forum of Flash nerds. This was my first introduction to programming. Just some kid talking with strangers across the world and learning from them is amazing. Now I earn a decent living.
I'm sure a lot of kids around that time had the same experience as me.
For the longest time, I've held on to this ideal of the internet and technology. A tool for lifting up those who seek out to do so. We all know how things have turned out.
I've ignored and denied the destructive aspects of it -- because it's convenient, because it's cheap, because it's fun, because it's useful.