How has your time on 4chan affected you?
I can't say it's been entirely positive. I've seen some things that can't be un-seen, and I don't even venture outside /adv/ under ordinary circumstances.
But on balance, I like to think I've done some good in the roughly two years I've been here. I wish there had been a place like this when I was growing up; I'm better now, but I see this as a way of reaching back.
And besides, giving those fucking redpillers a dose of what's coming to them is fun.
I once asked for advice on /b/ (I think /adv/ already existed though) because I was too awkward to talk to my crush. I got good advice and after a while I asked her out and stuff. It was cool but it didn't work out a few weeks later. Still thankful for that and other good advice I've got on this site.
I don't come here too often. I used to come on a lot 4 years ago or so, then I took a break for no reason until a few days ago.
I feel that all that came with this image board culture changed a lot of my views on the world, there is a lot of shit and bad vibes here but also a lot of honest people and god tier humor so I think it evens out.
I've gone from zero to mastery in my understanding of trolling. It's given me so much composure in the face of idiots and agitators. I no longer have that urge to tell people how wrong they are or call them out on their bullshit. No holier-than-thou "ooookaayyyyyyys," no sarcasm or "whatever kid" put-downs. Just a clean disengagement. IRL thread hiding.
>>16553739
Same, definitely lots of laughs but also you learn a lot through the experiences everybody gives. It really helps to think about them when you make your own decisions. Shitposting is as unfortunate downside
Browsing /b/ as a 12 year old in 2005 gave me mild ptsd I think, but at the same time I wouldn't take any of what I saw back. While there is a difference between seeing something irl and through a computer screen, I think I can say I do have knowledge of how evil and sick humans can be, and it's made me wiser. I'd also say its made me more suspicious. Shitposting, robots, and trolling may be done for teh lulz or whatever, but I think it also shows that there really are people who think like that.
I have gotten a lot of laughs, great memes, and found cool stuff through here though, so thats a plus.
Really negatively. Having people call me an idiot and for me to kill myself really hit my self-esteem for a few years.
It also made me doubt my own sense of what constitutes a sincere opinion. On 4chan you have people saying many different things, but over the years you start to identify specific patterns in speech and attitude. Some discussions held here are composed almost entirely of people trying to obfuscate certain topics, particularly in the areas of politics or video-games. Ironically shitposting seems to hold the most promise for active conversation but people will get violently angry when you try to share sincere opinions about something.
>>16553714
Now I like dicks.
>>16553743
this is so true. on facebook i see people raging over shit ALL DAY and I'm over trying to remember the last time something made me react with anger or surprise.
>>16553714
I want to kill myself
Well my time on /v/ and /int/ definitely changed me for the better. In /v/ i've learned to not be offended easily and that most people that like to hurt others are also hurt; on /int/, even though it has always been full of shitposting and stupid memes, sometimes there are great threads that can change my point of view on certain things. I've become less racist (surprisingly, considering it's basicaly a less stupid version of /pol/), and my English and French skills have gotten significantly better and i have become much more confident when speaking in those languages thanks to the vocaroo threads
I've also talked to lots of interesting people there that i would never be able to talk to here on my little rural town, like pakistanis, chinese people, angolans, europeans... It's a very interesting place, there are many different opinions and points of view. I also ended up seeing that there are amazing people and horrible people everywhere, no matter where they are from, what their skin color is, and all that bullshit..
This thing of talking to strangers all the time while being anonymous also helped me with talking to people in real life
I share a lot of the same feelings as most anons in this thread. As ive matured, (started browsing as a junior in hs now 22) I have definitely learned more than just going thru life w/o it. I see right through trolls irl and dont give them the time of day. Ive learned a few life hacks that ive actually implimented in my life. Ive seen things bud and sprout into mainstream culture, expanded mu music taste tremendously, and shit, im a way better cook even as a by product of browsing /ck/
All in all, im sure i could have put all this time into a constructive hobby, but i feel i am a better, more well rounded person because of 4 chan. Maybe a bit more cynical than people my age, but its whatevs
My life went down hill around the time I started coming here, but I wouldn't blame my problems directly on 4chan.
>>16553714
At first it boosted my confidence somehow. I came out of my shell and it turns out I was an awesome person. Made many friends, earned respect, got fit, lost my virginity, had a few relationships.
Nowadays though it feels like its poisoned my personality somehow. Like I've seen and read so much fucked up shit here that I feel like I have to wear a mask of normalcy when dealing with others and its magnifying my judgmental traits.
How it's affected me?
That's a big question OP.
Went on /b/ (my most common board, mostly lurk) around the age of 14/15. Became desensitized to a lot of shit that should matter. To this day I still don't care about much. I don't even really care about my family. Never cried at any funerals for family members (none of my immediate family members have died, so maybe there's a chance of a tear). Questioned my sexuality after seeing "sissy" threads and thought I might be gay. Thought of being gay bothered me, so I thought I was a "sissy." Put a sharpie up my ass. Cleared things up. I'm a guy, but I'm a beta. 4chan has taught me betas don't get what they want because they're too much of a bitch to try it. Started doing drugs because I wanted to post cool stories on the weed/drunk threads. After smoking a 1g joint alone, had really bad hallucinations, and started getting tired really easily. Went to the doctors found out I had narcolepsy (without cataplexy), and the hallucination from sleep deprivation/narcolepsy bullshit added with the weed fucked me up. I learned that I'm an alcoholic (I'm 18). Parents gave me the alcoholism double whammy. I don't have friends. I'm anti-social. I can admit things about myself that I couldn't before. I was always depressed (because I don't have friends and nobody to hang out with) so I started thinking about suicide. Scared of the idea, but /b/rothers desensitized me to such "petty" actions. Slept with a knife next to my bed for a while. Thought about doing it one night, and then remembered TV Shows where people who tried to kill themselves were "selfish" for leaving people behind in their wake. Realized I didn't want to leave anyone in pain b/c there was a girl I liked.
1/2
Wasn't too bad,/adv/ helped me grow as a person and realize I need to take responsibility more often
/d/ helped me open up sexually and explore things I wouldn't before
/b/ gave some good laughs but meh
I think I'm desensitized to a lot of things but I think other things that happened in my life attributed to that more than 4chan
Overall 4chan has been wonderful for me
>>16554123
She was a really good friend and thanks to /b/ and my new-found alcoholism, I drunk the liquid courage and grabbed my phone. Told her I liked her. Got hit with the friendzone. Now, every weekend, I get completely shitfaced drunk and that helps me be happy through the week until the next Friday where I repeat my process.
It's a social media that has no parallels to the real world. Or you could say that it has, a lot, but not in the same way as facebook or reddit or any other shit. Everybody's opinions feel somehow more real, and you can get insight on how people behave from a point of view that you wouldn't have otherwise. Overall, I think it has made me a better person, though it also made me more recluse.
It turned me into an autistic fuck, but I've learned tons from /g/ so I don't regret shit.
>>16553714
It definitely changed me, but I can't say if for better or for worse. I didn't find this shithole until I was 16, and before that I used to be very antisocial; shy and polite outside, but on the inside I was very cynical and mistrusting. I was that quiet kid that nobody really wanted to hang out with because I'm not good at making conversation or being funny, and when someone did invite me out on occasion I'd turn it down because I was a nervous wreck all the time and couldn't fathom going to a party and socializing with lots of people. So I'd sit at home playing computer games or reading about dumb shit on the internet, which led me here.
"Desensitized" is obviously the theme of the thread, and that holds true for me too. Also, seeing people's true feelings and the brutal honesty we share has made me think more practically about life and be more forthcoming about myself and my feelings, and perceptive unto others. I also got fucking obsessed with anime, so that sucks up a lot of my free time.
In the end, coming here and learning from other people's lives (without taking anything directly to heart, obviously) has made me a more honest and perceptive person, and while I'm not much more sociable than I was before, I know how to be ok with that. Socializing doesn't scare me at all any more, but I don't actively seek it out or force it because I've realized I don't -need- people's attention to thrive. If nothing else, this place has given a fucked up kind of peace of mind.
I'm probably less tolerant toward whining now.
It was already in me, but it made me even more sarcastic, and even less compatible with normies humor. More people find me weird when I start talking without any mind filters.
Also, I also found myself using the word "nigger" in the real life pretty often.
>>16553714
I'm better looking and smarter than I thought.
>>16554216
>>16554109
>>16553743
Same. Overall it ranges from meh to ok, only bad thing is that I have a really hard time being social and it has only got worse with time.
It's possible most of it is not even related to 4chan but to my trust issues inherited from an abusive childhood... I have no idea anymore.
Definitely could use a few friends with a similar mindset tho, dealing with simpletons 24/7 is exhausting.
>>16553714
not entirely negative and not entirely positive
negative: porn addiction which caused me delayed ejaculation, I just can't come when I fuck
made me hate western politics
positive: improved my sense of humour
I started lurking when I was 14. I had just moved away from all my friends and 4chan was a place I could go and feel connected without being near people. I had moved to a relatively rural area and I hated the country hicks I was surrounded by. When I was that age I mostly browsed /b but as I grew older I branched out to other areas of 4chan. 4chan has taught me how to really attack people, how to actually verbally abuse them instead of making some dim witted remark about their mom or their appearance. Along with that it made me invulnerable to what other people say. I hear a lot of people saying they are not sure if 4chan led them to this or that but me I am positive I was always a little crazy. 4chan just intensified it and help me understand myself better. It has sort of led me to live a double life. I have lots of friends now that I moved back to the city, and when I'm around them I'd say I act about as normie as everyone else. Of course it leaks through sometimes, the 4chan side of me. I've had people tell me I have a very dark sense of humor, that I am racist, things like that. Only here and around my two friends that also use this site can I truly be myself. I can't tell the normies that I enjoy anime and doujins, that I think death is funny or that some humans are better off dead. They just don't understand. I think all of us here are desensitized to some degree. Normies are amazed at how I speak so casually about subjects such as death, suicide, and crime. I see no "right" and "wrong" anymore. I'm not saying I'd go out and murder people but if someone else chose to I wouldn't see them much differently than someone who helped the homeless. I know I'm rambling sorry guys :) all in all 4chan taught me that nothing I do matters. We are all just specks of dust in the massive trash heap of life. Nothing we do matters in the long run. but there is treasure to be found in this dump. And that is the reason I love being alive.
>>16554403
TL;DR 4chan taught me how to be an asshole, how to understand myself and others different than me, and how insignificant everything we do is in the long run. Desensitized the fuck outa me but it's great because it's a peaceful existence never being triggered
I started out on /a/ when I was 14. The 4chan community was a huge part of my life growing up because I didn't have much of a home life and it really made me feel less alone. Even though I have a great, stable group of friends who I love like family I still occasionally get the feeling that I don't belong, but I always feel like I fit in here. I think 4chan in general has made me a better person because even though a lot of cruel words are said around here they're pretty easy to ignore once you're used to it, and the kind and helpful words have a way of sticking out like a diamond in the rough. Like most other people posting here, nothing really triggers me, which is nice.
>>16554700
Are you me?
My time on 4Chan basically made me realize that,no matter how much I do well in school, work hard at my job, pay my bills, be drug and alcohol free, and follow the law, speak properly. It doesn't matter if I do everything right I can still be called a nigger by white people, an uncle tom by blacks, and what makes it worse is that I'm mixed and also from another country. The funny thing is those words never bothered me until recently, I'm only 22 and I feel completely worthless. I'll never be accepted by any race fully and I'm starting to just want to be isolated toil away at a job in IT hidden away and just disappear.
It made me make a reddit account, too many mentally ill people here who wanna make others feel bad.
Reddit > 4Chan all day long i only come here for the laughs, since i always learn something on reddit.
4Chan is for anime and furfags now, the media killed 4Chan and it's sad it was an awesome place, it really was.
found 4chan when i was 14 when i had just moved cities, made new friends who introduced me to it. it was a cool place, but over time it made me highly cynical and angry, but that's largely over. it taught me that people are just gonna be people, they'll just do shit and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, so do you. i also learned A LOT about society, right-wing tinfoil politics, video games, spiritualism, and biology. it definitely made me more kinky which girls really love, and it helped me become very good at talking, even though i barely do it.
idk man, it's not a place i'd show anyone because it's just infested with tryhards, shills, and 15 year olds. i wont cry when this place goes under
Started at /b/ when I was 14.
Started out just really funny. Over the years it became an escape, somewhere to be myself fuck it.
When everyone IRl is calling me an islamaphobic sexist racist bigot for promoting classic liberal values, I can just go on /pol/ And get hate from the complete opposite side. There is no accountability and its awesome. I really need 4chan as a place to say whatever the fuck I want how it is, without it tracing back to me or people not talking to me later for it.
additionally it gives me somewhere to dicuss /v/idya when all my HS gaymen friends are MIA. I'd probably really depressed about lacking my vidya friends otherwise.
I guess I turned from a fuckboy into someone more aware of the world I'm in and the fact it's not always a friendly place
But that's just me, maybe I'm just another manchild without realizing it. I wouldn't be surprised
Personality wise, I don't think it's had much of an effect. If it has, its encouraged me to be a bit more upfront about my thoughts and feelings.
Politically I've become much more abrasive admittedly. I started empathizing with views like pic related some years ago.
I think my time on /b/ made me realize just how many immoral people there are here. I know I should probably be desensitized to the threads there having browsed it for almost a year straight, but the "pics you weren't supposed to share" threads and the "creep shot" threads still sicken me. Back then, I think I only browsed /x/ and maybe /an/, and here occasionally along with /b/. I stopped visiting /an/ though, that board is fuckin' full of stuck-up pricks and it is NOT a fun place to be. Every thread there derails into arguing without fail.
/b/ made me feel like shit about my problems sometimes, everyone there treated them like they were nothing. The feels threads were pretty much the only redeeming threads for me, I went through a major depression that lasted close to a year where I was just pissed off and anxious and sad all the time. I didn't think about anyone else, I didn't care about anything or anyone other than myself. I was just so wrapped up in my own misery and hatred that I couldn't even see the world around me. I definitely wasn't exactly the happiest person in the world before that phase hit, but I think that I REALLY hit rock bottom back then. I hope I never go back to that state of mind, that was awful. I'm really proud of myself for coming as far as I have.
I came out of it a few months ago, I like to think the the feels threads really helped. My fashion sense is way better (I don't wear shitty black graphic tees anymore), my higene isn't nearly as bad as it was and I'm not a depressed, cynical, self-serving asshole anymore. Although I do sort of get really upset about stupid shit sometimes, I'm happier than I've been in years, YEARS. I've changed a lot.
I only go on /b/ every great once in awhile now, but I've really broadened my horizons and I visit a lot of different boards now. I think I'm slowly falling back into depression because I think the guy I've had a crush on for months hates me. I won't let it change me like it did before though.
>>16553714
I don't think it's changed me at all. I've been browsing 4chan since 2007, and I browse now for the same reason I did back then: amusement.
>>16553714
Been here regularly for a couple of months. I've noticed I'm a lot more negative and judging and overall much less like myself, I'm more awkward and have more anxiety. Mostly this place has a negative effect on me but still I keep coming here, I did manage to stop going on /b/
>>16553802
This is how the real world works you idiot. Get used to it or kill yourself.
>>16553714
In all seriousness, it really hasn't. As a kid I did the same type of shit on old YouTube by making fake accounts and screwing with my friends. Take out my friends and having to repeatedly make fake accounts and here I am. Although I do have to get better at filtering actual faggots like >>16554974
I've learned a few things, had surprisingly interesting conversations, and met a gaming community that supposedly hates the reddit gaming community so if anything this has just reinforced myself.
