About 'the internet and communications we engage in because of the internet eventually being harmful to the human race', there is no doubt, but I warrant that began long, long ago with language, which eventually led to writing, which eventually led to the printing press and so on to the internet.
Nevertheless, suffering, i.e. being harmed, is endemic to the human race, and our suffering began long before we ever invented language which, of course, led to the internet.
And me sleeping on a CH-47 during a special alert? Since I know what both special and alert means, that would never happen, ever... unless I thought I could get away with it.
Let me work last to first.
Having to sleep on jump seats is the first problem. The second is that the frame of the aircraft makes it colder inside, if cold is the issue; or hotter inside, if heat is the issue. And that particular case/event I cited we were first ordered to disperse the aircraft without using any sort of help with lighting equipment of any kind and that was straight out of the "You gotta be kidding." book; but they weren't kidding. Oddly, we safely worked it out. Then spent all night just waiting for further instructions after the 'no lights' and 'no radio traffic' and 'stay with the bird', and we really had no idea what was going on until after daylight. Daylight, and first put the birds back where they should be parked. Was a very strange night. And quite unpleasant. But not the worst by a long shot. Just weird and unpleasant. And obviously not easy to forget; hence it popped into mind in this thread when that camping thinking came up.
<=> <=> <=> <=> <=>
As for the language thing, there is one big aspect of the modern communications; more and more are doing their rapid back-and-forth on this Internet without the aid of tone. The
sound of the words/sentences/dialog.
The printing press was/is not a 'quick response' discussion situation. It is essentially one way communication, or maybe overdue response; like letter writing.
Face-to-face communication / telephone communication / some radio parameters are all quick response / discussion type situations. And the Internet, in many situations, is also a quick response situation. A discussion. But what is the BIG THING that is missing?
Tone. The tone of the voice communicating to you. The variations in tone are super important in a sound-type communications; has been for a long-long time. Now we have this written word only, or the telephone with that new style I see of folks hooked up like when we use a radio in flight; walking and talking. Yes, there the tone aspect returns, but maybe a tad less than if you are on the phone with somebody while at home.
And, yes, there are the devices like Zoom and even those earlier systems set up in a conference room and tone is in place, to some degree.
But a larger and larger number of people are relying on communications platforms like right here. Like email back and forth. Like that SMS thingy. And that sound aspect - tone - is missing. That worries me. But I haven't yet had time to dig into any papers written on the topic. But my studying of communications here in this Community has me thinking that tone has been replaced by the use of crude language and that is because everyone wants the back-and-forth to be short and fast. Folks want to rush, which is what a face-to-face is; a much faster system of communicating ideas. Even a telephone conversation can pack in more ideas; more exchange of 'message' than does this typing of words stuff. Or that voice-to-text.
But when you rely on reading you do not have the advantage of tone to help with understanding the degree of this-or-that. And "the degree" can cover a wide area of nuance.
Look at what I do. Community folks here are many times irritated by my long posts. In fact, just recently some member wrote I was pulling some weird stunt with the long posts. I didn't know I was. But that observation/thought process was educating.
I write a lot because the extra words might help alleviate the lack of tone. A lot of what I write requires more than one read. But folks are too rushed to do that.
So in a whole lot of cases meanness sets in. Starts out only slight, but then becomes worse and more often used. Slowly, it is the meanness that is replacing tone. Meaning, meanness with typed/voice-to-text language. "I hate you." is a lot faster than explaining what exactly is bothering a person. After a while people actually start believing they DO hate somebody. Or a group. But they don't know when the hate started. Nor do the know why. They just typed their way into that style and then are stuck in that. And stay, instead of thinking their way out of that hate.
Hate is a word that should be used very-very-very carefully.