The internet is, in all seriousness, a magical place. Thinking philosophically, the internet can be viewed as the collective unconscious of humanity. It is a "place" where all of our thoughts can be iterated and displayed at mass scale. It is not a complete collective, because there are at least several billion people who don't have a connection, but we can take an average result from the approximately 3 billion "users".
There is a lot of dark stuff on the web, no pun intended. It has given us an extreme version of free will. Any and all types of human behavior can be expressed at a near-anonymous level. Obviously there are entities watching and collecting data from the internet, and if you cause too much trouble your exact identity can be pinpointed with a breeze. However, for a vast majority the internet has opened up the gateway to free expression. This comes with a cost.
Pornography, gore sites, drug/human trafficking, these are only a few examples of the many negative avenues that the internet opens up to us. Within seconds, I can find and communicate with the most creepy, psychotic people. There are underground forums where rapists and murderers find each other and talk about their fetishes. There are millions of videos online of the most disgusting, violent interactions that humans can have with each other. You can watch a woman be raped and beheaded, a man being tortured alive, an orgy of a hundred people doing vile acts against nature. It is scary. And you know what I'm talking about.
But let us not underestimate the power that we posses here. There is yet still the other gates that have opened up to us. The entirety of human education achieved possible to this date is online. "Free" education is readily available, and I put that in quotes because while you can attain a masters level in mathematics from the internet, it will not be accredited. Many people in areas of the globe that never would have had access to information, are now being exposed. And this is changing the overall public attitude in these places, causing regime changes and rebellions. It has given rise to the free public sphere of ideas, where information can freely be transmitted instantaneously.
It has also brought together a lot of friends. The internet has fostered an environment where people who wish to help others can do so. There are sites that exist solely to provide a service that benefits people, things like Kickstarter and Gofundme. There is a plethora of online forum boards where like-minded individuals can find each other and work on projects, like github and stackexchange.
And dare I say it, even places like Phuks, where we all get together in this virtual warehouse and start stocking it with Broccoli and Cauliflower. I'm joking a bit, but in all seriousness this place is a prime example of good people who just want to stay informed and live a safe life. We are the ones that, through the course of several years, have bounced around from community to community. There is a high probability that we started at places like reddit, and saw through all the bullshit and made our way to other places. Eventually we found Phuks, and I honestly believe that the users we have here are the creme de la creme.
The point I'm trying to make, is that we need to realize where we are in the grand scheme of the internet.
We are the ones setting the standard for the "good" side. Once again, morality is subjective but you have to take a real stance at some point. Its like taking a limit in calculus, even though its infinitesimally small you just have to fucking settle with some number in order to complete the calculation.
I've only been on Phuks for maybe two weeks? And in that time I've laughed harder than I ever have before. I'm not exaggerating either, you all are some phunnyPhuks. I've also had a lot of great conversations with people here. I have even been physically helped by a user here, who responded to me out of his own goodwill and lent a hand. I didn't even ask for anything, I simply mentioned something in passing and he didn't even think twice to help out. That's some good shit right there, and I will always be grateful to this person. This is the true power of the internet.
So my fellow foxes I leave you with a wonderful vegetable medley, a symbol of our lasting friendship through the strife. May our memes stay as fresh as this glorious basket of raw goodness.
TLDR: We are the good side of the internet.
Wait, why are you classifying porn with gore and human trafficking? A lot of porn is really beautiful. I mean as long as all the actors/actresses enjoy what they're doing and get paid well, it can be a very enjoyable thing to watch.
Can you get addicted? Sure, but you can get addicted to TV, Netflix/streaming, alcohol, shitty pop music. Obsessing over any one thing can hurt your well being (that being defined as having meaningful relations to friends and acquaintances). Moderation in everything.