Internet addiction seems to be the elephant in the room of modern culture. Whole families are addicted, but it's not talked about. Not to mention the more, shall we say, illicit side of the 'net.
That said, TV and newspapers are arguably just as bad (or worse) and they've been around for ages. So that's... reassuring.
However I think the iPad an iPhone are good in the sense that they remove the social isolation involved with logging onto the net.
None of those things have the addictive and distraction power of the Internet. Along with the Internet has come ubiquitous things like laptops, tablets, and cellphones. It is an actual problem, not one for people to merely "worry and kvetch about".
Similar communities have people who use the internet, some of the Amish do (Hasidim would be another). But they do so recognising that it is dangerous. Not coincidentally, many people in these communities don't have TVs either.
Accepting the idea that you should only be concerned with things that directly concern you is, unfortunately, something that is very hard to learn. The reason it is easier for people in these communities is that they are already isolated. It isn't the internet, it is people (the Amish also have internet support groups...that would be very effective, but the internet has also atomized us).
Just personally, I am with you 100% though. I am not even someone who uses my phone very much, I grew up after the real brain-rot of the internet...but it has filled a gap in my life so it is very hard to shift (again, not the internet's fault...it is mine), and work out where the line should be. I also studied politics/economic history, try as I might I can't stop myself being interested with things that really aren't any of my business...it is a real problem (Reddit is the worst for me, I have moved off all the worst subreddits but I still have a bad habit...what makes it so hard is that it is useful too, if I need a question answered it is my first call).
Whoever works out a way to really solve internet addiction will be a very rich man/woman. It will be one of the biggest issues in the life of any kid who was born after 2000 onwards. I was born much earlier, have avoided the brainrot and it is still a massive issue in my life.
The internet is fucking interesting and it is very hard to keep people of any age from it.
But some people need it more than the others.
In my opinion the lonelier and/or unhealthier and/or poorer and/or less purposeful and/or more physically / mentally trapped somebody is; the likelier for them to be addicted to the internet (or to other things that can give them a sense of an escape from their reality, or just hope.)
I think before thinking about anything else you should think about what better can you do for your child regarding those matters.
This is going to be a bit like the gambling debate, since if you do just use it responsibly then yeah, it's probably going to be a net benefit by most value systems. The issue is is the creaping, insidious havoc it is wreaking it peoples lives.
I have seen people - who by simple analysis of the counterfactual would be ok without the internet - have their lives ruined.
As for the young, it is a massive change and we cannot be sure about the harm it may have on them as a cohort as they get older. There was a study that showed phones cost the equivalent of (I think it was) a missed week of school per year in educational attainment.
But I think more than that. Like a lot of dependents/addicts people will
, when being candid admit that they would prefer a life without these devices (I like to think I am not merely projecting here).
Romanticising may not be new, but the rate of progress on many serious issues has halted in the west. Despite, new drugs, new technology, higher funding ... etc.
- Depression and suicide are increasing problems
- Educational attainment has stalled
- Productivity growth has ground to a halt
Coincidentally, on the way over to Starbucks just now, I heard a segment on NPR about internet-addicted korean kids who are losing their childhood to the online realm, so much so that they now have two-week internet addiction rehab programs for these kids and are starting to teach elementary school students about proper internet use and netiquette. I couldn't help but to relate to some of the kids as I myself spend lots of time on the internet, but unlike most of them who seem to be passing the hours playing online games, I tend to do lots of reading and more educational type activities, or at least that's how I justify it. I think this stigma against prolonged internet usage will slowly fade as more and more people are depending on the internet for their work, leisure activities (reading, art, etc), and communication. I mean, too much of anything is bad, as they say, and taking time to go out, breathe some air and kick a ball around is necessary for physical and psychological health, but the internet has become, to me, more convenient and efficient advancements of my canvas, library, classroom, newspaper, and telegraph, and so my time spent surfing, which has proven to be quite inefficient :P, has increased. I'll definitely get out a lot more and hit up my local cybercafe, though.
Yeah, the Internet can be the good, bad, and the ugly. The good: I provide for my family of 5 by creating and maintaining web applications (an occupation non-existent at the time of my Univ. graduation); primarily because of the Internet I have a home office where, among other benefits, I have been set free from the unproductive, soulless cube-farm. Time would fail detailing other benefits such as enhancements in maps, search, discussion and in general increased access to knowledge.
The bad: too much trivial information; work is anytime, anywhere -- no hard boundaries; and temptation for attention sucking ( as the author stated "this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth.") away offline life.
The ugly: pornography and perversion at a click; anonymous rage;
Like just about every area of life we need discipline and balance.
Using the internet is like moving from the city to the suburbs. You have complete control over the news you read, the videos you watch, and the music you listen to.
It's also a very lonely place. Human beings are reduced to casual stimulation. No amount of information is ever enough. We don't know our neighbors.
I try as hard as I can to stay away from the internet, especially social media. Hacker News is the only exception, the only drug that I can't quit.
I sometimes wonder how the tobacco executives feel as they promote a harmful product, even while many of them do not smoke.
Detached consumerism is a disease. It is hard to cure because we are all complicit in this ailment. The internet, with its stimulating advertising and glossy social media perceptions of a flawless moment in time, is a vector for this disease. I'm not sure the internet is helping us. It may be instrumental in us hurting ourselves, and each other, instead.
I like to razz my extended family who are all internet addicts now. They told me shit like, "go outside more" but now they are effectively crippled without their devices. Gotta love boomers.
Life was pretty decent before the internet. You still could research the world, it just took reading, going to libraries, listening to radio and TV. You saw people more, interacted more. Entertainment usually involved gathering with friends, more time was spent outside.
It is nice to have everything at our fingertips, and it has made many things easier - shopping, banking, paying bills, working remotely. And yes, it is good for wasting time enjoyably when you aren't busy.
But I have to disagree 100% that the internet is vital to life. I can understand why someone who did not live before it can feel that way, but to me that is a red flag that you already have zero self-awareness and are just chugging along checking virtual boxes. I believe that getting off the internet for a decent chuck of time each day is vital to life.
Agreed. I'd say the source of the problem is the lack of real third places. I like to call this "the abolition of society", but I'm a bit dramatic.
While the internet is certainly addictive, I'd assume that most people who, like me, waste their lives online, do so primarily because no real alternative is available.
It's not that we're all addicted to the internet, it's that nearly everything else in life has been abstracted away to the point where the only thing the do is use the internet.
It's not a matter of you choosing to use the internet for hours a day, it's a matter of society's efficiencies removing any need to do things such as:
- Build a house
- Grow crops
- Talk to your neighbors
- Etc.
and therefore your are forced to use the internet.
Can you still do the things listed? Sure. Is society set up in such a way that those things are easy and done by the vast majority of people? No.
It's like online dating. A modern person is, in a way, forced to using online dating because the alternatives are out of fashion.
Software is eating the world, which means it's eating your life.
...I should add, I don't think that the internet is the problem, nor is television, nor anything else along those lines. The problem, if it exists at all, is with the users of these technologies. The internet can be used for good, useful things, and for wasteful distractions. I think that some distractions can be fine -- some fun diversions here and there is not wrong -- but the users need to realize when they are letting the distractions take up too much time and reverse the trend.
I don't really like the article, but to me there is a problem and it isn't just teenagers but adults as well, everywhere you go people are just mindlessly phone out and scrolling. Games are sucking a bunch of time as well. Quarantining has made it worse.
You'd hope people were more educated or exposed to cool ideas but given the debate on the election and the most popular videos on youtube it doesn't seem to be that way.
Maybe its just a new normal and I'm old. I feel lucky the internet didn't exist when I was young.
I don't understand these negative comments about what "computers/internet" has done to me etc.
Yes, there are certainly aspects of computers, the internet and especially social networking and instant-texting that have a net negative impact on our lives.
But this argument strikes me as a "I'm such a victim" argument. Surely if you allow some device to have such a massive negative impact on your life then this would be the case even pre-90s before computers and the internet became mainstream?
- Maybe you might have spent too much time hanging out at your local bar? - Perhaps you'd have been addicted to television?
The one area, where I wholeheartedly agree and recognize the serious dangerous of the internet and computer devices is in children. The threat of cyber-bullying and indeed, rather more subtle, the attention-seeking culture of always producing content at a young age is IMO, very scary when thought of in the context that these will be future adults who didn't know better. We need to guard against these enabled social pressures like we protect kids from smoking, drugs, alcohol and even to a lesser extend (i.e. it's not illegal) addictions to things like TV, video games and other behaviors that they might fall prey to.
I guess, summed up what I am saying is: It appears that there the internet has developed a predatory nature on one's attention that extends to threaten one's social status and reputation.
Where I disagree is that - as adults - we know better and can combat this with self-discipline and by choosing our friends/social circles wisely (I don't engage with friends who constantly text or post online. I'm happy to meet but they know not to expect my participation there).
Where I agree is that, children are vulnerable to this and must be protected AND TAUGHT how to treat / interact with the internet.
Unfortunately, since this is relatively a new thing in society. We have not yet developed a solid culture around what is acceptable and what is not. Just like it is inconceivable now to smoke inside a closed room, or someone's house, I do hope that in the future it would be inconceivable to upload compromising information/pictures to random servers in foreign countries. But alas, we are not there yet.
I want to say I completely agree with this. I think, even more, we've lost sight of what is real. People think that the internet is real, and we're losing sight that life is something in the physical world. Heads are being stuck more and more into phones, and nobody is just out there talking and interacting in the physical world. It's a huge problem, not to mention the screen addiction I saw among teens when I was teaching.
I'd be much happier if I could have an internet free room or two near my family. In fact, if I ever move back, I might seriously work on that. Bedroom and a study/library if I can afford the place, no internet.
I think this blog post is entirely too idealistic about the benefits of turning off the Internet, but I don't think comparing excessive Internet use and Alcoholism is appropriate.
Having personally been on the fringe of "high functioning" alcoholism on a few occasions, I don't think the comparison works. Alcoholism is inherently negative. Drinking alcohol in moderation may not be extremely harmful, but is still not necessarily great. While I certainly won't tell anyone how to live their life, cutting out alcohol use is still a "good" thing. Even if it's not a problem for you. Edit: I also still drink periodically because I enjoy it.
Internet use is not inherently negative. "Addiction" to the Internet may not be great, but is not necessarily all bad. The tricky thing about Internet use is that it's generally not something with negative social connotations. So even if someone is "binge consuming", one is not likely to feel negative social pressure because of it.
So I ultimately agree that he shouldn't be touting no Internet as a solution for all people, but I can't get behind the Alcoholism comparison.
I went camping for two weeks earlier this month and didn't miss the internet at all. The funny thing about internet addiction is that people feel like they will miss out if they don't check their emails, facebook and favorite website 10 times a day. The truth is most of these things can be left for days. I don't own a smart for this reason. I feel that it will just be another unnecessary distraction.
A funny thing about 'Social media' is that it has tended to make me less social. Instead of calling people I'll send a dm or email. Instead of personally inviting everyone to a party it is easier to invite them via facebook. Sure the internet and social media has made communication easier but it has also made it less personal.
"I can access more material than I could read in a lifetime, from an iPad. It’s pretty crazy when you think about it, and I’m thankful for it."
I too am thankful for it. Although, I see this as a blessing and a curse.
It's now so hard to stay focused on anything specific, so time consuming to wade through all the useful and non-useful information, so full of distractions and misinformation. If you know where to look it's wonderful, but I feel the same a way about good books, magazine or blog.
When I was a kid, I remember my grandmother had The Encyclopaedia Britannica. It was wonderfully simple and enjoyable to read through. Every page felt interesting and exciting.
I don't really get this feeling from anything online.
The Internet is wonderful, I wish people respected it more.
That said, TV and newspapers are arguably just as bad (or worse) and they've been around for ages. So that's... reassuring.
However I think the iPad an iPhone are good in the sense that they remove the social isolation involved with logging onto the net.
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