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The Future of Humankind's Marriage to the Internet
The internet is something that people in western culture connect with on a more or less daily basis. The concept of free flowing information available through search engines and websites has revolutionized the way we consume information, music, videos, literature, and even our social lives and structure as a society.
The internet is also taking over TV, Radio, Telephones etc. It's all becoming one integrated system that we are all connected to. So where do we see this going? I have my concerns about the internet. It has serious psychological effects on us. We are more informed than ever before, but are we better for it? An optimist would say that the internet is an asset to democracy, and an intellectual leveller that gives more people the ability to be informed and educated on more topics. Being the pessimistic, skeptical bastard that I am, I can't help noticing how when you look at the internet's content you see something totally different. And when you look deeper into it, you see some really troubling things. Here are the risks that we face: Deterioration of language Privacy Loss Commercialization Social ineptitude Apathy Censorship Tailored isolation Just a few that I see. Here's a few videos that talk about the internet and where it's going. |
Unrelated to anything in your original post (as far as I can tell), I think we are quickly approaching an age where internet neutrality is a thing of the past, and it sucks. That's my justification for whoring music downloads while I (presumably) still can.
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That's actually pretty related to my original post :P
I agree. |
A vaster amount of information accumulated during the last 15 years than ever before, accessible to more people than ever before. Sounds like a nice feat if you ask me.
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over here, it's mostly talk in tea-shops (anti-governmental rants) put in text form for the world to see, without fear of reprisal from the secret police
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There are actually treatment programs in rehab centres for Internet addiction, too. But yeah, the Internet is all around us, and it's not going to go away any time soon. There's a website for every little thing now, it seems.
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I don't think anyone who was social before will abandon their friends for the internet. Even if it happened on a small scale, socialization would become a commodity. Everything balances. Just because "you" hate certain folks, or see symptoms happening in some people (perceived) doesn't mean its a full blown slippery slope. Things balance. People end up not wanting to be connected at some point and lay off.
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YTMND = Fall of man.
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I agree with Ian E, my mother was in London the other week and I asked her about it and we got talking about some restaurant she went to in Notting Hill, she decided to go to this particular restaurant as when she was outside it she googled it on her iphone and having received a number of favourable reviews she went in.
I Phones and the internet are too invasive we are losing a natural curiousity videogames were a precursor but kids these days are either sharpening knives or lost in cyberspace. When I was young we went outside. |
i feel really funky taking a holiday and not having a line
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Insensitivity to violence and depravity is a huge concern of mine, as is the decrease in respect for others and inability to communicate with them.
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And the other thing is that we have access to information about all of the violence, violations of human rights, people starving etc - which is more a product of the expansion of all kinds of information sources not just the internet - but it does desensitize us I think. It certainly has done to me. |
Other than buying less music & less magazines I've not noticed any real difference in myself since I came online.
But then I just treat the internet like one more piece of home entertainment. I'm not the slightest bit interested in 4G phones (Or phones of any kind for that matter), social networking, twitter or any of that kind of thing that means I get interrupted when I'm out doing something, or bore people about what I'm doing. And someone answer me this, what the hell do you do exactly with an Ipad? |
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By the time you're forced to get a job, pay taxes, endure a long-term relationship, and eat actual food, not something microwaved that comes in a bag, you stop having time for **** like 2-girls, 1-cup. This sort of Frat Humor doesn't hold up in the light of questions like "why do I think this is funny again?" Its just like a Will Ferral movie. I think your concerns are more "Why are we giving the 14-24 crowd easier access to **** they don't need?" And to that end I agree with you. But the 37 year olds still laughing at that **** are punished with miserably benign jobs and a home in the basement of the house they grew up in. |
2 Girls 1 Cup is nothing. Almost anything on the YNC is worse.
I remember a band teacher in my high school had said that back in the day, while on the trip to where they'd be performing, everyone would be singing and playing games and whatnot. Sometimes he'd have to get them to quiet down a bit, which isn't surprising. But in the last 2 years or so, he said everyone just listens to their mp3 players and text away on their phones. It's sad. |
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Well for me it removes the whole romance of going somewhere new and sampling a city. I would prefer to find things out for myself. I appreciate this is a pretty ridiculous personal preferece! |
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When i did have a mobile phone all my texts basically consisted of the following words...
Pub 8.00 |
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And beyond that, even if you had figures, you couldn't infer intent. To the point about being surrounded by people, School has never been a great social scene. I'm 28 now, you know how many people I still speak with from HS...maybe 5. Friends based on geographic location doesn't make a terrible amount of sense. You're surrounded by people if you're in prison too, doesn't mean I want to speak to them. |
Goddamn. I had no idea I needed sources with facts propping up things I've experienced. I didn't even say they were facts. Jesus. Lighten up. The whole point is that they could be sitting next to someone who share their same interests and could end up being great friends, but they would never know that. Sorry, I don't have an article proving that.
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And alright, you make a good point here, but the reason I'm saying "get me the figures" is because you're speaking as if its certain. You've started the discussion based on assumptions. Thats never a good thing. I happen to work in a school, and I know they aren't allow to have phones in class. So at some point they're socializing. |
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I think you're trying to make everything I say into an argument. I have no intentions on debating. Debating is for people who like to argue and who have an affinity for facts and figures and logic. I'm much more of a thinking/feeling person, which is probably why everything I've said thus far is based around experience. |
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EDIT: Unless you meant to the first quote. Considering I formed my post around the assumption that you meant the second one, I'm almost certain you were referring to the first. That's just how things work for me. |
The thread is supposed to be about people's opinion: and they can bring in experiences, or sources, or just say what they think and use neither.
I get frustrated when I'm on a thread about something interesting and it at some point gets caught in huge walls of text that say practically nothing. I didn't see anything wrong with what Canwll said tbh. |
I know! It's just my opinion. I could see if we were discussing something with cold hard facts, but I merely said how I feel and mentioned a few experiences that make me feel the way I do.
And yes, I definitely agree about the "walls of text" observation. Intelligent people make complicated things simple, people who think they're intelligent make simple things complicated. EDIT: For the record, I'm not referring to anyone in particular. It luckily hasn't happened in this thread, at least to the extent that I've seen in others. You know the ones, you've seen them. |
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