P
Parson
Guest
Original poster
This is something that has always interested me about other people. The way people are interconnected today, it scares me how reliant our society has become upon this invention known as the Internet. When it first started, it was effectively reserved for the university level... and sometimes I wish it had remained that way. Times have changed. Everyone has gotten a computer. People are using their phones to get on the web. If you don't have an email address or you don't use the internet, you're looked at like you're a freak. So much now hinges itself upon you being able to use the Internet that even banks will charge you if you don't have an email address: essentially punishing you for not following social norms.
While the Internet has spurred a lot of changes for good, it has done quite a bit of bad as well. Since the advent of the smart phone, people are using them to get onto the Internet while driving causing often fatal accidents. (In Texas the death toll is near or over 3,000 people due to texting, web browsing, and general cell phone usage last year alone.) People have become addicted to forums and games sometimes leading to death or displaying signs of chemical addiction as seen in drug addicts or alcoholics. Extremist groups take advantage of the fact that society at large is becoming dependent upon the Internet and launch massive digital attacks at companies of web sites that are often used. These are just but a few of the downsides since the creation of the Internet.
These things, yes, are not directly the 'fault' of the Internet, but are a direct result of its invention.
As a test, I dropped my internet usage for a period. I believe it was probably a month or so. (I didn't use my laptop either.) I turned off the Internet on my phone and regulated its use to only text messages and calls. The results were startling. At first it was, I'll admit, a bit of a struggle. But once I got into it, it was rather freeing. I read more books. I socialized more. I was generally happier and less stressed. I didn't turn to Wikipedia or Merriam-Webster.com to look up things, I turned to the masses of books we have in our home instead. (Drew collects dictionaries... never knew anyone did that until he came along.)
I should mention this isn't an assault against the Internet or this forum, etc. This was all spurred by the fact that my Internet connection went down for a few hours and it reminded me of the experiment I ran.
So I pose that question to you: Can you or could you live without the Internet?
(A note on the poll. It's binary (two options) for a reason. There is no grey in this: You can or you can't.)
While the Internet has spurred a lot of changes for good, it has done quite a bit of bad as well. Since the advent of the smart phone, people are using them to get onto the Internet while driving causing often fatal accidents. (In Texas the death toll is near or over 3,000 people due to texting, web browsing, and general cell phone usage last year alone.) People have become addicted to forums and games sometimes leading to death or displaying signs of chemical addiction as seen in drug addicts or alcoholics. Extremist groups take advantage of the fact that society at large is becoming dependent upon the Internet and launch massive digital attacks at companies of web sites that are often used. These are just but a few of the downsides since the creation of the Internet.
These things, yes, are not directly the 'fault' of the Internet, but are a direct result of its invention.
As a test, I dropped my internet usage for a period. I believe it was probably a month or so. (I didn't use my laptop either.) I turned off the Internet on my phone and regulated its use to only text messages and calls. The results were startling. At first it was, I'll admit, a bit of a struggle. But once I got into it, it was rather freeing. I read more books. I socialized more. I was generally happier and less stressed. I didn't turn to Wikipedia or Merriam-Webster.com to look up things, I turned to the masses of books we have in our home instead. (Drew collects dictionaries... never knew anyone did that until he came along.)
I should mention this isn't an assault against the Internet or this forum, etc. This was all spurred by the fact that my Internet connection went down for a few hours and it reminded me of the experiment I ran.
So I pose that question to you: Can you or could you live without the Internet?
(A note on the poll. It's binary (two options) for a reason. There is no grey in this: You can or you can't.)
