Social Experiment: "I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet"

First of all, I sincerely hope this is the right subforum for shareing this. I thought for a long time and I believe this is an interesting topic to start a philosophical discussion about internet. After all, we all live in modern era. We all use internet - although do we actually need all this? Does it makes us less productive? Does it makes us connected? How has it changed the world?

Today I came across this interesting experiment, which I really enjoyed reading about.

A writer, who took a year off the interent, shares his insights into life without it.

www.theverge.com...

I'd read enough blog posts and magazine articles and books about how the internet makes us lonely, or stupid, or lonely and stupid, that I'd begun to believe them. I wanted to figure out what the internet was "doing to me," so I could fight back. But the internet isn't an individual pursuit, it's something we do with each other. The internet is where people are.

THE INTERNET ISN'T AN INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT, IT'S SOMETHING WE DO WITH EACH OTHER
My last afternoon in Colorado I sat down with my 5-year-old niece, Keziah, and tried to explain to her what the internet is. She'd never heard of "the internet," but she's huge on Skype with the grandparent set. I asked her if she'd wondered why I never Skyped with her this year. She had.

"I thought it was because you didn't want to," she said.

With tears in my eyes, I drew her a picture of what the internet is. It was computers and phones and televisions, with little lines connecting them. Those lines are the internet. I showed her my computer, drew a line to it, and erased that line.

"I spent a year without using any internet," I told her. "But now I'm coming back and I can Skype with you again."

When I return to the internet, I might not use it well. I might waste time, or get distracted, or click on all the wrong links. I won't have as much time to read or introspect or write the great American sci-fi novel.

But at least I'll be connected.

.

It is something that really makes me think. I know how much time internet can waste. If I start reading news, looking in Facebook, chatting with friends or even reading posts here, it can take hours. At the same time, I would never able to have daily chat with my friends around the world, seeing the insights in different topics from other cultures. Having lived in lots of countries, being a member of international organisations, I have met and made friends with people all around the Globe - internet is keeping us connected.

After all, everything comes to individual decisions and strength. One can waste a lot of time, at the same time another person might save a lot of time. Internet has so many strengths and so many weaknesses. What is Internet to you? A tool or an entertainer? How much real needs does it cover? What is the value of it?

reply to post by Cabin


It's a "Time Waster" and the "Great Connecter" it's the duality that is the "Internet".

I've wasted 1000+hrs when I was younger on MMORPG's

It makes you wonder if she suffererd any side effects because of her cold turkey approach. Im sure i read somewhere that as little as a month away from the internet,can cause the pineal gland to swell up to the size of a small baboon.

Dear Cabin, Your welcome.

Kindest Regards,
Al Gore.

reply to post by Cabin


Sometimes I wonder if the people of Earth would be better off without it.
At first alot of people would struggle, but then we'd adapt.

Think about it, all the things you would have to participate in, in order to function.
A person would have to:
Actually buy things from a physical market or store all the time.
Pay all their bills in person, with cash.
Call friends and family or actually visit them at their homes.
Maybe even have to pick up a book and read.
Or even go outside to play games.
The list is endless.

Imagine life without it.
Sounds pretty simple to me.
It was like this about 20 years ago...
Look how things have changed.

reply to post by Elvis Hendrix


Is it really that bad? wow remind me not to leave the internet for a year

I have gone periods without even a computer much less Net access.

It's not a big deal as infinity goes, but I do confess things could get boring more often as I loathe TV and that's not a feasible option (nothings on anyway).

Books and other forms of time dumping only go so far as well, especially considering that I personally need a lot of variety and can never stick to a single thing for very long.

I think I ended up just doing what I normally do minus the computer for the most part. My thinking patterns haven't altered much beyond average or anything like that.

It does suck to not have wiki-google to research answers to more difficult specific questions however.

So yeah I am happy and thankful to have such a awesome technology as this, despite it's shortcomings.

reply to post by Cabin


I would actually say that a world without the internet would be a better world. Internet is the great demystifier. It takes milliseconds for google to answer your every question. You don't have to hunt for anything, just sit back in your chair and receive an endless stream of images and information. We get attached to the information stream to the point that we often feel like crap when we're disconnected.

I'm not saying that there aren't good things about the Internet. I, for example, love to surf Wikipedia by going from article to article to article to article. I always learn something new and find inspiration through my beloved Wikipedia.

Originally posted by Elvis Hendrix
It makes you wonder if she suffererd any side effects because of her cold turkey approach. Im sure i read somewhere that as little as a month away from the internet, cause the pineal gland to swell up to the size of a small baboon.

I don't believe that at all, especially after questioning it.

Like how does the organic tissue know the difference between a computer and a tv? Why isn't this effect also associated with cold turkey tv withdrawals? Is this the secret reason why there are TVs available in prisons? To prevent mass gland swelling among the inmates?

I'll give it a 1% or less chance to be true from my standpoint.
With some sort of evidence, I could be convinced to significantly alter my calculations.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
I have gone periods without even a computer much less Net access.

It's not a big deal as infinity goes, but I do confess things could get boring more often as I loathe TV and that's not a feasible option (nothings on anyway).

Books and other forms of time dumping only go so far as well, especially considering that I personally need a lot of variety and can never stick to a single thing for very long.

I think I ended up just doing what I normally do minus the computer for the most part. My thinking patterns haven't altered much beyond average or anything like that.

It does suck to not have wiki-google to research answers to more difficult specific questions however.

So yeah I am happy and thankful to have such a awesome technology as this, despite it's shortcomings.

I went six mounths last summer fall without internet or TV in the place i was staying..in the bush
I used shortwave to get news
and boated fished hunted fished gardened fished snowmobiled fished
think I'Il go fishing this aft for pike...( by dead reckoning no gps either LOL)

The internet is the sum of the human conscious collective all in one place.

I love it, hate it, get annoyed by it, am inspired from it, want to turn it off, turn it on, punch it and caress it.

The internet is the future resting place of the whole human experience. To go without it, would be to be a hermit in the 1800s. Even now, to get a job you need to have a profile on at least one networking site, if not are looked at a little funny, who introduced that rule? No one, it was seen as a reasonable means to connect with one another and understand / satisfy one's curiosity towards another ( I.E. make sure in our minds they aren't a perceived threat ) and were some of these threats start from.

It's a collection of the good, the bad, The Wow and the LOL.

I had heard that more people are suffering poor general knowledge recall, because no-one bothers to remember facts anymore, they just nip online on their phones or laptops and check or ask the question on Google.

reply to post by Lulzaroonie


Correct, I honestly feel even as much good the internet does, it will inevitably evolve us in ways we wouldn't imagine, maybe even turn us more looking like the greys? Not sure why they have the massive domes though if all the knowledge can be recalled, maybe it's to handle the 80% BS that reality seems to swim in?

Had a dinner table filled with friends last night, and we got into a lively discussion about this. A couple fo my friends present really have an issue with internet, and refuse to use it, and are violently against anyone even putting up pics with them in it on Facebook (made sharing photos of this surprise birthday party difficult for me- had to make sure they were not in any of them! )

It seems to me that older people are suspicious because they don't totally understand how to manipulate this medium. Like in talking about Facebook, they do not know how to set their privacy parameters, with email they don't know how to mark things undesireable spam to be blocked...they don't understand that a persons "Wall" is not the place to post a private conversation).

I have heard that younger people begin to use it as escapism from the real world and get addicted, making it a hindrance to the rest of their life, but I have not personally witnessed this. My kids aren't into it that much, my 18 year old doesn't use it except when his teachers make him do so to get his homework assignments.

The other day Facebook automatically tagged his face in one of my photos as "I don't know". Guess that is a sign of the times- "no Facebook account? You don't exist."

But the way i see it, it has been nothing but beneficial for me, especially because I live on the other side of the world from my family and origins. It has allowed me to keep relatives alive in my minds eye, and know who is passing on and who has more kids, etc. I love seeing photos of the things they are experiencing! Why was that okay when it took ten days to get a letter with photos, but is somehow perverse on the Internet???

I could definately live without it, but I enjoy it, and haven't found any ways it is problematic in my own life.

The internet it plugs you into the world.
And keeps you on your butt

In that sense its a buttplug.

Originally posted by Lulzaroonie
I had heard that more people are suffering poor general knowledge recall, because no-one bothers to remember facts anymore, they just nip online on their phones or laptops and check or ask the question on Google.

"You heard" wrong.

Having a source for your knowledge is far better than "general knowledge recall" because almost all of that "general knowledge" is hearsay, superstition, or severely altered from the original facts.

I like looking up facts in preference to people spouting their generalized uninformed opinions.

Most of us only get about thirty thousand days of life. Not much time...

Some of us treat our bodies like temples (with workouts and healthful lifestyles,) in hopes
that we can get a few more useful days out of our bodies.

Some choose to enjoy life completely without much care for extending the later years.

But as to this "wasting of time" meme...it can't exist. You do with your time exactly as you choose.
No time is ever wasted.


I'm on day number 18,661. I got about another 12 thousand days to go...and none of it will be
wasted. I (hope) that I will do exactly what I choose to do. After-all is said and done, my chance of
having someone, or anyone, recall my name, or anything I have dome 500 years from now is
slimmer than the odds of winning the lottery twice.

Enjoy your life...and try to stay out of other people's way as they enjoy theirs

Originally posted by Tranceopticalinclined
The internet is the sum of the human conscious collective all in one place.

Well, a growing percentage let's say.

Also, just because you or I post here this is hardly a snippet of the tip of the iceberg that is the depth of our inner consciousness.

I probably end up posting only .1% of my thoughts online or less.

I just took a year break. Felt great.

I get online a few times a year usually, and let me tell you, from my point of view, you people are zombies of second, third, and fourth hand information.

Sitting in a chair for hours at a time is a weakness. None of you are prepared for anything.

Slaves.

Originally posted by applesthateatpeople

Sitting in a chair for hours at a time is a weakness. None of you are prepared for anything.

Slaves.

I agree.

Free people like you and I, we post standing up.
Legs hurt sometimes but gotta do what you gotta do!