Slashdot Mirror
Internet Users Are More Social Than Non-Users
FePe writes "The UCLA World Internet Project has concluded from a study that Internet users spend more time on social activites than non-users. Many other interesting facts can be seen on the page. For example, in the United States 73.1 percent of men use the Internet compared to 69 percent of woman." Also interesting is how net users watch less television than their offline counterparts. Update: 01/16 03:46 GMT by M : Yep, pretty much the same story as yesterday. To be fair, Cowboyneal did say it was news to him. :)
How delightfully ironic.
Buckethead
DUPE DUPE DUPE.
Its because of the online dating sites, obviously.
What are they thinking? That we just sit around and read /. all day?
And they do often copy themself because it is so easy to do online
...than non-internet users...
Of course there's more men on the internet than women. There's more male oriented porn than female oriented porn out there.
SR.
news-to-me dept.
holy double entendre batman.
Social != Taking showers
True story.
Like we come here for the articles?!?!
We all come here to socialize and share ideas.
Yes, even the trolls.
This is social.
Sure I go out with friends and family several times per week... but this is a form of socialization as well.
We all need a little geek "fix" every once in a while.
No shock here.
AC
i am an internet user and i am not social
so, that study is wrong
slashdot editors, please remove that misleading title. it might make people think this is a reliable source of info
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Online people may spend more overall time in "social activities" - but a lot of these social activities probably don't really count. Is someone who spends 6 hours a week in a chat room socially better off than someone who spends 5 hours a week hanging out with friends at a mall?
Another point to mention: I watch TV at least as many hours as I am on my computer. Why? All of the rooms that I have computers in also have TVs in them, and I always have a TV on in the background when I'm on the computer.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
So why isn't there an automatic dupe checker in the ./ engine ? Anybody know ?
Kilka
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. -Chomsky
If slashdot "subscribers" get to see the stuff before the fact, why not let them vote a story a dupe BEFORE it's posted to the site?
.02
I mean, it could just be a delay of 30 seconds for each vote until a certain threshold is reached, but christ! It's almost as bad as the trolls sometimes.
My
~ Eric
(geeks are internet users)=> (internet users are super social) => (geeks are the most internet savy) => (Geeks are Socialite GODS)
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
For shame, Cowboy.
The link says something like "See any serious problems with this story? Email our on duty editor." Apparently they have a different idea of "serious problem". That, or the story queue is like the bases on Alien(s?). There's a time limit, after which you can't cancel the story.
It is true... We have got so much more communication of course.. We can talk VoIP/IRC IM email to our hearts content. If anything computers / internet has made it cheaper to communicate with people we would not normaly communicate with. Only for the cost of ISP charges.. which usualy works out cheaper than dialing up some one on your home phone. Is this story a suprize. Not for those of us that are used to it.. Its the uneducated general public that have been misinformed that believe that computers cause you to be anti-social.. Well thats my 2 cents.. I am sure there will be people that dissagree
What, has some magician sawed this poor woman into pieces, and failed to reattach 31% of her? And, while he desperately Reads The FM on how to complete the trick, she surfs the 'net?
Remember, they're talking about the 73% of the population that sends email around, they're not talking about the hardcore geek population. I don't even think these people should be counted as "internet users" any more than you would call someone who pumps their own gas an auto mechanic.
I'm surprised that this number is so close. I've been told time and time again that men like computers and women don't and yet this study has internet usage almost equal and i'm sure the 4 points is within the margin of error in the poll. Maybe geeks won't be alone for too much longer. Then again who am i kidding.
I would like to salute the ashes of american flags, and all the fallen leaves filling up shopping bags.
People must read a lot more than I do to so quickly recognize a dupe.
I would say most of the internet users (sic) I know are pretty social. It IS a means of communication isn't it.
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
posting a response mean that i am being social according to their standards?
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
still.
Stay tuned to Slashdot for continued coverage on how sociable internet users are.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
can i just say...... ouch!!!!!
I mean besides boring others and fragmenting discussion, thus depriving some of potentially critical insights. Other than that, there is nothing wrong with dupes! And even better, it gives us a second chance for First Post!
But seriously - I think this study is one of those self fufilling prophecies - some geek whose friends told him he spends too much time online was like, "I'll show THEM!" Then he designs a protocol and a study, and lo and behold, but frequent Internet Users are actually MORE social!
Or, it could be that Internet Users (on average):
1. Have more income than non-users.
2. Have a better education than non-users.
3. Have more leisure time than non-users.
All of these things contribute seriously to "being social." After all, if you're technologically illiterate, you probably aren't working in a white collar job that's all about networking. You're probably slinging hash at a Waffle House, hoping the truckers don't spit at you tonight.
Blogging Weight Loss, Distance Education, and more at verlin.com
was the first post to point out the dupe
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Dupes!
I am Monkey, the Great Sage, equal of heaven!
Spending 12 hours in a chatroom! IM'ing all my friends (I don't know what any of them look like) several times a day! Connecting myself to Kevin Bacon (takes eight degrees for now) on Friendster!
I just KNEW someday someone would vindicate me and tell everyone that these were not anti-social activities!
what if i have a TV tuner card in my computer and watch tv as i use it, does that count as both or just one.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
Only about 10,000 /. users could have told you this was a "the old one was not even cold yet" dupe. I say we donate about 5 bucks apiece to a paypal account -- and send one of the 10,000 all of the stories 10 minutes before you post....and we can work as the new /. "dupe bot" cluster.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
It surely is.
mod parent as -1 Envious
often forgetful of where they've already been. ;)
For me, I maybe lucky to watch 1hour of TV at night, and that is *if* I am lucky whilst on the other hand I would much rather prefer surfing the net, looking for news that interests me and possibly chat to a few friends.
I completely agree with the UCLA, the people I find that are the *least* socially active are those who are couch potatoes where as for me, I'm able to surf for the information I want, get it straight away then go off and do something else where as if I watch TV, I would have to sit through ads, a couple of feel good news stories just to get to the news story that I could be interested in.
With that being said, however, yes, there are people on the internet who hide behind their computer screen, too scared to face the world so instead they create a whole new persona specifically for "online communication".
Now sure, Internet is great for communication, however, like any form of communication, one has to take it in moderation. Simply restricting yourself to online friendships is neither healthy or longterm.
Now, if we all lived in isolated vacuums then I am sure it wouldn't be so bad but unfortunately these people take their anti-social leanings into work, the net result? you end up with a handful of possibly talented employees but can't work together with others to solve problems.
In IT we spend WAAY to much time worrying about skills when what the concerntration an universities and other training institutions ensuring that balanced people are graduated who not only know their "stuff" but also have the soft skills required for work that requires close colaboration.
I don't know about everyone else, but thanks to my handy TV tuner, I have a tendency to watch TV (or pre-recorded shows) while chatting and surfing the net. I'm three time as efficient at wasting time than most!
True story.
Does it say anything about internet users posting more dupes than non-internet users?
Again?
Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
Why waste your time with ignorant people? Most people are ignorant and stupid. Its annoying to even be around most people. Why be social?
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
I stay home on Thursday night, in spite of the legion of sophisticated bisexual women clawing at the door to my Manhattan apartment, putting aside a rich evening of culinary, cultural and sexual exploration of the kind that all geeks regularly enjoy, in order to selflessly devote myself to keeping slashdot running smoothly.
I e-mail the on-duty editor with a problem - as I am instructed to do.
I do so with at least ten minutes to spare before the story actually goes live.
What does the editor do? Absolutely nothing!
What is the point of even *having* an on-duty editor if they can't filter out duplicate stories! Jeez!
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Go to he-- er, wait, are you sure that's not anti-social?
Has anybody else noticed the irony of this letter and the /. poll today -- your greatest failing as a nerd.
/. poll did not have an option to be a complete nerd.
It was somewhat embaressing as my room mate looked at the poll and then said, "You can't check a single one, can you." Yup, it was a said day when a
One the flip side it was rather interesting about the fact that they said that the internet has no social benefit. It is rather awkword in the wording and was very ambiguious. It seems to say to me that the internet is not considered a reliable source of information -- maybe it is my University, but I am encouraged to do my political science research on a computer so that I can get the latest up-to-date information.
Oh well...
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
recognizing this as a dupe indicates that you have a well-developed social life!
I'm going to ignore the whole dupe thing and attempt to actually reply. My family usually expresses dismay at how much time I spend on my computer. My usual rebuttal is if I wasn't on the computer, I'd be watching TV, and personally I think using a computer is MUCH more intellectually stimulating than watching television.
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
So why is it I can't seem to locate any of this supposed 69% of women on the Internet?
Oh, I know--they're using a different Internet! I feel much better now.
I'd be more interested if trolling counts as social. Seems pretty anti-social to me, but how could such a study account for this?
Oh, and, uh, ignore my sig.
True story.
Considering that the average American watches four hours of television per day [centredaily.com], I'm not sure the average person has much time left for socializing. Anything that reduces the amount of TV watched, including using the Internet, is likely to improve how social that person is.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Social != Taking showers...
unless of course you are in a Japanese Public Bath House!
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
i bet 80% of the 73% of women are RL manginas!
How social can it be I have read this in eight different online news sources already!!
***I GOT NUTHIN***
Hi, where's the computer dept
Assistant:
Third floor, on your right
Geek:
Oh, do you know if they sell Netgear LN-234STs over there?
Assistant:
Sorry, you should ask the computer dept. people about that
Geek looks at assistant's t-shirt:
Do you know that thinkgeek sell a t-shirt just like this one, with "all your base are belong to us" written on it
Assistant looks at Geek and walks away as fast as possible.
Geek goes to the computer dept. and immediately finds other geeks talking about the new iPod, joins in in their conversation, and together they flood the assistant with questions about the technical specs of all the mp3 players around, and keep trying to persuade him that the iRivers are better because they are firmware upgradeable to support OGG/Vorbis.
A few days later, assistant fill in poll about computer users, and in the Comments section fills in:
A few days later slashdot story appears, claiming that geeks are more communicative than other people.
Hostes alienigieni me abduxerunt. Qui annus est?
I agree with the study -- but you do have to consider chat rooms, discussion boards, etc. to be socializing. And I do think they are, but it's a new type of socializing.
I am an introvert. I'm happy to be an introvert. I hate going places with lots of people, and I tend to be the quiet one if I'm ever in a group of people. But I do a lot of discussion boards. The amazing thing is that online socializing does not mess with my introversion. I'm comfortable submitting comments to discussion boards where I wouldn't be comfortable speaking out at a get-together.
So maybe the stereotype is right AND the study's results are right. Maybe it is our definition of being social that is being put under the microscope.
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
Also, what quantifies "internet use"? For this study, I'm assuming that means time spent in front of a web browser. Does ssh'ing into a linux box halfway across the world count? What if it's across the same city? What if it's under my desk? Does checking email count? What if I download my email and read it offline? What if I print out my email and then read it? (no, I don't do this, but I know execs that do) What if I'm at my computer, playing nethack, but I'm signed into Trillian?
Or the Turkish ones that I see on all those European travlling shows on TV.
I was really taking a jab at RMS more than anything else =)
True story.
leave that one for the philosophers.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
I used to be an anti-social geek until I discovered the internet. Upon discovering how easy it is to communicate with people when not face to face, I learned to like people and interact with them. I was able to hide any apprehension, and by subverting this I gained real confidence in myself. This of course translated over well to the real world, and now I consider myself a people person. And no one thinks I am a geek. So this article comes as no surprise to me, and I'm sure that I'm not the only person in this boat.
That might be a pretty good addition to the Slashcode. Something like "this same link has been used in a recent story (provides link). Would you still like to post this story?"
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
is this thing "Television" you speak of?
...
Seriously -
Its true - My TV consumption is way way down
Slashdot now fills that hole in my day !
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
...ELIZA told me so! HREF="http://www-ai.ijs.si/eliza/eliza.html"
After working all day answering people's stupid questions and fixing their computers that they've blown up while trying to do stupid shit, I usually don't want to have anything to do with people once 5pm rolls around, or on the weekend.
I was off from December 19th until January 5th, my longest vacation in years, and I barely left the house. In that time I read 6 novels, wrote some more of the interface for my home automation stuff, played video games until my vision was blurry, and slept (I even set the alarm a few mornings just to have the pleasure of turning it off, rolling over, and going back to sleep).
At the end I actually went 5 days straight without leaving the house for anything. When I got in the car on January 5th to return to work, it actually felt weird to drive.
Summary: Best. Vacation. Ever. I can't wait to do it again in 48 weeks or so.
Yeah, what the hell is up with that? I mean, part of the fun of /. is dodging the goatse links. This is an important story! Also, it would be the only time, ever, that a story itself would link to goatse.
/. links to a website I control on their front page, slamming the hell out of my web server. I think I'd just make it just load goatse for 'em. Suck that, /.
Speaking of which...here's a great idea. Let's say
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Yep, pretty much the same story as yesterday. To be fair, Cowboyneal did say it was news to him. :)
Well DUH! If it ain't a dupe it ain't news!
Learn something new.
And they do often copy themself because it is so easy to do online
I am Monkey, the Great Sage, equal of heaven!
I didn't realize it, but I guess squatting in IRC and bb's belittling others for my own amusement is a social activity!
Maybe they should differentiate between social activities that are beneficial to all...and fun.
--"It's Bradford Company, slash your last name, dot your first name"
...my 24.1" LCD monitor has PIP, and I watch TV while I surf. Hate to skew the stats...
I'm a paraplegic. This is the most socialization I can get.
Look now, socializing with porn does not count.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
everyone who doesnt use the internet lives in a cave.
My question is, why does every one get so bent out of shape when there is a dupe posted?
Most of us (non-subscribers) arent paying to view this site, its not like our hard earned dollars are being spent to read duplicate news stories every day. Even then, how bad is it to notice the slip-up and hit the "Back" button?
Cowboy Neal was too busy jacking off to the Wired.com website www.goatse.cx
I think Somethingawful does that on any request that has slashdot as a referrer. I guess they'll just have to use tubgirl now.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
I knew it! I knew it! My mother always told me I was less social, but the second I saw this article I brought her down into the basement so she could read the article for herself! I sure proved her wrong!
- shadowmatter
> Also interesting is how net users watch less television than their offline counterparts.
:)
If only we were chameleons, this wouldn't be a problem at all.
Anyways, I think that the internet has people be more communicative simply because it's the laziest form of communication. ytalk/irc/IM/MMORPG-ing is simply the easiest way for fat lazy bums like me to keep in touch with everyone. If arpanet never happend, then I suppose I would be still have to do what I did 10 years ago to socialize; drive/bike over to friends' places or pay expensive long distance bills to talk with distant relatives/friends.
The internet is makes us more social but less lazy. I'm not at all conviced this is good.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
Quite a few high school guidence counclers actually believe wemen can't make a successful carrer in technical fields and will actively discurage intrest in those fields.
When the guidence councilers ultimately desides what classes the students get to take that bies will effect the class attendence of the technical classes. Reasurence from the teachers that it's not a problem dose not help.
Equally famaly members will also discurage girls from getting involved in computers becouse "It's too complex".
This is less and less over time. Each generation has less interfearence as we learn just how important computers really are in the world today.
We can thank peoples addatudes twords wemen in the 1970s and 80's for the limited representation of wemen on the Internet today.
I don't actually exist.
Geeks are social by nature. As a defense mechanism they usually move in herds when leaving the sanctity of their computer desks. In the untamed world (the mall or school hallways for example) the likeliness of a geek to be singled out and picked on by a predator/bully is divided by the number of fellow geeks in the group. Hence the the geek uses safety in numbers, a trait found only in intelligent social animals.
.deviatefromtheabsolute.
No, we read it at 4 am, too.
I sometimes come here for the articles... but also, as you rightly mentioned, for the conversation.
Seriously... if you can sort the wheat from the chaff, you can learn things here. Even as a terminally-degreed professional, I find this website valuable (I also double-check facts to be sure they're not BS). The level of expertise of the people that regularly read and participate here is substantial (and the trolls simply make for cheap, lowbrow entertainment... thanks guys!).
Believe it or not, you can also meet people... I've found I'm not the only healthcare professional (physician) who reads slashdot; I've met other docs, paramedics, radiation technologists, etc... all of whom have expanded my knowledge about various topics. The non-medical hard-core EE/code/kernel geeks have led me to good books, websites, and reference works on non-medical technical subjects.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love this place, trolls and all.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
[09:00] wow, slashdot says we're sociable! [09:07] heh [09:25] damn idlers. Yeah, always chatting away on IRC...
I was thinking, duplicate stories often have the same links to websites, quotes from people, etc..., so couldn't someone write a patch to slashcode that searches the previous N articles for similar links or strings of words (much like is done with plagiarism catchers)?
It seems that that would at least pull up a list of similar stories and the admin could look at them and say "Yeah, this is a dupe, I see the other story right here, from 2 days ago," and hit "cancel".
Just a thought.
Oh, and a note for people who ask "why do we care?" Well, dupe's wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the comments. For those that enjoy reading or making comments, duplicates mean that the discussion is spread accross two (or more) different stories. That's not cool.
The Pew Internet Life Project issued a similar report recently, suggesting that Internet chat usage had shown only a modest increase.
We recently published our years end list of the top ten chat topics for 2003, and have seen a very good growth both in Chatmag and Internet chat and discussion sites in general. Two years ago, our estimate of functioning chat rooms were at about 750,000. End of 2003 estimates are at about 1,325,000. We now include 'blogs and discussion groups such as Yahoo! Groups and MSN Groups in our listings, to reflect the changes in social interaction.
Online game playing, while not in itself "chat" offers players the opportunity to talk to each other. According to statistics from 2002, an estimated 50 million people around the world were playing online games that year, and the number is expected to grow to 114 million by the year 2006. Online game playing is the Internet equivalent of "poker night" or board gaming with friends.
According to Alexa, the two year ranking for Slashdot rose from a low of about 1750 to todays rank of 881. In that same time, Chatmag's rank was at about 230,000 two years ago, with todays ranking of 43,656. Other social networking and related sites have shown a similar increase in users, suggesting that the reports do not delve into all aspects of social interaction.
When Pew and The World Internet Project look at usage, they do not consider sites such as Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Ryze, or Ecademy as "chat" sites, although the primary function of such sites are to promote dialog.
Social interaction is evolving from the traditional IRC chat room toward more focused integrated sites, such as interactive games, 'blogs and Slashdot-type sites.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
...have these people more sex? Too much TV or iNet, WAYNE?. Make more sporty activities, you'll become much more of the real "social contacts"... ;)
The study does not address slashdot users and their antisocial tendencies. I bet the scores would be hire for normal internet users if slashdot users were put into their own antisocial group.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
A: people on-line are more sociable B: more men are on-line than women so that means... men are more sociable then women... hmm so i guess grunts count as communication now visit my band www.netzermusic.com
For example, in the United States 73.1 percent of men use the Internet compared to 69 percent of woman.
Ok, let's see: 69% of woman uses the internet. She puts the head into it, she must use her arms, and I would guess the main body part (chest and hips included). So what's left? The legs! Yes, the legs are out of internet for the woman.
Just wonder how they did calculate the number. Is it mass or volume?
The purpose of life is to find the purpose of life.
Socializing? Hmm, lets break this down shall we... "41 percent of users in the United States are online an average of 10 hours or more per week..." Ok, so there are 168 hours in a week. The typical geek seems to spend 10 hours a day sleeping, or 70 hours a week. If you spend 3 hours a for meals (1 for breakfast, lunch and dinner)thats 21 hours. The average work week for a full time employee in the computer industry is typically 50+ hours (we'll go with 50). Most folks have to drive on average 30 minutes a day minimum to work as well. That makes another 3.5 hours a week. So far folks, we are left with 23.5 hours. Let's pretent that most of us actually bath daily and spend around 45 minutes on personal cleanlyness per day. That means 5.25 hours is spent with grooming. Now, lets estimate that you spend another 4 hours a week doing things like laundry and grocery shopping and various other life activities. Now we are left with 13.25 hours total. I space out a minimum of 15 minutes outside of work. Most people do. So lets just round down to 13 hours. So, no we take out the 10 hours for the internet and we are left with 3 hours to socialize. 3 hours! Barely enough time to meet some friends for a movie. Not enough time to drive to any reasonable location to hang out. Enough time to hurt your hearing in a loud dance club. It is definately not enough time to spend with your lover (if ya have one)! So by my estimation this socializing must take place at work and while you are stuffing your face during meals! I would be interested in seeing exactly how they got their numbers.
root 10956 5164 0 Oct 22 - 0:23 sendmail: rejecting connections: load average: 70 (isn't sendmail just too kind)
Were you going to give credit to this guy?
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
Ah ha!
-Libertarian secular transhumanist