Slashdot Mirror
Americans Giving Up Social Life for the Web
Stony Stevenson writes "A survey into how the Web affects American adults has found that surfing the net has become an obsession for many, with the majority of U.S. adults feeling they cannot go for a week without going online and one in three giving up friends and sex for the Web. The survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web and found that 15 percent said just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days. It also found that 20 percent said they spend less time having sex because they are online."
A survey run at the same time in a sex shop showed that most Americans have not time for the internet because they're having sex.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Do outdoorsy stuff. Go hiking, camping or just go climb a mountain.
And if you do this regularly, you realize just how relaxing it is to not be connected to anything. In fact, I make it a point on some weekends to not answer my cellphone (in fact, I just put it away) or check my emails.
Works wonders.
As a Computer Science student and generally computer person I know that I spend more time online than most of my friends and certainly more than the average American, but I'm not sure about the average slashdotter. On the other hand I've also gone for quite a while without a network connection (on the order of weeks/months) and it's really not as hard as people seem to think it is, although deleting spam when I get back is... For me, using the internet obsessively isn't because I'm 'addicted' to the internet but because most of the time there's just nothing better to do. If I find something more interesting I tend to spend less time online.
No true geek would ever give up a chance for sex, just for the Internet. That's because REAL Geeks never (or hardly) get any, and won't pass up the chance.
This is really probably just women using the Internet as an excuse to keep their husbands/significant others at arm's length. "Not tonight Honey, I've gotta Google".
HexaByte - he's a square and a half!
It is that we get set in our ways and fear change. Whatever it is you do on a daily basis is what you are used to. It is not a comforting thought to think about changing that, especially for no reason. This is especially in relation to free time/entertainment. Yes, people who like goofing around on the net will be annoyed if you take that away. Ask a person who loves to watch movies how they'd feel about having their TV taken away, or a person who loves to cycle about having their bike taken away, and so on.
This is especially true in a nice, modern, stable country as thankfully we have a lot of time we can spend on what we like. When all your more basic needs are taken care of, you can spend the rest of your time on entertaining yourself. All that we are seeing is that more people are using computers for entertainment. I'd be willing to bet that TV is still the biggest (last I checked Nielsen said households on average watched more than 4 hours a night) but computers are growing.
Another factor may simply be introverts getting to do more of what they want. America has a bit of a skewed perspective that being extroverted is "good" and "normal" and being introverted is "bad" and "unhealthy". That's really not the case. Some people just thrive on getting to know lots of other people. They love meeting and interacting with any and everyone. Others don't, they are much more reserved and have smaller friends circles. They aren't interested in, or comfortable with, trying to meet every person that comes along.
Well as far as all the psychological research I've ever read has been able to determine, there's nothing better or worse about either state. It is just different. Introverts don't need to be forced to try and socialize with everyone, extroverts don't need to be forced to sit alone and not talk to anyone. People need to be able to do what makes them happy. There's no reason why one person can't be happy spending most of their time alone or with a small circle of friends while another is happy going to social gatherings and meeting new people every day.
One of the joys of long distance backpacking is the six months or more without radio, tv, phones, newspapers, etc.
You discover that most of what occurs in the world, or what is reported, has no effect on your happiness or wellbeing.
Even better, you discover that most possessions are superfluous, you can be very happy with the items that can be crammed into a few cubic feet.
Thoreau was right, man is possessed by his possessions. And, to update it a bit, by his gadgets.
Most Americans probably couldn't go a week without driving or using a telephone, either. The Internet is part of our life ecosystem now and a source for information and work. To go from there to drawing grandiose conclusions is to forget the maxim of statistics, correlation doesn't imply causation. If I didn't use the Internet for a week, I wouldn't have a job.
The internet is my bookstore, research library, mailbox (letters, anyway), dvd/music store, clothing store, shoestore, toystore, stationery store (fountain pens/ink, moleskine journals), news outlet, travel agent, and god knows what else. People see you "surfing the web" and fail to differentiate between the different activities you're actually engaging in. That's a problem with oversimplification, not with internet use.
Unfortunately, unlike Thoreau, some of us have real jobs that we can't just up and leave for 6 months or more.
Seriously, how do you guys that do that kind of stuff get that time off? I agree some long vacation separated from society may well be fun, but the most time I can get off is a few weeks around Christmas.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.