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."
I'm not obsessed with reading Slashdot. I just happened to log in here in the middle of the night to get the first post, after having lots of sex.
Alright, I lied. Stroke my ego, mod me funny.
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
i find it very relaxing to "unplug" for a while. when i go on vacation there are usually wifi services available, i don't use them even if i do bring my laptop, it distracts from the whole "vacation" part of going on vacation. if i wanted to spend the day reading news and chatting with friends i would save a few hundred bucks and stay HOME to do it.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means
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.
Dear Sirs of this fine periodical, I wish to inform you of a social blight that has crept up upon our society! Our investigations reveal that the majority of Americans do not think they could withstand a single week without their radioelectronical talking box! Once of thrice interviews with willing persons revealed that they had neglected good social manners with there friends and even avoided full filling their marital duty in favor of box-communique! What hath God wrought, indeed,Samuel Morse, and what hath God wrought now?
Demented But Determined.
I don't think this should surprise anyone. People feel dependent on mass entertainment and have a difficult time thinking what it would be like without it. It is almost like an addiction. I must admit I feel the same way most of the time. One should also note that people still connect to other people on the internet through messenger services and sites like Facebook, so it is perhaps better than other forms of media like TV or video games.
However, it is relatively easy to break from the cycle. If people force themselves away from their computers and cell phones, it is incredibly easy to get back into social life. I find that times when I visit my family or when I go out hiking/camping, there is no empty void when I am away from technology. People (including myself) stop socializing because it is easier to spend time alone in front of a computer than to entertain others. It becomes surprisingly easy to find ways to socialize when you are bored.
It's funny. I don't mind being without net access at our summer cottage, for example. But if my connection is down at home I quickly get frustrated.
Then again, I need net access for most everyday tasks these days: Banking, bus schedules, general communication, (and soon IPTV service). Network access is quickly becoming like electricity, or running water.
Spending sleepless nights playing WoW on the other hand, is a whole 'nother ballgame.
.: Max Romantschuk
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.
Digitivity. Great. Another neologism from the virii/boxen crowd.
I do not know about anybody else, but I am a computer professional and I depend on the Web for my living. I spend a lot of time there. BUT... I would be very hard-pressed to think of any instance where I intentionally gave up significant time with people who I really considered friends for the web. Except when I was working, which is another matter entirely. And if we want to be honest, since I work from home, I would not give up sex for the Web, even when I was working! I have not been getting enough breaks anyway... why would I object?
I think this is another example of a "survey" that found exactly what it wanted to find, and damn the reality...
...it would seem that I am in the minority, considering that due to my lack of friends and/or social acquaintances that I actually spend more time online than I normally would. The wife and I left a close-knit Navy community when we ended our enlistments, and moved to Silicon Valley to take new jobs. Now our closest friends have moved back to the East coast and we both work in a slightly hostile environment where everyone is at least 10 years our senior, or they have kids, or they are just plain unsociable.
So I find that I increasingly spend more time online than I normally would because all of the people I am now remotely close to are on Teamspeak, Ventrillo, various forums, and (ugh) Myspace. Oh, how I wish it were the other way around, but until we have enough money saved up to get the hell out of here and move to someplace far less materialistic and divisive across social boundaries it looks like we are stuck. At least I don't have to worry about getting laid but then again it's harder and harder to get in the mood when you're drowning in depression.
There is simply too much glass..
In a recent survey 99% of the population of OECD countries admitted they would have trouble going for more than a few days without having a conversation, reading the news, watching TV, watching a movie listening to music, making a phone call, reading a book, writing a letter or paying a bill... amongst other things. More following this announcement from out sponsors.
"An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex." -Aldous Huxley
Apparently people are smarter than I thought. Seriously, God forbid anyone chooses to forgo sex or social interaction leading to sex for something they find more interesting. Say, information and knowledge...
Calvin: "I can't think of anything I'd rather anticipate than have right away, can you?"
Hobbes: "Death comes to mind..."
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 also found that 20 percent said they spend less time having sex because they are online."
It didn't say they have LESS sex, just that they spend less TIME doing it. Obviously, the Internet has made them more efficient.
Probably has to do with the massive hard-ons they can now achieve thanks to e-mail offers. What a truly wonderful age in which we live!
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
+1 Sexy
Maybe we'll start seeing sexier posts.
(Friend) (Friend of Sex Partner) (Sex Partner of Foe)
And I solved the sex issue by putting the computer in the bedroom. It worked out even better than expected because of the special USB attachments. And putting the big LCD screen over the bed? Genius, I think.
I just need to figure out a way to deal with the shaky mousework.
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.
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.
This is one of the big problems with most people. Don't take this as offensive it is not your fault at all, it is the fault of the media conglomerates and the capitalist ethic worldwide.
Your situation, in which you have a "real job", is probably more complicated than just that, even those people with real jobs can just up and walk away provided they have certain other obligations they haven't undertaken. Let us take a look at two potential life paths.
One:
High-School, University and a part time job, "real job" to pay off student loans, car loan (because you need a nice new car to go with your job), credit card, credit card bills after you have bought that plasma TV (on special!!!), house loan with payments that you will have for the next 50 years.
With this particular plan you are never out from under debt or other long term commitments, you can't take 6 months off because that would mean missing credit card payments, car payments and house payments. This is the average Joe choice; this is the bane of smart people everywhere who haven't got a grasp on money. They start this job out of University (55k a year! wow, that's so much money!) then they start spending, they earn a little more, they spend a little more, they never clear their debts. This person, these people in fact, are everywhere
Two:
High-School, University, 6 Months overseas on a working holiday, real job, paying off student loans and credit card from trip overseas, rent a property, don't buy too much junk, travel once a year till you are ready to give up your real job for a few months to do some real travelling or just settle down and get that new car (no one really cares if you have been driving that rust bucket since you were 17) the house and settle into the life everyone else is already stuck in if you want to.
Those student loans alone will be ok for you to travel with hanging over your head so long as you don't add a credit card and the rest to them. I am in the "Real job" stage of this plan, I spent 6 months working in Canada, I am about to go on a few weeks backpacking trip through SE Asia. When I get tired of this job, I will drive my rust bucket home to the place I rent and pack all my stuff up, drive it to my parents house and leave it under a tarp till I get back from wherever I end up.
These are choices you can make, they aren't the only choice, but they are always a choice. Buying a home ties you to it for a long time, a credit card debt is something you can't escape. I'm not preaching that my way is the only way, or that it is the way for you. I am just making the point that a "real job" isn't what is stopping you from jetting off for 6 months, it's your personal life-cruft that is doing it.
(I live in Australia where tertiary education debt is all government based and repayable on a "when you earn enough" basis, ymmv in US. Also, my real job is as a C# Developer)
Can't we all just get along
I tend to think the reason for your observations is that geeks are used to this life. We've been surfing the web since before most people had a good reason to own a personal computer; we're not over impressed with our ability to send an IM to a buddy while sitting in a dark movie theater.
From my experience, a lot of the people who spend more time sending text messages or hanging out on social networks are people that were perfectly social before it was all taken online. With the addition tech out there, they think that they are expanding on their social capabilities. Problem is, they are really NOT doing that and, in some cases, they are being more anti-social.
This is going to come full circle some day. Eventually people are going to realize that all the great tech they've relied on to do this cool crap was actually only stymieing their social lives. I mean, really, if you are sending 50 text messages to someone, you either fail to grasp that there is an easier way (talk to the person) or you are doing it at a time when you shouldn't be anyway (in which case you'll eventually be punished). I await the days when a cell phone becomes a phone again rather than a device for doing everything except communicating when necessary.