Back online after a year without the internet

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/1/4279674/im-still-here-back-online-after-a-year-without-the-internet

by cawel • 13 years ago

6 2 13 years ago

amark• 13 years ago

This article is severely flawed.

1. He's confounding "The Internet" with electronics in general. He mentions how most days he spent time listening to an e-book or playing video games. The problem is lack of human connection, emotion, and socializing, the internet is just one piece of that puzzle. Playing video games for 2 hours straight is just as bad as surfing reddit for 2 hours.

2. He's clearly an introvert, and his natural tendency is to avoid human interaction and involve himself in solitary pursuits. Introverts aren't always happy about their lack of human interaction, but it's their natural state. The internet is just an enabler of his aloneness, much as videogames, or e-books, or even regular books are.

3. He talks about losing track of friends. He is the only one culpable for that, nobody else. When we have facebook, it enables us to passively keep up with friends, but in a superficial way. To maintain a real friendship, we must still be active, with our without tools like facebook.

4. He complains that traditional communication is just as time consuming as things like email. However, he's receiving snail mail in excessive quantities because he's a writer, which is not indicative of the average person. Hes not charging his phone, which is his fault. And the fact that he's afraid to call anyone is, again, a symptom of him being an introvert. Email, texting, and commenting ARE excessively time consuming.

The problem is not the internet, the problem is the fact that we all waste ALOT of time spewing content, forming superficial relationships, and encouraging superficial online communication.

The solutions are things like time management. Attitude. Action. The internet, and technology by extension, enables wonderful things, but it also enables the worst of us. It's up to the individual to make the best of it.

f00_• 13 years ago

I think his final conclusion of "the problem isn't the internet, it's myself" is a clear indication that he realizes those things.

Back online after a year without the internet

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