look like?
| The easiest starting point may be to just look back at life before 1990—a time of landline telephones, 9-to-5 work schedules, and VHS-rental stores. But that historical reality doesn’t really answer the question, because in an alternate history, we wouldn’t have known what we were missing. “The Internet has so permeated our lives that its influence is becoming impossible to see,” says the philosopher Clay Shirky. “Imagining today minus the Net is as content-free an exercise as imagining London in the 1840s with no steam power, New York in the 1930s with no elevators, or L.A. in the 1970s with no cars. After a while, the trellis so shapes the vine that you can’t separate the two.” |
Ultimately, do you think society would be better or worse off, and why?
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on the flip side it has made life convenient, allowed us to connect with others we might not otherwise connect with, allows injustices to be brought to light, and allows us more insight into the world.
Whatever the negative effects, that fact that we have developed a society capable of creating something like the internet is testament to incredible progress. No one would ever give that up for anything.
and I say people, not meaning me of course.
The beauty of it all is if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to use it.
I'm in my early 20s and yes I'm probably an anomaly with how little I use social media platforms, but I feel like most of my friends are somewhat similar. My dad uses Facebook more than me. I just use FB as a way to keep up with everyones birthdays. Twitter I don't even have under my own name, I'll use it to track breaking news stories .
Snapchat is probably the predominant form of social media among my age group, but it boggles my mind how anyone would get upset about that since it's not as "social" as other platforms (it's more intimate but among a closer, inner circle of friends, unlike how you "friend" practically everybody on FB).
Just my two cents.
I would never go back.
:)
Just commenting on this point, alone....
I'm not sure if I like football any more now because of the internet. In fact, I may like it less. Fantasy Football, advanced metrics, mock drafts, 24/7 draft coverage, just 24/7 coverage in general, and constant influx of opinion both talking head and fan, too much information in general.... These things have actually turned me off to the game a bit.
I have kids right now, 5 and 2. The Ipad is like crack to them, almost in a scary way in that they lose their sh-t if we take it away. We use it in extreme moderation, always under supervision, and never at social functions of any sort or at the dinner table.
A couple of weeks ago we went out to dinner. It was a Friday night and there was a table with about 3 or 4 couples seated at one end, and all of their children at the other. Probably about six or seven kids total, age range about 6-10. I kid you not when I tell you that each kid had their own screen of some sort, phone, tablet, etc.... and sat in complete silence with headphones on for the entire hour duration of dinner. Dead silence, never looked up from their screens, never spoke, never even looked at each other while their parents socialized.
Just struck me funny because when I was a kid, if I was getting a chance to go out to dinner with all of my friends on a Friday night not in a school enviroment or whatever, which was a treat, we would have been out of control.
Now that may be a good thing for the parents, to have that virtual babysitter, but it's just weird, to me, to see a group of kids out on the town and wanting nothing to do with each other. Save the ipad for home when you're by yourself, you know?
Think about the servicemen in past wars where their wives and parents would wait days or weeks or whatever for a letter. Always nervous, always afraid, not knowing what was going on and whether their loved one was safe. Maybe sometimes, the first word they got was a couple uniformed guys ringing their doorbells.
What a huge difference and I can only surmise relief in just being able to have frequent contact. And it likely works the other way too where the soldier knows people are thinking about him and can lift him up when he gets down. (I say he, but insert she as well).
and I say people, not meaning me of course.
For porn
I have a fast connection, so I don't have to wait...
For porn
I browse all day and night...
For porn...
Think about the servicemen in past wars where their wives and parents would wait days or weeks or whatever for a letter. Always nervous, always afraid, not knowing what was going on and whether their loved one was safe. Maybe sometimes, the first word they got was a couple uniformed guys ringing their doorbells.
What a huge difference and I can only surmise relief in just being able to have frequent contact. And it likely works the other way too where the soldier knows people are thinking about him and can lift him up when he gets down. (I say he, but insert she as well).
There are clearly many positives. I wonder if the same technology could be employed without the internet, though.
- have to go to the bank live
- use my phone for international calls
- go to stores to buy things
- etc, etc.
Oh the horror.
:)
Wouldn't actually be a bad idea. Force people to get off the screen and talk to each other on the weekends.
But we just didn't know what the internet would was going to be a couple of decades later back then. So it was different.
Going back to a world like that now, knowing what we know, would be a much different experience.
The internet is way more useful than not. Technology has simplified so many aspects of living - but in turn, has also made a lot of things more complex. It's a double-edged sword.
I always wonder what my adult life would be like in a world where I didn't always know what everyone else was doing because of the internet. A world where I actually had to see people in person and talk to them to find out what they've been up to, etc.
It's an interesting subject - I actually think about it often.
Sort of a hybrid of the good things about pre-internet (social) and combining all of the technological advances of the post-internet era (medical, professional, science) of society.
On the surface, most people probably just think "yeah, I could live without Facebook.. easy!" But it goes so, so far beyond that.
Sure, we'd all be able to live without it - people did it for hundreds of years. But when all is said and done, I'd prefer the internet world to one completely devoid of it.
On the surface, most people probably just think "yeah, I could live without Facebook.. easy!" But it goes so, so far beyond that.
Sure, we'd all be able to live without it - people did it for hundreds of years. But when all is said and done, I'd prefer the internet world to one completely devoid of it.
I think that's my main question, though. I wonder if all of the conveniences could continue with non-internet technology? It's not like we would return to pre-1994 tech.
Leave the technology at home or work. Force people to interact with the world and each other when not at home or work.
It was really nice. But I commented that within 5 minutes at the table, I had already thought to reach for my phone for one reason or another - mainly to take a pic or two of the cool decor in the place.
It's really astounding how connected to the phone (and thus, the Internet) I find myself.
Need more self-imposed days/evenings where I shut it off and leave it somewhere in the house where I don't feel tempted to look at it.
I think his point was that as a society, we have become as reliant on the internet as those other places and eras that he states were reliant on the innovations that he cited for each one.
It's not so much what would it look like if it never happened, which is what you're referring to, but more so what would it look like if it went away.
Be mindful that we are now a generation or two deep of people who don't know what life is like without it.
Let's see ... we rode bikes ... played softball, baseball, whiffleball, football, basketball, kickball ... fished in the river, swam there and in the local creek ... hiked through wooded areas ... played Army and cops & robbers (on foot and on bikes) ... watched a little TV but not much (because there wasn't a hell of a lot on during the days other than soaps) ... and when the sun went down, it was time for neighborhood hide & seek, manhunt, and/or some other variation, until the Moms all started yelling to come in.
My kids also stare at me funny when they complain about food options in the house and I mention I'd eat 5-6 bowls of Corn Flakes or Wheaties a day on summer vaca. lol
We didn't KNOW we were bored!
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I think almost everyone's life would drastically change. People don't realize how many things they use/do rely on the internet.
On the surface, most people probably just think "yeah, I could live without Facebook.. easy!" But it goes so, so far beyond that.
Sure, we'd all be able to live without it - people did it for hundreds of years. But when all is said and done, I'd prefer the internet world to one completely devoid of it.
I think that's my main question, though. I wonder if all of the conveniences could continue with non-internet technology? It's not like we would return to pre-1994 tech.
I think a good deal of them would have to cease - there are a lot of internet-reliant conveniences that I don't think have any viable operating alternative. No internet would mean a lot of those things would be gone.
it would be different.
I grew up in an age without it. Was I happier or less happy than kids today? Was my life more or less meaningful?
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in terms of cyberbullying, hacking, etc., to say the world would be a better place without the Internet is to pine for the days of insular communities and stagnation of ideas. Far far more benefits came about with the advent of the Internet than cost.
Nonsense. Some of you are too young to remember pre-Internet. People got together at clubs, taverns, meetings, pubs, house parties, phone calls. There was plenty of idea exchange, and people were actually less insular because you had to actually talk to people instead of e-mailing.
Eh...communities of interest were formed based on proximity more than anything else, which usually led to echo chambers forming more than anything else with regards to ideas (especially those unpopular ideas that went against the norm of the community). And many communities without much access to the Internet remain insular to this day. The fact that we can have people from across the country and the globe be part of a large social community based on shared common interests makes the Internet a game changer (even with its own ability to form echo chamber realms).
Was this necessary?
I share it on BBI sometimes because there might be parents out there interested in the inner workings of what's going on in their kids school. Everybody wants inside information on everything else, why not Education?
In the spirit of the thread, though, I certainly would not bat an eye about not posting about education on BBI again.
It has shrunk the world and created a global culture shock in many ways.
It came along at a time when the world still had not recovered from the previous global culture shock that came with things like railroads, steam ships, telegraph, industrial revolution. That shit lead to WWI & WWII.
I'm not sure the stupidest people on the planet need a tool at their finger tips where they can find their worst thinking reinforced a hundred times over a day and also see examples of things they hate the most a hundred times over a day.
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who you would bitch to about your shitty students or crumbling American education system? It's easier to vent to strangers than to your significant other sometimes.
Was this necessary?
I laughed. Don't get mad Britt, it's what you do.
please tell me this is in jest.
please tell me this is in jest.
Do you think the magnitude of those wars would have been the same without mass manufacturing, shipping, communication, the air plane, combustion engines, ect.?
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there would be no BBI, "Inside Football" would go back to the days of being a cheesy newsletter, draft coverage would be what you could get off ESPN and NFL Network, there would be no Asshats, and this thread would not exist.
Just commenting on this point, alone....
I'm not sure if I like football any more now because of the internet. In fact, I may like it less. Fantasy Football, advanced metrics, mock drafts, 24/7 draft coverage, just 24/7 coverage in general, and constant influx of opinion both talking head and fan, too much information in general.... These things have actually turned me off to the game a bit.
The internet could make most schools obsolete and really should. In the past you needed books and a teacher but you can learn about all of history just on the internet and you can read endless content.
Having messenger apps helps keep in convenient contact with friends. I never see my friends and aside from one would not be wasting my time talking to them on the phone, not enough time
The huge downside is the ugly parts of human nature in internet shaming/pitchfork mobs. Seeing people's lives ruined for such simple throwaway comments is very upsetting as is cyber bullying via cyberbullying.
Along with shaming there's also revenge porn and hacking. Hacking and identity theft are a problem too.
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who you would bitch to about your shitty students or crumbling American education system? It's easier to vent to strangers than to your significant other sometimes.
Was this necessary?
Lighten up, it was a damn joke at your expense.
I'll tell you one thing that the Internet will always be terrible at. It's ability to convey sarcasm and joke.