Comments on: Is the Internet Ruining Our Lives?

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:34:36 +0000

My computer got a virus and was down for 2 whole weeks. I didn’t realize it until i got working and got back on it again, that it was nice to not have used it for 2 weeks. It seems to me that if i didn’t watch as much television, or play as many video games, or spent less time on the internet that i could spend that time focusing on my real life.

By: DR. Bill Laker

DR. Bill Laker — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:34:09 +0000

Lifeis measuredin time-everyone knows that-the future of the world a couple in bed each with alaptop spenidng 3 hours going over their emails-than akiss- no time for sexonly 4 hours to get up to go to work tied and maybe if you have bad luck you crash you car because you are tired. Life expectancy will shrink-obesity and atrophy will be pandemic. i am waing for someone to go beyond Keen and write How the worldwide web took away our lives and made geek billionaires help destoy civilzation as we knew it. iti s now impossible for jewsus to ever come back so the ned for christianity is over. no need to go to church masive global wo9rld wide unemplyment is coming as hundreds of millions of people will be outsourced by the internet- brave New wrold is tame compared to geekworld -where the mantra is be a geek or die

By: Mike Hind

Mike Hind — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:27:22 +0000

If we don’t like the internet and what it’s doing, we don’t like the world. It is simply a reflection of everything we do and don’t like about ourselves, individually and societally. Sometimes I love that it takes me about 10 seconds to buy a novel I’d never heard of until 30 seconds ago. Sometimes I hate that I have become unable to accept a moment’s delay in my gratification. I force myself to stay off social networking sites precisely because I dislike the narcissism that I used to display. At the same time, I miss the recognition and validation I received from ‘friends’ on MySpaz.
Like a lot of things, we often like what it does for us but hate what it does for others.
But why do I find myself afraid that the ‘democratisation’ of information, social contact and culture is gradually trivialising life itself? Perhaps I need to reinvigorate my love of the web by clicking ‘Buy now with 1 click’ on Keen’s book. Maybe he’ll shame me into not putting my frankly amateur music on YouTube.
God it’s all so complicated.

By: Julie Erickson

Julie Erickson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:41:42 +0000

You have really shed light on the tendancy many people have to worry about “what will happen because of….(fill in the blank)” The truth is that what these people worry about is rarely the outcome. I can imagine a world where people are not interested in using their energy to worry about what might happen, but instead, begin to tune themselves into each moment and its pure, vitalizing essence. Appreciate the gifts of the internet as its platform brings information into the open (where it belongs). Yes we can be present, on-line or not, as long as we are not wasting our moments in the devitalization of worry.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:35:38 +0000

Anyone who falls for this ubiquitous “the internet is cutting us off from human connection” argument his dating himself. The internet is a fantastic tool that my generation (I’m 22) has learned to put to work. If not for the internet, Barack Obama might not be President–his campaign brilliantly utilized email and social networking sites to get young people involved and then built on that momentum, giving us hope that we might actually have a voice in politics after all! I personally used Obama’s campaign website to easily make calls during the primaries and the general election, both from my home and from local campaign offices where I could share my excitement with other volunteers. His campaign emails informed me of where I could go to connect with other people who share my political views and we worked together towards a common goal.

The internet isn’t replacing cultural events. It’s facilitating them. Using my iphone, I can make restaurant reservations, buy concert tickets, find out when my favorite artists are coming to my city, see what exhibits are currently at the Pompidou, or invite my friends to a play I’m appearing in. Facebook allows me to stay in touch with people it would be too expensive to call because they’re studying or living abroad. Skype allowed me to see my boyfriend when I was studying in Paris for three months.

I wish Keen would do his due diligence, and stop vilifying wikipedia. Everyone knows that it’s not necessarily the most reliable news resource, but there are people hired by wikipedia to verify claims posted by users, and anything that isn’t yet verified is marked as such, and can be removed by the site monitors. How is it a bad thing to have that much shared knowledge at your fingertips? We are already channeling the web revolution to enrich our lives, it’s simply time for Keen and the other non-believers to learn how to harness the internet’s great promise.

By: The Bigguy

The Bigguy — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:41:36 +0000

The internet hasn’t ruined our lives….YET. It will take a considerable amount of time, but it will happen. The disconnected youth now have something to blame their absence of pride, ethics, respect, core values etc., etc., etc. on. Sure we can all find plenty of people and examples that have prospered from the internet, but that doesn’t compare to the number of sincere, honest and compassionate people WE have LOST.

By: Tom Verkozen

Tom Verkozen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:12:30 +0000

Bravo! CCA students. You, the new adventurers, are some of the first who have recognized that the Zen here-and-now is done and gone, mostly, and as as long as fools will be fools [I can clip and paste too!] we might as well appreciate, enjoy and embrace the new face of our culture. Keep Marianne writing, ’tis a joy.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:04:34 +0000

What I see is the degradation of the concept of “information.” Yes, in the technical sense, twitter and rss feeds and myspace posts are information, but they aren’t informative. It’s wonderful that We the People are free to express ourselves without the permission of the gatekeepers. But what about actual, useful information? Is it true that my opinion is just as valuable, useful, or informative as anyone else’s? Don’t experience and expertise still matter?

By: Amstutz

Amstutz — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:57:24 +0000

The internet isn’r ruining our lives. Its become our lives.

By: Lenore

Lenore — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:11:21 +0000

Excellent and worth some thought. I’m mid-50′s and recently joined facebook and can hardly believe how much fun – and frickin time! – I spend on it. I contantly dance between responding and refraining because it still doesn’t feel natural to me. I’m on the train and out of the barn and over the hill. But hey, count me in!

Rogoff presents a great argument – and at a perfect tempo! More from Marianne please!