

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

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

