Is America Really Addicted to the Internet?

The Pew Internet and American Life Project made some interesting points, some that I agree with and some that I don't.  Its true, in my experience, that older people are less likely to use the internet and if they do its for email.  It is also true that the internet enhances social interaction.  There are a variety of websites that are devoted to just communicating with others such as facebook and myspace.  

I was very surprised to read that the United States was not first on the list of broadband users but was eleventh.  Aren't Americans supposed to be the leading force in technology?  Realizing how old this article was (all results are from 2004) I did some researching.  As broadband users increased, so does time spent on the internet.  In 2007, the list of countries with the most average hours of internet use consisted of Canada, Israel, South Korea, United States, and the UK.  The only study that the U.S. won first place was how many users ages 15 and older used the internet.  The U.S. won with 153.4 million users.

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1242

Shocked? I understand that this study is not much younger than the Pew study but still...the U.S. did not win the average hours use?  Stereotypically, American kids spend all day on the computer.  Do we need to start giving America a little more credit?  I mean Israel and South Korea even beat us....

Removed from Reality

http://io9.com/5055863/british-gamer-killed-over-gaming-grudge

Welcome to the dark side, and I don't mean the evil side. I 'm talking about the side that includes the people who live in the dark in their mom's basement in front of a computer screen at the age when they should have a job and should maybe be thinking about getting married and settling down (away from home) sometime soon. This is the dark side of teens who get home from school every day and proceed to step away from reality and into a video game and will remain there for hours at a time, glued to the screen.
Over all, I don't think that these worlds that exist on the internet are a bad thing for people who have some self control, but some people who play these games too much become immersed in these alternate realities that they create for themselves. This article from September of last year is an example of a man who did step away from his computer screen, but forgot to take the crucial step back into reality.
It's a problem that is slowly but surely becoming more prominent. The fact of the matter is that the worlds created in games like W.O.W. and Runescape are much more interesting and fun to many than the world in which we actually live, and some people have trouble choosing these fantasy realms over reality. Reality sucks, and some would rather not have to face it.
This isn't a huge problem yet, but it is a problem that will need to be addressed in some way or another at some point. It will just get worse until someone does something about it.

How Much Potential Does the Internet Have?

In one episode of "The Wild Thornberries" (yes that terrible Nickelodeon show, bear with me), Eliza wonders through the Amazon and comes upon a tribe of hunter-gatherers who she expects to be provincial and devoid of modern technology.  To her surprise she finds that they have cell phones, pagers, televisions, and laptops with internet access.  Even though this may be an exaggeration one cannot help but notice how technology has spread and will worldwide through programs like One Laptop Per Child and maybe eventually to Mars www.astroengine.com/?p=149.

To see just how far we've come lets take a brief look at how at each stage of our development we communicated.  As hunter-gatherers we began to use simple vocal communication.  When we became agrarian we started to use written language.  The first writing was on tortoise shells at about 6500 B.C.E.  It was not until the Victorian Era though that reading spread down to the masses (about 1850 C.E. so a difference of 8350 years).  Once the masses gained literacy all learning broke loose and scarcely 140 years later we developed the internet, a tool that promises to rebuild the Tower of Babel, connecting all peoples.

Are we better for this?  This is a powerful tool.  It potentially connects billions of people which could either create the largest brainstorming group ever or it could create an immense amount of chaos consisting of unorganized ideas and spam.  Presently the effects have been more towards the former.  Our economy has become more efficient.  Have you seen a company that does not have a website?  There are ads for millions of products online on ebay, craigslist, and on the sides of your google search page.  For our entertainment we have videos, ebooks, photographs and other visual art, and music.  Almost every TV show has clips, if not the entire show, on the web.  Ebooks are slowly replacing print.  All classic paintings can be viewed online and many hobbyist post their own visual art online.  What band is not on iTunes or at least doesn't have a myspace?  Even vices are offered online!  Gambling, pornography, and even "legal drugs" are bought and sold online.  The internet is a virtual mega-city.  What is even more exciting is that the internet has brought awareness of ideas to us.  In the seconds I can learn what nihilism is or what Jupiter is made of.  I think we can safely say that yes the internet is beast.

The better question then is since something that is now turning obsolete, books, spawned the internet, what will it spawn and how soon?  If history is a good judge I'd say it will be infinitely better and will come much sooner than we could imagine.

"The One"

Today the Web is 6,628 days old. That number may not be completely correct, but I’m pretty sure I did my math right.

The PEW surveys focused on growth. There's the "Growth of Internet Usage by Gender" line chart and the "HOW USE OF THE INTERNET HAS GROWN" bar chart, but Pew fails to consider how much the internet itself has grown.

According to Kevin Kelly's video on the web at 5,000 days old (this video is 20 minutes long..=/), the Internet started out as the net (linking computers), then the web (linking pages), and will finally become "the One" (linking data). The Internet is growing at an extremely fast rate. You could compare the number of links to the number of synapses in your brain. And the Web to a single human brain...but your brain isn't doubling in size every 2 years. (cue dramatic DUN DUN DUNNNNNN)

Although the Pew survey offered an extremely high percentage of people globally who use the internet, this information is about 5 years old. Internet usage has only grown since then, especially with the introduction of the Iphone in 2007. How did anyone live without those portable little windows to the Internet? Hasn't anyone seen Eagle Eye???? *SPOILER ALERT* The phones and handhelds and telephone lines and the computers are all connected to the Internet. That's how the computer "lady" who lives in the Internet kills people!!!

Yes, the idea of the Internet using its information and unlimited access to everything to kill people sounds a little, ok extremely, far-fetched. As well as Kelly's closing remarks about the future of the web, "There is only one machine. The web is its OS. All screens look into the one. No bits will live outside the web. To share is to gain. Let the one read it. The one is us."
It sounds like some sort of cult that only people who swear by being abducted would join.

But who really could have possibly imagined that Skype would exist, and I could watch my brother blow out his candles on his 10th birthday while sitting in my dorm room? Who ever would have thought of Wikipedia? Seriously. But, in the past 6,628 days, it's all happened. We can't even imagine the next 6,628 days. Kelly predicts that the Internet is becoming an organism, and in a way, it is.

So, I'm not really concerned with the government being the one on the other side of my webcam. I'm more worried about a thing that has access to all my Google searches and facebook conversations....that's just plain scary.

The Future of the Internet: A Double Edged Sword

When I was 5 or 6, we got our first computer.  It had DOS and we loved the little "game" you could play that lit you draw blockish pictures with pixles.  We even got it upgraded to have Pac Man later.  We marveled at the technology.  Now, 13 years later, there's this:

http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/index.html

A desk that's surface is a massive touchscreen for a computer.  If this rate of evolution continues, where will we be in twenty years?  There's already rumors of a Yachet that's integrated with the aforementionted technology coming down the pipeline.  What does the mean for communication and our future?

Are the Internet and technology going to be a blessing or a curse for those who take part?  (these days, who doesn't?)

Blackberries already bring the office home, and everywhere else via e-mail.  What about when our Homes start to have computer's that constantly connect us anywhere in our homes or vehicles?  As Orwellian as this sounds, it's not far off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKQNwqNLLk

Sure, ordering food with a coffee table is bloody amazing.  But, let's say that this table, like all other Internet technologies, is hacked.  Or what if the government takes access of these camera-laden computers?  Who knows what's next, maybe they start banning pleasure in sex?

As crazy of a jump as that is, the point remains: we need to take care that the vast improvement of technology is safe and protected against molestation.  To keep the future of our Internet communications safe, I believe we should legislate safe guards on the use and access of what we have by third parties, including our own government.

I love George Orwell, but I'd love our future to prove him wrong.

How's THIS for communication?

So I'm supposed to be writing my 3-4 minute speech/debate for class tomorrow, but like any responsible college student, I'm putting it off until 1:30AM the night before.
Here's one reason why
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_smart_blocks.html
These things have the potential to revolutionize communication, learning, and our everyday interaction with the world.
Siftables are like cookie sized computers that can communicate with each other. They can do things such as word games, math, and of course, make music.
The video is only 7 minutes long and is worth a watch.
Though reading a few reviews there are also seems to be some dangers.

"IMO those are toys for grown ups and learning aids for kids, but they can be devastating to children's creative and inventive potential because they simply overtax and bypass the kids' own creative powers too easily and quickly."
~claude pauly

I do hope they're picked up by some company and produced. These little things just have too much potential.

The Internet: Legitimate Communication?

Before the advent of the World Wide Web in the early nineties, most conversations people had took place in person or on the phone. You could see the body language or at least hear the tone of voice of the person to whom you were talking. You could detect nuances in their manner and expression, and usually it was pretty easy to understand what they were saying. Then along came the internet, which has taken over a large part of the lives of Americans and people all over the world. Now you can e-mail, facebook, instant message, or blog your conversations instead of having them face-to-face.
Is this a good thing? Personally, I love communicating on the internet for several reasons. I can keep in touch with people who live hundreds of miles away, and I can communicate very quickly and efficiently with people who live across campus. Frankly, it’s easier to send a quick e-mail to a professor than to walk to his office. The internet gives me options as to who I am able to talk to and how much time I choose to spend talking to them.
On the flip side, I despise the internet because it makes me an anti-social person to a degree. I don’t have to approach people and talk to them in person; simple questions don’t turn into long conversations in which I learn about the other person and connect with them in a meaningful way. Now it seems that deep conversations don’t just spring up naturally; sometimes they have to be forced.
Some people say that the internet is ruining the social skills of American children, for reasons I listed above. Kids can stay holed up in their rooms and chat with people online for hours, even though they will never make eye contact with them. Other people say that social interaction on the internet is just as legitimate as social interaction in person, and that our generation is simply finding a new way to communicate. They say in order for a kid to succeed, he needs to be well-acquainted with internet communication and conduct.
I personally think both sides are right. Yes, the internet is injuring some very valuable aspects of face-to-face communication. Yes, the internet is a fabulous resource and a legitimate source of social interaction. Yes, things are changing, and our generation will simply have to learn to balance internet communication with the traditional form.

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