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Survey: 28 percent admitted spending less time socializing face-to-face
NEW YORK - Surfing the net has become an obsession for many Americans with the majority of U.S. adults feeling they cannot go for a week without going online and one in three giving up friends and sex for the Web.
A survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web, to which 15 percent said a just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days.
Americans giving up friends, sex for Web life - Online World - MSNBC.com (broken link)
I don't see how people view the web as anti-social, infact I see it as the exact opposite. I've learned things that is completely impossible about other places in the world because of the internet. It's as real as a phone call.
I COULD go a week without internet, but I prefer not to.
I enjoy surfing the web but it's not an essential ingredient of my life. If I got rid of my internet connection tomorrow it'd make certain things such as checking sports scores or talking to friends a little more complicated but I wouldn't be slashing my wrists.
The internet is nice. And God knows what I did before we got it in 1995. However, there are a few things I've seen that I've drawn some conclusions on.
Meeting people? Most of the time, it doesn't work. Singles are discovering that most of the other singles they have something in common with are 1000 miles away, and the long distance thing is fine until the moment of truth when someone has to move for the other person, and neither one has any intentions of doing that. The other online singles in your city are ones you've known and seen around for years; only now they're online too. So it's almost like the needles falling off the Christmas tree - socially, the internet was this great unknown where - hey - who knows who you might meet and what might develop? But over the last 10 years, I can tell you, pretty much nothing happens and a lot of disappointed people have wasted money, time and hope on chat rooms and websites that may have given them some good conversations, but no real live person to show for it later on. In some ways, I think the online chat/date thing has run it's course. Many have simply given up and realized they've been had.
Away from that, it's GREAT to have the internet! I can look at other people's travel photos - all these cities I'd love to visit and I can see current photos of the kinds of places I'd like to visit too. Sites like this one where I can read what local people think of their cities. Not that I want to move to them, but it's interesting to realize that in most cities, there isn't much difference as I had thought. And the list goes on - the positives outweigh the negatives.
Friends and sex? Again, most people are dissatisfied with the 'local selection' and seek something better. Online is full of pretty pictures and pretty people that don't exist anywhere near where most of us live. It's an outlet; a fantasy. Friendships are also not local so you can leave out the obvious stuff you don't want them to know about. Nobody knows all the dark secrets about your family just by knowing your last name, like in many cities. Online you can be whoever you want.
The internet is brilliant. It's changed more peoples lives than the invention of tv or radio IMO. It's up there with the car, plane, etc as one of the most important things created in the last 150 years.
Although I dont know how people have time to do so much online. Like blogging, myspace, facebook, etc. I hope everyone is still going outside from time to time
The longest I could go without being online....maybe 4-5 days.
I've done it before on trips, where I'd go 2 or 3 weeks without net access. But right now, a week is probably my limit.
The internet is nice. And God knows what I did before we got it in 1995. However, there are a few things I've seen that I've drawn some conclusions on.
Meeting people? Most of the time, it doesn't work. Singles are discovering that most of the other singles they have something in common with are 1000 miles away, and the long distance thing is fine until the moment of truth when someone has to move for the other person, and neither one has any intentions of doing that. The other online singles in your city are ones you've known and seen around for years; only now they're online too. So it's almost like the needles falling off the Christmas tree - socially, the internet was this great unknown where - hey - who knows who you might meet and what might develop? But over the last 10 years, I can tell you, pretty much nothing happens and a lot of disappointed people have wasted money, time and hope on chat rooms and websites that may have given them some good conversations, but no real live person to show for it later on. In some ways, I think the online chat/date thing has run it's course. Many have simply given up and realized they've been had.
Away from that, it's GREAT to have the internet! I can look at other people's travel photos - all these cities I'd love to visit and I can see current photos of the kinds of places I'd like to visit too. Sites like this one where I can read what local people think of their cities. Not that I want to move to them, but it's interesting to realize that in most cities, there isn't much difference as I had thought. And the list goes on - the positives outweigh the negatives.
Friends and sex? Again, most people are dissatisfied with the 'local selection' and seek something better. Online is full of pretty pictures and pretty people that don't exist anywhere near where most of us live. It's an outlet; a fantasy. Friendships are also not local so you can leave out the obvious stuff you don't want them to know about. Nobody knows all the dark secrets about your family just by knowing your last name, like in many cities. Online you can be whoever you want.
I most definitely have a different experience of this. I met my Scottish husband over the internet. Moved to Scotland and married him nearly 8 years ago. I've met lots of Americans over the internet in the same situation - met their spouse online. I meet many of these expats in person. W/O the internet none of that would have happened. My best friends are people I met on the internet.
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