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Tweets, texts, emails, posts. New research says the Internet can make us lonely and depressed—and may even create more extreme forms of mental illness, Tony Dokoupil reports.
i think their is a lot of truth in this , apart from the fleeting shallow friendships one can form online , the gloves are much easier to throw off and discourse can become quite nasty with no consequence
the internet is great for many things but its also has many drawbacks and negatives
I think the internet isn't inherently dangerous at all. It's just there are people looking for an easy escape, who will find it on the web. That doesn't make the web dangerous, it makes the people looking for the escape gullible and easily manipulated. Take the internet away from them, and they'll find the escape in something else. Drugs, or murder, or burglaries, or casual unprotected sex, drinking, suicide, phobias, overeating, etc. etc. etc.
It's easy to get sucked into the internet, there's so much STUFF to read and so many games and videos and people posting on forums and this that and the other thing. Much of it is illusory though, and some people can't seperate illusion from reality. Or, they prefer the illusion to the reality.
But that doesn't mean the internet is "making" us mad. We were mad before we got here. The internet is just a convenient excuse.
Computers are addictive and they are like crack. There are internet addiction rehabs in China. WHen you "unplug" you feel better, I believe. Sometimes I will check things like email and twitter for no apparent reason, even this site, I will comment on stuff just to comment, just to feel a part of something. I think it is trying to fill up a space that real human interaction has recently vacated.
Computers are addictive and they are like crack. There are internet addiction rehabs in China. WHen you "unplug" you feel better, I believe. Sometimes I will check things like email and twitter for no apparent reason, even this site, I will comment on stuff just to comment, just to feel a part of something. I think it is trying to fill up a space that real human interaction has recently vacated.
I can relate to this. I don't have any friends in real life at the moment as they have all moved on with their "great" lives. So the internet fills that void. Sad.
I am not sure that the internet can be blamed for all, but with facebook & other social networking out there, it can certainly conteibute to people's emotions & mental health.
As a mom, there is nothing worse on somedays then looking at posts on FB of all your mom friends who apparently spend their days creating every fun food item they find on pinterest or photos of their children's elaborate birthday parties and the fan y cakes they have made,etc...
I think that many people paint "to good to be true" pictures of their lives and if someone is having an off day and happens to see that, it can diminish a person's confidence,etc....
I think many people use it has a replacement as the above post states, it fills a void in their lives and it makes people who post these elaborate atories of their perfect lives, feel good about what they may actually be missing....
The web also has created hypochondriacs ( myself incuded! Lol) you can look uo any symptom and have yourself self diagnosed & dying, within meer minutes!
As with everything, it should be used with realistic caution and in small doses.... No one has a oerfect life ...
I think the Web has gone downhill in the past few years, ever since Web 2.0 in particular. Web 2.0 and social media tend to be a poor product overall. You have the problem of poorly written resource hogging software, megalomanical website moderators, and an audience that is profoundly uninformed on life in general. I worked in the tech world before Web 2.0 was a household name and I can tell you that most of the people behind it aren't the people they project themselves to be.
Facebook is a petty site. Most of the people posting on there are pretending to be something they aren't. I joined there myself under a bogus profile years ago and it was nothing but a bunch of crap. I don't know why businesses take this company or anything like it seriously. It's had some benefits but overall Web 2.0 has made society more petty, intolerant, and rigid overall.
Actually the web is making myself and my friends more healthy!
If one of us has a medical problem I/we consult the internet at sites like WebMD.com, mayoclinic.com, or embarrassingproblems.com.
That is along with going to the doctor if needed. And when we go to the doctor, we are more informed and can ask more pertinent questions.
Same with mental health issues or pet related illnesses/injuries.
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