Is The Web Driving Us Mad? (article)

[ehh]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/08/is-the-internet-making-us-crazy-what-the-new-research-says.html

Long read. Apparently it's not the same "the sky is falling" conjecture from the past two decades. It will be interesting to hear OS' thoughts on this since we have so many posters that are on here for hours and hours every single day.

Thoughts?

This line alone really jumped out at me...

When the new DSM is released next year, Internet Addiction Disorder will be included for the first time, albeit in an appendix tagged for “further study.”

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Is The Web Driving Us Mad? (article)

I spend a lot of time on the internet because it allows me to talk about the things I like to talk about. The people I know in real life, by and large, aren't interested in what I'm interested in.

Oh well.

[Jr.]

Re: Is The Web Driving Us Mad? (article)

Very interesting read. I believe that people have a tendency toward mental illness, and it's often brought on by some kind of trigger. Maybe the internet and ease of access to it is making those triggers more wide spread?

[DaveDQ]

Re: Is The Web Driving Us Mad? (article)

I found this quote from the article interesting, "We could create the most wonderful world for our kids but that’s not going to happen if we’re in denial and people sleepwalk into these technologies and end up glassy-eyed zombies."

The article mentions that TV was once feared as such a threat. TV is now competing with the internet, something many said would happen and something some thought wouldn't. Where the internet trumps TV is that TV is actually inside the internet. Sitting on the couch and watching a half hour episode of a sitcom (with commercials) can now be done in 15-20 minutes on a phone. And TV is far more limited than the internet. The internet allows you to trail along and branch off into various searches and interests.

But the two are similar in that TV tries to offer up things like PBS and other means to try and balance the endless channels of nothingness. The internet tries the same but it is so much bigger. Everything is so accessible. In an instant you can have your favorite song, favorite recipe etc. Calling up someone to confirm your thoughts on something is now replaced with googling it.

Just in my own life, my use of the internet has caused me to do a check on myself and balance things out. Recently I started going back to reading Thoreau (digital version is free on our Kindle). There are many lessons to be learned there that help us balance out whatever we give our attention to and make good decisions on what is necessary and what isn't.