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Americans Giving Up Social Life for the Web
Posted by
samzenpus
on Thu Sep 20, 2007 01:21 AM
from the don't-talk-to-me-while-I'm-browsing dept.
from the don't-talk-to-me-while-I'm-browsing dept.
Stony Stevenson writes "A survey into how the Web affects American adults has found that surfing the net has become an obsession for many, 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. The survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web and found that 15 percent said just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days. It also found that 20 percent said they spend less time having sex because they are online."
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Americans Giving Up Social Life for the Web
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Obsessed? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not obsessed with reading Slashdot. I just happened to log in here in the middle of the night to get the first post, after having lots of sex.
Alright, I lied. Stroke my ego, mod me funny.
Re:Obsessed? (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday December 24 2004, @03:08AM)
Re:Obsessed? (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Tuesday July 03, @01:04AM)
Re:Obsessed? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obsessed? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.rigidsoftware.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday September 24 2005, @11:58PM)
Re:Obsessed? (Score:4, Funny)
Less sex? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Less sex? (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know, is it possible to have negative amounts of sex?
can go a week or more. (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.cafepress.com/lehk | Last Journal: Wednesday July 25, @12:50AM)
Re:can go a week or more. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.metlin.org/ | Last Journal: Friday July 20, @01:58PM)
And if you do this regularly, you realize just how relaxing it is to not be connected to anything. In fact, I make it a point on some weekends to not answer my cellphone (in fact, I just put it away) or check my emails.
Works wonders.
Re:can go a week or more. (Score:5, Insightful)
You discover that most of what occurs in the world, or what is reported, has no effect on your happiness or wellbeing.
Even better, you discover that most possessions are superfluous, you can be very happy with the items that can be crammed into a few cubic feet.
Thoreau was right, man is possessed by his possessions. And, to update it a bit, by his gadgets.
Re:can go a week or more. (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, unlike Thoreau, some of us have real jobs that we can't just up and leave for 6 months or more.
Seriously, how do you guys that do that kind of stuff get that time off? I agree some long vacation separated from society may well be fun, but the most time I can get off is a few weeks around Christmas.
Dont blame the job (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.google.com/)
Your situation, in which you have a "real job", is probably more complicated than just that, even those people with real jobs can just up and walk away provided they have certain other obligations they haven't undertaken. Let us take a look at two potential life paths.
One:
High-School, University and a part time job, "real job" to pay off student loans, car loan (because you need a nice new car to go with your job), credit card, credit card bills after you have bought that plasma TV (on special!!!), house loan with payments that you will have for the next 50 years.
With this particular plan you are never out from under debt or other long term commitments, you can't take 6 months off because that would mean missing credit card payments, car payments and house payments. This is the average Joe choice; this is the bane of smart people everywhere who haven't got a grasp on money. They start this job out of University (55k a year! wow, that's so much money!) then they start spending, they earn a little more, they spend a little more, they never clear their debts. This person, these people in fact, are everywhere
Two:
High-School, University, 6 Months overseas on a working holiday, real job, paying off student loans and credit card from trip overseas, rent a property, don't buy too much junk, travel once a year till you are ready to give up your real job for a few months to do some real travelling or just settle down and get that new car (no one really cares if you have been driving that rust bucket since you were 17) the house and settle into the life everyone else is already stuck in if you want to.
Those student loans alone will be ok for you to travel with hanging over your head so long as you don't add a credit card and the rest to them. I am in the "Real job" stage of this plan, I spent 6 months working in Canada, I am about to go on a few weeks backpacking trip through SE Asia. When I get tired of this job, I will drive my rust bucket home to the place I rent and pack all my stuff up, drive it to my parents house and leave it under a tarp till I get back from wherever I end up.
These are choices you can make, they aren't the only choice, but they are always a choice. Buying a home ties you to it for a long time, a credit card debt is something you can't escape. I'm not preaching that my way is the only way, or that it is the way for you. I am just making the point that a "real job" isn't what is stopping you from jetting off for 6 months, it's your personal life-cruft that is doing it.
(I live in Australia where tertiary education debt is all government based and repayable on a "when you earn enough" basis, ymmv in US. Also, my real job is as a C# Developer)
Re:can go a week or more. (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think "true blue" geeks are the only, or even the biggest offenders, of sacrificing social life for tech... more often than not I'm sitting at the bar and I'll be the only one not texting.
I also do the most things outdoors - I do lot's of backpacking/camping/cycling yet it's like pulling teeth trying to get my "non-geek" friends to join me in these activities.
The difference between the unwashed and the washed (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Wednesday January 14 2004, @04:52AM)
From my experience, a lot of the people who spend more time sending text messages or hanging out on social networks are people that were perfectly social before it was all taken online. With the addition tech out there, they think that they are expanding on their social capabilities. Problem is, they are really NOT doing that and, in some cases, they are being more anti-social.
This is going to come full circle some day. Eventually people are going to realize that all the great tech they've relied on to do this cool crap was actually only stymieing their social lives. I mean, really, if you are sending 50 text messages to someone, you either fail to grasp that there is an easier way (talk to the person) or you are doing it at a time when you shouldn't be anyway (in which case you'll eventually be punished). I await the days when a cell phone becomes a phone again rather than a device for doing everything except communicating when necessary.
Re:can go a week or more. (Score:4, Insightful)
---In other news, studies found many American adults have kicked their addiction to going off the grid and social interaction. Instead of being obsessed with hearing themselves talk while others wait their turn to do the same, 20% of adults say that they prefer to have conversations online, where, although they have to deal spammers and a few other nuisances, they find they can locate others with a desire for real discussion. On the nature side, many adults these days find they are more comfortable being in constant contact with current events and their friends and co-workers, instead of leaving on long trips where they can do nothing productive during that time.---
Now if that sounds a little condescending, you know how some of us feel in reading this summary and some of the comments that followed. We all have our ways to wind down and "get away," so don't try to tell me that yours is better than mine. I don't like being in nature or being away from the internet for long periods of time. It's not an addiction, it's a preference.
Proof that the internet as reached the masses... (Score:5, Funny)
Online survey -- now that wouldn't be biassed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Online survey -- now that wouldn't be biassed (Score:5, Funny)
Your Economics teacher walked in while you were at the counter didn't they ?
Re:Online survey -- now that wouldn't be biassed (Score:5, Funny)
So who do you think need the excuse more? The correct etiquette in these situations is just to politely ignore each other.
Dear Sirs. (Score:5, Funny)
Sample bias (Score:3, Insightful)
(_) Yes
(_) No
(_) Wasn't asked the question because the surveyor assumes the answer is yes.
And people wonder why teen virginity rates are so low. No one has the heart to ask the fat kid.
Suggested new moderation (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday January 31 2007, @02:25AM)
Maybe we'll start seeing sexier posts.
(Friend) (Friend of Sex Partner) (Sex Partner of Foe)
Huzzah! (Score:3, Funny)
Media for the Masses (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://snescentral.edgeemu.com/)
I don't think this should surprise anyone. People feel dependent on mass entertainment and have a difficult time thinking what it would be like without it. It is almost like an addiction. I must admit I feel the same way most of the time. One should also note that people still connect to other people on the internet through messenger services and sites like Facebook, so it is perhaps better than other forms of media like TV or video games.
However, it is relatively easy to break from the cycle. If people force themselves away from their computers and cell phones, it is incredibly easy to get back into social life. I find that times when I visit my family or when I go out hiking/camping, there is no empty void when I am away from technology. People (including myself) stop socializing because it is easier to spend time alone in front of a computer than to entertain others. It becomes surprisingly easy to find ways to socialize when you are bored.
I don't even know that it is that (Score:5, Insightful)
This is especially true in a nice, modern, stable country as thankfully we have a lot of time we can spend on what we like. When all your more basic needs are taken care of, you can spend the rest of your time on entertaining yourself. All that we are seeing is that more people are using computers for entertainment. I'd be willing to bet that TV is still the biggest (last I checked Nielsen said households on average watched more than 4 hours a night) but computers are growing.
Another factor may simply be introverts getting to do more of what they want. America has a bit of a skewed perspective that being extroverted is "good" and "normal" and being introverted is "bad" and "unhealthy". That's really not the case. Some people just thrive on getting to know lots of other people. They love meeting and interacting with any and everyone. Others don't, they are much more reserved and have smaller friends circles. They aren't interested in, or comfortable with, trying to meet every person that comes along.
Well as far as all the psychological research I've ever read has been able to determine, there's nothing better or worse about either state. It is just different. Introverts don't need to be forced to try and socialize with everyone, extroverts don't need to be forced to sit alone and not talk to anyone. People need to be able to do what makes them happy. There's no reason why one person can't be happy spending most of their time alone or with a small circle of friends while another is happy going to social gatherings and meeting new people every day.
Depends... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://max.romantschuk.fi/)
Then again, I need net access for most everyday tasks these days: Banking, bus schedules, general communication, (and soon IPTV service). Network access is quickly becoming like electricity, or running water.
Spending sleepless nights playing WoW on the other hand, is a whole 'nother ballgame.
More than you would think (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://moacad.com/index.php?title=User:Andy)
Re:More than you would think (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://code.google.com/p/nmod/)
It was of course available in labs.
Not having internet access meant I spent hundreds of pounds on textbooks, and spent almost every night in my room studying and coding without the distraction of firefox. An interesting side effect of this (seems to be, anyway) is that I differ from my peers in using textbooks first to solve problems, and resorting to the net if I must. I know its unusual because almost everyone I meet, except for one, thinks I'm odd for doing it, and that I will only learn 'old stuff'.
I question this though. The internet is valuable, but it is not, in spite of what we are so often told, the font of all knowledge. There's still a lot to be gained from books and just talking to other techies over a coffee.
Digitivity? (Score:3, Insightful)
Some People Are Crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
I think this is another example of a "survey" that found exactly what it wanted to find, and damn the reality...
Didn't RTFA but... (Score:5, Interesting)
So I find that I increasingly spend more time online than I normally would because all of the people I am now remotely close to are on Teamspeak, Ventrillo, various forums, and (ugh) Myspace. Oh, how I wish it were the other way around, but until we have enough money saved up to get the hell out of here and move to someplace far less materialistic and divisive across social boundaries it looks like we are stuck. At least I don't have to worry about getting laid but then again it's harder and harder to get in the mood when you're drowning in depression.
And in other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Damned intellectuals (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://rankandfile.homelinux.net/ | Last Journal: Friday January 23 2004, @02:58PM)
"An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex." -Aldous Huxley
Apparently people are smarter than I thought. Seriously, God forbid anyone chooses to forgo sex or social interaction leading to sex for something they find more interesting. Say, information and knowledge...
And the Vatican says... (Score:3, Funny)
(http://zir0faive.free.fr/)
Oblig. Calvin and Hobbes (Score:5, Funny)
Hobbes: "Death comes to mind..."
No true Geek... (Score:5, Insightful)
No true geek would ever give up a chance for sex, just for the Internet. That's because REAL Geeks never (or hardly) get any, and won't pass up the chance.
This is really probably just women using the Internet as an excuse to keep their husbands/significant others at arm's length. "Not tonight Honey, I've gotta Google".
Re:No true Geek... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://lawpoop.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday May 28 2004, @06:51PM)
The poorly socialized, autism-spectrum geek never passes up the chance for sex by totally ignoring a woman when she turns her wrists to him, or plays with her hair in front of him. He never blows it by forgetting her name, not making eye contact, or rambling on about the details his favorite obscure subject when she asks him a simple rhetorical question. The geek is perfectly capable of maintaining the long train of social cues and responses that allow a woman to drop her defenses and risk pregnancy, negative social status, and disease for a few moments of pleasure. His black-and-white binary world-view doesn't divide women into the Madonna/whore bifurcation when he sees her talking to another man or finds out details of her past.
Nope, you're absolutely right, the alert, knowledgeable, sleuthing geek would never miss an opportunity for sex! He can also spot sarcasm at fifty yards!
Does anyone read articles? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://drblast.blogspot.com/)
It didn't say they have LESS sex, just that they spend less TIME doing it. Obviously, the Internet has made them more efficient.
Probably has to do with the massive hard-ons they can now achieve thanks to e-mail offers. What a truly wonderful age in which we live!
Hardly a dilemma (Score:3, Funny)
And I solved the sex issue by putting the computer in the bedroom. It worked out even better than expected because of the special USB attachments. And putting the big LCD screen over the bed? Genius, I think.
I just need to figure out a way to deal with the shaky mousework.
Stat 101 - correlation doesn't imply causation (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.scottmcmahan.net/)
oversimplified (Score:5, Insightful)
As a married man and a father.... (Score:3, Insightful)
-ted
depends on your point of view (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.atomjax.com/)
Porn and sex are not the same thing. As an avid consumer of porn, I can honestly say that you're actually looking at an inverse relationship between the amount of porn viewed and the amount of sex had.