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The Internet....The Dumbest Thing?

Caminokid

Caminokid

Pioneer and Realistic
Well I have been without internet for just about 4 days. I finally got around at hooking the net back up after the move I just made...which took 4 days. Imagine that. So I used to get up in the morning check the temp and weather. Then I would jump on here and see what is going on with you guys. Then check my emails and see what is going there. Then ordering parts is something I like to do on the net. You get the parts faster that way.

Then comes the XboX 360. Dumbest thing ever. But yet night after night I find myself playing Black Ops on there and talking to people all over the place. I have my game friends on there I play with. Words like hey to your left!! Then right after that it is hey dummy your other left!!! We have fun.

Then you have late nights up look at old TV shows. Posting on on here reading up. I feel the net is very useful. But there is the times where your computer and the net becomes a all in one idiot box. Remember when we use to call the TV the idiot box? The TV is no longer that.

We find ourselves fascinated by what we can find on the net. Something for us to keep our minds busy and learning and not learning. We know of people who do other things late at night and get viruses on their computer. Some people are addicted. Some people cant go 2 hours without getting on the net. Almost like they are afraid they miss something. Facebook is a addiction for some. I see people like my girlfriend on there for hours. I go on see whats up and off just as quick. I had a request on there for Cityville....on of those stupid little games on there that isnt worth my time. It was from my girlfriends step dad. He is 64. I thought a joke. I go to his house and there he is on the stupid thing. He is on there from the time he wakes up till he goes to bed. Nuts.

So these are some of the good and bad of the internet in my opinion. Everyone has an opinion. What do you think? Is the internet the dumbest thing or is it a useful tool?
 
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dew042 said:
Best source of collective information ever, and the beginning of the end.

dew.
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did you read that on one of those Nostradamus type sites or something?:D

but seriously..it's much like everything else in life - it's what you make of it, though its potential is astonishing, and seems to be expanding as fast as the universe that it's such an interesting part of.
 
It's a useful tool for me...most of the time. Other times though I find myself using it as a time filler, when I'd be better off reading a book.
 
I lived very well without it before its use became widespread. Now, I simply couldn't live without it, at least at work. I interface with people from all over the country on a variety of technical matters and none of it is done with "snail mail" as it once was.

On the home front, Skype is well worth the price of admission (it's free). Talking with my son overseas whenever I want is priceless. As for video/computer games, I never touch the stuff.:no:

This is a decidedly odd topic for an Internet forum.:scratch2:
 
kneeOhFight said:
no more or less of one than when Gutenberg loosed his first documents on our species many centuries ago, which was at least as gullible then as we are now. The same adages apply now as then - it isn't truth just because its printed (or posted), still need to suss it out for yourself.
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That's true. I don't have a problem using the internet. I buy things and research alot. Despite that, I think internet is more damaging than good, not necessarily to the individual but to the society because of how it's used and abused as a whole. I'm sure you can list the reasons.
 
finnbow said:
I lived very well without it before its use became widespread. Now, I simply couldn't live without it, at least at work. I interface with people from all over the country on a variety of technical matters and none of it is done with "snail mail" as it once was.

On the home front, Skype is well worth the price of admission (it's free). Talking with my son overseas whenever I want is priceless. As for video/computer games, I never touch the stuff.:no:

This is a decidedly odd topic for an Internet forum.:scratch2:
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I lived without it too. I did for 4 days and it was the wonder of what was going on in here and the weather. It is alot easier then snail mail...waiting weeks for answers and things to show up. Far as living without it permanently.... dont think I could now. Way to much info at your finger tip literally. And like others have said...a great time waster.
 
Like most tools, the Internet can be used for good or for bad. You can use a knife to carve a wonderful statue, to prepare a meal, or to kill someone. Similarly, the Internet can transform your life by giving you access to information and opportunities that you'd otherwise never have, perhaps leading to a new career, help you keep in touch with loved ones, etc... OR it can just be a nice adjunct to a balanced life, OR it can literally ruin your life with addiction to game sites, overspending on gambling sites, etc...

THE INTERNET IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT, AND WHAT YOU LET IT BE IN YOUR LIFE.

I think the biggest problem with it is that we tend to slide easily into habitual uses of it. We let it control us, instead of making sure that we are controlling it. Checking email daily is a sensible use, but how often do people step back, get a clear perspective and decide --away from its influence-- what role the 'net should and shouldn't --that is, will and won't-- play in their lives, and then discipline themselves to let it play that role... and nothing else? The Internet can easily suck up more time than it deserves, if you let it. So step back and ask, "How do I REALLY want to spend the limited hours I have on this Earth? What role should the 'net have in that?" Then go and make it serve you in that role. Make the net your servant, instead of the other way around. Resist its siren call to waste time in stupid, fruitless pursuits, when appropriate. Carve a beautiful statue of a life with it, instead of letting it gut you like a fish. ...because it can do that, too, if you let it.

There is no reason you can't do whatever you want with the net: just spend a couple hours randomly browsing, or get your fix of gaming, or whatever... but DECIDE, KNOW and CONTROL how much time you spend on any of these activities, and make sure that you really want to spend those hours that way. Used this way, it is a useful part of a balanced life. The danger lies in unbalance.

I learned a few simple things that helped me with this. One is NOT to check my personal email right away when I get up. I used to find myself inevitably moving from email to other things, like "just popping in" to AK... then before I realized how much time I'd spend, I'd end up suddenly having to rush to get ready and make it to work, or even being a few minutes late, instead of having a leisurely breakfast with the newspaper and then getting to work on time or even a little early, without rushing --something that I much preferred as a way to start the day.

A little discipline changed the habit sufficiently that my mornings are no longer "ruined", except on rare occasions. I've developed the discipline to defer checking emails until later in the morning, AFTER I'm already prepared in every way to leave for work, and then I only give the emails a quick check and then shut down the machine... or even wait until later in the day (lunch time) to check them, but it took conscious decision and effort to make that change. It took a realization that I didn't enjoy a morning spent "on the computer" as much as I enjoy a morning away from it, plus a realization that most emails can wait a few hours longer.

Where it does still eat up time for me is in the evenings, after work... I can spend hours on AK and elsewhere, hours that I probably should spend sleeping. :scratch2:... Hhmmm, it might be time for another "self-intervention" and habit change... my post count may slow down even further, soon (:dunno: ... :D).

At the same time, there are legitimate reasons why I'm glad the Internet is around. I can keep in touch with family members on the other side of the planet. That's a wonderful gift, as I remember the pre-Internet days when my main link was only a weekly letter that my Mother would send, encapsulating "the news" of what everyone was doing. Now we can "chat" via email, Skype, etc... on a daily basis. Similarly, I can follow the NFL football season "up close", something I couldn't do before, since the local market doesn't have enough interest to support much more than minimal media coverage of it. I wouldn't have been able to pursue the vintage-audio hobby without the Internet (and AK), and it has been my major hobby for a number of years. My work wouldn't be remotely the same, without the net.

The Internet is just a tool, but its breadth and flexibility, and the way it ties the world together, make it perhaps the most revolutionary tool to come along since the wheel (pun intended :D)... but like all tools, we must use it wisely.
 
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I love the internet....but....it has to be taken with a grain (or bag) of salt too.
Your Crazy Uncle Ernie, the guy your family has kept locked in the basement for 25 years,.....now has internet access.

Steve
 
If I may, I'll tell a little story.

In 1981 at age 10, I was exposed to the wonders of computer game consoles at the local corner store. My cousins had a Hanimex Tennis game. Then a mate got an Atari in about 1982. I put my Christmas order in. How cool is it to play games on your own TV without paying 20 cents a game!!!

Mother shows me a newspaper cutout from a magazine/newspaper. "Commodore VIC 20 $399 A calculater, typwriter, computer and game machine all in one....educate your children for the future". Something like that. The deal was if I got straight A's for the year and helped my parents out running the farm then I might have one for Christmas.

So much to my parent's expense, I ended up getting the VIC20. The ad may have indeed been a Shatner http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=19&game=12 By 1984 I was swapping games on cassette tape with nerds from the bus to high school. In one issue of Commodore Magazine I am published with the world record highest score for (a game I can't remember...I'm thinking Intersteller Overdrive but that's a memory from a few years later-smoke).

So I was basically born to see the birth, and graduated to see the use, of home computing. Lucky eh?

Well the VIC20 got boring, even in '84 when I'd hooked up with the dude on the bus and swapped the tapes. There was ALWAYS way too much cricket, tennis, soccer, football, basketball, baseball to be played. Not to mention the target shooting, motorbikes, horses, fishing, exploring and general "gettin' up to mischief". That computer/game machine/or what ever it was had no pull against my need to be outdoors.

Mother Earth won my attention back then and she still does. With the exception of you guys. (Sloppy Kiss!)
 
bhundu said:
If I may, I'll tell a little story.

In 1981 at age 10, I was exposed to the wonders of computer game consoles at the local corner store. My cousins had a Hanimex Tennis game. Then a mate got an Atari in about 1982. I put my Christmas order in. How cool is it to play games on your own TV without paying 20 cents a game!!!

Mother shows me a newspaper cutout from a magazine/newspaper. "Commodore VIC 20 $399 A calculater, typwriter, computer and game machine all in one....educate your children for the future". Something like that. The deal was if I got straight A's for the year and helped my parents out running the farm then I might have one for Christmas.

So much to my parent's expense, I ended up getting the VIC20. The ad may have indeed been a Shatner http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=19&game=12 By 1984 I was swapping games on cassette tape with nerds from the bus to high school. In one issue of Commodore Magazine I am published with the world record highest score for (a game I can't remember...I'm thinking Intersteller Overdrive but that's a memory from a few years later-smoke).

So I was basically born to see the birth, and graduated to see the use, of home computing. Lucky eh?

Well the VIC20 got boring, even in '84 when I'd hooked up with the dude on the bus and swapped the tapes. There was ALWAYS way too much cricket, tennis, soccer, football, basketball, baseball to be played. Not to mention the target shooting, motorbikes, horses, fishing, exploring and general "gettin' up to mischief". That computer/game machine/or what ever it was had no pull against my need to be outdoors.

Mother Earth won my attention back then and she still does. With the exception of you guys. (Sloppy Kiss!)
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I was there for the C=64. Had everything that went to it and then some. Did the swapping of games and hacking of the same so we could make copies. This probably started in 83. Been a long time. I programmed games. I made 15 to 20. 3 got published in Computes! Gazette magazine. I remember I had a BBS set up. That was the first taste of what would be the net I guess. I remember getting the Wargames Autodailer from one of my friends....yeah that could have gotten me in trouble. They paid 500.00 each for those 3. I still rode bikes, motorcycles, fishing, and all the other nonsense we kids did at the time.
 
I remember BBS boards. They were also social networks set up for people to meet. Kind of like a meetup group.

The Internet is nice. I can find out information on a product, watch movies or old TV shows, watch concerts, music videos from the 80's, catch the doppler radar and make connections with people I otherwise would have never met.

However like everything else, it's good to walk away from it once in awhile.
 
The net has brought back the old thought of "The World Is Flat". While untrue in structure, tis true with today's technology. Whatever thought/command/desire/want use to take month's/years to communicate, can now be done in a nano second. Frickin scary on a few levels.
 
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