Will the internet increase apathy in the West?

[herewegoboys]

What do you think?

I know it did in me. My father admitted at dinner last night that had he been growing up around this time, he'd have never left the damn house. He says he was motivated to go out in the world and make money because the limits of broke fun were severe. Now any asshole with 30 bucks a month going spare can stream HD porn for free, torrents of the greatest shows, comedy, documentaries, hell even college lectures.

 

[cashmunny]

I don't think it will increase apathy per se in the narrowest sense of the word. I mean even if you are glued to the internet all day, something is motivating you. In my case it would be porn! lol

But I think what you mean is that it will decrease the extent to which people interact face to face. And yes I agree it will and does.

 

[med_breeder]

Not Apathy, just maybe a decrease in social skills. But what constitues valuable social skills change depending on that society. Everything goes in cycles. If you are a social person, the internet will allow you to be more social in different ways. If you were a hermit before, the internet may aid in your solitude.

 

[med_breeder]

But then again,
if not for the internet,
I would never,ever, speak of our favorite hobby with anyone.

 

[resinryder]

I'm just glad it opened up midget porn the way it has.

 

[cashmunny]

I'm just glad it opened up midget porn the way it has.

link?

 

[motaco]

In a sense maybe. There is so much information out there that nobody cares to listen to what anyone else has to say, or bother to learn anything not immediately useful to them.

In the past there was such a thing as information and people built up a web of it until their general knowledge encompassed the world around them and it gave a framework for understanding life.

Now information is an opinion. Is global warming real? How about evolution? Regardless of the topic you can find someone stating the other and people just choose a side they like better. Usually one completely misinformed and self serving.

At least in the old days everybody watched the same news. There was the nightly news and you might take a varying opinion of it. But there was one news everyone watched and took info from. Now you can choose what you want to believe and from who. MSNBC or Fox News. They sure as shit aren't giving out the same version of information. So eventually the "truth" becomes just what you choose to believe.

The great the about the truth used to be that it was true no matter what you believed. I think that general change in culture is going to lead to apathetic morons with no sense of self or their environment. Digitally programmed automatons. Pop culture robots. Their culture and personality something gleaned from tv.

Notice suburban white kids and the phony hip hop language they pretend to speak. They never talk with a rastafarian accent you notice that? Why not? Its because wasn't in the programming. But it just as easily could have been. That is the ridiculous and scary thing.

Imagine suburban white kids walking around the mall going "Ay ya bumba clot mudda trucka!" Instead they tilt their head back and walk with a fake limp in one leg.

At any rate my point is it takes intelligent and thinking beings to not be apathetic to the world around them, and that is not the culture we are creating for our kids.

Now. Back to my HD streaming porn. Who says I'm not a part of this culture? Hell I just can't wait for my 3-D TV to better enjoy bubble-butt cheeks clapping together on my sceen.

 

[Greensub]

I'm just glad it opened up midget porn the way it has.

Ahh... but is it dancing midget porn?

 

[greenapples]

I don't think it will increase the amount of apathy, nor decrease the level of socialization. In fact, I believe it has the power to do the opposite. Let's look at the internet in an abstract view; what is it really? It is a communication tool that facilitates n to n communication. Which is a fancy way of saying that anyone can communicate with anyone(and cheaply). To me this sounds like the definition of a tool that can increase socialization. The phone is a 1 to 1 communication tool(ignoring conference calls). Did the phone make people less social? I don't think so. Did it reduce the need to expend energy(gas, food calories) in order to socialize? Absolutely.

What is being social, anyways? If I lurk here, reading without posting, am I being antisocial? The way I see it, I am just being a good listener. It would be better for me to post in areas where I possess expertise. If I post, and no one responds, is this bad? I don't think so, because potentially millions of people have benefited from my knowledge. If being social means 1 to 1 communication, or group conversation in real time/at the same location, then yes the internet will greatly decrease 'being social'. But think of a forum as a slow motion party. I can 'say something', and people can respond at their leisure, no matter if they happened to be near me, or if they were thinking about the same thing at the same time. People can come in later, and benefit from the conversation, it is not lost to time.

I agree there is a lot of 'crap' out there, and some people seem to seek this content out. I don't think this is any different than people who plop themselves in front of the tv all day, or people who prefer tabloids to books(no offense, I think everyone can do what they want). There is also a plethora of 'quality' content out there(I myself am way behind on reading my blogs). Anyone who is not apathetic should be able to find more information than they can use. This information is also highly affordable. The ease of access and affordability should help people find something they are passionate about, and help them pursue it in more depth. I don't think you could ever force someone to be interested in politics, or the news. The internet might give them more options to 'waste' time, but it is not the cause of their disinterest, imo.

There is so much information out there that nobody cares to listen to what anyone else has to say, or bother to learn anything not immediately useful to them

I disagree wholeheartedly. You don't want to listen to what everyone says, as quite frankly, some people are idiots. I would argue that the ease of access and affordability of information would increase the number of things that people learn. And should people learn things that are not useful to them? I agree that having a broad knowledge base gives you a more balanced perspective on the world. But the world we live in today is one where the specialization of labor is becoming more pronounced. In other words, who can blame someone for seeking out not only what is of interest to them, but that which can better help them do their job? This will lead to higher pay for them, and better quality of life/ideas for society. Once again, I agree that a broad knowledge base gives perspective, which is why people should debate ideas in diverse groups. How can people debate ideas in diverse groups, easily? The internet! That is what we are doing here, right? Bringing our diverse backgrounds and ideas, and mashing them together, in an attempt to come to some sort of conclusion.

Notice suburban white kids and the phony hip hop language they pretend to speak

Anyone who finds this fascinating should read about memetics. It turns out ideas are much like genes, in that they spread, and mutate over time. Pretty fascinating.

At any rate my point is it takes intelligent and thinking beings to not be apathetic to the world around them, and that is not the culture we are creating for our kids

Unfortunately, I agree with you here.

My father admitted at dinner last night that had he been growing up around this time, he'd have never left the damn house

I agree, I almost never leave my house. However I have friends on xbox live whom I can chat with, there are forums like this where I can talk to like minded people, I can connect with old friends, I can ask questions on subjects that i am learning about, I can contribute my knowledge to wiki's, etc. I can even do my job over the internet.

PS: motaco, I hope you don't think I was picking on you. I just think that it is good to challenge ideas that do not resonate with my experience, for the purpose of improving the discussion.

 

[Classy@Home]

Will the internet increase apathy in the West?

Someone recently asked me why the West was so ill informed and apathetic...

I said I didn't know, and didn't care...

Thengya, thengya verra mush...

 

[pearlemae]

Oh, who cares.

 

[SOTF420]

this, above.

 

[Iron_Lion]

The internet has become the all seeing eye of "god". It can see you, you can see others and it knows everything.

 

[mocs0]

It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it levels the playing field in that the average person's got the same chance of putting up a website and connecting with other people as the billion dollar corporations who can put ads AND articles in every newspaper on the planet, for example. On the other hand, I have read articles about the internet and social networking in particular dumbing people down and I wouldn't doubt it. I forget where I read these articles, but it is what it is.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i dont think it has to do with the internet...it has more to do with the younger generation as a whole, and the tough recession we went through. most kids from my high school generation are party animals. almost NONE have settled down...like only one marriage/kid in my huge circle of friends.

it seems like everybody is still living at their parents house, and spending every dollar they earn on drinks, going out, and the latest smart phone. seriously the percentage of kids who have their own place, let alone pay mortgage, versus kids who still live at home (21-24 age group) is like 1 out of 10 lol....maybe 1 out of 20. i cant believe how many of my old friends in SF still live with their parents its insane...i dont know how i would deal with that shit....im so glad i have my own place and make money. im trying to grow old too quick maybe...


but im glad...because less competition for me. if more kids got their heads out of their asses they might try to earn money that i could be earning instead! keep partying guys...

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I don't give a shit.

 

[Lazyman]

Now imagine what the world will be like when everyone can have a USB port into their brain. Want to have a phd in rocket science? Upload it into your head.

No more schools of course. And why would anyone get paid for a job? Any idiot can upload a rocket science degree and whatnot into his head in 5 minutes, why should we pay you any more than the guy who uploaded something else into his head?

Oh, and I guess janitorial jobs will be left for those who can't afford the job uploads, lol

 

[turbolaser4528]

Now imagine what the world will be like when everyone can have a USB port into their brain. Want to have a phd in rocket science? Upload it into your head.

No more schools of course. And why would anyone get paid for a job? Any idiot can upload a rocket science degree and whatnot into his head in 5 minutes, why should we pay you any more than the guy who uploaded something else into his head?

Oh, and I guess janitorial jobs will be left for those who can't afford the job uploads, lol

Yes, it will be like in the matrix ! "I know Kung-Fu ?"


But what happens when you upload a virus into your head ?! Say goodnight.... lol