I have been thinking a lot about the effects of internet on today's society. And what I might do with all the time I would have if I did not spend it on the internet.
These thoughts popped into my head whilst resting up from a hard week of collecting data at hog farms. I spent an entire day sitting on the couch using StumbleUpon! It made me think if I did not have the internet what I might have done with that time.
As I began thinking about not having access to the internet, or perhaps going on an internet fast I realize I would find it difficult to fill my time. I am the first to admit that I am lazy and I spend way too much time in front of the internet and computer.
However I am far from a exception. It seems more and more these days people spend time browsing through things like StumbleUpon and Pintrest generally not gaining any sort of knowledge, but just looking at pictures with funny captions and such.
Millions are internet addicted and don't even realize it. They spend time stumbling or pinning they could be learning a useful skill (like a second language or a hobby) but instead nowadays it is ok for someone to spend ours on the computer or in front of the TV.
I have a sewing machine and have tired to start a few projects, but I am just as happy to sit in front of the computer and expand my wall on Pintrest. Really I don't get any real life rewards for this they are all mental. I suppose on some level it fulfills the seeking need (see Temple Grandin for this if you don't understand). If I used my sewing machine I could make new clothes in any form I want!
I read a short article that talked about two early 20th (maybe 19th) century authors (I'm not positive of who) that both wrote futuristic novels. One set the future as a place where government played a heavy hand highly regulating all media the public viewed. The second novel had the future set as a place where the general population was a float on masses of information that was mostly useless (or nearly useless).
Is this a ploy by big brother to keep the cheap labor flowing? Or is the fact that we cannot seem to fix the flaws in the system due more to the government (ie rich white men) not caring enough about poverty? Computers and internet are getting relatively cheaper. Is this keeping the lower middle class, those who can afford computers and internet, from moving up in society? Or is the internet just a harmless hobby?
These thoughts brought me around to the movie Idiocracy. It is meant to be a satirical comedy about the future of the human race. If you haven't seen it DO IT! A quick but not to revealing synopsis is that humans have developed and basically blocked out natural selection. The people who have the skill-less jobs and presumably (not always) the lowest IQs are the ones that end up having the most children. Think responsible business couple vs a trailer trash whore.
This causes society to be reduced to a bunch of veritable idiots who sit in front of the TV all day. They have a ton of great and useful technology but no one really completely knows how to use it or how to maintain it. So everything is going to hell.
Is this what the human race is destine for? Is it to be that we won't be extinct from a comet or a super volcano, but from our own technology making the majority stupid?
Give me your thoughts!
