Netizen habits
 

I love the Internet! Greatest thing since the public library for the curious and restless mind. Its not without its problems, of course, but I do think it is changing the way we live, and will continue to do so in unanticipated ways. I have some questions of you:

--How many Net communities do you actively contribute to at one time? I have personally found about 4 to be the top limit of active participation. Athough I belong to more, I tend to rotate posting in them.

--How has Net access changed the way you live? For instance, I tend to keep less "paper" around the house, like magazines, articles, copies of instruction manuals, fiction I read--because now I know I can access that whenever I want to.

--Do you find yourself succumbing to bad habits? i.e., Addiction to surfing, or increased distraction because of too much information?

so, .....do you like.....stuff?

I am not addicted, but surf/post too much. I am lonely and stuck in this home too much.

stuff? I like lots of . . . stuff. (puts on confused hat here, and is afraid to ask!)

I'm actually surprised that anyone bothered to respond to this thread!

Internet interaction is NOT a substitute for real people interaction. No matter how much I'd like it to be.

Nope, it's not. It lacks in some ways. But to be fair, in many ways, it's much better.

Muuuch better...you can't smell me. :haha:

another bout of the wind, old boy?

Addicted? Yeah, probably. Powerless over it, too. I turn my addiciton over to Bill G. I have given this a lot of thought and made a searching moral inventory. I run a virus scan regularly. I apologize to all of the friends and family members that I have alienated because of the internet and am striving to make amends to them all. etc.

Nostalgia
 

To say it changed my life is accurate but overuse of the phrase obscures the true thrust of those words. From the time I first dialed long distance to connect to a CRL computer for the privilege of having a shell account as a base to begin my exploration, my life was inexorably altered.

That said, the www completely altered that course again. I knew it would find corporate exploitation, just as I knew it was the next step in bringing the unwashed masses online. That may sound snobbish and elitist, but if you weren't online prior to the web, then you've really got no idea.

My real gripe is that now there are no manners. Misanthropic is the new cool. There is no accountability, particularly to one's self. But that's just a symptom of the larger loss of personal integrity.

Sorry to purge on your thread, but this is a continuation of a conversation I was having this evening and it really brought to mind all that has changed.

I have waaay more pair of shoes and watches and ...well....clothes because of the net!!! I hate to shop in the *old* way, you know, park the car, walk from shop to shop, browsing, trying shit on. I much prefer to scroll, scroll, scroll, click, add to shopping basket and checkout.

Also, my options are heaps broader and I spend heaps less even though I buy more :)

Communities - I *actively* (which means if i manage to post here, I post at the others) in 3. I frequent (well, by frequent I mean when the cellar hasnt got enough threads to keep me busy at nite) 2 others, but they are ALL female sites and sooooo bitchy, its more for reading than participating.

I now know alot more useless/weird facts :) Yanno, the kinda stuff that when I blurt it out at lunch the boys give me the raised eyebrows and its usually followed by "where the fuck do you hear this stuff?".

Well with the netting of the masses, wouldn't you expect it to reflect society in general? I think the things you noted as annoying on the web annoy me in the real world.
You still talk to live people. :eek: