Has the internet made you a happier person?

[Mayne]

I have a hard time now thinking what life was like without the internet. I'm still not over the hype of cable modems and I was the very first person/s to get it in North America.

 

[lxskllr]

Probably. It's hard to overestimate having the world's knowledge at your fingertips. It has its drawbacks, but overall, it's made my life better.

 

[Mayne]

Probably. It's hard to overestimate having the world's knowledge at your fingertips. It has its drawbacks, but overall, it's made my life better.

I guess I would never know I have a daughter if it weren't for icq ..now grandson

 

[William Gaatjes]

I am happy with internet.
But i worry that it will get dumbed down more and more as it is already happening.
The search machines show different results than they used too.

 

[highland145]

I am happy with internet.
But i worry that it will get dumbed down more and more as it is already happening.
The search machines show different results than they used too.

Or biased ones. Like watching the news. To try and get a full picture, I have to watch 3 stations and read online. Please, just give me all the facts and I'll sort it.

I'm pretty happy. Like lxs said, sure is nice to know how to work on something, what product is out there, where to get it..... Some talking head mentioned the Federalist #46. Prior to, I would have had to go to the library and....wouldn't have.

 

[Thebobo]

Cant imagine a world without it anymore.

 

[highland145]

Cant imagine a world without it anymore.

I know, you'd miss me.

 

[SKORPI0]

Is the Internet the Secret to Happiness? - May 2010.

 

[brianmanahan]

nope

 

[local]

I'd turn it off if given the chance.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Or biased ones. Like watching the news. To try and get a full picture, I have to watch 3 stations and read online. Please, just give me all the facts and I'll sort it.

I'm pretty happy. Like lxs said, sure is nice to know how to work on something, what product is out there, where to get it..... Some talking head mentioned the Federalist #46. Prior to, I would have had to go to the library and....wouldn't have.

That is the perfect word indeed. Biased search results.
I tried different search settings for google for example. Cleared all cookies. Setup to show results relevant to my search history.
Do alot of searching on technical phrases to gice the search ai a chance to learn.
Start searching randomly. Still, mostly advertisements, results to buying stuff i do not need and results that have nothing to do with going with deeper technical aspects that i actually want. Maybe a lot of search pages further, the information i want starts to pop up.
I can wonder why this happen and have some idea. But it does not look good.

The perfect google search machine bubble is over for quite some time now.

 

[BoomerD]

 

[Muse]

A bunch of times

 

[Staples]

Most of us grew up with it. I got the early net when I was 14. I think the pros outweigh the cons but there are a lot of reasons society would be better off with smart devices.

 

[Mai72]

It's like anything in life. .

The internet can be used for some awesome things. But, when you stare at your screen all day and watch Netflix/YT/IG videos for hours on end you might have an issue. There are studies that show excessive screen time leads to small levels of depression in most people. Maybe it's why we are noticing anxiety, and depression in more young people today than ever before. Comparing your life to a fake IG influencers life can be pretty depressing. A young 20 something might not know the difference.

 

[pmv]

It's like anything in life. .

The internet can be used for some awesome things. But, when you stare at your screen all day and watch Netflix/YT/IG videos for hours on end you might have an issue. There are studies that show excessive screen time leads to small levels of depression in most people. Maybe it's why we are noticing anxiety, and depression in more young people today than ever before. Comparing your life to a fake IG influencers life can be pretty depressing. A young 20 something might not know the difference.

I am not convinced by that. You could certainly watch the equivalent of netflix for 'hours on end' long before the internet was commonplace. There were things called televisions and video tapes and DVDs. Indeed if no-one ever watched 'for hours on end' the movie industry would be in trouble (admittedly I find I now lack the concentration span to watch an entire move in one sitting - maybe the internet is to blame for that, or maybe its that most movies are actually pretty boring?*)

And are you sure about those studies? That it's not the usual 'correlation doesn't prove causation' thing?

The growth of a culture of comparison, and of increasing "image-management", does seem like a real thing though. But isn't that just a continuation of what has been happening ever since the advent of mass media? Once upon a time we'd only be able to compare ourselves to the other people in our tribe or village, then we started seeing images and hearing about the doings of exceptional or outlier people all over the globe. I would have thought the internet has just continued that development, continuing to confuse our ideas about what is 'normal' and change the standards by which we judge ourselves.

* Case in point - watched 'Casino' not long ago - God almighty, three long hours in the company of characters with not a single redeeming or interesting characteristic among them, and with a plot that was utterly generic and predictable. That film is so dull. Had to keep going off and doing something else for a bit. Such a contrast from the thrash-punk-take-on-gangster-movies that was Goodfellas. It was like the self-indulgent, uncessarily-extended, boring prog-rock version of that movie.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Hmm, I telecommute three times a week. Without the Internet I would be driving into the office five days a week. In Atlanta traffic that says a lot. So yeah, I'm happy as a fucking clam.

 

[dr150]

In terms of knowledge. Absolutely.

In terms of the toxicity, you have to filter away from it. Stay away from pron and political sites/chat boards.

 

[ultimatebob]

It probably made me a smarter and more productive person.

Happier? Probably not. The world would probably be better off without hatemonger hideouts like the CNN and Fox News comments sections, which are like our P&N forum cranked to 11.

 

[nakedfrog]

No idea what I'd be doing for a living without the internet, so probably?

 

[ultimatebob]

No idea what I'd be doing for a living without the internet, so probably?

Yeah, my job would be very different if the Internet didn't exist. We would probably be mailing CD-R's with customer data on them

 

[BudAshes]

It would be nice if there was some sort of basic IQ test in order to connect to it.

 

[zinfamous]

the worst thing I ever did in life was to give highland my real email address.

so, no.

 

[highland145]

That's it, no more midget pron for you, zin.

 

[BD231]

You're never gonna get abducted by aliens if you don't leave the house Mayne, leave the house !