4 ms·

It's not that we're all addicted to the internet, it's that nearly everything else in life has been abstracted away to the point where the only thing the do is

by 65 4y ago

It's not that we're all addicted to the internet, it's that nearly everything else in life has been abstracted away to the point where the only thing the do is use the internet. It's not a matter of you choosing to use the internet for hours a day, it's a matter of society's efficiencies removing any need to do things such as: - Build a house - Grow crops - Talk to your neighbors - Etc. and therefore your are forced to use the internet. Can you still do the things listed? Sure. Is society set up in such a way that those things are easy and done by the vast majority of people? No. It's like online dating. A modern person is, in a way, forced to using online dating because the alternatives are out of fashion. Software is eating the world, which means it's eating your life.

milesjag 4y ago
That's scarily intuitive - the sum of smaller efficiencies create more significant deficiencies in unintended places
ryandrake 4y ago
I haven't found this to be true. When I became unhappy with the volume of my Internet use, I made a conscious effort to take on physical meatspace hobbies, and found no societal pushback. Really the only limiting factors are time and (often) money. But, if you pick an inexpensive hobby and deliberately set aside time for it, there's nothing stopping you from doing it. Nobody is forced to use the Internet.
- 65 4y ago
  No one is forcing you to practice hobbies either. The point is the things that were necessary in previous generations, like building a house, growing crops, going to the bank, etc. are now abstracted away for you. This leaves a lot of time for you to figure out what to do with your time. The internet has a large presence in life because everyone is online. You then, in a way, are forced online because everyone else is there. The communities I have found for my various hobbies (woodworking, music) are all online. To find other people to talk to about the hobby, I need to go online, because that's where everyone is. This isn't going to hard and fast apply to every possible scenario in life, but I have found internet networks to be a heavy force in my online usage. And because of network effects, it creates a feedback loop where you spend more time online because everyone else is online. I'm sure there's a way to break free from the loop, but it's not as easy as you mention. Ok, I built a chair in my garage. What am I gonna do? Sit in it and call it a day? Build another chair? A major part of having hobbies is sharing your creation, which ends up being online because that's where everyone is. Otherwise building chairs all day long for no one isn't very fulfilling.

by 65 4y ago

milesjag 4y ago

That's scarily intuitive - the sum of smaller efficiencies create more significant deficiencies in unintended places

ryandrake 4y ago

I haven't found this to be true. When I became unhappy with the volume of my Internet use, I made a conscious effort to take on physical meatspace hobbies, and found no societal pushback. Really the only limiting factors are time and (often) money. But, if you pick an inexpensive hobby and deliberately set aside time for it, there's nothing stopping you from doing it. Nobody is forced to use the Internet.

65 4y ago
No one is forcing you to practice hobbies either. The point is the things that were necessary in previous generations, like building a house, growing crops, going to the bank, etc. are now abstracted away for you. This leaves a lot of time for you to figure out what to do with your time. The internet has a large presence in life because everyone is online. You then, in a way, are forced online because everyone else is there. The communities I have found for my various hobbies (woodworking, music) are all online. To find other people to talk to about the hobby, I need to go online, because that's where everyone is. This isn't going to hard and fast apply to every possible scenario in life, but I have found internet networks to be a heavy force in my online usage. And because of network effects, it creates a feedback loop where you spend more time online because everyone else is online. I'm sure there's a way to break free from the loop, but it's not as easy as you mention. Ok, I built a chair in my garage. What am I gonna do? Sit in it and call it a day? Build another chair? A major part of having hobbies is sharing your creation, which ends up being online because that's where everyone is. Otherwise building chairs all day long for no one isn't very fulfilling.