I remember perfectly well when there was no internet. Things worked. They were slower, more local, and more limited, but they worked perfectly well. So strange that people simply can’t imagine it any more.
It’s true that a sudden collapse of the internet would cause dislocation, chaos, death, starvation, and who the hell knows what else. But then humans would regroup. We’re really really good at adapting to new situations and solving new problems. It’s what we are actually best at. We’ve never failed to do it. I have perfect faith it would happen again.
Maybe five or six billion people would die, which would be very helpful for saving the planet. But that’s probably too much to hope for.
Have studies shown that internet use has caused test scores to go up in school?
I am highly disappointed to see that this thread has gone on this long without anyone pointing out that by definition if the internet went down permanently it would constitute “a net loss”.
Thanks. I waited days to say that. Remarkable self control on my part.
I remember pre-GPS on your phone days and I would not be fond of going back to those days. Also I’m typing this while taking a break from working at home - something that would be impossible without the internet. I also don’t miss the stacks and stacks of paper I’d be reviewing, printing, etc.
And I know people like to focus on the bad communication aspects, but it has also been lifegiving for marginalized communities. I can’t tell you how many LGBTQ+ folks said that the internet made them realize there were other people out there like them and they realized they weren’t ‘freaks’. That’s a big deal.
Oh, I can imagine it. But why? As I said in a previous post, both personally and professionally things are so much better with the internet than they used to be. Yes, things worked back before the internet. But they certainly didn’t work “perfectly well.”
I remember very clearly the first time I saw the power of the internet and how it could change my life fo the better. I do a lot of research for books and articles I write, and I needed to get some information on Brown University and some things that were going on there regarding athletic teams and Title IX. I was prepared to go to the library, immerse myself in the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, spend oodles of time determining whether the periodicals I found were actually in the library, spend more time determining whether the articles I located were actually helpful, spend still more time at the copy machine, and–hopefully–after all that, come back with something I could use.
But for some reason–childcare perhaps? A broken bicycle? I don’t recall any more–it was not possible for me to get to the library that day. Well, I said, let me try this internet thing. Maybe I can dig up a few articles… And in less than a minute I found the entire year’s supply of the Brown University student newspaper, along with a couple of other things. Read it all through. Took notes. Printed things out. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. SO much faster. SO much more efficient. SO much better.
So yes, I can imagine life without the internet, because I lived it. But for the kind of work that I do (and for other reasons), the rise of the online world has made an enormous difference, and it’s weird to see people claim otherwise. I would never want to go back.
Absolutely agree with this, especially the remark about marginalized communities. In post 54 (I think) I mentioned the benefit of the internet for people with health issues and disabilities. Same kind of deal. Thanks for mentioning it.
And are these people in fact better off? Are health care outcomes better across the board? Are marginalized people less marginalized? There’s a very good argument that they are not. Why? Because ease and speed of communication doesn’t affect health outcomes nearly so much as politics and culture does. Anyone think politics and culture have improved in the era of the internet? Less income inequality? More broad consensus of how we all need to work to together to solve our enormous and dire problems? Can I see any hands?
So researchers have a huge increase of ease in their work. Ya fucking hoo. Any planets being saved yet? Any deep community ties being built yet? Significant increase in the real measurements of well-being of living things which also include ourselves yet?
There are always plenty of sparks of look how amazing we made these facts line up and make sense when it probably never would have happened otherwise, and I found my long lost second cousin, and Amazon! So Convenient! What a plethora of choices, more choices being a self-evident Good Thing!
I guess I will remain the canary in the Age of Wonderful Electronic Communication coal mine, alone in my little deathtrap cage. Cheers.
Indeed, and many people with health issues have not just support, but assistance. There are many issues where doctors are simply dismissive, and online communities have helped people advocate for their own care, realize they have a shitty doctor, and/or find doctors who simply do give a damn.
It appears to me that LGBTQ+ people, even in this age of backlash are far better off than they were in the 1980s. And I don’t think the Black Lives Matter protests happen without people sharing videos of police brutality on the internet. Now black and brown people have something to counter the folks who dismissed anything untoward was even happening. And I think it has made a difference - and some of the regressive backlash is evidence that things have moved quickly.
The internet has also given complete quackery a new life, with instant access to millions of suckers who cannot discern (because no one is teaching them) between medicine and bullshit.
I think giving some power back to people who are talked down by doctors (women, especially), makes it more a net gain even with the quackery.
The internet is a powerful tool, but in untrained hands it is a dangerous tool. If someone thinks they are being talked down to, and they turn to happy smiley con artists who tell them what they want to hear, it is NOT a net gain.
If more people are using it to inform and empower themselves, which I think has happened, then it is a net gain. Not to mention (in the sphere of internet and medicine) that medical practices are using the internet to store information on patients, so any other doctor (specialists, etc) in that system can easily check people’s medical histories to catch things they may not have in a visit without much background info.
You keep saying this but what does “empower themselves” actually mean, when the there is no training to discern what is medicine and what is dangerous quackery? Is someone who dumps their personal physician, the person who knows their medical history, and starts following the advice of Dr. Oz “empowered”?
If a doctor is being dismissive, it can help patients realize they need a second opinion from another doctor. A doctor who simply dismisses actual patient concerns is no better than Dr. Oz in many ways. The internet is also very good at easily helping to find which other doctors are covered in one’s medical insurance!
Directly contacting your medical provider can do the same thing. What I am saying is that “power” provided by the internet is unregulated for the most part, and the people who you say are “empowered” are definitely not trained in how to use it. People are given this “power” at an early age, but as far as I know there is no training in school on how to tell fact from fiction, hate from politics, bullshit from benefit.
And I’m saying regardless of this the internet is far more a net gain than a net loss to society.
Yes, it can, possibly. In fact, this is something most people are already told by their medical provider. The internet gives them the added “bonus” of pointing them towards money-grubbing hacks. In fact, the money-grubbing hacks are reaching many more potential patients then the real doctors because they are much more aggressive in their advertising.
I find this very rarely happens. And if it does it’s in an aggressive, confrontational manner.