DJ, my oldest son, is at college. We had a conversation today (Sat,18th) about people who use the internet for chat. He doesn’t think it is a very healthy way to be in contact with anyone. Some of the discussion was at me personally, which kinda hurt, but also made me think, which is a good thing.
Maybe it is just about differing viewpoints. DJ sees the computer as an information gathering device. I use it more for fun.
What do you think?? We would all probably agree that if you stayed on the computer 18 hours out of twenty four, it would be an unhealthful thing to do. Though, it is an arbitrary call on the numbers. Is this a ‘healthy’ thing? And how would you be able to tell if it wasn’t??
The Op-Ed page of the Atlanta Journal is what I read last, because I like it the best. Getting other people’s points of view, written for the most part, in clear, concise ways, even when I disagree with the writer. Straight Dope is much like that along with it’s also fun, and funny. Introspective at times, touching and yeah, sometimes it is just like my day, MUNDANE!
So, whatcha think??
Judy
“Honestly now, Chaplain, you wouldn’t want your sister to marry an enlisted man, would you?”
“My sister IS an enlisted man, sir” the chaplain replied.
I think you’re both right. I see chat and message boards as the equivalent of ham radio - a chance to become acquainted with a wonderful array of people from all over the world. This board is evidence that it becomes a true community despite geographic separation.
No doubt that there are some people for whom the internet is an unhealthy obsession. If it were not for the net, those same people would be obsessed with something else.
One of the common themes on this board is how much we’ve learned from it. GQ has some interesting information, and GD has made a number of people reconsider their positions on some subjects.
The net’s a great research tool, but there’s plenty of bandwidth for fun, too. Whatever your son’s interests are, I bet he could find lots of like minded people he’d enjoy chatting with.
Perhaps he’s just going through the “serious” “save the world from itself” phase that many college kids experience.
Anti Pro, I asked a similar question a couple of months ago and got some very interesting answers here.
It’s a very personal question. It’s different for everyone I guess. As for myself, I can never knock it now. I met my sweetheart via the internet and some of my best friends are people that I primarily interact with online.
In that thread, Irishman said:
Hope that helps…
“Can’t this lousy rotten useless fucking lump of cosmic shit planet make up it’s fucking mind? It just makes me sick.”
–Dr. Watson
Thanks for the link, Dem, it did help, and your phrasing is SO much more colorful than I could ever hope to be
DJ writes a column for his college newspaper and we were discussing him doing an article about this, and I had the distinct feeling, I wasn’t going to look so good! Ouch!
Maybe it’s a ‘save the world’ viewpoint,OB, but I don’t think so, he’s a real cynic, not really an idealist.
I think he just doesn’t GET what my interest is, I had e mailed him the thread about ‘having these three albums’ thinking he would enjoy knowing others shared his taste in music. Nah, he commented that everyone was saying the same thing. My response was, but THAT was Cowboy Greg’s opinion, and getting that it was the PERSON sharing, not just one post after another, the way DJ seems to see it.
It sounds funny, that I don’t mind being seen as a nut, if it is for the RIGHT reason!
Judy (hoping her son will ONLY refer to her as ‘Subject N’ in his article, AND THAT NO ONE READS IT!! hehehe)
Probably walking into the fires here, but there’s a chasm between the techies (Old Guard Models) and “newbies” (Casual everday folks). The techies will always regard the casual users as invaders and nuisances.
Everybody wears different faces, IRL or online. We’re different people with our kids, parents, coworkers, strangers, etc. NONE of us are “one face” people, in cyberspace or f2f. Via computer it may be easier to choose the face to show, but I maintain the difference is more qualitative than not.
The cool thing about the Net is that people separted by distance, circumstance, background, gender, age or WHATEVER can meet in ways where it was impossible before. So if it’s online; if you had a traditional paper and ink pen pal you’d be regarded as well balanced.
IMO friendships made online are no more frivolous or shallow than pen pals. I don’t recall bitter outcries that casual letter writers were abusing or clogging up tax supported postal systems. The proudly anarchaic Net got swamped and thereby tested by invaders. The freewheeling communication isn’t just the domain of techie aristos, it’s also a genuinely revolutionary tool for everyday folks.
No, actually, in general I believe that people, especially kids and teenagers, need real human interaction, which may well be supplemented by “chat rooms” or message boards like this. In some ways they can be healthy, because there is a freedom to express without worrying about “social” consequences (although sometimes I wonder about this board…).
Personally, though, right now I couldn’t live without the Internet. In my present situation, my computer provides me with just about my only link to my friends. Of course, they’re people I know in real life (the thought of “internet pals” still kind of weirds me out), but AIM has been a lifesaver this year.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” -Winston Churchill
That was really good Veb, can I quote you?? DJ knows that I had a bad experience with Compuserve, several people got on my case at a time that I was pretty overwelmed with just managing to live and breathe at the same time. I think he is afraid I’ll do the same thing, forgetting the TIME is very different today as opposed to five years ago.
What would I be doing if I wasn’t on here now?? I’m reading ‘The Stand’, so I guess that is what I would be doing, but it just means I’ll do this first, and then read later. I LIKE being here, I like seeing who shows up and what they are doing…
“Erlich, the woman is a TURNIP!!”
“I know, but my mom always told me to eat my vegetables!”
Rousseau, I agree about the kids and teenagers needing social interaction, and maybe that is where DJ and I are very different. He enjoys going to the mall with his friends and ‘hanging out’. That bores me silly. I park close to whichever store I need whatever it is, and I go in, and I get out as quick as I can. DJ can spend countless hours in record places, and still not buy a thing. I wouldn’t bother. I’d rather use CDnow!!
If I wasn’t on here, I’d probably just be watching television anyway. In fact, from what I’ve read, if anyone’s been hurt by the net it’s been television stations since that’s where everyone’s net time has been coming out of.
I do read less now that I’m on the net which is too bad. But on the other hand, it’s a rare book that’s made me laugh as much as #StraightDope (the IRC channel) has.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
