To think people would be much happier if the internet didn't exist

[Cat8303]

I know...it's ironic I'm using the internet to post this.

But I can't help but think life would be much simpler if the internet wasn't invented. Nowadays, kids prefer to use iPads and play computer games than go outside and play. People post their lives on social media, and drive themselves crazy seeing and saying things they wouldn't if the internet wasn't invented.

I think the time before the internet was a much simpler time. The internet had obviously bought good things (like Mumsnet ;) ) but there are bad things, like the death of the high street, the decline of newspapers and the fact we are tracked and 'spied on' through cookies and things we can't even understand.

Then there's all the industry that depends on internet technlogy. That included me for 12 years, and I didn't even think of mentioning it, I just mentioned some of what it means for me for personal things.

Doing digital typesetting I was dependent on the technology for getting work sent to me, and the PDF workflow for getting the finished files to the printer that's the industry standard now.

@pallisers I have the kindle app on my phone so I could be reading war and peace but you'd never know it if you drove past me. Bit of a fallacy to say that no one was reading just because they were on their phones.

I didn't say no one was reading just because they were on their phones. They weren't reading a real book, magazine or newspaper. Reading on a phone in public is different to reading a book or newspaper in public. One is essentially solitary and the other at leasts invites some comment or potential interaction with those around you. If I was waiting at the bus stop and saw you reading war and peace, if I caught your eye as the bus arrived I might say "it is amazing isn't it" and we might have a conversation about the book. When I was young commenting on the book someone was reading was a fairly standard way of starting a conversation. People are more lonely than ever before despite all the connectedness of the internet and I wonder if it is because the primary connection is between the individual and a screen (which of course may open up a world for the person) and not the individual and others around them.

That isn't much of a loss compared to the benefits of the internet but I think there is some loss. There is always some loss - the printing press was one of the great inventions of humankind - and probably put the end to the great oral storytelling traditions that gave us Beowulf and The Odyssey etc.

pallisers I wonder if it is a regional or generational thing, because where I'm from I don't remember people chatting to strangers at the bus stop. It was drilled into me as a child to NEVER talk to strangers and that's kind of stuck with me. I started working in London in the early 90s in the days before the internet or smart phones & I don't recall any interesting conversations ever at bus stops or on the tube. I only recall the unhinged or drunk trying to converse!

I can support ill or struggling students to a level that simply wouldn't have been thought of when I was at uni.
Disabled students or students with MH issues are able to take my courses because they know material will be available to them online or through email if they can't make it into my classes and they can get a quick reply to any worry or concern they may have.
You sound lovely!

you might be right Margo. I grew up in Ireland where people were generally up for a chat and you nodded and said hello to people you passed on the street even if you didn't know them. Lots of people do that where I live in the US now too. Mind you I tell my teens not to make eyecontact on public transport in the city centre.

I'm with Margo. I think people can have a very rose tinted view of the pre internet era.

One is essentially solitary and the other at leasts invites some comment or potential interaction with those around you.

In the nicest possible way, the very last thing I want to have when I am reading a book in public is getting comments about it! The main reason why I am reading a book - or a tablet - is to avoid any interaction.

Yabu the internet is a great thing. It’s social media that brings it down. If it wasn’t for that then a lot more people would be happy and better off

YAB a bit U but I see where you're coming from. I think overall the benefits of the internet outweigh the bad bits. I think we'd be better off without mobile phones though.

In the nicest possible way, the very last thing I want to have when I am reading a book in public is getting comments about it! The main reason why I am reading a book - or a tablet - is to avoid any interaction.

then you just don't make eye contact or smile politely and return to your book. It is pretty easy to do. I'm more talking about neighbours who stand at the same bus stop every day. I think pre-internet it was more likely people would exchange a few words of chat about the weather, the newspaper etc. For many people these casual interactions are fairly important. I keep hearing about an epidemic of loneliness in the UK and USA and I'm not sure the internet has made everyone more connected in a personal way. And while I would have loved a phone to distract me from the boredom of the playground or minding a toddler back in the day, I don't think this would have been better for my children.

I don't agree that things were better pre-internet - it has had huge benefits. And anyway, it isn't like you can stop progress. But I do think there are some things which are different maybe not better and it is helpful to think about that.

Reading on a phone in public is different to reading a book or newspaper in public. One is essentially solitary and the other at leasts invites some comment or potential interaction with those around you.

I think that reading in public is the exact opposite of an invitation to chat. If someone strikes up a conversation I will answer politely, but all I want, really, is to be left in peace with my book.

Regarding the OP, I think the benefits outweigh the problems by far.

I guess I am the only one with slightly fond memories of sitting on a train as a college student reading a book (probably carefully chosen for its hipness or edginess - people used books to make a point about who they were) and having a fellow student chat you up using the book as a starting point :)

just putting this out here

@Usernumbers1234

Ugh, fuck that. I don't want to get a license to use the Internet. How the hell would that even work?

YANBU, OP. I can see both sides of the argument but honestly, if I had to choose whether to uninvent it or not, I would. I think the social damage outweighs the convenience. I don't understand the argument that you can just unplug if it doesn't suit you. We all still have to live in post-internet society, with all the social problems that brings. The idea that you can unplug and be magically unaffected by those is terribly ironic, since it implies a belief in insularity which actually is one of those problems.

@Questionablemouse

Maybe a licence is the wrong word and the horse has bolted on it now, it won’t happen.

But it really would it hurt to force proper accountability to social media sites to only accept traceable individuals? and the easiest way of doing that would be a unique number issued centrally.

I don’t think you can police the whole net, people should be entering Internet forums at their own risk, but if social media is going to influence elections and impact our kids mental health, I don’t think it would hurt to make a concerted effort to take the anonymity out of it.