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Were you happier in the pre-internet era?
I am wondering if the pre internet era was a better time to live in.
Because nowadays friends and family seem to have less attention and care for one another.
It also seems to me that people are less passionate and i rarely see people with sparks in their eyes anymore.
This makes me wondering if these times are better or not.
And if not, do we have to do something about it?
Is this just me?
Am i nostalgic and exaggerating?
Am i living in the wrong environment?
Please let me know your thoughts on this!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/
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Mark Kurtz 20+
Some sites are not user friendly and are hard to figure, I think mostly due to lack of clarity of meaning of some terms or that some expected linkages or explanations are missing. Happiness seems to devolve into grumpiness when a site experience is less than satisfying.
New technology introduced to people without training has caused frustration and this makes for a bad mood sometimes. I support the idea of new technology, but someone said here recently technology is moving too fast for humankind to absorb. We are faced with massive adjustments in thinking, relating to each other, and we are faced with new challenges in self regulation, self mastery.
I don't know about your environment. If we want to move ahead in life, that is making progress in social and professional or work life, we must adjust. No matter what tools we use we'd be wise to always try to be kind and considerate of others. it is this kindness thing that affirms value for each of us. Attempting to use material tools and philosophy to replace persons and civil life will bring even more trouble than we now see.
We can be happy with the Internet. Just be cautious and balanced. After all is said, the Internet is people.
Kim Laes
I think that the problem about the access to information is the way of thinking. Before the internet you went to a library (I know I did, I lived next to one!). A library with 'serious' books and people accepted the 'truth' of the books because it was basically the only access to information people had. But libraries as an organisation were not without agenda's too. Through selection of what they would put on the shelves (this is true for publishing compagnies as well) they could manipulate or at least influence the way people were thinking. The internet changed that; people now have 'free' and 'unlimited' access to information. That scares governments but more importantly, it scares people too.
Like you say; we are faced with massive adjustments in thinking, this is true for a lot of things but also for the way we deal with information. I suppose that most people who go online still treat the internet as one huge library. It is not, you do not pick a book and accept the content as true. The use of the internet requires a mind that is both inquisitive as critical.
Mark Kurtz 20+
We can be happy, if that is important while using the Internet, as well as balanced while using critical skills to assess information.
ZX Style 10+
And indeed Kim has a point, this hidden agenda was there with hardcover books too,
The amount of false information can be reduced by only letting pro's contribute to the internet.
But then the strenght of the internet is gone, that everybody is able to contribute.
In my question i was pointing more on the loss of offline relationships and attention and care for people.
Which i thought is less because everybody is obsessed with internet and online stuff.