Listen:
The internet is lethally addictive.
No, you will not die like those epileptic children who got killed by watching Pikachu's yellow lightning. Instead, you will die, wasting your time, and rotting away running through the Multiplies, Plurks, Twitters and Facebooks of your friends. Sure, I admit it's a good thing that you can keep up with your friends, but come on, why not try to meet them in person?* Most likely, the friendship you've built is made with real time.
Let me tell you why I don't like chat. A study shows (I'm referring to this study if you're about to point that where's-your-source finger at me.) that over 40% of what you say is lost in e-mails. Chat's more or less the same thing. Sure, you've got that :)) smiley, but how many of you are really laughing when you animate that yellow bugger that keeps laughing (when its jaw should be falling off already)? Do you really LOL when you say LOL? Or are you just smirking, or being polite?
Okay, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that it's a good thing that you get to talk to your friends, but I'm gonna go back to my suggestion that you should spend real time with them. (For the record, if ever you hang, I don't want you to spend time in malls, but that's another story.)^ When you talk to them face-to-face, consider this:
The internet is here to stay, and a single blog entry with a couple of considerable statistics is not going to change things. Well, I'm not going to stop you either if you want to live your life, rotting**every minute in front of a screen. I just want to tell you that there's plenty of good stuff outside the net. Like what? Hmm. Like the real world, I guess.
Footnotes:
* A good way to find out if you're not close with somebody, or if you dislike him/her, is when you talk to that person only in cyberspace.
^ Personall, I'd like to live in France. Why? Not a lot of malls. Bookshops, cafes (No, not you're goddamn Starbucks or coffee chain, but actual dens of intellectuals, where geniuses like Camus and Sartre used to hang out in.), if you're lucky, there's a river to go to or what not. Personally, I think malls are manifestations of how people are becoming more materialistic and becoming dumber. (Though to be fair, book stores in them make me feel otherwise, but if a place is riddled with Twilight books, it knocks off my good spirits.) Every week, besides from going to church, people go to malls. It's like a religion, and like most faithful, (or faithful) they listen to the gospel of Nike, Bench and Timezone, without examining it.
` You can think of it like a fight club in cyberspace. Only, it's retarded when you notice that punching is trolling, and the bleeding stops whenever you hit the disconnect button.
** Remember, your eyesight's always the first to rot. Brain's second. If there was a study that proves that brain activity slows down when you watch TV, how about the internet?
~ A special thanks to Yna for having me write a decent entry after a couple of weeks and being my proofreader.
P.S. Want an edgier take on why the internet is making your life suck?
The internet is lethally addictive.
No, you will not die like those epileptic children who got killed by watching Pikachu's yellow lightning. Instead, you will die, wasting your time, and rotting away running through the Multiplies, Plurks, Twitters and Facebooks of your friends. Sure, I admit it's a good thing that you can keep up with your friends, but come on, why not try to meet them in person?* Most likely, the friendship you've built is made with real time.
Let me tell you why I don't like chat. A study shows (I'm referring to this study if you're about to point that where's-your-source finger at me.) that over 40% of what you say is lost in e-mails. Chat's more or less the same thing. Sure, you've got that :)) smiley, but how many of you are really laughing when you animate that yellow bugger that keeps laughing (when its jaw should be falling off already)? Do you really LOL when you say LOL? Or are you just smirking, or being polite?
Okay, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that it's a good thing that you get to talk to your friends, but I'm gonna go back to my suggestion that you should spend real time with them. (For the record, if ever you hang, I don't want you to spend time in malls, but that's another story.)^ When you talk to them face-to-face, consider this:
A landmark study, out of Cal State LA in 1967 and proved a bunch of times since then, it says 55 percent of human communication is based on your body language, how we stand or lean or look each other in the eye. Another 38 percent of our communication through our tone of voice, the speed we talk, and how loud. The surprise is only 7 percent of our message comes through our words.There's this one webcomic I read (If I recall right, it's Shortpacked.), with a strip that points out how anybody can diss anybody on the internet, but when you're together in person, you're all polite. It's either behind a mask of anonymity, you show your true, rabid self, or with yourself bare, you show your fake, polite self. Or vice-versa.`(Quoted from Rant by Chuck Palahniuk)
The internet is here to stay, and a single blog entry with a couple of considerable statistics is not going to change things. Well, I'm not going to stop you either if you want to live your life, rotting**every minute in front of a screen. I just want to tell you that there's plenty of good stuff outside the net. Like what? Hmm. Like the real world, I guess.
Footnotes:
* A good way to find out if you're not close with somebody, or if you dislike him/her, is when you talk to that person only in cyberspace.
^ Personall, I'd like to live in France. Why? Not a lot of malls. Bookshops, cafes (No, not you're goddamn Starbucks or coffee chain, but actual dens of intellectuals, where geniuses like Camus and Sartre used to hang out in.), if you're lucky, there's a river to go to or what not. Personally, I think malls are manifestations of how people are becoming more materialistic and becoming dumber. (Though to be fair, book stores in them make me feel otherwise, but if a place is riddled with Twilight books, it knocks off my good spirits.) Every week, besides from going to church, people go to malls. It's like a religion, and like most faithful, (or faithful) they listen to the gospel of Nike, Bench and Timezone, without examining it.
` You can think of it like a fight club in cyberspace. Only, it's retarded when you notice that punching is trolling, and the bleeding stops whenever you hit the disconnect button.
** Remember, your eyesight's always the first to rot. Brain's second. If there was a study that proves that brain activity slows down when you watch TV, how about the internet?
~ A special thanks to Yna for having me write a decent entry after a couple of weeks and being my proofreader.
P.S. Want an edgier take on why the internet is making your life suck?
I'm glad my addiction gave you inspiration. =D
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