Part 4

People use who use the internet spend about 3 hours on it each day. When it comes to television, those who responded had about 1.7 hours per day of watching. But how does this relate to normal human interactions and decreasing these relationships? Time spent online does the following each day: takes away 70 minutes spent with family, takes away about 30 minutes of tv watching, and takes away about 8.5 minutes from our sleeping time.


This little article goes along well with my topic. I feel that in this world, there is so many websites to connect with: facebook, blog, professional sites, twitter, etc... It seems people spend so much time online keeping connected with the world around them that they are spending less time with the people around them. We are so focused on knowing the latest news or being a member of the "hottest" social media site or the "hottest" professional networking sites, that we forget to value the little things in life. We forget to just relax, chill out, and enjoy the blessings we already have. It gets to be overwhelming sometimes when we always hear about blogs, twitter, facebook, linkedin, and if we aren't consistent users, we tend to feel behind or out of the loop. Is all of this web pressure necessary? Personally, I think all these web outlets are helpful and useful, but the pressure to constantly be connected to the web is so unhealthy. We have plenty to do and enjoy each day of our lives without feeling like we have to practically live online instead of with the people around us. We should find time to interact more with the beauty of the world around us, and interact with people as well. We don’t want to be totally focused on technology.
There is a song by Brad Paisley called Online. This song is about how people can be whoever they want to be online. Click here for the lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bradpaisley/online.html
There’s a part in the song that says, “I’m so much cooler online.” What if people went out and interacted more? Yes, they would have to accept themselves as they are and they might actually be “cooler” online, but at least they are working towards building better social interactions, face-to-face!
Sandy Hardmeier published an article online about the internet in 2005: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/columns/technologyinternet.mspx
She speaks about the increase in the internet and how that has benefited people. She specifically mentions the aspect of staying in touch-involving digital cameras and the internet. She explains the lengthy process people used to go through just to send a letter to friends or family. People would have to put it in the mail and pay postage and the letter would not arrive instantly, and then if the sender wanted to include photos, he or she would have to develop the film which takes time and then send it off. With the use of the internet and digital cameras, people can keep in touch instantly-no more waiting for hours or days, etc. Life is instant with the internet. She wrote about handy online programs that have sprung up regarding the use of digital cameras: EasyShare Gallery, Google's Picassa, and the Photo Gallery on MSN Spaces. Now granted this article was written a few years ago and the hottest programs and newest uses of the internet may