The Internet as a good thing for society is still up-in-the-air; on one hand, it has helped millions of people stay connected, and given the gift of the collected sum of human knowledge to everyone able to get online. However, it’s also resulted in some rather depressing figures and statistics, which we’re going to share right now, because they’re pretty shocking.
10. Homophobic Slurs Are Used Millions Of Times Per Day
We live in a very progressive society; it seem like every week, news will hit that another part of the world has legalized gay marriage. Despite this, homophobia is still more common online than exclamation marks. For example, since July 5th, 2012, one of the most offensive sexual slurs around has been used more than 16 million times on twitter ALONE.
Of course this is just on Twitter, the site where you’re invariably making these statements on a profile that your face is linked to. We don’t think we need to say how quick homophobes come out of the woodwork when anonymity is present but, just in case, we’d like to direct your attention to this article on Jason Collins, the first openly-gay active NBA player. The comments, when sorted by which ones have the most upvotes, become offensive within exactly 1 comment, where someone claims that him coming out is an attempt to claim he’s being discriminated against. Come on, Internet, we know you’re better than that.
At least, we hope you are.
9. Only 1% Of People Create Online Content
Online, there’s a little thing known as the 1% Rule. In a nutshell, it states that 1% of people create the content of the Internet, around 9% of people contribute to that content through comments, votes, likes, and shares, and the remaining 90% or so in no way participate.
Using this site as an example, even the lists with many thousands of views will probably only have a few dozen comments at most. The same can be said for the thousands of other sites out there; the vast, overwhelming majority of people are happy to simply consume the content without participating. Which is fine, as by simple virtue of reading a site, you’ve aided it by providing your page view.
However it’s the 9% part that’s depressing, since it’s this vocal minority who are most likely to be critical of the content. Now, we’re not targeting people with legitimate concerns or constructive criticism. If we miss an entry on a list or make a spelling mistake, tell us about it. We’re human, and we’re bound to make mistakes. It’s the small section of people who do nothing but be critical, mean, or generally unpleasant just for the sake of it. Though those people are very much a minority, just remember that every person who creates content online is outnumbered a thousand-fold (at least) by people willing to instantly tear it down.
For every person willing to start a blog, make a video, or take a photo, there are a hundred people waiting with bated breath to tell them it sucks for no other reason than “the lulz.” And that’s a terrifying thought, since people creating original content are already hard enough to find online.
8. Internet Commenters Will Never Change Anyone’s Mind
As mentioned above there are a small, but nonetheless significant, number of people online willing to be a complete wang to others for no other reason than that they find it funny. In that same vein, there are also a number of people waiting for any chance to start an argument about an issue they feel strongly about. Maybe it’s Obama, maybe it’s the environment or atheism; whatever it is, these people will argue back and forth with other commenters for hours, throwing facts at each other like they’re out-of-date yogurt. We think it’s safe to say that, in the entire history of the internet, no one has ever held up their hands and said, “actually you’re completely right. Let’s stop arguing.”
The reason for this is very simple: changing someone’s mind is almost impossible, online or off. In experiments, it has been shown that when people hold a very strong belief, facts to the contrary, regardless of how reliable the source is, will almost never sway their opinion. In fact, in some cases, proving or trying to prove someone wrong only strengthens their belief in how right they are. Quoting Carl Sagan quotes at a religious person isn’t going to make them abandon a lifetime of faith anymore than the guys on the street handing you pamphlets are going to make you want to worship Odin. It’s just the way we’re hardwired; if you’ve spent 25 years believing that an all-powerful deity is judging you from beyond the stars, or that Batman is the absolute bomb, or that abortion is wrong, that’s going to be very difficult to stop believing. Our minds just aren’t designed to have years of things we “know” to be true shattered in an instant, which is why we’ll internally justify away such explanations and keep on believing whatever it is we believe.
Now here’s where this gets dark: think of how many times you’ve seen an argument online about, well anything. Think of the hundreds of message boards where people are arguing about things right now: religion, politics, video games, films, which superhero is the best, etc. Think of all the millions of hours those places have sucked from people’s lives, and now realize that almost all of that time has probably been wasted as you slowly begin to weep for humanity.
7. Even When People Try To Help, They Cause More Harm Than Good
Remember the Boston Marathon Bombings? Of course you do, it dominated the headlines for weeks. However, one aspect more than others was focused upon and scrutinized in great detail by the wider media, mainly the activities of sites like Reddit during the tragedy.
In theory, aggregate sites like Reddit are a brilliant idea. In practice however, it has its hiccups. For example, during the immediate aftermath of the bombing, many users of the site were quick to try and help in any way they could. One of the most misguided was a subreddit dedicated to finding the bombers. Again, in theory this was a good idea — thousands of eyes are better a few — however, the search quickly became a game of circling anyone with an all-year suntan and a backpack. Seriously. Reddit’s version of “finding the bomber” almost immediately became a racist game of circling anyone who was “brown and alone.”
Although this was obviously done with good intentions, it led to both innocent people being victimized, and mass reporting of false information. You have to admit, it’s a little disheartening to know that thousands of people dedicated their time to a singular cause and ended up causing more harm than good. Boy, we hope Reddit never tries to cure cancer.
6. Women Are Routinely Victimized. Like, A Lot
Sexism online is a hugely divisive topic. In one corner, you have thousands of women saying they’re uncomfortable revealing their gender online due to fear of people being a colossal asshat to them, and in the other corner you have colossal asshats saying this isn’t a big deal because it’s not happening to them.
We’re sure anyone reading this could easily track down an anecdotal tale from a female who has suffered some sort of abuse online purely because of their gender. The mere fact that such an idea exists caused our office whiskey budget to increase by 40%, but we digress. Dealing purely in facts, the results are equally as soul-crushing; 63% of female gamers report being abused solely due to their gender, and are 4 times more likely to suffer abuse in general. And female bloggers are subjected to torrents of abuse so vitriolic and offensive we tried to quote them here, but they were flagged as viruses.
But here’s the thing: women represent virtually 50% of the online world, a world where everyone is technically equal. Yet even in a virtual space they have to deal with people being mean to them, and speaking out about it only makes the abuse get worse. If you’re wondering where the lonely Internet-browsing virgin who is terrible with women came from, now you know. Gee, thanks everyone! As if making a living online wasn’t hard enough.
5. Millions Use Adblock, And It’s Killing The Websites They Enjoy
Remember where we said that, just by virtue of clicking the link that led you to this article, you’ve contributed to this site in some way? However, if you’re using Adblock, you’re not. In fact you’re not doing anything for the site other than slowly sucking away the precious lifeblood that is our revenue as we slowly sink into Internet obscurity, or something.
Most sites earn money from how many people see the ads featured on them. An apparently little-known fact is that you never actually have to click an ad on a website for them to make money from it. As long as you see it, the ad people are happy, and you’re contributing to the running of whatever site it is you’re currently on. Which is why Adblock is so dangerous for the thousands of sites that rely on ads to function. As noted here, the amount of people who use ad-blocking software numbers in the tens of millions. That’s millions of views and thousands of real, actual dollars being lost every single day. Thousands of dollars that the people who make ads get to keep. And come on, be honest: who would you rather have the money, the people running the site you’re on, or the ad people asking you to shoot Dick Cheney’s head for the chance to win an iPhone (some restrictions apply)?
But this is the annoying part; the people who use the software are usually technologically-minded, Internet-savvy people. In other words, the people who use the Internet the most are more likely to visit smaller, niche sites that cater to their interests. Sites that then get squeezed due to the combination of more server strain and less money.
Hey, if you want to block ads, that’s entirely up to you. We can’t do anything about it and telling you no to is only going to make you want to do it more, but at the very least, if you’re going to do it, do it on a site you hate, and turn it off for sites you like.
4. 80% Of Time Spent Online Is Wasted
As we’ve mentioned above, thousands of hours are wasted on fruitless arguments, but the figures go way deeper than that. For example, it’s believed that 80% of all time spent online while at work is wasted. Now, we’re not going to discuss what this means for the loss of man hours at the various businesses around the globe this effects, because people wasting company time hints more at a problem with how that company is run, and not the people working there.
No, the problem is a little more abstract than that. We think the part of this figure people should be paying attention to is that, with the entire collected knowledge of mankind at their fingertips, people will overwhelmingly choose to waste it on Facebook games and overdone memes, rather than actually better themselves through education.
3. The Internet Is Killing Spelling
Judging by how often you guys correct our spelling mistakes, we’re assuming that you handsome bunch of TopTenz readers are well-versed in how the English language works. We’re also pretty sure that if you’ve ever seen a YouTube video comment section, you’re aware of how much the language can be twisted beyond recognition, until it’s just an amalgamation of unreadable gibberish that slowly starts to resemble the screaming ghost of Dr. Samuel Johnson the more you look at it.
According to a study by the English Spelling Society (which, yes, is a thing that exists), things like internet chatrooms and social networking sites have made misspelling more socially acceptable, which has in turn made misspelling more rampant. It’s actually so bad that, according to the study, 66% of children and teens quizzed felt that the dictionary, the eternal guardian and sentinel of the written word, should contain alternate spellings of words. Ya now, becos dat dusnt mayk u luk stewpid @ awll, dus et?
2. Cyberbullying Affects Almost Half Of Teens, And The Cyberbullies Think It’s Funny
Cyberbullying is a massive issue, and though coverage of particularly harrowing cases would make it seem like it’s being cracked down on, the facts state that almost 50% of teens and young people still experience cyberbullying in some form. Digging deeper only reveals more frustrating figures, like how 20% of teens have been bullied by someone pretending to be them, because bullies are jerks like that.
The truly awful part? 81% of young people believe that cyberbullies bully because they think it’s funny. If you don’t think there’s something awful about an overwhelming majority of young people thinking that their peers would be willing to emotionally torture someone because it makes them laugh, then you’re either dead inside or you blacked out during that last sentence. If it’s the latter, then you should have someone take a look at that. It doesn’t sound healthy.
1. The Internet Is Destroying How We Remember Things … We Think
We’ve mentioned several times in this article that the Internet contains a huge amount of knowledge. However, it would seem that this access to almost unlimited information is actually having an adverse affect on how our memories function.
As noted here in this New York Times article, ubiquitous Internet access has seemingly effected how our memories recall facts and information. Having the ability to Google anything we want to know the answer to has made it so our minds don’t recall facts, just recall how to find them.
And you know what? That’s one of the most depressing facts of all. We have this wonderful invention with the capability to teach us all so much and improve all of our lives in a massive, tangible way, and we’re now so dependent on it that we can’t remember anything awesome. Well, that and all the sexism, homophobia, bullying, revenue stealing, and terrible spelling. Other than that, the Internet sure is great, don’t you think?
35 Comments
“We think it’s safe to say that, in the entire history of the internet, no one has ever held up their hands and said, “actually you’re completely right. Let’s stop arguing.””
While there is no danger in saying this, it’s entirely incorrect. Strike 3 toptenz
Do you have any understanding at all of how percentages work? From #9: “1% of people create the content of the Internet, around 9% of people contribute to that content through comments, votes, likes, and shares, and the remaining 90% or so in no way participate.” Then you go on to say, in the same entry, “just remember that every person who creates content online is outnumbered a thousand-fold (at least) by people willing to instantly tear it down.” You’re saying for every one person in the 1%, there are 1000 people in the 9%, which is just stupid, because if for every 1 person creating content (the 1%) there are 9 people commenting on it (the 9%), and you’re saying that of those 9 people commenting, 1,000 of them are “willing to instantly tear it down.” Are you unaware that 1,000 is more than 9, making it completely impossible for 1,000 out of a group of 9 to do anything, until you get another 991 people, which is still assuming that they all are willing to “instantly tear it down.” You then say “For every person willing to start a blog, make a video, or take a photo, there are a hundred people waiting with bated breath to tell them it sucks” which is admittedly closer to being mathematically accurate, but still irresponsibly stupid. Instead of saying there are 1,000 out of every 9 people who comment, now there are only 100 people out of every 9. What happened to the other 900 people that are somehow part of this group of 9?
#5
If Websites weren’t so gratuitous with their adds this may never have become such a big thing. Adds taking up half the page space, or video ads on YouTube which somehow stream better then the clip I wanted to watch and collectively could make up 20-40% of the time I spent watching the actual videos (Because they don’t care if I’m viewing a 15 second video or a 15 minute one).
That’s not including Pop-up adds and selling my Email address to SPAM sites.
I DO feel sorry for the small sites who get impacted by this, but when you abuse your audience you have to expect them to look for an alternative.
And I’m sorry, but no one ever Volunteers to turn on adds without a direct incentive.
What about sex? How it effects the younger generation today, how it has changed most younger women (young men have always saught after it not in this way though). When the internet was introduced more openly in china around 2000, sex changed the lifestyle completely. There are now more sex shops in china than any other place in the world within a 10 years time.
looking at sex online has destroyed peoples sex life at home, as men/women keep looking at it wanting more than their husbad/wife/bf/gf is willing to do. or that people dont feel as sexually connected because looking at porn all day does ruin your sex life, causes you to cheat on your partner and ruins the entire experience for you after awhile.
People will debate this but the majority of people i have met have this issue, knowing their partner looks at certain sexual things online after being caught, the partner wonders during their sex if they other person secretly desires another kind of person etc.
things were easier back in the day, not to mention kids grow up to quick with sex now, as its advertised everywhere online, and i mean everywhere. There should really be a ban on how kids can view the internet, or illegal till they are 18. im dead serious. let them enjoy life a bit more outside before becoming zombies inside. (you definitely watch your children outdoors right?; from strangers nowadays more often, but what about watching what they do on the internet? right… just like tv you dont watch them)
Homophobic? how about anything about Race, gender, male issues/womens, religion etcetc issues anything about you? The funny thing is most of these topics people say one thing in real life and completely say something different on the internet.
I had a good friend since childhood hes black and im white. We hung out all through school and even after graduation until one day i was left in his room after a concert and his computer screen came on after he shut the door behind him. It was a forum where he commented at least 50 times about how he hated white people and wished they would all die in very descriptive comments. When he returned and saw what i was looking at not only did he turn it off but went off at me about all whites in general, the internet brings out how people truly feel. I never talked to him again after that.
No. 9, no. 8, and no. 4 seem to be the nearest to my own life.
I think the worst thing about the internet is that it has made the unique, wonderful, amazing and astounding totally mundane. I subscribe to wimp dot com and they regularly post what they feel are the best videos on the internet on a daily basis. Many of them are fun or informative. Lots of them are silly and forgettable shorts. The worst thing is that I regularly see videos of children who can sing really well. Or a triple amputee who can shoot from the 3 point line with an astounding 98% accuracy.
The internet has made what used to be a rare find into a throwaway video that makes everything cheap and mundane.
Interesting article, however you should learn the difference between “effect” and “affect.”
Calling out one typo? That’s your contribution?
I have a problem with #5. Most people that would use adblock or any ad blocking program are using it to stop the annoying ads. No one really cares if there are ads at the top or sides of the web page but the ads that automatically open and cover have the site and the automatic video that starts playing, or music and all those nuisance ads are the ones that people want to block.. Especially the ones that pop right up, cover over whatever you are trying to view and make it impossible for you to close out of it. If they would stop all of those, no one would need an ad blocker because no one would care about the other ones. And how is blocking ads so you don’t see them any different than changing a channel when a commerical is on, or fast forwarding through a commericial. Totally dissagree with this one..
and I completely and utterly disagree with #1. The best knowledge a person can have is knowing where to find it… Saying it’s “bad” that your brain only remembers How to find information instead of knowing information doesn’t make any sense.
And yes I have a million spelling mistakes.. NO disagreement there! lol
I don’t mind ads on sites, what I don’t like is when ads are intrusive to the browsing experience and so many sites are guilty of it.
I disagree with number 3. I think that it has just become so cliche that people tend to think it is true. People have always been functionally illiterate, you can only see it now because people communicate with writing more.
Hmmm? What about the heterophobic slurs? The problem with most is that they poorly define the word tolerance. Tolerance means to co-exist with those you disagree with. It means that you would defend one’s right to disagree with you. It does not mean to embrace, condone or support someone’s ideology or lifestyle. It is important to differenciate; humans being equal, ideas are not. I have shared an apartment with a homosexual and had no problems with it, untll he began to act very weird and was trying to woo me. I have neighbours who are gay, friends who are gay and co workers who are gay and I treat them the same way that I would treat my own family. I do not agree with their orientation, and if they ask me why, I can kindly and graciously give my reasons. I am not or will I ever be FEARFUL of them….
5. Okay, so I’ll let corporate advertisers invade my privacy and obstruct my browsing capability while the site holders make bank. See: The South Park episode involving Music Piracy
4. Are you suggesting that writing this list wasn’t time wasted? What qualifies as being a “time waster”? Is listening to Mozart’s “Requiem” just as time wasting as listening to “In the Aeroplane By the Sea”?
3. I don’t have any complaints. People should type properly, not this troglodyte “L33T Sp3k”
2. Cyberbulling is something fools manage to often get themselves into. This is a anonymous user somewhere that wants to make fun of you. It’s called either: a) Blocking the person b) Turn off the computer c)Calling the cyber police.
1. Arguably humanity is now more informed about the world than any point in the past 8,000 years of recorded history. Go back to the 1700’s and talk to any civilian who isn’t a wealthy nobleman and ask them to read a children’s storybook. We have all this info at our disposal, and it is being used wisely, albeit with morons who naturally ruin anything new.
This article reeks of white-Knighting and someone who hasn’t been on the Internet more than 5 years. Good grief. 1st world privilege at it’s finest.
10. Oh look, people use vulgar words withing the comfort of obscurity. What else is new Sherlock? Is it right? No, but it certainly isn’t limited to homosexual slurs and odds are the only way to stop it is to police everybody. No thank you
9. This is a concern? Vocal minorities are present in all forms of media, and IRL. Additionally, if you label people who don’t like your stuff as “trolls”, it pretty much shows how much of an ego you have and the quality you actually produce.
8. Engaging in debate is a mental exercise, provided it merely isn’t poop-flinging. People adapt to new ideas, even if they don’t agree with them. It’s Lamarckian evolution, but it’s still progressive in terms of filtering evidence and supporting arguments for either side. Additionally comments do get things done, like canceling Fez 2 LOL!
7. Like this doesn’t happen without the Internet. The only thing ill give you is that it allows it to be easier to witch-hunt.
6. Oh grow up. The Internet is a place where anarchy reigns, where men are threatened with murder/rape/torture (take a look at any Griefing video on Counter Strike or G-Mod) on a hourly basis. It’s only a problem because it’s done to a woman. Interestingly women
Nice article, but… wtf? Who doesn’t know these things? Is it 1982 again?
Somehow, you left off child porn, sex trading & prostituting in your list. I wonder why?
On A-Block, like others have said. We use it because ads online tend to be intrusive, loud, and sometimes even tasteless or virus ridden.
my problem with the ads is that they eat up my already limited bandwidth. We have TERRIBLE internet service where I live and the ads are usually the most complexly coded elements of each page. When I use ad block, I can actually READ the content in a reasonable amount of time.
But really, if the internet disappeared tomorrow I’d probably do more with my life.
Not such a bad proposition really.
That too, at least TV ads don’t actually flash all over the show when it’s on screen.
Marc, you bring up a very interesting point, especially for me since I own Toptenz.net and make a partial living from it. Of course, I have to pay the writers from the advertising revenue on the site as well. Do you use an Ad Block software when viewing Toptenz.net?
I wonder if those who do use ad blocking software would be open to becoming paid members of Toptenz.net. Then those readers could support the site and keep it running without seeing ads. Those that would rather not pay continue to see ads. I have been deliberating on this for months, but don’t want to alienate our readers, but without ad revenue there is not Toptenz.net. I have considered a small monthly fee, that can be paid year in advance. I would have to do this otherwise the fees for accepting payment would be too high for monthly payments. I would like to offer this option for $1.99/month, but that is just place to start the discussion. Would this be too much? Does anyone find this offensive? Besides no ads would any other incentive make this more palatable?
Anyone can weigh in on this, and frankly I am very curious to know the thoughts of our readers. If you wish to write me privately, please send an email to [email protected].
I quite like this site, and visit semi-regularly, but I don’t think you really have a basis to charge anyone for it – trivia/list sites are a dime-a-dozen on the ‘net, and considering the fairly low-key, 10-minutes-a-day type of site it is I doubt there would be much incentive for people to pay simply for a minor privilege that you can get with a browser plug-in. I think if you are angling for user good-will to help support the site, simply asking people to whitelist toptenz from whatever ad-blocker they’re running will probably get you a better response. Of course not everyone will do it, but it’s a much lesser commitment, and would probably have a higher uptake than asking people to pay for content they can see anyway.
I really enjoy TopTenz, but not enough to pay a premium fee for it. Like Z says said, top 10 list are dime-a-dozen. I probably read or watch a dozen of them on different websites every day.
Anna has it right, it would be nice if website would start being more discerning in who they sell advertising to. Advertisers that produce the most obnoxious, virus ridden intrusive advertising should be shunned.
Ads before youtube videos should NEVER be longer than 1/5th the length of the video I’m about to watch.
I also understand that advertising makes it possible for content providers to provide their content. That’s why I only turn AdBlock on for websites that have the most vile of advertising. TopTenz is one of the few sites I have AdBlock turned off for.
I leave Faceblock and Googleblock turned on for most sites always though, they have no business watching me.
Thanks, Marc.
We try to be discerning by only using the best brokers who actually monitor the advertisers and the sites both. I don’t allow pop-unders, pop-overs or ads with auto play. Obviously nothing that would spy or steal information or trick you into clicking. If those are found, I would immediately contact my rep at the ad broker for removal.
Thanks for whitelisting Toptenz.net. It is appreciated!
Thanks, Z. Good feedback that I do appreciate. I have seen plugins that will do what you suggest. Perhaps I will install this to see if the ad block users will whitelist toptenz.net.
I wouldn’t ask anyone to pay for content, I would only give the option if ad blockers felt they would rather do that, but it seems from the few responses here that that would not be an option.
Yeah, just, yeah. Paid websites are a horrible idea. Deviantart fell into that trap and now nearly every useful new feature goes to premium only(or is severely crippled for free users).
The deal is that even “reputable” systems like Google Adsense allow some pretty questionable ads through(last time I didn’t have adblock that ran ads for adult dating sites and everything else). Also, ads just tend to be plain obtrusive and take up large amounts of the page. Pop-Ups are a issue as well.
The better option is to just have a donate option so people that want to support, can(it’s what many forums do)
Would love to get your opinion on my comment: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-depressing-facts-about-the-internet.php/comment-page-1#comment-45371
The reason a lot of people use ad block is because many ads used on sites are dangerous. They put things on your computer. If you accidentally click one, you can end up with malware on your computer, and even just being on a site with them often allows them to track your computer habits. Often they automatically open pop-ups on your computer that are even more likely to put content on your computer.
Also, many ads are bright and flashing and automatically play sounds and are basically really intrusive.
Basically, a lot fewer people would block ads if they were just simply pictures of whatever product it is on the screen. But the ads that most sites chose to show are obnoxious and dangerous, and blocking them is perfectly reasonable.
Would love to get your opinion on my comment: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-depressing-facts-about-the-internet.php/comment-page-1#comment-45371
Honestly, no, I’m not willing to pay just to get access to top ten lists.
I’d be willing to take ad block off if you’d restrict the ads to things that won’t put things on my computer. That, to me is the issue. I don’t mind normal ads, I just don’t want my computer tracked or viruses on my computer.
Thanks, Anna.
You bring up another good point. Ad restriction. Right now I use what I consider trustworthy advertisers, Google, Tribal Fusion Valueclick, companies that don’t just accept anyone and are constantly evaluating the content for their advertising clients. I don’t allow ads that spy or try to trick you. What assurances would you like that the ads I’m displaying are safe?
I would love to provide this information to ad block users, which I have read can be 30% of your traffic.
Meh. There’s very little in this article that’s labeled as “bad” that I couldn’t find in real offline life.
10. Homophobic slurs? How about racist slurs, sexist, slurs, anti-religious slurs, personal slurs, etc.? There’s other ways to insult people, but if you want to be obsessed with offending 2-5% of the population, go right ahead.
9. Wow. A medium where 1% of the people create content for everyone else to consume… sounds like society to me. Hell, I can find that in a bookstore, a restaurant, or any other place where goods are created to be sold for consumers.
8. It’s true. You know who else won’t change minds? People who argue face to face.
7. People falsely accusing others? That’s never happened before!
6. Women are victimized a lot? Tell you what – I’ll go run by Feministing and tell them I’m a conservative man who thinks abortion should be a felony… then we’ll talk about victimization.
5. Yeah. It should be more like real life where I’m forced to watch ads on television at full volume and have no ability to turn the channel, mute the TV, or ignore the ad.
4. Again – most of our time is wasted. We spend it daydreaming, doing meaningless chores, or doing something that has no real value other than to fill the moments between times we’re doing something useful.
3. OK… I’ll grant you this one.
2. Cyberbullying is simply bullying, period. The only difference is that it’s done by people who don’t have to take physical steps to get the reactions they want. On the other hand… they’re bullies and the best solution for a bully is a good swift punch in their cybernose.
1. This is debateable, but what I would argue is that the vast, easily accessed store of human knowledge available online is changing the way we, as a species, manage our information, allowing our brains to do things other than “remember useless crap”. Then again, maybe we just need to train our brains again.
5minutes, I’ve read probably dozens of your comments over the years, and this one is probably the most well written. Good on ya.
Great written article!