Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Why do some spend so much time online?
As I sit here & ponder the meaning of life and other random thoughts, it occurs to me that the people I know who are really happy with their lives, where they are, who they're with, what they're doing, they really don't spend a lot of their time online. They get on, do what they need to do and get off. While some of the people I know who seem to spend the most time online are the people who are unhappy with their jobs, their partners (or they don't have one), they complain a lot and wish they were somewhere else. Are virtual activities acting as an escape for those people who find it difficult to make real changes in their lives?
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12 comments:
That's really interesting. My circle of friends and family is the same way. Most get on and off, whereas there are a few (who do seem to be unhappy in some aspect of their life) who spend countless hours online. They shop, blog, IM, search, play games, and use sites like Myspace.
I also know a lot of people who date online, but some never seem to be happy even with the people they find. One of my friends will start dating someone she met online, but continue to search for other potential mates in case she finds someone better than the one she's with. It really bothers me that she does that - I feel bad for the guys. My cousin, on the other hand, just married some guy she met online. She was severely depressed, but has since turned around since getting married - and now spends less and less time online than she used to.
I can see what you mean, people who are bored or unhappy with their lives may spend a lot of time online, but I think I am online pretty often and I am very happy with my life.
I definitely don't spend hours, but I do go online when I am at work (like right now), to do homework, read the newspaper online, and sometimes just browse around. Then, when I go home home I usually go online to check e-mail, school stuff, and maybe MySpace.
Being online has become a necessity for people for other reasons aside just socially, so I don't really think everyone on here for hours is bored or unhappy.
Wow! Good observation. It can go both ways for me. I'm a gamer. When I'm not feeling up to par, I hit up the net and listen to music or play games or chat with my buddies. But that doesnt really happen alot. You won't find me in the wee hours of the morning chatting or playing games online. Like Angie a friend of mine also married a guy from online who lived in CA!!! Her family nearly flipped out, but the wedding was beautiful and she seemed to be in love. Today they are still together and both living in CA. So, it can go both ways.
I can see your point. If people are living their life online, are they really living a "real life"? And if they are spending most of their time online, I don't see how they could be happy with their "real life." I'm sure there's exceptions, but that's an interesting observation.
I agree and disagree.
There are some people I know who need attention to survive so they are always online constantly changing their provacative pictures, updating their pathetic statuses, and giving and receiving countless comments from people they barely know. I think this shows they are very unhappy and insecure about their lives.
Then there is my 14 year old sister. She can't drive, we have no neighbors her age, and the only time during the week that she can socialize is during school. She is on the internet from the time she gets home from school until the time she has to go to bed, and I believe this is just a teenage stage. I also went through this. When I began driving and dating, however, I spent less and less time on the internet and more time in the real world.
Kaitlyn, when I made my post, I was speaking generally about adults who have the ability to get out there and do stuff. I totally understand that teens don't have the means to do much. I remember what it was like at that age. no cash, no drivers license, no real place to go but to the school games on friday nights, McDonalds, and the mall on the weekends if you could get someone's mom to drive you. THe rest of the time you spent on the phone.
If I had had the Internet when I was a teen, WOW! I can just image how much time I would have spent online--- all of it!
I would agree with your observation. I am a member of the tourguidemike.com site, a Walt Disney World touring guide site, and use this site to escape my everyday life and place my self back into the happiest place on earth!
I also use the internet as a way to communicate with my family. I can type what I want when I think of it, and then go about my business. When they are ready they will reply. To me, it saves a lot of time to communicate this way.
People use virtual worlds to escape or hide from their problems. Its like prople who abuse alcahol so they don't have to face their issues or come up with solutions. For a lot of people (not everyone) virtual worlds are and addiction.
When television was new, it was labeled as the doom of humanity and blamed for everything from low test scores to divorce to somehow damaging the family unit. People who watched 'too much' (whatever that is) television were using it as an escape, or were lonely. Why else would anybody want to watch television 'a lot'?
Television remained the enemy for a very long time, until the price of computers began to drop, and the Internet became widely accessible. Now, people who are online 'too much' (whatever that is) are using it as an escape, or are lonely. Why else would anybody want to be online 'a lot'?
The thing about television, though, is that it's a one-way transmission. Viewers are passive receivers of information; there's no communication happening.
Internet communication (synchronous or asynchronous) is two-way, with the sending and receiving of information between two or more people. We can't generalize and assume that someone (or 'a lot' or 'most people') who spend a great deal of time online are 'lonely' or 'escaping,' because the possibility exists that the person online is not lonely at all. Why? That person has the opportunity to (and probably is)interact and engage in quite a bit of communication on a global scale, an opportunity that simply doesn't exist in real life.
You said "That person has the opportunity to (and probably is)interact and engage in quite a bit of communication on a global scale, an opportunity that simply doesn't exist in real life." isn't that exactly what I generalized??? Isn't that person "escaping" from their actual life? Or maybe a better word is needed. If that person didn't have the ability to use the computer at all, what would they do then? If what they wanted was interaction with other human beings, they would have to make more of an effort to connect with people face to face.
I can generalize and make blanket statements all I want, its my blog. That's what they're designed for, people to to express their opinions. I never said my observations were overall correct, what I said were that some of the people I know are like that. You have the freedom to express your opinions any way you want, which is why the comments are there.
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