the INTERNET: causing people to waste too much time?

[often Ndisguise]

Don't misunderstand what i am saying here: the internet is very useful and has provided alot of great pluses.

However, so many people just sit on the net for long periods and vege out. They dont go outside because it is comfy to sit and type junk on forums. lol.

sometimes I think the internet discourages people from doing truly fun things. It is just another thing in modern society that causes people to behave unnaturally.

***edit*** Btw i dont mean to offend anyone who spends alot of time typing in forums. I type in forums often myself. I do it because i get bored and it occupies my extremely busy mind. It is easier to occupy my mind doing that than it is ...oh lets say..writing a novel or going on a 10 mile nature hike. The novel and nature hike would be more meaningful ultimately though.

[Werequeen]

all I can say is...I'm antisocail...so I dont get out much...I read and go online...that's all...:rawk: :D ;) isn't my life great?:twisted:

[3v1l |\/|1NiOn]

i have friends, i see em at school and on weekends


any other time i am not at school or occasionally out


im on the net

[felp]

i can safely say i get out more then the average person (as in every day of the week), and i do have loads of friends, but when i am home (i get home around 3am) i post on here, and one other forum. I then perouse other websites untill around 6am (i'm an insomniac) and then wake up at around 11am and occasionaly go on the net to talk and what not. My point? Well i do use it as a way to procrastinate and find out odd bits of information etc, but it's never inhibited me from having a life outside it, nor will it ever.

[notmarcie]

I use the net at home when my partner is on nights, or when I am too ill to go out and mingle with other people in real life. I also use it from work when it is quiet , as it is now. Although work have put a quote time on it.
That said, there are an awful lot of idiots who waste an awful lot of time doing nothing on line but fillling in 'which flavour chewing gum are you' type quizzes and posting the results on every forum, as well as those blasted 'child of the 80s lists.

I love the internet, its immensely useful, but think how much faster it would be without all the tat.

[Pod]

Originally posted by Werequeen
all I can say is...I'm antisocail...so I dont get out much...I read and go online...that's all...:rawk: :D ;) isn't my life great?:twisted:

you burn down grannies homes?

[Seraph]

I'm probably the opposite of Pinkerbell actually.

I'm addicted to the Internet, its sometimes really frightening.

Theres not a day that goes by that I'm not on here. (When there is, it just doesnt go down too well..)
I'm on here so much, i bet it's probably some sort of medical condition.

When we go on holidays or my PC is broken, i have a laptop..
It's quite sad i suppose.

My dad has worked in the computer business, a place called ICIntracom (http://www.icintracom.com) since before i was born, so i was brought up using computers, and ever since i got my own when i was about 6/7 I've not gone a day without.
Haha, its kinda like a cuddly toy or blankie kids cant ever give up, only this is a bit more serious :p

Id have to say that having a computer addiction is kinda scary, its like my dad with his nicotene addiction.
Without it, you literally go insane. (Altho it IS possible to change...)

People have always commented on my computers skills, i get the top grades in typing classes, i can do alot of things on here, and people really look up to it.
My drawings, web designs, my ability to figure things out really quickly, etc.

The Internet to me, isnt this box with bits inside of it.. it isnt a screen in front of me, and keys below my fingers.. its another world. Can type without thinking... i know the Internet better than my own street and neighbors.
Somewhere i can ALWAYS go back to, somewhere that i can get along with anyone, even if i had a bad day. The people i talk to on here dont need to know what i did that day, or anything. If something goes wrong between us, i dont ever have to talk to them again. Whereas in real life, i have to face them everyday.

One thing i have to say, to people that are REALLY on here alot, but not 'addicted' yet, is... just because you're really smart... and you have learned the HTML, learned how to draw, joined every forum, you're a '1337' computer user, dont hack or do anything stupid. I've been there, done that, got bored of the everyday routine of chatting to all the people i didnt like from school, and making various websites. Realising you could do stuff like that, realising you have so much power sucks! DONT try it lol :p Leads you nowhere but in front of your parents telling you about 'the phonecall they got earlier.'

Anyways.. hope i havent scared anyone ;)

sometimes I think the internet discourages people from doing truly fun things. It is just another thing in modern society that causes people to behave unnaturally.

I 101% Agree.. :) heh.

[Ked]

In my opinion the internet does not waste my time. Through the internet I have been able to keep in contact with friends, especially over the holidays, which saves me from getting in trouble from my dad for running up such a big phone bill.

Also on the internet I've been able to meet interesting people, most of them on this forum. Once I'm about 16, I would be able to start meeting you guys, as for now, my dad is not letting me meet people over the internet for obvious reasons.

Not only that, but through the internet, I've heard of bands that I would of never heard of without it. I've been able to order CD's, games, and book concert tickets.

And finally, if I didn't have the internet, I would be really bored, and also, my friends being quite far away from my house, (about a 10-20 minute bicycle ride) its better for me to talk to them online.

[Dr-Electro]

I'm like Seraph's Dad. I have been working in computers for over thirty years. The Internet saves me much more time than it wastes. I use it for a workiing tool every day.

I find software drivers, operating system patches, indispensible utilities like AVG's free virus checker and all the information I need without ever cracking open a book. I have nothing against books, in fact I have tried to write a couple in the past. (never got published)

My wife, on the other hand, spends every free moment on the Interweb. She is more addicted to it than a crackhead is addicted to crack. She has horrible withcrawal sysmptoms if she is off the WWW for a second. She will barely get up in time to dash madly to the bathroom and come galloping back asking breathlessly, "Did I miss anything?" She's not asking about TV.

However, when work needs to be done, she does it, however hastily, and goes back to web surfing. At times I find it disturbing, but mostly it is harmless. She goes to bed at a regular time every night and never stays up late because of the web. I stay up after she retires to catch up on my correspondence, mainly here these days. Then I go to bed and sleep like a cadaver until time to go to work the next day. I sleep late on weekends.

My brother was the worst kind of net junkie, though. He actually died in front of his computer, chatting on ICQ with somebody from Australia. I found it morbid in the extreme. The friend in Australia was shocked speechless when I told her what had happened. She never suspected. His wife and kids were not surprised. They witnessed his physical decline.

Different degrees for different users. Just like everything else in life you can name. Some people smoke too much, (Give 'em up Cadex!) ;) some people drink too much, (dry out Magpiggles) ;) and a few people surf too much. No names mentioned, you know who you are.

We can at least say this much: All of us here share a common interest. W&B. We are all different in the amount of time we spend connected to the Orange Board. (Or other Webbish interests.):D

[often Ndisguise]

well look at it this way: never before in the history of the world have people had computers in their homes that they spent hours on.

Who is to say that this new generation of "web rats" will not have regrets about how much time they spent on the computer when they get to be 60 or 70?

I used to play computer games alot and I do not anymore. I would spend hours and hours just sitting in front of the computer playing something like tomb raider or myst. Looking back, I ask myself...what did i accomplish? the answer is absolutely nothing.

[ZekeyLizard]

I used to go outside.
I used to party.

Then I discovered this forum (http://videogamedc.com) and spent alot of time there.

They banned me for NO reason whatsoever. It still smarts when I go back there.

Then I discovered that I loved to make Flash cartoons. So I ran about the Internet watching as many as possible. It was about 3 years ago that I found Weebl and Bob due to this Website (http://omgwtf.superlime.com) and was hooked.

I then joined the forum here but didnt talk much. I soon realized how much I disliked the outside world and the scumbags who hurt others but arent punished that thrive in it.

Now I spend most of my time making Flash and coming here.

[fat bear]

oh i remember those party'n days and those days of goin outside, but they are now just sitting at your house Zeke

P.S. if a person crapped out their mouth, i would cry and poo a little

[Dr-Electro]

I have accomplished much by playing computer games. I have learned to relax. That means I sleep better and am less depressed. My doctors like that idea. I still have a job, a family, friends and pets; a life. I spend time with all of them, too. I don't lose much sleep by staying up late for the sole purpose of web surfing and gaming.

I am an old man. I have been working with computers for more than thirty years. Yes, that means that I predate Personal Computers. I found games to play on mainframes and minis before Steven and Woz started the PC revolution. I even remember ProDOS and PC-DOS version 1.0. It looked a lot like Unix and used much of the same command line structure. Never did make it read punchcards worth shit, though.

I have my favorite web places to hang out and look at. This one is number one, at the moment. I have a few games that I like to play. Most of them are old, but that suits me fine. I also play 3D cards, dominoes, checkers, chess and other borard games with live people face-to-face on occasion. Do any of you kiddos know how to play Spades, Hearts, Canasta or Pinochle? How about four-way cut-throat checkers? Domino games like 42 and Moon?
Ever seen a Monopoly board in real life? I even have a monopoly set so small it hangs from my keychain. It is cute as hell.

I must admit that lately it has become difficult to find a foursome for Pinochle or 42, even here where those games are still popular.

For the record, the vast majority of my generation are "technically challenged" and opposed to the use of computers. There are some among them who believe the computer can control their minds. woooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Play the Twilight Zone theme, please. I am one of a very few my age who are professionally computer savvy. The rest of them still fear the electric typewriter.

[often Ndisguise]

i have grown up with computer games actually so i remember alot of the old ones.....tho i am 20 , i have played cmputer games in which the characters and background were constructed of little keyboard characters.

I remember when wolfenstein 3d came out and blew everyone away. lol ooo and kings quest .

Which older games do u play dr electro?

I stopped caring about computer games right around the time tomb raider 3 came out. I just stopped going to the computer stores alot. I have no earthly idea what the newest game titles are. I used to know all that stuff.

I still buy games in the bargain bin every once ina while but i just don't play them that often anyway. The latest one I got was Monopoly tycoon.

I love yahoo spades.

[Dr-Electro]

Yahoo spades is cool, but I like Psychobabble, too.

I still play Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, Epic Pinball - especially CyborGirl and I still play all the Sid Meier titles: Civilization, Alpha Centauri, etc.

My most modern game is Monopoly or Myst, which was given to me by a computer user group to review. (Neato, I played it to the bitter end.)

[mojo1287]

Go yes. The internet eats my time far too efficiently; I found Weebl a few days ago and proceeded to wwatch every epsiode in consecutive order, and I know I'm not the only one.

[Reddig]

Do any of you kiddos know how to play Spades, Hearts, Canasta or Pinochle?

I dont know Spades and Pinochle, maybe it's because of language differences, but Hearts (the real ones) or Canasta... or Bridge to some point (I have noone to play it with, so my skills are rather low, but on the other hand I play on every occasion I can). I love cards... and find playing them on computer blasphemious. It's not the same thing, playing cards on computer and the real thing.

About a week before I was sick we had a cardboard games night with my friends. We had risk, we had monopoly, we had some adventure card board games... and a lot of fun...

Ok, something more on topic: I can'tt imagine myself sitting all dayy in front of the computer, just as I can't imagine myself not using it at least once a day when I'm home. Internet supports a lot of things that imitate real life, but most of them just like most imitations - they suck when compared to the real things.

[eleanor]

I'm bad at being distracted, or rather I'm very good at it. If I try doing uni work in my room I get drawn to surfing, which is why I do all my work in uni - this, in turn, actually makes me better organized because I have set "study areas" and "relaxation areas", and I don't do any uni work after 5 \o/

I'm only online in the evenings and rarely at weekends. I'd say I probably clock up a fair few hours in this way, but it's mainly because I don't have a TV in my room (here in halls of residence) and the common room with the nearest telly is a bit of distance. However, I'm beginning to miss telly, so I might start watching a bit of box of an evening.

Don't know what I'm quite getting at here - I suppose I mean it's good in its place. Like everything. In moderation, kids!

[often Ndisguise]

Originally posted by Dr-Electro
Yahoo spades is cool, but I like Psychobabble, too.

I still play Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, Epic Pinball - especially CyborGirl and I still play all the Sid Meier titles: Civilization, Alpha Centauri, etc.

My most modern game is Monopoly or Myst, which was given to me by a computer user group to review. (Neato, I played it to the bitter end.)

hehe i enjoy yahoo literati, which is kinda like scrabble.

i remember commander keen when it first came out. it seemed very impressive at the time.

sid meier rocks!! My favorite game by him was colonization. but civilization was excellent too. i bought civilization 2 awhile back. Meier graphics didnt really develop as well as they should have over time. I think that is why he kinda has died out. Just my personal opinion though.

[Dr-Electro]

Call To Power was a big fizz, too. I think there is a sequel to Alpha Centauri in the works, but as yet it's only a rumor.

[often Ndisguise]

does anyone else often not end up doing work they should be doing bc sitting on a computer and staring at random junk is more fun?

i think it happens to anyone with a computer.

[Dr-Electro]

I've heard such rumors. Does that mean I'm supposed to do other things besides web surf?:D

[Scribbly]

Oh yes. I could be working on some school work right now. I'm at school now and I haven't got any lessons for over 3 hours, so now I'm browsing the weebl and bob forums...

[Dr-Electro]

We had an interesting occurrence today. There was a major power outage in downtown Odessa. It affected all three hospitals which all went to emergency generators to keep critical life support running for over four hours.

The big topic at school was: "Is 'the server' down?" "What have they done to my INternet?" "I can't get into my e-mail."

Blah-blah-blah. My phone rang constantly until I turned it off. Then my two-way radio went bananas with the front desk calling me every few seconds asking me to run from one classroom to another to another from one end of campus to another end to another end. I finally just went home.

The morons have a TV in every room. Cable TV, no less, with Local,State and World news 24/7. Many people have FM radios on their desks. Everybody except me has a cell phone. Who do they bother first? You guessed it right. They seem to think that I can walk to their individual rooms and restore power to the city from that individual wokstation! DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it any wonder our education system sucks? Texas ranked thirty-fourth among the 50 states in intelligence. Now I know why.

[Dude]

I spend to much time on the internet playing online games, some say im sad, well... their right:D

[pinkie]

i didn't realise there as more to life, i usually sit looking at weebl 'n' bob eating pizza and drinking beer...all sounds good to me,the more beer i have it dosen't feel so bad...think i'll get myself a beer now, anyone care to join me?
totally dude :D

[often Ndisguise]

Originally posted by pinkie
i didn't realise there as more to life, i usually sit looking at weebl 'n' bob eating pizza and drinking beer...all sounds good to me,the more beer i have it dosen't feel so bad...think i'll get myself a beer now, anyone care to join me?
totally dude :D

yes alcohol is the solution to all of lifes problems. and it does not always add new ones either.