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Ok So stay im goiing into some theoretical stuff here
So i have been reading up on Emile Durkheim(Founder of modern sociology, along with Marx and Weber)
Basically he theorizes that with population growth comes less communication between groups, causing people too migrate to places where they feel accepted and less of an ooutcast.
So by the mere act of procreating we cause our own destruction. But i have another idea about this.
Communication can allow those groups to communicate with other groups creating more unified groups with clear intents.
Now The internet is big, really big. Everyone has access to it. So here is what im thinking. The internet is what is causing such a divide in the world today(and paradoxically a unification)
Im going to use TV as and example. Shows like Walking dead, MLP:FIM, A game of thrones and dexter would not exist w/o communication possible between fan bases of the show.
Same with political groups. The tea party wouldn't have made it anywhere without the internet, anti-gay rights aare the same.
It also causes shut ins, where you would once look for someone who may think the same and find other and other idea, you no longer have too. just a mouse click away.
It narrows your view of the world to black, white and not wrong.
So there ya go, My idea, And no i have no solution nor do i think there is one, global economics today would crumble w/o the internet so removing it was never an option.
Well off to my other soap box.

I never liked the Outernet, anyway.....

I think you just about hit the nail on the head.

A better example: My Little Pony
Freaks like you would never exist without the internet

You guys should read "The Machine Stops". It's about 40 pages long, but I think it's a unique "prediction" of future societies, especially considering it was written in 1909 or something, before TV was even on the horizon.

http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html

Slarg232 wrote:I never liked the Outernet, anyway.....

Wait, I can leave the computer? Meh.

Samus_aran115 wrote: A better example: My Little Pony
Freaks like you would never exist without the internet

why you gotta hate?

I for one love the internet, it brings people together and gak, yo!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also, thanks to the internet, we have access to things like this:

Squidmanlolz wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:I never liked the Outernet, anyway.....

Wait, I can leave the computer? Meh.

hummm...interesting....go on....

Social media and the Internet is still in its infancy. Nearly everyone has no idea regarding the effects it will have on society and how much is "enough." It's going to take a while in order to understand the power that we can communicate with anyone in the world at a moment's notice without affecting our local social lives.

Ever heard of Otaku syndrome?

No, What is it?

Now The internet is big, really big. Everyone has access to it.

Thats a very Western-centric view to take.
Internet penetration rates in certain areas of the World (with very large populations) is non existent to minimal at best.

Perhaps clarify the original hypothsis to reflect that?

I think the OP's analysis is flawed, to put it politely.

Ok, How? Im open t criticism, if you want to criticize then do it. DOnt just say you think it is give reasons.

Nothing wrong with the destruction of society as we know it.

Chaos! Anarchy! Entropy! Discord! Disharmony! Glazed donuts!

hotsauceman1 wrote:Ok, How? Im open t criticism, if you want to criticize then do it. DOnt just say you think it is give reasons.

Your argument appears to be that society is disintegrating because of our increased ability to communicate and interact with one another. That's silly. Also, since you're inviting criticism, I would suggest spending longer and taking greater care when formulating your posts, as they are littered with typing errors.

@OP
Admittedly the examples you've chosen are negative, but I don't see how the points you're trying to illustrate are? Sounds to me like the internet is perpetuating happiness and acceptance for loser nerds like us all over the planet! :-h

Henners91 wrote:@OP
Admittedly the examples you've chosen are negative, but I don't see how the points you're trying to illustrate are? Sounds to me like the internet is perpetuating happiness and acceptance for loser nerds like us all over the planet! :-h

That is true. But the acceptance comes to where others may not seek others like them in real life or make friends of those who think or act dfferently.
Lke i said in my OP it causes many grups to have a narrow view of the world, thinkng in only terms of themselveson their goals(im now talking politically.
@Albatross: Ok how is it silly. Give me a counter argument.

True, I certainly think that the biggest problem with the internet is that it can give niche cultures or extremists small amounts of legitimisation from peers that they wouldn't get in real-life.

I.E. 'Yeah brah, it's totally normal to want to dress in a fur suit and... do... that... LET'S MEET UP AND DO IT!'

Henners91 wrote:
I.E. 'Yeah brah, it's totally normal to want to dress in a fur suit and... do... that... LET'S MEET UP AND DO IT!'

I see nothing wrong with this statement.

Man's nature has not changed throughout the eons. He is no different now than he was under Caesar.

Our nature may not have changed, But they way we expres it could.
Also our nature is fickle, other then the hierarchy of needs we are very maliable.

deathholydeath wrote:Ever heard of Otaku syndrome?

Otaku syndrome existed BEFORE the www made it more noticeable around the world. The net didn't CREATE it, ANIME created it.
Word of it just spread faster with the net. And it made it easier for these loons to hook up with like-minded baka no hentai.
In the pre-www days, it was pretty much restricted to a niche group inside the niche group of Japanese cosplayers and anime fans who congregated in certain Tokyo districts.
It's just another aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder in "fan" types. All nerd groups have this issue. Not all of us suffer from it. Some just revel in it.

Ok so HotSauce are you positing that the internet is fragmenting or unifying society?

I would put it briefly that pre-internet sociological models have now become flawed because where the internet is easily available to those that feel outcast so have no need to physically migrate.
The internet can provide a shared "space" for any group so the members of that group need not physically migrate except where sexual relationships for the purposes of procreation are formed (perhaps a sperm courier service could replace this need).
An individual also has the ability to occupy more than one social space where as before they were restricted to the physical "ghetto" that they placed themselves in. As individuals diversify so the virtual spaces become more specialised to cater for them.
The internet is unifying people that would never have considered meeting before but it is removing the need for a specialised area for specific communities.
It is fragmenting our social interactions into specialised groups when we are on line but it is having an homogenising effect upon the social scene around us as people no longer have to move around to find the group that suits them.

hotsauceman1 wrote:Ok So stay im goiing into some theoretical stuff here
So i have been reading up on Emile Durkheim(Founder of modern sociology, along with Marx and Weber)
Basically he theorizes that with population growth comes less communication between groups, causing people too migrate to places where they feel accepted and less of an ooutcast.
So by the mere act of procreating we cause our own destruction. But i have another idea about this.
Communication can allow those groups to communicate with other groups creating more unified groups with clear intents.
Now The internet is big, really big. Everyone has access to it. So here is what im thinking. The internet is what is causing such a divide in the world today(and paradoxically a unification)
Im going to use TV as and example. Shows like Walking dead, MLP:FIM, A game of thrones and dexter would not exist w/o communication possible between fan bases of the show.
Same with political groups. The tea party wouldn't have made it anywhere without the internet, anti-gay rights aare the same.
It also causes shut ins, where you would once look for someone who may think the same and find other and other idea, you no longer have too. just a mouse click away.
It narrows your view of the world to black, white and not wrong.
So there ya go, My idea, And no i have no solution nor do i think there is one, global economics today would crumble w/o the internet so removing it was never an option.
Well off to my other soap box.

I hope so. Bring this down. Come on people its 2012. This world isn't going to come crashing down by itself, and I've already maxed out my credit cards. Get a move on!

OK Frazz let's go Fight club on the credit system transatlanic stylee.

I can see the headlines now:

A spate of anticapitalist terror attacks have been linked to previously mild mannered war gamers enraged at recent price hikes by Games Workshop.

Albatross wrote:

hotsauceman1 wrote:Ok, How? Im open t criticism, if you want to criticize then do it. DOnt just say you think it is give reasons.

Your argument appears to be that society is disintegrating because of our increased ability to communicate and interact with one another. That's silly.

Yes, but WHY is that silly? I think everyone has observed what the OP is talking about, in some degree.

Here's my opinion.

People are becoming less and less communicative in real life. You adults might notice it that much, but I notice it a lot, going to a high school with people still in an infancy of communication and social skills. If you haven't grown up in the internet age, you most likely have some personal skills to fall back on, but if you've been surrounded by it your whole life, you might not.

The internet is creating a generation(s) of socially defunct individuals, and I don't think we'll realize the extent of this "plague" until people my age are in their 40s.

I agree with the "divided" part of the OPs post. You see this all the time, on news site comments, forums, 4chan, reddit, etc. People's opinions seem to be "black and white", more often that not, and everyone who's grey has to pick a side. I'm sure it has something to do with anonymity, when people can post their most extreme opinions without having to take actual flak for them.. I think everyone's guilty of that, maybe.

Samus_aran115 wrote:

Albatross wrote:

hotsauceman1 wrote:Ok, How? Im open t criticism, if you want to criticize then do it. DOnt just say you think it is give reasons.

Your argument appears to be that society is disintegrating because of our increased ability to communicate and interact with one another. That's silly.

Yes, but WHY is that silly? I think everyone has observed what the OP is talking about, in some degree.

Here's my opinion.

People are becoming less and less communicative in real life. You adults might notice it that much, but I notice it a lot, going to a high school with people still in an infancy of communication and social skills. If you haven't grown up in the internet age, you most likely have some personal skills to fall back on, but if you've been surrounded by it your whole life, you might not.

The internet is creating a generation(s) of socially defunct individuals, and I don't think we'll realize the extent of this "plague" until people my age are in their 40s.

I agree with the "divided" part of the OPs post. You see this all the time, on news site comments, forums, 4chan, reddit, etc. People's opinions seem to be "black and white", more often that not, and everyone who's grey has to pick a side. I'm sure it has something to do with anonymity, when people can post their most extreme opinions without having to take actual flak for them.. I think everyone's guilty of that, maybe.

I hate to break it to you but teenagers have ALWAYS been socially awkward and lacking in personal skills the internet and "always on" communications did not cause it. Today's teenagers will gain personal skills the same way we oldsters did... ...they will need them to get a job so that they can buy the things they want like "always on" phone bills.

Samus_aran115 wrote:People are becoming less and less communicative in real life. You adults might notice it that much, but I notice it a lot, going to a high school with people still in an infancy of communication and social skills. If you haven't grown up in the internet age, you most likely have some personal skills to fall back on, but if you've been surrounded by it your whole life, you might not.

I think this is worth taking into account. It's true that younger people, say those born after 1990 or thereabouts, have had a significantly different experience of the effects of internet communication on their peer culture than older people. On the one hand, the "awkward years" are nothing new. On the other hand, no one born before 1990 had to deal with facebook in high school. Yes, MySpace and IMs were kind of around in high school for us mid-80s kids but that's hardly comparable. IIRC, texting wasn't even a big deal yet. If adults want to know what's going on, we should really listen to the people who are going through it.

Samus_aran115 wrote:

People are becoming less and less communicative in real life. You adults might notice it that much, but I notice it a lot, going to a high school with people still in an infancy of communication and social skills. If you haven't grown up in the internet age, you most likely have some personal skills to fall back on, but if you've been surrounded by it your whole life, you might not.

The internet is creating a generation(s) of socially defunct individuals, and I don't think we'll realize the extent of this "plague" until people my age are in their 40s.

I don't think we'll have to wait till you are 40 to see the effects. As it is right now people can't put their cell phones down. Have you ever been with a group of friends who all have smart phones? You guys might sit there and talk for a bit, but eventually there's a span of time where everyone is on their smart phones. It happens all the time and its possible that one person is always on their smart phone even when there's an entire conversation going on around them.

Is it necessarily a bad thing that people interact with people through devices at the same time as they interact with other face-to-face? It's not like these things are mutually exclusive. It's a new social skill rather than a lack of social skills.

I'm more concerned about the streamlining of views into "Red v. Blue" decisions. Are you a Republican or a Democrat? Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? Yankees or Mets? When you have this enormous amount of choice revolving around the pressure to define yourself, I think there's a severe temptation to see things as an on-off switch -- you're with me or you're against me. If you notice, the examples I gave above are all pre-internet. It's not like the pressures weren't already around in the 20th century. But this even greater weight of content constantly and immediately available by didgital means can only drive that pressure through the roof. Maybe this is off-base, I dunno. Just a moment's thought posted on a toy soldier forum.

In a nutshell, I don't think the internet is destroying society. But I would like to hear more from people born after 1990 about how they think it effects them and their peers.

Have you ever been with a group of friends who all have smart phones? You guys might sit there and talk for a bit, but eventually there's a span of time where everyone is on their smart phones. It happens all the time and its possible that one person is always on their smart phone even when there's an entire conversation going on around them.

You have some strange mates
j/k