7 Ways the Internet is Ruining Your Life

A few days back, in my previous blog, I praised the internet for how it is revolutionizing the way we communicate and changing the world at a faster pace that ever before. Despite the title of this blog, this premise still does rung true.

However, the internet is not all peaches and creme (or "all facebooks and twitters".) Though the world might be better connected and more productive, the individual is becoming more disconnected and lazy as a consequence of this new digital age we are immersed in.

I ready this very humorous article the other day called "7 Ways the Internet Is Ruining Your Life" on a slightly inappropriate college humor website. But, it did bring up some very good points. The 7 ways that the internet is ruining ours lives are:

1. It's making you stupid
2. It's warping your sense of reality
3. It's ruining your social skills
4. It's making you fat
5. It's turning you into a douchebag
6. It's stealing your privacy
7. It's making you boring

All of these I see as (at least partly) true. Here are my personal responses to each.

1. Even though the internet is an endless source of knowledge and a very accessible point of reference, the way it is being used by our generation is taking our focus away from the knowledge we need and is connecting us to pointless Youtube videos and the "this is what I am doing right at this very second" updates on Facebook and Twitter. We can be using these resources so much better, but there are so many pointless distractions at one click that our brains are suffering.
2. When we are on the internet, we are in a whole different world. On the internet, we can be brave, popular, handsome and carefree while on the outside, we are friendless, war rages and our house is about to be foreclosed on. We are separated from the pressing issues of our lives and of the world and when that happens, we become useless to our families, friends and to the world.
3. Having social skills are developed through interaction with living, breathing people. With the internet, we could interact with thousands of people each day and never actually interact with anyone. In the Facebook and Twitter age, we can be so distant from people that we lack the necessary skills to interact away from our computer screens.
4. Not moving = increased weight. Plain and simple. Get up and get your 60 minutes a day!
5. The internet gives us the opportunity to speak anonymously and to speak without consequence. If we take advantage of this luxury too much, we forget how to turn it off in the real world. We lose the capacity to censor ourselves when appropriate and we submit ourselves to the consequences that come with it. Saying whatever we want, whenever we want to people does not make you independent, fearless or confident: it makes you a jerk.
6. What happens on the internet, stays ON the internet. The internet knows no confidentiality. I have been a user on the internet for maybe 5 or 6 years now, and everything I have done on the internet is neatly organized in a simple Google search. Thankfully, I am a pretty straight-edged young guy, so whatever you find is neither heinous or life-ruining, but for those who like to take shirtless photos on Facebook, picture of you and your friends drinking and post statuses that have more four-letter words than late-night Comedy Central, you might have a problem.
7. For those who can only develop conversation about yesterday's Facebook statuses, quote Youtube videos or teach me how to illegally download the new Lil Wayne album are...boring.

So, I would have to concur: the internet has many benefits, but when used to excess, it can be dangerous to your health.