A lot of commentators, bloggers, and media pundits talk about the Internet’s ability to change lives dramatically, remake whole economies, and make the world a flatter and nicer place for everybody. Is this really true? Can the Internet really make that much difference?
To consider this, I would like to focus on one area that has been talked about in great detail on Internet Evolution: “activist” social networking.
There was a time when I strongly believed in the power of the Internet and was a member of many of these social groups. I would sign up for them and initially contribute with gusto, and then the excitement would wear off and I’d cease participation.
This year, I got away from my computer screen and joined an organization that focuses on bringing solar-powered lanterns, pump-sets, and fans to some of the poorest corners of the world. It’s only once you sit down with amazing people, who have made it their life’s mission to bring light into some of the most inaccessible and remote areas of the world, that you realize the Internet can’t do much.
These people don’t care about being “Liked” on Facebook or being Tweeted about. The satisfaction one gets from executing a project that brings electricity and light to a remote region is incomparable to posting something on Twitter about it. That’s why you have to get out into the field and experience the world’s problems firsthand.
Another misconception is that the Internet can help us live more fulfilled lives. Many of us think of the Internet as an escape, but it’s actually just a distraction: The best way to achieve whatever we want from our lives is not by spending time blogging about it or venting on Facebook or on Twitter. It’s by going out and actually doing something about it.
Since 2008, I have been taking nine days off of work every year to go on a meditation retreat to get in touch with my inner spirit. During that time I am totally cut off from the outside world (no phone calls/emails/Internet access). Once each year, I come back feeling refreshed from not having had to deal with non-stop emails and other digital attention-grabbers.
It has helped me to look at things from a completely different perspective and to realize what things are important and ignore the rest, something that the Internet -- with its constant distractions -- does not allow us to do.
In order to see any of this, though, we need to reduce our attachment to the Internet and refocus on ourselves and our basic needs, which can be easily met in the offline world: spending time with friends and family, being one with nature, etc.
So to return to the point at hand: What is the Internet really good for? How can it best benefit us?
The Internet is a great communications medium to exchange and harness new kinds of ideas, but it does not offer much beyond that. The sooner we start having realistic expectations about the Internet and its impact on society, the better off we’ll be.
— Ashish Mehta is an IT consultant who specializes in the business problems of SMBs. He has an MSc (Hons) from Columbia University, New York, and a BTech (Hons) from IIT-Kharagpur, India.
It's through the Web I've found a friend of a friend who was soliciting old digital cameras to send to schoolkids in Afghanistan to capture their day-to-day lives. And it's through the Web I found out about others in my neighborhood interested in international adoption, and in supporting others who are in the process of adopting as I once was. And it's through the Web I became aware of the whole concept of micro-financing, and it's through the Web I was able to make modest donations to help someone get a business off the ground in a country far from my own.
I know the Web doesn't replace good works, but it does shine a light on the range of possibilities out there.
Thanks, Ashish, for the healthy reminder to disconnect!
Great post. I loved reading it. It refreshed some of my own thoughts that sometimes get a little lost in the overwhlming amount of emails, messages, new information, new links to check out, etc. that you have also mentioned.
As you do, sometimes I also decide to take a break from the Internet and everything and go on a meditation retreat -I have been doing this mainly at home, though. I find it important to focus on my thoughts and times without being under pressure with times, deadlines, things to do and even reply to personal emails and FB messages can sometimes be overwhelming.
The Internet is useful for many, many things I could not live without nowadays. On the other hand, it is true the fact that we are "available" all or most of the time plays against us quite often. People in general, not only people related to work issues, expect us to be always online replying in a split second to everything. When the feeling becomes too much is when I decide to take a break. Sometimes a couple of days off is enough.
Now, have you ever felt that when you come back from a meditation retreat you have lots of emails/messages, things to catch up that the stress level that had gone down during the meditation days goes up pretty fast? How do you handle that?
Ashish- wonderful post-thank you. However, I do not disagree with you. Unlike you, I never believed in the Internet as a tool for good. I knew how socially passive were Russians and I thought that fun was the only thing Russian users could do online.However, this summer I have changed my mind.You know, there were terrible fires all over Russia and the Goverment didn't help( as usual).So People on-line gathered and started to help. They collected money and equipment for firemen and forestry offices, they collected food and clothes and they went to the forests and fought the fires.This could never happened if there were no Internet. So? Internet is a tool for good.
I do like the idea to stay for 11 days without any connection with the outer world- this is a great idea.I have to try it, thought I am afraid, it will be hard in the beginning
Perhaps that is where the problem lies? In attempting to (or thinking you can) control the internet? Control is an illusion that so many buy into. What can you contol? Yourself. Anything outside of that has factors involved that are outside your control. Now, those factors may not ever become "active," thus perpetuating the myth that we have "control." It's those unforseen elements that put a mickey in the works.
Thanks for your post,I will reply only to one part of your comment here that I found most relevant to my essay.
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And finally as I have said elsewhere, the present generation of medical students have Iphones and Ipads almost in the operation room. That is a fact of life. And they are not reading pdf's, they are connected."
Think about it clearly,if you were the patient who was operated on,would you want your Doctor/Surgeon to be connected 24/7 through his/her Iphone/Ipad?
We have to learn when to Let Go of the Internet.That was the crux of my article.
"Yes, we need to get a life, but it is and will be a new kind of life because of the internet for we are a new kind of society and becoming a new kind of human being. We are connected and the real doomsday scenario will come if we disconnect at all for there's no turning back to operate the old way. Its just not possible anymore."
Believe me,Its possible.I do it every year when I head to the meditation retreat!!!And the experience leaves me immensely refreshed every single time.This is the only way out of the current information overload sceanario we all face today.We are becoming nothing more than zombies controlled by unseen corporate forces.
At no stage have I blamed the tool-The Internet.What I am questioning in my article are the over-inflated expectations that we have attached to the Internet.That was the crux of my article.We need to bring down expectations about what the Internet can and can't do.
Let me give you another example.Lets say,somebody has an incurable medical condition.The Internet is a great tool to find out more about the condition and even how people have coped with that condition.But can the Internet cure the medical condition? No,it most certainly can't.
This is the level of hype/expectation that we have attached to the Internet today.[forgive me for my imperfect example here];Thank you very much for your taking the time to post comments on my Essay.
The organization I work has staked out some place on the Social Networking Sites,but I was speaking from the On The Ground perspective.On the Ground Workers (the people who get their hands dirty) ,dont really care about most of these websites.They are nothing but a distraction which distracts them from their core goal-Bringing the miracle of electricity to those who don't have it.
Extremely thought provoking Ashish. It had me going round in circles until the thought popped out, after a pint of Guinness, that you can't pin it down because it's evolving too fast. I think there's been quite a few blogs here about how the Internet is outstripping the abilities of governments or legislators to keep up with it, let alone control it. And the evolution is being driven by people who have a very clear idea of what the Internet is for, and that is to make money, which is why they are putting the investment in that drives the development. (Them and the military.)
So I suppose I am saying that the Internet is good for making money (at the moment), and everything else is happily coincidental,and if you want to use it to do good you have to work out what you want to do and then harness the web to it, if that is an appropriate technology. In the meantime we simply have to ride the rollercoaster and hope that we are still around when it slows down.
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