The internet is ruining EVERYTHING!!!!!
 

So I was playing Call of Duty the other day and every time you log in, it shows how many people are online. On an average weekday anywhere from 10am-5pm (PST) I have seen 350k-450k. On a weekend it jumps up to 500k+.

My concern is that all of these people are not doing ANYTHING to promote education, athleticism, etc. This is just one game on one platform. Imagine how many people are on other games, facebook, blogging, posting random shit on forums (:rolleyes:), etc.

If you have seen the movie Idiocracy you know where this is all leading too, if you haven't, I suggest watching it.

The internet seems to be creating so many useless achievements such as facebook likes, blog subscribers, game kills, that it will only be a matter of time until the majority of society is genuinely stupid and lacks the intelligence needed to continue living.

Does anyone else feel this way or am I crazy? Or both? I see kids from other countries thriving in math and science and american kids would rather watch tv or play video games.

agreed. Welcome to america

Exactly... just check out our test scores all the way from k thru college just horrible. Because we are too busy eating mc donalds, playing ps3/xbox or posting on zilvia...

Some say, so we are free here. Apparently free means obese, low test scores but still happy. LoL

The last part was directed at americans, but I assume there are a bit of kids/youth from other countries who will follow down this path of nothingness.

I am thinking maybe 2-3 generations before we will see a great impact of laziness?

I started thinking about this when I was hanging out with some guys from Germany who never really go online unless they're researching random things. Their jokes about americans were exactly correct.

Just think about what you do in a week that is not positively contributing to a skill, health, or intelligence. What could be done in that time that changes your life or others in a positive way?

Damn military technology. Ruins everything.

I have an Xbox and PS3 and I don't even play any games.

I have everything to be lazy. I'm just not. Lol.

Parenting and how you're brought up in life has a big role in this also.

I used to never play games even though I had them. Then college came... And as for parenting. I don't think that really has the biggest effect as other factors. After all most kids find some way to rebel against their parents. If it is now or later is the question.

There's that f*g talk we talked about
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/6721/idiocracy4.jpg

Or like the fat people from wall-e :picardfp:

I havent seen it yet, but I plan to now.

Don't give up hope yet man, according to statistics, only 73% of all americans are obese.


http://geography.about.com/b/2009/01...t-or-obese.htm

You're not going crazy. It's just that there are so many options out there for most people and usually the "easy life" is what most people desire. Just so happens that this "easy life" can also mean extreme laziness and finding joy in mere gimmicks.

Visit the science/math departments at any US university. Chances are about 50-80% of the graduate students there are foreigners.
Meanwhile, Americans are preoccupied with marijuana legalization and guns.
It is depressing.

or you know...the fact that you're in the navy lmao.


i just picked up archery though to help me get outside. pretty fun.

I've also noticed the social awkwardness of people is on the rise, there web hero's... However once you meet them in person they have little to no social skills and seem quite uncomfortable with general human interaction.

Quite sad really.

You all just need to get out of America, travel. Come to Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, it's different, and awesome

America sucks.

Watch it, it is a direct stab at our current way of life, pretty much like a kids Idiocrocy.

"Rita: You think Einstein walked around thinkin' everyone was a bunch of dumb shits?
Pvt. Joe Bauers: Yeah... Hadn't thought of that.
Rita: Now you know why he built that bomb."

I thought the movie was actually pretty good and funny, and it makes perfect sense that American's would want to water their crops with Mountain Dew lmfao

If you think this is bad, then I suggest you not read "Behold, A Pale Horse" by Milton William Cooper.

I find his claims about being targeted by the IRS to be a little disturbing, since the IRS has just publicly apologized for harassing Tea Party groups with their audits.

parenting has a huge effect, rebelling or not most people grow up and realize that their parents are right. all the people I know in college are really grateful that their parents were smart enough to push them to college and shit its the kids that have really dumb parents that mess up shit, imagine Ferrah Abraham's kid when she grows up :duh:

Her kid is doomed. Since this thread is pretty much becoming about American society rather than just the internet in American society I figure I'll throw the media under the bus while I'm at it. People are more obsessed with reading about some movie star and who they are dating than they are about their own elections. Whatever on the internet or tv is always right. Don't argue with the news either. They are always right. On the parent subject I find that the overbearing parents fuck their kids up more than the ones that just tell their kids "do whatever you want. But if you go to jail, I'm not bailing you out." A balance seems to work out best from what I saw growing up (not that I'm old) Hey, just blame the hippies. The 60's are largely why we are who we are today anyway.

I like starbucks...

The internet in 2013:
60% content
40% memes

Don't blame the Internet for problems that people create for themselves. IIRC, the internet was created so that scientists from around the world could interact with each other. Looks what it's turned into.

My take is that on every piece of technology or any kind of development, there will be good intentions at first and then it ends with greedy people using that technology/development to make money.

An example of this are new refrigerators that have a little screen where you can sign onto facebook/twitter. Seriously, people intend on tweeting from their fucking fridge. Instead of using that internet convenience on their fridge to maybe find some recipes or something relevant to food/cooking, people are going to tweet, or just use it once and never touch it (essentially just overpaying for a fridge)

Parenting is a big part if not THE biggest part in childhood development. Every time you hear someone talk about "disciplining their kids" most people just assume that means beating the shit out of them. While that is true to a certain extent, there are other ways parents can discipline their kids. I am very grateful that my parents straight up whooped my ass as a child.


There are countless factors as to why society sucks donkey balls right now, but I'll list what I think are the most important (in no particular order)

- Discipline your kids, beat their asses if you have to. This requires being on the same page with your spouse about what discipline is, where you can be lenient, where you should be strict etc etc

-Teach your kids that America (I assume everywhere else too) is all about Capitalism. Someone is always trying to sell you something. This includes putting an idea in your head so later, you will go out and by something.

-Guide your kids so that they understand the importance of developing a good, moral conscience. There are many gray areas in life, rarely are things easy to distinguish from being right or wrong. Teach them to make good decisions that they can be proud of.

This is all I can think of right now, I am still very aggravated because someone stole my dads phone while he was working his ass off at our Beer store.

I am glad this thread exists. My own friends are too..."distracted" with alcohol and trying to fuck dumb girls ( they are in college, it's the hip thing to do right now) that they completely ignore discussions that require more than 3 brain cells to function at the same time.
Sorry for the long post guys

I never said parenting wasn't a big part of child development. I merely said I don't believe it to be the biggest. Don't forget about culture, gender roles, ect.

Sorry to hear about your dad's phone.

I agree kids should be taught about capitalism. Schools should also stop lying. It's sad to think that all that most people care about is what the new fad is and how they need to smoke weed because "everyone is doing it"
Are there really kitchen appliances to check your facebook? Could it get any worse? Don't answer that...

Thank you for your input. You made a lot of good points but i especially liked the one about your friends "ignoring discussions that require more than 3 brain cells". I have the benefit of working for a university and having a lot of friends with masters, j.d., phd, etc and the conversations we get into promote thought and further intellect where as now (without sounding like a educated douchebag which i am the furthest thing from) seems as if people do not care about advancing their minds with a great discussion or debate.

I LOVE FAMILY GUY, but the other people i talk to are slowly becoming one big family guy episode with fart, gay, and sex jokes. its fun sometimes but i can almost see the demise of social interactions happen right in front of me lol

I was the first person on both sides of my family as far back as we can trace to ever go to college, which is why i didnt attend a university until i was 23. There was no importance stressed to me about the need for a degree. My parents are great people, but they lacked the structure needed to raise good kids. Of course "good" is relative and in my case meaning I was not introduced to college or any formal education outside high school. I love them to death, but i needed more structure growing up and a better understanding of how the world really is. I believe some if not most parents do not understand as well so they do not pass on this information not out of laziness, but simply because they do not understand it themselves.

Good discussion so far guys! keep it up. I enjoy reading every post.

oh and read a book. lol. I think this is a contributing factor on all ends. If we read, we want to read more and it would take up time spent playing video games and facebook'ing.

Woah hold on second here. The Internet was created by the U.S. Government and Nato for defense. It was originally called DARPA Net. It was designed to connect all our defense systems and Nato together. They outgrew it and it effectively got turned over to civilian use. At which point scientists at Universities saw the benefit of linking up the schools so information could be exchanged. The web as we know it did not exist before the mid 90's . Things were connected but in a lot more primitive way. Mailing lists and usenet groups.
Even after the web came about it was still not overly commercialized that started happening in the late 90's but did not hit real hard to till after the first dot com boom and bubble burst. Now its what can I sell you, what game do you want to play and how can I mine your data i.e. personal info so I can sell it someone.

Yup I am going to call out the two biggest offenders here GOOGLE and FACEBOOK. All you Android heads can revel in Android being free and open. Just the way Google wants it so they can collect your data and sell your shit while also selling ads.
FACEBOOK well we all know they just love to circumvent privacy however they can to collect data on you.

Call it tinfoil hat its damn true. Nothing is private anymore.

Yup Google.
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_reuse.png

How is this more beneficial than sitting inside and doing nothing on Xbox? Just the fact that you are outside?

OP you are crazy, people have been wasting time since the beginning of time, the way they waste it is constantly changing though.

Low test scores and participation in math and science is a problem though, but not the same animal.

i agree with bc.

In every country Ive been in (1st, 2nd, 3rd) there are lifestyles that we consider lazy. But alot are the same lifestyles lived throughout hundreds or thousands of years. Where Im at right now, people farm a portion of the day and bullshit the majority of it. I don't consider it lazy it's just how they were brought up. Like bc said we just find new ways to waste time

The majority of the population has been and always will be unintelligent. I don't believe there was ever a point in the history of the United States that the intelligence rate was higher than it is now. I could be wrong, but I'd have a hard time believing it

I do agree with the lack of social skills because of the time spent on computer though. Especially in college. It seems most people aren't comfortable unless there is alcohol involved to lubricate the atmosphere