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UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

theguardian.com

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Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#11

Post by tecoholic »

cookiengineer wrote: post #10

For most people, Snapchat, Tiktok, Discord, WhatsApp and other toxic environments is the de facto internet because it makes up 99% of their usage time. It gets worse in poorer countries, where ISPs made deals with Facebook (ever wondered why some Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't). Additionally, whole infrastructures run on WhatsApp. In those regions you'll see WhatsA…

> ever wondered why Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't

This is absolutely wrong. FB did that in SE Asia. But in India, this led to the creation of IIRC Internet Freedom Foundation which fights for Internet freedom to this day and established a strong foundation for net neutrality . FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed.

But the broader point stands. Whatsapp, Youtube, Sharechat …etc., is internet for a huge percentage of the population.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#12

Post by chairmansteve »

gus_massa wrote: post #7
clipsy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Highly specific subset of Internet. Can I ask what you're basing that assertion on? The article makes it sound as if they were indeed referring to the internet in general: "46% said they would rather be young in a world without the internet altogether."

I'll give them 24 hours until they ask for YouTube and Netflix again [1]. Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/1348/ [1] And how is call that new video thing? TikTakToe?

Yeah. The xkcd is right.

But it was less stressful at the same time. The shared reality was the 6 pm news. No endless conspiracy theories.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#13

Post by cookiengineer »

tecoholic wrote: post #11
cookiengineer wrote: post #10

For most people, Snapchat, Tiktok, Discord, WhatsApp and other toxic environments is the de facto internet because it makes up 99% of their usage time. It gets worse in poorer countries, where ISPs made deals with Facebook (ever wondered why some Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't). Additionally, whole infrastructures run on WhatsApp. In those regions you'll see WhatsA…

> ever wondered why Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't This is absolutely wrong. FB did that in SE Asia. But in India, this led to the creation of IIRC Internet Freedom Foundation which fights for Internet freedom to this day and established a strong foundation for net neutrality . FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed. But the broader point stands. Wh…

> FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed.

FB to this date still owns the internet.org domain, which was literally their marketing at the time. Free plans from mobile carriers had/have access to a few selected websites and not the rest of the real internet.

While I agree that the courts decided against this at some point, it was around 13+ years too late, because a generation of mobile users got hooked already.

Meta even went as far as deleting their internet.org website from the web archive, all years result in a 404 now. Interesting.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#14

Post by crvdgc »

cookiengineer wrote: post #13
tecoholic wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ever wondered why Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't This is absolutely wrong. FB did that in SE Asia. But in India, this led to the creation of IIRC Internet Freedom Foundation which fights for Internet freedom to this day and established a strong foundation for net neutrality . FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed. But the broader point stands. Wh…

> FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed. FB to this date still owns the internet.org domain, which was literally their marketing at the time. Free plans from mobile carriers had/have access to a few selected websites and not the rest of the real internet. While I agree that the courts decided against this at some point, it was around 13+ years too late, because a generation of mobile users got hooked…

> Free plans from mobile carriers had/have access to a few selected websites and not the rest of the real internet.

Interesting to learn. In China, mobile carriers also have similar deals with huge content providers. You can buy data plans with a discounted rate specifically for several YouTube, Netflix, and TikTok like apps.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#18

Post by aitchnyu »

tecoholic wrote: post #11
cookiengineer wrote: post #10

For most people, Snapchat, Tiktok, Discord, WhatsApp and other toxic environments is the de facto internet because it makes up 99% of their usage time. It gets worse in poorer countries, where ISPs made deals with Facebook (ever wondered why some Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't). Additionally, whole infrastructures run on WhatsApp. In those regions you'll see WhatsA…

> ever wondered why Indians are not able to google? Because google costs money, facebook groups doesn't This is absolutely wrong. FB did that in SE Asia. But in India, this led to the creation of IIRC Internet Freedom Foundation which fights for Internet freedom to this day and established a strong foundation for net neutrality . FB tried to destroy net neutrality in India and failed. But the broader point stands. Wh…

GP must be surrounded by Iphone users too. Most smartphones in India are Android and they all have Gmail and use other Google apps.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#19

Post by potholereseller »

chairmansteve wrote: post #12
gus_massa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give them 24 hours until they ask for YouTube and Netflix again [1]. Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/1348/ [1] And how is call that new video thing? TikTakToe?

Yeah. The xkcd is right. But it was less stressful at the same time. The shared reality was the 6 pm news. No endless conspiracy theories.

A friend is listening to every recording of Coast to Coast AM, which began in 1988. He notes that it was a remarkably interactive format; people would call in and try to trick Art Bell with preposterous conspiracy theories; Art Bell would play along, because it was fun (and it was his job).[0] The 6pm news was never interactive; what they talked about was never fun; it was and still is an endless stream of terror.

[0] I'm not defending Coast to Coast AM; I'm noting it's interactive format.

Re: UK study: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet

#20

Post by AStonesThrow »

potholereseller wrote: post #19
chairmansteve wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. The xkcd is right. But it was less stressful at the same time. The shared reality was the 6 pm news. No endless conspiracy theories.

A friend is listening to every recording of Coast to Coast AM, which began in 1988. He notes that it was a remarkably interactive format; people would call in and try to trick Art Bell with preposterous conspiracy theories; Art Bell would play along, because it was fun (and it was his job).[0] The 6pm news was never interactive; what they talked about was never fun; it was and still is an endless stream of terror. [0…

For a brief but refreshing period in 2004-05, I was completely without a computer or Internet connection at home. When I moved that year, I also ditched my T.V. for a very zen experience.

It was a dank and dreary little studio apartment and my only companionship was an AM/FM radio. In an interesting turn of events, I experienced Hurricane Katrina solely through audio news reports. I suffered vicariously with the victims and sang along to Aaron Neville's "Louisiana 1929".

Besides a lot of NPR, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me, and Lake Wobegon, I also listened to Art Bell's show; George Noory was often substituting at that point. It was really entertaining. In fact I used to be enthralled with the supernatural stuff when I was a really little kid picking up books at swap meets. I loved UFOs and OBEs and NDEs and SHCs. The Coast to Coast sessions brought back fond memories of those carefree days.

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