Too Much Of A Good Thing? - Comments

I dunno how I feel about this...
I mean I guess you could say I text too much, but if I was living with my girlfriend which I will be doing as soon as it's legal, I wouldn't.
I like being online alot, playing games and such...but I don't see how playing a multi player game with friends is any different than playing a board game with my family.
I go on sites like Mibba because I write, I like feedback on my writting which I'm not comfortable sharing with my friends and family. I enjoy creating themes and layouts, it's something fun that I'm good at. I also have good friends on here that I like to talk to, if they went to school with me I probably wouldn't need to.
I think your reasons for using technology are important.
For example, my sister will be on her computer, watching TV and listening to her iPod - in my opinion that's a bit excessive since she has a lot of trouble focussing and making herself happy (by that I mean one of those devices can not entertain her) whereas with me, though I do use technology constantly, I have reasons I find solid and I gain things from them that I couldn't in the physical world simply because of my circumstances.

I did enjoy this artical. it made me think about how much time i spend on technology and even though i dont have a computer, ipod, or watch much t.v i realized i do spend alot of time entertaining myself mostly with my phone which has an internet connection, email, im, texting, and more. But its not always a bad thing when connecting with old friends , working on projects for school, or getting emotional release by expressing my feelings on writting sites such as mibba. I can really see your point though our generation is WAY to dependent on technology. You make a valid point and you've opened my eyes to a whole new way of reasoning.
:)

I really, really enjoyed this article.
I like the part about the "speedchat", was it?
Where suddenly people are at such a fast paste that they don't have enough time to spell "I don't Know"
without going "idk". And it is intresting how techology has changed the things we do now.
Very well written.

@Kafka Definitely not. We need to find a middle ground..we've covered both ends of the spectrum, but we have yet to find a balance. Which is ultimately what my article was arguing for.

@sunsetwing
Well then, throughout history people have either been bored, fighting wars or entertained by technology, are wars and violence really the best possible option?

@Midnight Ruby
Because they are. They do waste time, but they are not limited to doing that. It depends on how you define 'time waster' I define it as something that eats up time. As for the bored thing, that's what I was talking to @kafka about. Bored all the time is the other end of the spectrum from no boredom, which is what we have now. I argue that we need to find a middle ground.

"One thing that each of the above things has in common, is time. They are all timewasters." And then you continue to use Mibba and Facebook as examples of these "timewasters" and I agree that when all you ever do is use the internet that is bad. You speak about constant entertainment would you rather that everyone was bored 24/7?

@Midnight Ruby
Whoa there, I said nothing against Mibba. I just used it as an example of a site that people spend time on. The same goes for FaceBook. My article was about how much time we spend online, at sites _like_ FaceBook and Mibba. Nowhere did I say that those sites were bad. The point of my article was that we have become dependent on sites for constant entertainment, and _that_ _can_ be bad

I highly disagree with this article, in fact by posting this article on Mibba you are a hypocrite, Mibba is a website about reading and writing. Like Greywings said I've become a better writer much more then I could ever gain out of a English class. With Facebook I was able to reconnect with people I had cried about thinking I'd never see them again. And yes some people do take it too far. But these people who spend all there time in their house playing games generally don't have friends.

@kafka
Ahh, but see, I'm not saying one was better than the other. I'm saying they are equally detrimental. Too little to do=too much boredom. Too much to do=Too little attention/lack of long attention span.

People who lived in the 18th century were cool enough to read badbadbad romance novels instead of whatever it is that people do on Facebook, I'll give you that, but I fail to see how one is in any way more beneficial to society than the other.

I'd completely disagree with sunsetwing. I think we are an a generation which is very easily bored. I often find myself sitting at an 'addictive' game without thinking about what I'm doing, just automatically whiling away the minutes. It's not fun, it's just automatic.

But then, I'd have to disagree with the part of the article when you say that Facebook and Mibba are timewasters. They can be if you become too concerned with them, which many people are. And the apps which come with Facebook are just that, timewasters. But frills aside, the essential means of Facebook, to connect with people, is far from wasting time. I've revived several old friendships through that site, and kept others going - it's a great asset which I think has put a sense of community back into this generation.
And Mibba has been in no way a waste of time for the past two years. I have developed far more as a writer online here than I ever have in my English classes.

But I understand the core message of what I think you're trying to say in the article - that we spend too much time on these sites and that we're getting out of balance with the real, physical world. It is a shame that we don't use our physical selves more often nowadays. But with technology fast becoming more portable, e.g. the iphone, I'm sure we'll soon be back to meeting face to face with technology there as an invisible aid.

@kafka That is a valid point. They were on one end of a spectrum; too much boredom. We, mostly due to technology, are on the other end of the spectrum; no boredom whatsoever. Neither is better than the other.

[i]We, as a generation, have become used to constantly having a means of entertainment. [/i]
You don't really think that people living in the 18th century enjoyed being bored, do you?