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The Internet Social Networks

Will the End of Lockdowns Change Our Relationship with the Internet? (theatlantic.com) 81

Posted by EditorDavid from the net-fickle dept.
Last year author Sonia Shah predicted that after pandemic-induced lockdowns finally ended, "The hype around online education will be abandoned, as a generation of young people forced into seclusion will reshape the culture around a contrarian appreciation for communal life."

This week the Atlantic's technology staff writer is now suggesting that "As the stress of the pandemic is beginning to recede, our relationship with the internet might be renegotiated..." As vaccination rates tick up, and IRL social life resumes, it's getting easier to imagine that we're on the brink of something big: a coordinated withdrawal from swiping and streaming, a new consensus that staying home to watch Netflix is no longer a chill Friday-night plan, but an affront. Could this be real? Are we about to start the summer of a Great Offlining...?

A few signs that this movement could be upon us: Netflix reported its worst first quarter in eight years, after seeing historic growth in 2020. Tinder conceded that more than half of its Gen Z users have no intention of using its videochat features ever again. Clubhouse downloads dropped significantly in April, prompting worry that the app was always just "a temporary salve to being stuck inside."

On The Cut, Safy-Hallan Farah has predicted a post-pandemic future in which our culture prioritizes, among other things, "earnestness," "communism," and "being extremely offline." The writer Luke Winkie forecasts a 10-week period of everyone abandoning the internet, adding that "offline is going to hit like a drug." Discourse's Patrick Redford put it best, writing that "the idea of further screen-only interaction with my friends and loved ones after a year overstuffed with them makes me want to toss my phone into the Pacific Ocean...."

[B]ut it's hard to imagine that a Great Offlining is really in the cards. Instead, we could be heading for a Great Rebalancing, where we reconfigure how we do our work and how we organize our time on the internet. We've grown more aware of how we rely on one another — online as well as off — and of the tools we have or could build for responding to a crisis. The biggest tech companies' accrual of power remains one of the most serious problems of my lifetime, but I no longer talk about the internet itself as if it were an external and malignant force, now that I've lived in such intimate contact with it for so long.
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Will the End of Lockdowns Change Our Relationship with the Internet? More

Will the End of Lockdowns Change Our Relationship with the Internet?

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  • Ludduddudd!

  • Computers are a passing fad (Score:4, Funny)

    by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Sunday May 23, 2021 @11:51PM (#61414896)
    They will go away in a few years.
    • Politicians will have a harder time - no free and easy lockdown votes Physical Shops will have a harder time. Online sales are increasing and will continue to rise. Excludes some like hardware. Cost of building rises. Lots of out-of-town work going on. Lumber has skyrocketed. Voters resentful. Politicians will have work for them, not donors Stable employment will shrink as will job security and steady hours Housing prices will rise faster than wages Voters who have gone backwards again - well they need to l

      • Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet.

        Fall not in love therefore; It will stick to your face.

        Gracefully surrender the things of youth: The birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan

        And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.

        Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough cheese.

        And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be worse in Milwaukee.

        Therefore, make peace with your god, whatever you conceive him to be; ha

  • The summary's points and conclusions are wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lsllll ( 830002 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @12:03AM (#61414920)
    Yes, the pandemic has changed some things, such as working remotely, but I don't think we'll be shedding the internet just because of this. As a matter of fact, I think we may embrace the internet even more because the internet kept us alive while we were stuck in our homes. Subscriptions and watching online materials may be going down because we've been stuck indoors and it hasn't been until now that we've been able to actually get out and commiserate, but once that "novelty" wears off, we'll be back to our old habits and use the internet for all the things we never thought we'd use it for.

    • I, for one, was not 'stuck in my home'. My company closed on Monday and Friday for three weeks at the peak. So I was off six days.

      I just don't feel like my experience was that unique, either.

      I suspect what really happened was the telephone sanitizers stayed home.

    • Right. I agree with this. Hopefully we can take away some "lessons learned". Especially about e-learning and online testing.

      I know professors who were already doing a lot of online teaching which was more optional than anything but they were more prepared for this time. Those are outliers, like the founders of services like Blackboard and online homework assignment but the value of these skills during this period great faster than bitcoin. It's hard for me to imagine that we will suddenly devalue you them n

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

      The novelty will wear off fast. There will be more offline activity than in 2020 of course, but more of it will be leisure than 2019. Nobody wants to spend 20% of their time traveling to and from a destination to do something. Even when they do, they'll do it while staring at a phone. We're never going back to a world where you get on a bus and strike up a conversation with the guy sitting next to you.

    • Exactly.

      I think what really happened was people started realizing that the Internet is no longer optional but is an essential utility. Like water and electricity. It may even be a basic utility, so when you go anywhere, internet access suddenly is a criterion.

      When you buy a house, the realty listings will state what kind of internet you're going to get - cable, dsl, satellite, or none. Or it may just be expected - if you cannot get internet, you have to state it in the listing.

      And another thing is how successful internet conferencing can be. A university has a mentor program that was generally not well attended - finding students was easy, but mentors was hard because meeting on campus can be hard. When COVID hit, they went virtual, and had alumni from all over the world participating making it extremely successful (so successful they had more applicants than students). They held gatherings virtually and it was attended by people from the various campuses all around making for a much more dynamic gathering.

      And I've watched plenty of talks given virtually - where they once were given in person in an auditorium, they were attended virtually by people around the world.

      Such things happened and I think when things go back to normal, some things won't. Those lectures will probably be a mix of in-person and virtual attendees allowing for a massive increase in outreach from just the local area to the entire country or around the world.

      And those alumni gatherings will probably have a virtual element, because no longer are you restricted to just the alumni who are within reach of campus, when you have alumni spread all around the world able to gather and meet up.

      I think the Internet showed what could happen and made for a better world in the end - many things people were reluctant to try, suddenly became a lot more feasible when forced to and respond with immense success.

      Heck, I still remember the work from home policy going from "WfH is something we discourage, but realize there may be circumstances where it is necessary and if cleared by your manager, may be occasionally done" to "WfH is something we endorse and as long as your manager is aware, may be executed on a regular or ongoing basis".

    • ...once that "novelty" wears off, we'll be back to our old habits and use the internet for all the things we never thought we'd use it for.

      And more.

      I find it rather odd that we can find all manner of expected addiction on the rise during a pandemic lockdown, and yet internet addiction is somehow completely missing?

      This whole "extremely offline" nonsense is for a dying generation who grew up without the internet. Today's definition of "offline" is checking social media only twice a day.

    • Yes, the pandemic has changed some things, such as working remotely, but I don't think we'll be shedding the internet just because of this.

      Everything will eventually go back to the way it was. Even remote work. After 16 months of wildly successful 100% WFH, my company just announced we're going back to 5 days a week at the office in June. People who sold their homes and moved based on dreams of permanent telecommuting are going to regret that decision.

  • I can't wait to start (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 24, 2021 @12:05AM (#61414924)

    masturbating on the bus again instead of in my Porn Chamber.

    Gotta get out there and socialize again. I miss eye contact the most.

  • We are about to experience what will really happen but there is nothing to prepare for (one merely need make appropriate choices of zero difficulty), so wanking over what MIGHT happen is just more clickbait therefore perfect for Dicedot.

    • Problem with the article being here is this is a self-selecting audience (bias) who's very lives revolve around the internet on a forum dedicated to tech. We aren't the general public. Any extrapolations are going to be skewed.

  • Transient Rebound. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @12:24AM (#61414950) Journal

    As vaccination rates tick up, and IRL social life resumes, it's getting easier to imagine that we're on the brink of something big: a coordinated withdrawal from swiping and streaming, a new consensus that staying home to watch Netflix is no longer a chill Friday-night plan, but an affront. Could this be real? Are we about to start the summer of a Great Offlining...?

    I expect that, initially, there will be a rebound, as people who have been effectively under house arrest for more than a year celebrate by doing a bunch of out-in-the-real-world stuff they wanted to do but couldn't.

    But a permanent tune-out on the Internet? Hardly. Though necessity they've found additional ways to do things, and some of them have advantages over the old style. Once they've gotten the rebound out of their systems I expect that, for each thing they do where they have both online and offline options, they'll gravitate toward whichever is easier, cheaper, or more enjoyable. The result would be a somewhat higher use of Internet-based alternatives than before the pandemic, not a general abhorrence for them.

    I DO expect some long-term changes, though. Like more care to avoid spreading diseases. Coming to work while sick mightbe seen, quite properly, not as diligence, but as an assault on the coworkers and company's bottom line.

    Some of the anti-disease measures, both the good and the bogus, will become popular. We saw that with The Great Influenza, where government propaganda to keep the war effort going led to, not just massive spread of the disease, but also a belief in the theory of "auto-intoxication" and the need for "regularity", a generation of laxative addicts, and an over-the-counter drug industry preying on them.

  • I'm staying home, no matter how many of these articles you write.

  • Are these people less than 18 months old? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @01:58AM (#61415068)

    None of this started because of COVID-19. I've spent much of the past 10-15 years dodging students who were too focussed on their phones to pay attention where they were walking. I've been at family get-togethers where everyone was too interested in whatever they were doing on their iPad / smartphone to stay involved in an actual face-to-face conversation.

    I'm sure people will be sitting down at restaurants more... but they'll still be staring at their phones while sitting at the table.

    Nothing substantive is going the change.

  • We need humans going back in theaters, so there is at least faked human interaction which is 10x better than full-fake online interaction. I think I have a nice setup at home, and it's great for some things .. but going out for a movie still has appeal. Also, we need to have movies back so that Hollywood invests in making big-budget movies like Avengers and Fast & Furious. If we hand things over to Netflix they will make cheapo CGI movies that suck. FFS streaming movie budgets are terrible. Without bloc

    • I am fine with theater's dying. The theater experience is just not that good to me. At home I can cook dinner with friends, watch a movie it, pause it when needed, jump back if needed, etc. We can also talk about it and other stuff afterwards in a nice relaxing setting with better food.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cruff ( 171569 )
        I agree with this fully, but I'm not in the target market for file theaters and haven't been for maybe 30 years. Then again, I'm also perfectly willing to wait for years for the opinions about which movies are really worthwhile seeing to have settled out.

        • Some of my friends and I have talked about how the movie awards should be on a 10 year delay. Most of the movies that win major awards end up not being remembered at all and making no impact while movies that go no rewards are often remembered as classics for decades.

          It is something interesting to go look at old award winners that you have never heard of and then see what other movies came out that year also.

      • I agree on this 100 fold. What completely baffles me is how many people think going to a movie is some sort of social thing. You can't see the people you are going with, you are a jerk if you do talk. You can't do anything but sit in the dark, eat insanely overpriced snacks and stare at the screen. Grit your teeth at the one or 2 that aren't following the rules that aren't in your group, talking and ruining the experience for you etc... IMO if you want a social movie experience, you gotta do it at home, whe

        • I find this is a vastly superior movie experience. Not only is it more enjoyable it is also much cheaper. You get to eat better food, have a good social experience and save money at the same time. Hard to see the downsides.

    • I'd be happy if they stopped with the comic book bullshit all together. It was funny when they kept making bad sequels like Police Academy but we're on Fast and Furious 9 now? The bar for making movies is much lower now and that's a good thing.

    • We need humans going back in theaters, so there is at least faked human interaction which is 10x better than full-fake online interaction.

      Really?

      Go ahead. Tell me all about how the IRL bullshit artist is sooo much better than the online bullshit artist.

      Fake, is fake. And all of the superficial bullshit needs to stop, no matter the environment. Mass narcissism, online cyberbullying, and a general addiction to the superficial, was growing before COVID. Really don't need that shit coming back with a vengeance, even though we know it will.

  • Back in the 80s... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @03:38AM (#61415182) Homepage

    ... when I was a kid, people - adults and kids - used to spend hours slumped in front of the TV even though they could go outside and do stuff. The material and the nature of transmission might have changed, human nature doesn't. Most people are hardwired to spent a certain amount of time doing physical activity, a certain amount of time socialising and a certain amount of time vegging out. Covid won't have changed that.

  • Lockdown is an Exaggeration. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @03:58AM (#61415208) Homepage
    Even in California, we were always allowed to go for exercise and to get what we need. If there is a police lockdown or a prison lockdown, you cannot go outside for any purpose. People too often apply the term, akin to over-appying "ground zero" for non-nuclear events.

  • Think again. The only thing 2020 has shown me as a high earner is that I get precious little for my tax payments. While others were getting free money I had to actually go work. I was in a major east coast city during the riots. Now that things are opening back up the last thing I want to do is go back to inner city living or dealing with high taxes. I'm not a republican if that's what you think but I also don't feel like having my money just completely wasted. Even post crypto crash I'm sitting on some nic

    • I got free money and went to work.

    • Re:Communism? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fropenn ( 1116699 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @10:20AM (#61415982)
      Did you go to a public school or work with someone who did, or have customers who did?

      Did you drive on a public road?

      Did you get a vaccine that was funded in part with public dollars?

      Do you live in an independent country that is not ruled by the USSR or Fascist Germany?

      Do you have clean water to drink?

      Do you have gas lines, sanitary sewer, internet, cable?

      Will you have social security benefits and Medicare when you retire?

      I'd say you are getting quite a bit from your tax payments.

      • We have all this for basically nothing in most of north America. Clean water? My parent's house in the mountains just pumps it right out of the ground. It's stupid cheap. Not everything requires a 40% tax rate. I guess if you're in California you're stuck with it though.

  • I miss inviting them over, cooking dinner, watching a movie, and talking. I much prefer that to going out to eat and watching a movie.

  • If you ask me, fuck the Internet! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @06:28AM (#61415428)

    It turns people into anti-social assholes because it anonymizes people to a point that empathy isn't possible.

    All it causes is grief and anger and depression.

    Sure, as a knowledge base it is halfway decent.
    But as soon as it becomes social, it becomes a living hellhole.

    I'll be going outside, having cocktails and barbecue parties in the park, meeting real people that I can emotionally connect to, even without exchanging a single word.
    I'll spontaneously play team sports with them, go to concerts and pools and beaches, and hang around at the town square, exchanging news and ideas, with a big bowl of ice cream in front of me. (I mean those town squares from medeival times, that were made for pedestrians.)

    And I think Covid spawned a generation that dreams of that too.

    • Re: If you ask me, fuck the Internet! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by nurd68 ( 235535 ) on Monday May 24, 2021 @07:05AM (#61415504) Homepage

      Disagree. Covid showed me what life can be like when I'm not constantly exhausted from going places and having to interact with people. But now the word will open up and my wife will drag me to places teeming with them and I will have to be polite, make small talk, and so forth, when I'd rather just be at home doing something interesting.

      • Having to?

        Mate, you're merely among the wrong people!
        (Or ovedoing it... which results in the same.)

        Other people should not be a burden. But valuable assets.

        As a simple guide:
        * Have 2 people you meet multiple times a week. -- Wife counts as one. Best friend as the other.
        * Have roughly six to nine people you meet once a week. -- E.g. the lads you go out with once a week. Or a club.
        * Anything beyond that is people you only meet when there's an opportunity for something worthwile. -- Say a bigger celebration.
        Th

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by nurd68 ( 235535 )

          I live with my wife and 2 kids.

          6-9 people I meet once per week sounds like twice as many people as I care to see in a week. I could see a regular RPG or tabletop gaming group, which I would love to do, but that is not about the people, and I also don't have time for it.

          All of what you describe seems like a lot of effort. Like skiing. My wife says I'm actually pretty good for a beginning downhill skier, and if I would practice, I would get better. But, why? I don't like skiing. I'd rather go do something int

  • Her article is a litany of egotistic bullshit, bragging again and again about how great and self-centered she is. And then, she embraces Communism, a system that seeks to stamp out individuality and crush the ego.

    Communists call people like her "useful idiots". I call them monstrously dangerous and blindly evil idiots who would doom us all before discovering what a mistake they made.

  • For a couple of months during the "lockdown", the walking trails were insanely packed. It was one of the only "allowed" things, and people were discovering it. As a family who already liked walking trails, it was ... a tad disorienting and annoying.

    Then, it slacked off. The novelty wore off.

    Sure, there will be some rebound reactions. Then likely the new normal will look an awful lot like the old normal.

  • I think it's far more likely that people will want to do internet things communally. Staying in for Netflix is still hanging out with friends in person. Swiping on your phone can be done anywhere and with anyone. I used to go to the park in the summer with a friend of mine and we'd drink wine and read books. You can go out and drink wine and scroll through TikTok too.

    It's honestly an absurd premise—just because more of life is available to you doesn't mean you want to give up the other thing. We won't

  • My internet friendzoned me the first time I took off my mask in public.

  • I think that the extroverts really just don't understand how much of this past years was an absolute join to us introverts.

    Also, I don't know about you guys, but I wasn't lockeddown inside chained to my desk and computer. I went outside plenty. Probably more so then I did when I went to an office every day. I also interacted with folks outside plenty.

    Some people make this whole thing sound like we were all placed into solitary confinement when that was far from the truth.

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