Is the internet an expression of freedom or slavery?

...I'm in mental dilemma...

from WinCustomize Forums
Just wondering lately are we all free to do what we want or we are being enslaved by the machine? Are we addicts or we can actually live life without PC and mainly Internet? Also the fact that you can actually post anything you want is a sign of freedom or an immature sign of anarchy? Lastly does the internet citizen have obligations and not only rights? What would you say?
7,517 views 22 replies
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I can stop any time I want
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It's both! But "choice is everything"
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yes to a responsibility, express your self, but don't do it offensively, speak to and about others the way you want to be spoken about. Communication is the only hope we have to promote understanding between all the worlds peoples so we can work toward any kind of lasting peace. As far as being addicted, sometimes I feel that I am, but I think that is only when there isn't something more important going on in my life. Slavery...only when it comes to keeping our computers working. Between a buggy OS, old equipment, bit rot, and a 15 year old that surfs to God only knows where...something is always in the recovery state.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
as a public community the same rulls apply...

don't be obseen if front of youth
treat elders with respect
mind your manners

all that kind of stuff

as an addiction... ??? naw, i just spend all my time here because i like you guys so much
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
yes, we learned it all as a kid for the community
"play well with others"
"put your crayons away when you're finished"
"take a nap every day"
"obey your parents"
"respect your elders"
"drink milk with cookies"

Yes it is a sort of an addiction. Is it better than planting your ass on a bar stool? Probably.

Is there freedom of expression? Nobody is truly free to express everything, of course, without there ramifications. One cannot mention their fantasies in public and still maintain discretion. One cannot roll their eyes at another without showing disrespect. One cannot criticize with bad intent without that negaivity coming back around. My daddy always told me "you can do whatever you want to in this world; but then you have to pay the consequences". This is true in every aspect of life, including the net IMHO
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Why worry?
People said the same thing when the first phone was a technical miracle. It just takes some time to get used to it.
I sleep with one hand on my mouse (computer) every night, otherwise I will have nightmares. My shrink tells me it's completely normal.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Some typos in my post. Long night. Should be "without there being ramifications" and should read "negativity", not "negaivity"
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the internet is not freedom, it is not slavery. it is neither good nor evil.

the internet just is.

the internet is nothing new.

it increases the scale of communication by orders of magnitude, but doesn't add anything to interpersonal relationships.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

People said the same thing when the first phone was a technical miracle.

Actually....the first phone was totally useless....until there was a second phone....

Then, when there was a third phone, two of them were always 'engaged'....so the third was next to useless....

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually...the first Jafo was totally useless...until there was a Wincustomize...

Then, when there was an Object Desktop, two of them were always 'engaged' ...so the Jafo turned out to be next to useless...
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm not addicted to the computer. In fact, to make sure I wasn't, I told myself I would stay off the computer for a week. I did, and it was not at all a horrible experience. I stay on my computer because there is usually nothing to do at my house. Plus, there are many things you can do on a computer, but so many people think of it differently. Also, I noticed myself starting to talk about computers around my friends, and I didn't want to do that since it was getting worse. So like 2 years ago, I tried to talk about other things, and left out my computer as much as possible. I got myself to do that, and now you hardly hear anything about my computer as if it never existed in my life.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Some stories on a study of people asked to go without:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002382.html
http://yahoo.weblogsinc.com/entry/3352572946069014/

Personally I don't feel freedom and anarchy are mutually exclusive. As members of any community we of course have responsibilities, or obligations; the basic being "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." In real life we have many laws defining what we wish to have done unto us. We wish to have others obey traffic laws, as an example, so we can avoid injury, and in return we ourselves obey them. As netizens, though, laws have not, and perhaps can not, catch up with the booming community. As a result we have spam, viruses, spyware and so on. Creators of these are not behaving responsibly, nor living up to their obligations as members of a community.

I compute a lot. I enjoy it. But I also enjoy reading books, listening to music, and so on. Productivity and business concerns aside, for many people computers and the internet are just another option as to how to spend their leisure time. I consider them a superior option to, say, watching TV, but that is me.

Am I addicted? I don't think so in the clinical sense. But I would miss technology if I was forced to go without.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually....the first phone was totally useless....until there was a second phone....

Then, when there was a third phone, two of them were always 'engaged'....so the third was next to useless.


LoL....actually it was the wives of the first two phone owners who made the third next to useless...so there was a fourth, fifth and so on to give the guys a word in edgeways Okay, it was good in theory.....if not in practice

Is it better than planting your ass on a bar stool?


Definitely......parking one's butt on a bar stool has far greater costs. A few hours on the net is less likely to result in a severe tongue lashing and being relegated to the couch....if not locked out altogether. Yep, The net is certainly a better place to over indulge....the hangovers aren't as severe, no complaints about stinking like a brewery/distillery

The internet has many more benifits than drawbacks, and if used responsibly it's as good a past-time or hobby as any other. Yes, it can become addictive, but no more so than anything else that grabs our interest.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually....the first phone was totally useless....until there was a second phone....

Then, when there was a third phone, two of them were always 'engaged'....so the third was next to useless.


LoL....actually it was the wives of the first two phone owners who made the third next to useless...so there was a fourth, fifth and so on to give the guys a word in edgeways Okay, it was good in theory.....if not in practice

Is it better than planting your ass on a bar stool?


Definitely......parking one's butt on a bar stool has far greater costs. A few hours on the net is less likely to result in a severe tongue lashing and being relegated to the couch....if not locked out altogether. Yep, The net is certainly a better place to over indulge....the hangovers aren't as severe, no complaints about stinking like a brewery/distillery

The internet has many more benifits than drawbacks, and if used responsibly it's as good a past-time or hobby as any other. Yes, it can become addictive, but no more so than anything else that grabs our interest.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually....the first phone was totally useless....until there was a second phone....

Then, when there was a third phone, two of them were always 'engaged'....so the third was next to useless.


LoL....actually it was the wives of the first two phone owners who made the third next to useless...so there was a fourth, fifth and so on to give the guys a word in edgeways Okay, it was good in theory.....if not in practice

Is it better than planting your ass on a bar stool?


Definitely......parking one's butt on a bar stool has far greater costs. A few hours on the net is less likely to result in a severe tongue lashing and being relegated to the couch....if not locked out altogether. Yep, The net is certainly a better place to over indulge....the hangovers aren't as severe, no complaints about stinking like a brewery/distillery

The internet has many more benifits than drawbacks, and if used responsibly it's as good a past-time or hobby as any other. Yes, it can become addictive, but no more so than anything else that grabs our interest.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have phones?
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have phones?


Yep.....but in this household it's a female appliance exclusively. It seems that if my wife's not on it, my stepdaughter is....and she could talk under water with a mouthful of marbles. So for those acquaintances not on the net, I'm seriously thinking about keeping carrier pigeons
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Slavery is bondage imposed by an external force. Obsession is bondage from an internal source. If a person is hooked on the net, I'd say it was obsession, not slavery. Nobody forces you to use the web.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Slavery is bondage imposed by an external force. Obsession is bondage from an internal source. If a person is hooked on the net, I'd say it was obsession, not slavery. Nobody forces you to use the web.


External yes, though not necessarily physically external. If it is a force or power exerted over the will of someone then it is still slavery.
Any kind of obsession is a form of slavery. By definition an obsession is compulsive and difficult to control therefore it becomes a power that controls thoughts and emotions to a certain degree.

You're right that no one is forced to use the web, let alone drugs or anything else, but we still have addicts to many things (including the internet), not only drugs. It's the effect it has on the mind and body of the user that makes something addictive.

There are those that can and do live without computers and the net, and those that can't. The trick is to be the one in the middle. In that sense it comes down to choice... and that is appliable to everything else in life.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
There are those that can and do live without computers and the net, and those that can't. The trick is to be the one in the middle. In that sense it comes down to choice... and that is appliable to everything else in life.


All in all it just comes right back down to this: The choice of the middle state.