The average time we spend online is 96 minutes a day and 11.3 hours a week. We cannot imagine a world without Internet anymore. I remember the time that my parents bought their first computer. It was huge and made lots of noise, but we had a computer! In the past few years a digital revolution has taken place and since this revolution we cannot imagine a world without internet, computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and web-shops anymore.
Nowadays everything happens online and you can do everything online. Even the lectures are streamed online and tests are taken online. Is it someone’s birthday? Just send him or her a message on Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter or send a postcard via Hallmark or Greetz. No need to go outside anymore.
Earlier you could make a kid the happiest kid in the world if you would just give him or her a marble ball, a jumping rope or a coloring page. Nowadays they only settle for iPads and smartphones. And when the battery of our smartphone dies we feel disconnected with the world. We cannot live without Internet anymore.
But don’t you think we exaggerate? Are we really not able to live without Internet, smartphones etc. anymore? I actually think it is nonsense and we should really just put away our smartphones for some time and spend some quality time together.
During my last holiday abroad we only had Wifi at the reception. At first I was like ‘oh my gosh no Wifi at the apartment?!’ But then I actually enjoyed it. No internet for a week! What a rest! It was just me and my family and no one else. And we had a great time.
What do you think? Are we becoming too dependent on our smartphones and Internet, or should we continue living the way we do and digitize more further?
Can You live without internet and your smartphone?
As an exchange student, when I arrived here in Rotterdam at the end of August I experienced a sort of ‘wifi addiction’. Obviously i didn’t have a dutch sim card yet, and since in my apartment there’s no wifi, during the first days I was wandering around in search of every possible free wifi! (For a forein, internet is the only cheap way to keep in touch with parents and friends).
This is just an experience, but I think that it’s meaningful. As everyone else who has a smartphone, I take internet for granted, and I can’t stand to live without. But actually I think that we -and I mean people who can’t live without internet- should take a break, and re-learn how to live without being connected all the time.
As a student, who grew up in Greece, where internet is not as widespread as in The Netherlands, I was shocked when I arrived here by the amount of people that have a smartphone, in order to be online 24/7. Everything that happens here occurs online. Nowadays, it is impossible not having a social media page. It might sound a bit extreme, but without Facebook, you cannot socialize anymore. From Facebook you get invited to parties and social gatherings, you are interacting with other students about your study or your courses while you are member of groups of your interest. It is true that Facebook messenger and Whatsapp have abolishes sms messaging. These days, even national services can be reached only online.
What concerns me most is at what level will individuals spent their time online. Is it going to be more or less? Will it result in an internet addiction as it did in China some years ago? Or will we be able to put a barrier between our digital and normal life?