Online makes people crazy and gives them cancer
OK, I know science news is full of crazy, but this amuses me. Apparently Dr. Aric Sigman believes that online networking is v. bad for people. Ahem: "[Online social networks], he claims, could increase the risk of health problems as serious as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia. "
That's right. Facebook gives you cancer and makes you insane.
I had initially thought it was going to be about how online makes people sedentary and that was putting them at health risk. But, no. Online makes you crazy.
His reasoning includes that old saw, evolution. See, we're EVOLVED to be together. I hate this "reasoning" because it's stupid and normative. If people are so evolved to be face to face, er, then why are we using social networks? I mean, c'mon, let's see some proof and not just whipping up people. Maybe it's face-to-face that stinks, ever think of that? How many people have gotten beaten up or murdered over the Internet, for instance? If all social interactions were online, murder would cease to exist, as would assault, rape, etc.
I'm not trying to propose that people stop meeting each other, of course. I like spending time with people's meat. But there are, ahem, clearly disadvantages with face to face communications that he ignores - and the consequences as presented are so wild! Facebook gives you cancer and makes you crazy.
Later on in the article he talks about how people in England seem to have fewer people to talk to about serious matters - okay, that's a problem. (I don't know to what extent online is responsible for it. I actually have more people to talk to about important things since I got online because now, when I move, I keep a lot of friends. I mean, when I moved from Maine to California . . . well, I have hardly spoken to my friends from Maine, but my communication with my online friends didn't change. My friends in Texas and Denmark or wherever, well, I talk to them as much as I ever did. My experience is isolation is caused by moving, and our society encourages moving a lot, not because of online . . . which isn't to say that online doesn't cause social dysfunction, but I find it easy to imagine intervening hypotheses, shall we say.) But just the insanity of saying online causes cancer . . . I mean, WOW. The Internet will also kick your puppy and lowers your gas mileage.
Craziness.
That's right. Facebook gives you cancer and makes you insane.
I had initially thought it was going to be about how online makes people sedentary and that was putting them at health risk. But, no. Online makes you crazy.
His reasoning includes that old saw, evolution. See, we're EVOLVED to be together. I hate this "reasoning" because it's stupid and normative. If people are so evolved to be face to face, er, then why are we using social networks? I mean, c'mon, let's see some proof and not just whipping up people. Maybe it's face-to-face that stinks, ever think of that? How many people have gotten beaten up or murdered over the Internet, for instance? If all social interactions were online, murder would cease to exist, as would assault, rape, etc.
I'm not trying to propose that people stop meeting each other, of course. I like spending time with people's meat. But there are, ahem, clearly disadvantages with face to face communications that he ignores - and the consequences as presented are so wild! Facebook gives you cancer and makes you crazy.
Later on in the article he talks about how people in England seem to have fewer people to talk to about serious matters - okay, that's a problem. (I don't know to what extent online is responsible for it. I actually have more people to talk to about important things since I got online because now, when I move, I keep a lot of friends. I mean, when I moved from Maine to California . . . well, I have hardly spoken to my friends from Maine, but my communication with my online friends didn't change. My friends in Texas and Denmark or wherever, well, I talk to them as much as I ever did. My experience is isolation is caused by moving, and our society encourages moving a lot, not because of online . . . which isn't to say that online doesn't cause social dysfunction, but I find it easy to imagine intervening hypotheses, shall we say.) But just the insanity of saying online causes cancer . . . I mean, WOW. The Internet will also kick your puppy and lowers your gas mileage.
Craziness.