Читать книгу Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies - David N. Greenfield - Страница 86

All forms of communication and media have boundaries. A book, TV show, newspaper, magazine, movie, and even a text or phone conversation all have boundaries. They all have a beginning, middle, and end, and there are markers that tell you where you are in the entertainment, information, and communication process.

The Internet, however, is an entirely different matter. Whenever you go online to do anything, there are no markers for where you are and how long you might be there. In fact, there is a purposeful attempt to eliminate such markers, just as a casino removes clocks or windows to obscure time passage. There are a myriad of cross links, back links, hypertexts, live photo links, click-bait, and feeds that take you down endless rabbit holes, which have you later emerging from your journey without a clue as to how this occurred. No boundaries equal no markers for time passage.

The Internet is a completely dynamic, active, and interactive system. It isn’t linear, but rather a networked and almost circular set of interactive data. It in some sense operates more like our brain than a book. But without markers for time or space, the Internet can take you on a journey far beyond where you intended to go. Obviously, online content providers and Internet companies love how this lack of boundaries creates captive audiences of you and me.

The Internet and digital screen technologies are amoral. They have no agenda in and of themselves, and service providers, content developers, and app and software creators all have the same goal: your attention and your eyes onscreen. This is a battle for how you spend your time, but your time is a non-renewable resource, and technology must always be balanced in terms of how it ultimately serves us, not simply for a promised better life.