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posted by chromas on Wednesday July 25 2018, @01:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-matter-of-choice dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

For most of us, it’s hard to imagine life without the internet.

For better or worse, we’ve become hyper-dependent on the digital universe housed in our screens. We use it on a daily basis to communicate with friends, book flights, shop, skim the news, watch movies and television shows, and stay up-to-date on Kim Kardashian’s derrière.

As access to the internet has improved in the past two decades, the offline population has steeply declined: today, only 11% of Americans don’t use the internet, down from 48% in 2000.

[...] The stories here represent only a small sample of Americans who don’t use the internet, and the reasons why.

Data tells us that the majority of non-users are elderly, but this shouldn’t endorse the trope that old people are technologically challenged. There is certainly no dearth of octogenarian techies, like my grandfather, who was the first in line to buy a PalmPilot in 1997 and has been at least 3 steps ahead of me on the gadget front ever since.

In fact, 51% of of 65+ citizens have broadband internet at home, and 34% are active on social media. In case you need an uplifting anecdotal addition to this, two of the world’s oldest men — Walter Breuning (114), and Alexander Imich (111) — were reportedly frequent and adept internet users until they died.

And though some of the rationales the folks we interviewed seem a bit like stubborn rants, they do have merit: the internet has negatively effects on face-to-face communication, creativity, attention span, social anxiety, and depression — and in light of recent scandals like Cambridge Analytica, data and privacy concerns are certainly valid.

Source: https://thehustle.co/meet-the-11-of-americans-who-dont-use-the-internet/


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by suburbanitemediocrity on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:00AM (6 children)

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:00AM (#712096)

    Yes, instructional stuff is what I mostly use the internet for now and learned much for when I built my house. I've already built my own cnc mill (and lathe) and have a whole machine shop full of tools. Thank you Kieth Rucker and vintagemachinery.org. I learned plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, woodworking and cooking. After a while there is not that much to learn.

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  • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:25AM (3 children)

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:25AM (#712143) Journal

    If you are into survival can I suggest gunsmithing, making black powder, home forging, animal husbandry, and farming techniques. That way you can be self sufficient if you need to be. Otherwise you are quite the renascence man. The only gaps I see is dental and surgical needs, but those are really hard to self apply and require extensive hands on training.

    --
    For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:37AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:37AM (#712152)

      One of my friends is a livestock and equine veterinarian in a county seat. We were chatting one day about how I would probably be toast in a survival situation, as my skills are pretty much useless and I've become too much of a city slicker. Then I said it was probably the same for him, as he hasn't actively farmed in almost two decades. He laughed and said if everything hit the fan, he'd be just fine as every farmer with animals already has him on speed dial. He already takes some payments in barter, so all that it would mean is that he'd get busier (as more animals would be needed, take more in barter (as money would be less valuable), and less paperwork (bye bye IRS).

      • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday July 25 2018, @04:01AM

        by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday July 25 2018, @04:01AM (#712164) Journal

        He will be living like a king. Of course he'll need an alternative method of contact :) My GF is a diabetic and we've both had to come to grips with the fact that she has a low survival rating without a steady supply of insulin. I am a computer nerd by profession, but I gunsmith on the side and can make my own black powder, and reloads so I have marginal skills at best.

        --
        For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
    • (Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Wednesday July 25 2018, @09:14PM

      by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Wednesday July 25 2018, @09:14PM (#712694)

      Yeah, not really interested in that stuff. When the zombie hordes come, I'll be one of the first to have his brain sucked out.

      OTOH, I know how to make it all work :) I just wanted to see what I could accomplish with almost no money and a lot of free time. An amazing amount really.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 25 2018, @04:01AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 25 2018, @04:01AM (#712165) Journal

    After a while there is not that much to learn.

    Learn the basics? No.
    Learn about how to solve a particular narrow problem or improve on solutions (a la stackexchange style in IT, but for other domains)? I'm almost sure there is a big chance of improving what you know/practice.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford