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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/
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:25AM (9 children)
So for the people that resist the propaganda, I salute you!
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:45AM (1 child)
Not sure if I fixed that or not.
(Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:59AM
I listened at the door. There are still people. The fix didn't work.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:46AM (5 children)
While trying to be semi amusing I think you seriously underestimate how much you need the internet these days to work. Even your dumb as a box of bricks jobs you have to fill out junk on the net. Want to get an apartment? Internet. Want to get a job? Internet. Do not want to spend 3 years waiting in line downtown to get your benefits? Internet. Pretty much all modern information is now internet connected. How do I know this? Because I know an illiterate fellow. He has trouble getting a job because he can not just drop by and say 'hey I will wash dishes' and they put him on the line. They say 'here is an internet link to fill out the application'. Then once he gets the job? All of his hours are posted online. Our world is a connected one. Most people have missed it.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Pino P on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:19AM
Which of the above cannot be done on an Internet terminal at the nearest branch of your county library?
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday July 25 2018, @03:53AM (2 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday July 25 2018, @01:14PM
In addition to your suggested reasons, its also a weird mix of cost cutting via outsourcing HR tasks, combined with weird legal requirements for social engineering like racist affirmative action programs and stuff like that. Its cheaper and legally cleaner to have some other company front end your hiring process, make sure all applicants are filed with the EEOC or whatever, run the background credit and drug checks for you, etc. The end of completely local hiring for all but the smallest companies is one of the largest changes over the last 20 years.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday July 26 2018, @01:28AM
That's why I just added - but have yet to populate - Fast Food and Cafe sections to Soggy Jobs.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:11PM
Pretty much none of which should be true, especially if you need to use proprietary software (which can include JavaScript) to do any of that. What an injustice.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @02:49AM
Says someone on the internet ...