COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Sex or the Internet?


Americans Can Go Without Sex Longer Than The Internet, Study Finds

If they can't access the Internet when they want to, Americans say they worry that they're missing out on something important.
By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek

September 21, 2007 12:48 PM

Not tonight, Honey. I'm online.

Sound familiar? A survey of about 1,000 Americans showed that the Internet has become such an essential part of their every-day lives that 28% said they spend less time socializing with friends because of it. And 20% said they spend less time having sex because they're too busy online, according to a study by advertising agency JWT.

"It's clear that there's been a huge cumulative shift in what we do and what we pay attention to, thanks to new technologies," said Bob Jeffrey, chairman and CEO of JWT, in a written statement. "Increasingly, you will see the emergence of truly passionate 'digitivity denizens,' or people who thrive in a technology-enabled universe. They see their cell phones as extensions of themselves, their online and offline lives are co-mingled, and they would choose a Wi-Fi connection over television any day. Trending younger, these are people who don't distinguish between old and new media -- in fact, new media is not thought of as new, it's just media."

According to JWT, only 17% of the 1,011 online Americans who participated in the survey said they willingly had gone without connectivity for more than two weeks within the past year. When asked how long they would feel OK without online access, 15% of respondents said just a day or less, 21% said a couple of days and another 19% said a few days.

About half of people 35 and older said if they can't access the Internet when they want to, they feel like something important is missing.

The survey showed that time spent with new digital technologies eats into time spent watching television or listening to the radio. Forty-four percent said they spend less time with print newspapers and magazines, and 47% watch less TV, though that number jumps to 52% for those under 35. And fully half of respondents say they now spend less time shopping in actual brick-and-mortar stores.

However, traditional media isn't the only ones taking a hit. JWT noted that respondents said being online cuts into physical activities, face-to-face socializing and, yes, even sex.

Is there anything they spend more time doing? Yup. Work. According to the study, 22% said new technologies have led to more work.

The study also showed that people who didn't grow up with interactive digital technology tend to see online and offline as separate worlds. For people immersed in the technology, though, there's no big distinction. Online is just part of normal life, like a car and TV, they noted.

The new digital divide is all about mobility, according to JWT.

"Now it's connectivity with mobility that marks the digital generation divide," said Marian Salzman, a JWT spokesman in a written statement. "Older Americans are happy to sit in the same place to go online, while younger people expect to be able to connect anywhere at any time, without being tethered to a particular location or time frame. Mobility represents the next big shift."

For those respondents younger than 35, 78% said they don't own a desktop computer, compared with 93% of those older than 55. Instead, 61% of the under-35s own a laptop, compared with 36% of those over 55.


27 comments:

  1. I donno. Since I discovered the internet, my sex activity has punched through the roof.

    ReplyDelete
  2. METUSELAH: Since I discovered the internet, my sex activity has punched through the roof.

    Now try it with a girl.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is that mandatory?
    You got something against guys getting it on?

    ReplyDelete
  4. How could you say no to that apple?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry, Tes. It's cheaper to just fix the roof.

    ReplyDelete
  6. (DOUG cited Fred on HillaryCare)

    My reply:

    In Greenville, S.C., when asked if bin Laden should be immediately killed after his capture, he said: "No, no, no. We’ve got due process to go through.” In trying to fix that, his campaign told Politico that first the government should get as much information as possible, and told AP that he meant “the same rules ought to apply to him as to everyone at Guantanamo Bay.”

    Which means Fred Thompson believes bin Laden should get free government-provided universal health care.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If the Republicans attach their hopes to Fred Thompson, it will be Clinton-Dole, Part II.

    ReplyDelete
  8. DEUCE: If the Republicans attach their hopes to Fred Thompson, it will be Clinton-Dole, Part II.

    If the Republicans attach their hopes to Rudy Giuliani, it will be Johnson-Goldwater, part II, complete with the little girl and the mushroom cloud.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I knew LBJ, and Hillary is no LBJ
    Although the first Husband would become BJ Champion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm not sure I see the Johnson-Goldwater, part II thing.I was going to post this but never did.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ahmad Rashad

    Conversion and Football career
    In 1972, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Rashad, which means "Admirable One Led To Truth". His last name comes from his mentor in St. Louis Rashād Khalifa. There are at least three players in the NFL that were named after him, Ahman Rashad Green, running back for the Houston Texans, Ahmad Rashad Merritt, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, and Ahmard Rashad Hall, full back for the Tennessee Titans. Orlando Magic NBA basketball player Rashard Lewis was also named after Ahmad.

    He eventually graduated from the University of Oregon, where he was a two-time All American. Rashād was named to the College Football Hall of Fame on May 9, 2007. Also where he pledged Omega Psi Phi fraternity Inc.
    ---
    I otoh, was named, in my middle name, after my mom's family.
    If I coulda been one of the Brothers, I Woulda.
    Trust me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We named our last beloved Cat, after the Magic Isle,
    "Meowie"
    RIP

    ReplyDelete
  13. She never converted to Islam.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think that had something to do with
    Sex, and the Internet.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wants to be rebirthed as a Teenage Male Concubine, and make millions from the sale of the book,
    I Was!

    ReplyDelete
  17. 2164th: I'm not sure I see the Johnson-Goldwater, part II thing.

    The idea is that Giuliani is a socially liberal defense hawk who would go up against a Dem whose health-care plan will be the biggest entitlement program since the Great Society (with the exception of Bush's prescription plan, which makes Social Security look like an also-ran)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've learned about sex 'signing' on the internet. My wife learned to sign in her job with the disabled, but she never told me about toe tapping and hand signs in the john.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm shocked,
    SHOCKED!
    To hear that!

    ReplyDelete
  20. "(with the exception of Bush's prescription plan, which makes Social Security look like an also-ran)"
    ---
    Thanks, I needed that.
    I REALLY NEEDED that!
    Just when the BP was starting to go below the Red Rage Range.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Author 2164th.blogspot.com !
    I suggest you to come on a site, with an information large quantity on a theme interesting you. For myself I have found a lot of the interesting.

    ReplyDelete