We spend half our lives online nowadays and it’s obviously causing damage to our health. Do you think it would be worth the benefits to stop carrying a smartphone and to disable the WiFi at home?

  • Neato@ttrpg.network
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    10 months ago

    Of course not. Internet, even with the issues of social media, is a huge net good. Remember before the internet? If you and your acquaintances didn’t know something and it wasn’t in an encyclopedia, you just didn’t get to know that thing. Maybe a teacher at a uni you could call, maybe.

    The ability to communicate information before that was limited to things like telephone, fax, and the mail. Vastly slower and much less bandwidth. This would impact our ability to get life-saving information to people through means other than radio.

      • Neato@ttrpg.network
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        10 months ago

        and it wasn’t in an encyclopedia

        The implication if this line was that it wasn’t commonly found in books.

      • stoy@lemmy.zip
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        10 months ago

        That would ve far more complex than you make it sound.

        Once you have the question, you need to…

        …write down the question so you don’t forget.

        …remember to bring the note with you.

        …remember to check the open hours of the library.

        …get to the library.

        …look at the note to remember the topic of the question.

        …ask a librarian about where to find relevant books.

        …read the books, and hopefully find an answer not too out of date.

        • schmorp@slrpnk.net
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          10 months ago

          Believe it or not, that was how it worked. The advantage of this was that it guaranteed that you only invested time in things you were really passionate about.