Do you think that the popularity of Internet communities will change?

I thought I’d share some Internet addiction or highest users statistics to kick off.

United Kingdom: 87% of population.
New Zealand: 89.5% of population.
Finland: 91% of population.
Denmark: 93% of population.
Netherlands: 93% of population.
Sweden: 94% of population.
Norway: 95% of population.
Iceland: 96.2% of population.

1) Do you think they are overrated, do you think they are worth the time and effort?

A) The market determines this, not I. The web is very democratic. Some successes and failures have totally surprised me. I’m not a good judge of future pop culture.

2) Do you think that in time people will go back to relying on the old fashioned way of chatting, meeting up and relating to people, like actually just doing it more than sitting on a computer?

A) No. I’m pretty sure this is here to stay. There will be new bells and whistles, such as you describe above—as a matter of fact they are already here—including body suits for tactile comms and safe sex. But impersonal, essentially disembodied, increasingly sophisticated comms will become more and more popular as they come within the financial reach of the common man. There may be a small minority who might still meet at cafe’s and such, but it will be a niche group like the people who are wild about vinyl LPs.

3) Do you think that in time people will go back to relying on the old fashioned way of chatting, meeting up and relating to people, like actually just doing it more than sitting on a computer?.

A) Same answer as #3 above.

I miss human-to-human communication, too. I am sometimes concerned by the isolation and dehumanization effects of the net on future generations. As people become increasingly able to hide behind anonymity (with each other), there are inevitable alienation and de-humanizing effects and this could lead to more mass and serial killings. I am reminded of Elliot Rodger of Isla Vista. His last video is an excellent example of this. He felt alienated from his cohort since puberty and had dehumanized women to the point that they were easy to kill. I think we shall see more of the same.

The ones that have value will continue to stay and thrive. The ones that are purely social will not.

For example, I’m a member of several professional online communities related to my job. These are active communities and there’s a lot work (professional exchanges) that gets done in these groups. And occasionally we meet face-to-face at conferences. These have value to me and I expect them to continue.

There’s a real good reason why MySpace failed and why Facebook has had to morph to what it is today. If you don’t give value, people stop coming.

They have replaced the commons. They form villages, and become the place where village gossip is exchanged, and community opinions formed. Individual fora may not survive, but the online forum is here to stay.

I like how people here act as if humans have stopped communicating with each other just because we are on the ‘net.

It is also quite an interesting phenomenon to come to the internet and be like “I wish people wouldn’t spend so much time on the internet”.

It would also be interesting to see the internet as the new threat to humanity if such concept didn’t appear numerous times already.

@Sneki95 If everyone is so involved with the internet, then I guess it becomes a cultural norm. I know for example when I lived in South Africa, being on the Internet was not the done thing. We had better things to do. Like socialize, go outdoors, be with friends and life was richer for it.

I’ve been away three years it might have changed. I hope not. Here it is considered very Okay if you hang on the net.

I had a lot of friends tell me back then I was ‘a nut’ for wasting my time on the net. I think they were correct!

If I lived in Iceland I’d certainly rely on the net more (more for the pictures of sunshine).

I have to say, in general, I have in all my years of net trawling, only met one person that I consider having worth met. The rest are like ghosts in cyber-space.

I know studies are being done regards mental illness, personality disorders and the role the internet plays, in both supporting these individuals as well as causing certain illnesses.