Internet as Vital as Food, Water, Air, Shelter to Some

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Some people view the Internet as a basic right, up there with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but according to a Cisco report, many people think it’s even more important than that. Roughly a third of those polled with Internet access rated it as important as basic necessities.

Cisco surveyed 2853 people split roughly equally between college students and recently employed college graduates ages 21 to 29 in 14 countries. The groups were also evenly split between men and women.
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While I don't think it's MORE important than food, water, air or shelter. I do think it should be reclassified as a utility.
 
Of course this doesn't make any sense, but if it were possible I'd rather have the internet that electricity! Food, water, shelter and air I'm not so sure.
 
Solidstate89 said:
While I don't think it's MORE important than food, water, air or shelter. I do think it should be reclassified as a utility.
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This, I consider it a utility as well. Use it for everything from paying bills to buying stuff to communication... couldn't live without it.
 
Loosers, we did fine before the internet and we will do just fine without.
 
The title (of the original article) is a little misleading...

More students (40 percent) rank the Internet as most important when stacked against partying (25 percent), dating (13 percent) and music (10 percent). They'd rather have Internet access than a car, 64 percent to 36 percent.
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It's just pitting the Internet against partying, dating, and music.
 
dexvx said:
The title (of the original article) is a little misleading...

It's just pitting the Internet against partying, dating, and music.
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Well as the timetable/course materials/work hand ins are largely only availible online in several courses... You can't really go to university without the internet anymore. :D
 
The survey is a bit skewed to begin with.

Go ask an 18yr old infantryman in Afghanistan how important the internet is to his survival.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Thats silly. How about ask someone in a burning building how important a gun is to survival? :p
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A person in a burning building is involved in an accident, not a lifestyle choice. The firemen are a different story. ...nor does one incident make up someone's entire life.
 
PynkFloydd said:
A person in a burning building is involved in an accident, not a lifestyle choice. The firemen are a different story. ...nor does one incident make up someone's entire life.
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Being on a warfront isn't a normal day to day activity that the vast majority of people will find themselves in. Therefore an infantryman whatever isn't going to have normal requirements which reflect normal people. The point is in "unusual" situations, you aren't going to need normal things, thus the unusual situation of being in a burning building is similar :p
 
Considering most mid to high level jobs, as well as many entry level and even part time jobs, are only accessible through the internet, it has become very important. One becomes mostly cut off from society without it. It surely is as important as shelter, and close to food and water.
 
I would agree with the article.

I do prioritize computers above things like maintaining my health in terms of eating for example. Eating is oldschool.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Being on a warfront isn't a normal day to day activity that the vast majority of people will find themselves in. Therefore an infantryman whatever isn't going to have normal requirements which reflect normal people. The point is in "unusual" situations, you aren't going to need normal things, thus the unusual situation of being in a burning building is similar :p
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An infantryman's life isn't all about shooting or getting shot at... It does consist of conservative survival requirements though (mostly requiring hard physical labor). Necessities include: comfortable boots, water, high caloric food, etc.

In most parts of the world it's a pretty common lifestyle choice. Considering that a majority of the world's population lives in rural areas, it's stupid to reflect a small segment as "normal".*

http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/623Urbanization.aspx

...especially since even in America a significant amount of people can't even afford internet.

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/08/07/comcast_launches_internet_for_lowincome_families

I more took from the survey that a lot of 18yr-21yr olds are overpriveldged shits.
 
I currently look at home internet in the same light as I once did cable TV b4 it went to shit. It's not quite a utility, I can live with out it, but I would rather not have to.
In any case, I would choose food, clean running hot and cold water, and electricity over either the internet or cable any day of the week.
 
Cisco surveyed 2853 people split roughly equally between college students and recently employed college graduates ages 21 to 29 in 14 countries. The groups were also evenly split between men and women.
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Okay, who got cut in half?
 
Haha, within my life time (I'm only 24) the internet will definitely be an integral part of daily life. I already use it for social stuff, paying bills, ordering tech hardware (sometimes food stuff's), and researching things. I mean, that is a pretty large chunk of MY life. I'm sure over time it will become more and more integral to everyday life as well as more technologies come along.
 
It can have a huge impact on people's lives. Poor people can become educated and improve their own lives and the lives of those around them. It can be used to reject political leaders when the democratic process fails them (like it north Africa).

The most important thing it does, though, is bring the entire earth together in some fashion. People of all backgrounds and locations can convene together in an instant and share information and ideas with each other without leaving their chair.
 
I agree that the internet is pivotal and I would go so far as classifying it as a human right. After all, I don't think there are any better alternatives to such a vast wealth of human knowledge.
 
Dr. Michio Kaku has remarked that it's something we need to move from a Type 0 to Type 1 civilization.
 
The six modern necessities:

1. Air
2. Water
3. Food
4. Clothing
5. Shelter
6. Bandwidth
 
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