Americans Feel Better Informed Thanks to the Internet

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Not only do Americans feel better informed thanks to the internet, most of us are now experts on everything....just ask us. :D

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that the vast majority of Americans believe their use of the web helps them learn new things, stay better informed on topics that matter to them, and increases their capacity to share ideas and creations with others.
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Really? Ad-blockers are very effective, and even if I see an ad, there's no "personality" behind it to make my blood boil.

What I can't avoid is reading an article but seeing some fucker's opinion that I don't give a shit about, a button that I should share it, how many thousands of unfounded "likes" it has received, etc.

It's the equivalent of picking up a book or magazine in the '90s and having random comments and counters in between every paragraph. It's fucking nauseating.
 
Commercialism wrecked the internet now you can live like Pizza the Hut thanks to 1-click this and that.
 
Source vetting? ha!

No, the internet is always right. Always.
 
More informed?? I doubt it. People tend to go to sites that support their existing views rather than a site that offers differing opinions.
 
I'm never surprised anymore about how much ignorant people think they know. The ability for the average person to vomit in a Google search box and get something interesting back has gone up, sure, but few people think any more critically about what they find, and fewer still know how to find much of value. Meh.
 
The Internet is a vast source of information that easily accessible. Sure there's a lot of nonsense out there but there's a lot of information on anything from cooking to home repair to computer programming to whatever. And I think that some might be surprised how many average people do take advantage of this information.
 
The internet is a vast source of misleading information and opinions stated as fact (this comments section is proof of that :D)

I'd say a very small portion of it is at all useable.
 
Meanwhile nobody talks to their neighbors and everyone is ducking each other like myself cause the new Neighbors that moved in 14 years ago haven't said Hi to them.
But then again their Garage is full of Garbage Bags to the Rim.
 
The Internet makes everyone ignorant and stupid of what is going on outside.
 
heatlesssun said:
Why?
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Fair question.

People seem to have a compelling need to share the most intimate details of their lives on social media and worse, they can't help buy share everything they find about their "friends" lives. No one but the neediest of people do things like that.

These same people can't wait to tell everyone when and where they are going on vacation...Great, put yourself out there to have your home robbed.

My wife and I have actually threatened family members who publish information about our personal lives and how do we find out? The other idiot family members who can't resist telling us about it.

We won't even go in to the political use of social media...The big lie(s) that spreads like a manure spreader on a farm.

How's that just for a start?;)
 
BillR said:
How's that just for a start?;)
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I see your points but when has any technology throughout history not had its detractors? And it doesn't really matter what ones politics are, there's something out there that many like that you and I don't personally.

Any tool can be misused and abused, that doesn't necessarily invalidate its positive and practical uses. The Internet and by extension social media allows virtually anyone the power to communicate instantly and globally, including those that we have stark disagreements and arguments with.

But it is better to let these billions of people do what they will with this technology without any government or group or individual saying that they can't, except in the most extreme circumstances such as those that imminent potential to result the loss of life. It is simply how freedom works. That's not so say that there can't be negative things that occur. And I take a page from those that preach against the nanny state. The freedom to do what one wants doesn't indemnify one from the consequences of those actions. Also how freedom works.
 
Tak Ne said:
More informed?? I doubt it. People tend to go to sites that support their existing views rather than a site that offers differing opinions.
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That's the beauty of the internet though. You can custom tailor sites so we can both go to the same one to get information with different opinions which conform to our biases!

But honestly, I'll take a different approach. The internet more magnified the ignorance that preexists within us. But it also allows us to be much better informed than we possibly could previously have been. But if people don't choose to be well informed, well, I wouldn't blame the internet for that.
 
Megalith said:
Too bad social media ruined the Internet.
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To a degree yes. However I will give them one thing. They actually do help people stay informed.

I would actually have to agree with this statement. I have learned indirectly about many things because somebody's friend shared a story on facebook or something and then somebody told me about it. Without the internet / social media people only knew about what happen in their area. You get home from work, you watch the local news or read the local paper and you find out what happen in your town or region along with whatever major story was covered on the news. Today before you get home from work you have already seen what happen 1/2 a world away because you saw the social media postings, the head lines on various sites. There are stories that many of us would never had heard about had we not been here on this site to see Steve post about them. I am not going to say that all the information people gather is meaningful, useful, or the type of information that they should be trying to gather. But I can see how people are more informed about events in general and just various topic compared to what they would have been 40 years ago.
 
Oh, I thought it meant that Americans are better informed because of their Government spying, Americans are much better informed about everyone in the world, and including Americans themselves. :p
 
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