Don't let it consume your life.

[ArgaJones]

Now i don't want to sound all old but I find the same thing with 9 or 10 year olds, they all seem to have laptops and phones. Back in my day if we wanted to go hang out with our friends, we would go play outside, or build a fort, but kids seem to be hooked on electronics from a very young age. Now i don't think there is anything wrong with online friendships or even online dating, as long as its done in moderation with your other activities.

Sorry for the hideous punctuation and spelling, i am on my phone.

 

[Imanol]

wat ;-;

 

[BitoBain]

Above all else, the internet is a time waster. That was the main point of this thread.

You can say that love on the internet is real, which in some cases it is. You can argue that it provides real social interaction, or that it is a better source of fun than real life activities, but when you look back on your life, you will realize how many years you wasted on the internet. Had you spent the same amount of time seeking love, or meeting people in real life, you would have gotten a lot more out of it.

All of us are culprits of this, but some people still do more productive things on the internet. You can learn any skill and talk to practically any type of person. You can find a lot of uplifting stuff for rainy days. It's just that when we check social media every 30 seconds to see if our status got any likes, we are wasting our time. It is an unproductive medium, and it's wrecking the lives of young children and teenagers.

In my opinion, one's childhood and teenage hood should be a time to:

• Be happy
• Get excercise/enjoy the outdoors
  
• Meet a lot of people
• Learn social skills, including knowing how to work
  
• Become educated
• Have a lot of diverse experiences
• Discover what he/she is good at and enjoys

The internet doesn't accomplish a lot of those things, but hanging out with friends, joining clubs, and going to school actually do.

The internet provides laughs and fun, but it teaches people to have a shorter attention span. You can talk to people, but you can't meet people, since it's difficult to really know how honest a person is being about their life. You can be whoever you want on the internet, but you don't really have to present yourself, so you don't earn social skills. You can learn things, but it's usually more out of curiosity and the internet doesn't motivate you to learn like school does. You can't experience much on the internet, since you're sitting in a chair staring at a screen. You won't really get to know yourself that much better by playing Minecraft and making posts on forums, unless what you're good at is computer related.

The internet needs to be a much smaller part of people's lives, especially people who aren't yet adults. However, as Mooclan described, it's "a giant bolder of humanity rolling down a mountain", and there's probably nothing we can do to stop this trend that is sapping people's childhoods besides better moderation by parents.

 

[Snipez]

As a Australian it is rare too see me inside, My life is filled up with school, sports and eating.

I rarely have time to play video games let alone MCSG. I try to play as much as possible, but I can only really play for 2+ hours in the weekends.

Too conclude, It is really sad to see that kids/teenagers like myself are spending the majority of there time sitting in front of a compute screen. This also inspired me to read some articles on the percentage of children spending time inside.

 

[AGFire2013]

Some people on MCGamer do spend a huge amount of time online and on electronics. I barely play MCSG these days, and I'm enjoying life a lot more outdoors, doing sports, socializing with friends. The biggest amount of time I'll spend on TS these days is probably around 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
I've always thought of a kind of balance that people have online; one side having more IRL friends and being outdoors more and the other spending more time online and chatting on TS, that kind of thing. Some people, depending on the circumstances, can be more of one than the other. I'm probably more of an outdoors person. Some have a perfect balance between the two, spending a near equal amount of time online and offline, with a large or close group of friends online and IRL. But others could rely more on online friends if they dislike the people that they encounter offline, or vice versa (though I think that situation would be rare here considering we're all part of an online community )
EDIT: I also spend a lot of time on the forums, which is pretty much what I do when I'm dead from rowing and sports and need to cool down. It doesn't really consume a large part of my life, and I spend most of my day outdoors, with friends, uptown (I guess you could say I'm in school the whole day because I'm a boarder but whatevs), doing sports and whatnot. I also find foruming good practice for English essays and analytical paragraphs xD

 

[emal2012]

See that big yellow thing in the sky? It's nice isn't it? To bad the majority of you guys don't get to enjoy it enough...

I found the "big yellow thing in the sky"

 

[Harris|DareDevilMan1]

So, we were re-painting some parts in our house and I had to go to my cousins. One was 10 and the other one was 6. They have like a HUGE space next to their house where you can bike around, play football, play basket, and when I enter the house, the 6 year old was playing Minecraft while eating ice cream (the keyboard and mouse were like crap) and my aunt told me he has been playing for 3 hours. Now, the 10 year old cousin was playing on his dad's phone. I just kept asking when we could go out and they just answered to me all the time "ye in a sec". Then it ended up being 10 o clock and I just left. I may seem I'm 24/7 on, but I'm really not. Every 2 hours or so, I just go out and do random stuff or go to a friend's house. I'm pretty sure I spend more time doing schoolwork and going out than playing video games.

 

[ProfessorRetro]

With over 100 rain days a year, then we don't get to see the sun much ;-;

Dude, I love the rain.. can I move to where you live?

 

[AGFire2013]

Dude, I love the rain.. can I move to where you live?

Come to B.C.

 

[RishSA|Imaboss2414]

I definitely agree with what you have said. A lot of people do not spend enough time having fun in the great outdoors. However, now daylight savings locked in place, I really don't have enough time to go out and play Ultimate with my friends. I mean I come home at 4:00, I take a 30 minute break, start my homework, and by 5:00 its already dark. I do have 2 hours of competitive swimming every day, but that is not enough IMO. Seriously Sean 's rant is correct. I know a ton of people who are athleticly (If that's even a word) capable, but ruin it for video games.

 

[Sean]

I highly doubt that there is anyone in this community who's days consist of that. Do you have any examples? Sources?

I can love lots of people without meeting them for example: Taylor Swift, I love her. I have a feeling of attraction towards her. She may not love me back, but I love her

First there is plenty of people who's day is like that.

And that Is not love what you are experiencing. My friend you have a lot to learn.

 

[ProfessorRetro]

First there is plenty of people who's day is like that.

And that Is not love what you are experiencing. My friend you have a lot to learn.

I agreed with the majority of what you said, with the exception of love. You will never be me, for example. So you will never be able to tell me that I do not truly love someone, because love is something different to everyone.