I got my hands on an issue of Adbusters #86: The Virtual World / The Natural World which had the digital/online world and the real physical world as a running theme in the issue. The issue was particularly interesting as it addressed issues related to how the digital/online world has shaped and affected our physical world. I draw attention to bits and bobs of this issue of Adbusters;
“Already you can see signs of an advent of avatarism. Humans are happy to through synthetic self-transformations.. breast augmentation, botox, plastic surgery, tummy tucks, etc. At the same time many others neglect their physical selves, adopting (sometimes false) computer identities. Altogether people are less and less resistant to the synthetic. At the same time people do more and moreonline: shop, work, socialize… Inevitably there will be huge market demand for the technology to create artificial selves, avatars, to function in the online world for us.”
Synthetic worlds have the potential to become permanent homes for the conscious self. Millions upon millions may decide that moving to cyberspace is the best thing to do. Yet once they are there, we know that they will remain fully informed about other options for living their lives, which may range from other synthetic worlds to the outer world in all its rough-edged glory? One hopes that the time people spend in these places will always be wholesome and enriching. Unfortunately, should the mind end up being fully hosted by a synthetic world, virtually all of its perceptive and sense inpus are mediated by an artificial intelligence agent that is programmed by some Other. - Edward Castronova, Synthetic Worlds: The business and Culture of Online Games.
The entry into the realm of the virtual will be as gentle as one chooses to make it. - Metaverse Manifesto
FLESH v.s. DRONES
In his seventh book, Lost Child in the Woods, journalist Richard Louv speaks to a young boy who sums up the sentiment of younger generations with one sentence, “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.” Louv cites several studies – one shows children are better able to identify Japanese cartoon characters than common animals and plants; another reports that the radius from the home which children were able to roam freely was NINE times greater in 1970 than today – as evidence of a nature deficit disorder. He argues that disconnecting children from the natural world, through overwrought parenting, urbanization and a reliance on electronic distraction, has resulted in generations of children prone to obesity, depression and attention deficit disorder. … Far from striking out into nature and discovering the world and themselves, they are leashed to their homes by cords – seemingly as umbilical as they are electrical.” - Sarah Nardi
The quotes I extracted from the magazine gave me some idea of a disappearing generation which are slowly more and more withdrawn into the digital world and absent from the physical world. In the future, we might see our cities and societies living absolutely online. Could this be a disappearing city? Below are some facts and figures I researched on the reliance and usage of the internet in our everyday lives today. And how much it has changed over the decades.
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According to the Nielson report there are more than 16 million kids (age 2 to 11) online, nearly 10% of the online universe, with boys and girls making up roughly equal portions of the split. This is an 18% increase over 2004. In fact, kids are now spending a big portion of their days online.
In 2004, kids spent about 7 hours each month online. Now, kids are spending more than 11 hours online, a 36% increase. Boys are spending more time online, but girls are consuming more content (consuming 9% more webpages than boys). However, boys are consuming more video content than girls. Boys are consuming 61% of video streams amongst children and are responsible for 57% of the time spent watching online video content.
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According to the findings in a recently released report the average broadband user in Britain spend 30 hours of every week browsing the internet.
It was found in recent research that the average person in the UK spend around 30 hours every week and according to the report from uSwitch.com this is usually broken into 3 hours a day surfing for leisure purposes and 2 hours each day using the internet for work related purposes on a normal working day.
uSwitch.com also found that an average of around 45 hours per week was being spent accessing the web by the average younger adult, between the age of 18 to 24.
The continual rise in the choice of services that are now being made available by broadband services providers for people to use has been attributed to the amount of time people are now spending online, according to the latest findings in the uSwitch.com report.
A communications expert at uSwitch.com, Jason Glynn advised “broadband is rapidly becoming a necessity – as important to our quality of life as gas or electricity.”
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About nine out of 10 US consumers ages 12 to 24 use the Internet. That is not surprising. But more than one-half of those ages 65 to 69 are online as well, and Internet-using 70-to-74-year-olds make up 45% of people that age, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Pew noted that the biggest increase in Internet use since 2005 was in the 70-to-75-year-old age group; just over one-quarter of them were online in 2005.
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Internet overtakes TV in Britain: survey
The British now spend more time on the internet than watching television, according to a survey published Wednesday by internet search engine Google.
The report showed that British Internet users spend an average of 164 minutes online daily – the equivalent of 41 days a year – compared to 148 minutes watching television.
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Britons spend 28% of their free time onlinePoll reveals habits of British internet users
An international poll of 27,500 internet users – including around 2,500 Britons – has revealed we spend 28% of our spare time surfing the web.
It also shows housewives spend 47% of their free time online, while student internet users clocked up 39%, and unemployed internet users 32%.
Online habits
The research shows that 80% of internet users from the UK have used a search engine, 76% of users have banked online, and 66% of users had paid a bill online.
A total of 33% said they used the internet to share photos, 32% claimed that they had used the internet to download music, while 22% stated they had sold something online through an auction site such as Ebay.
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As the number of people engaged in social media increases, people are more likely to be involved in communicating than seeking out entertaining activities online such as viewing Web sites for fun. That’s according to “Media Shifts to Social,” a Netpop Research report and follows a study on social networkers released in December. The findings are based on an online survey of 4,384 U.S.-based broadband users over the age 13. The study was fielded between September and October 2008 using a proprietary sampling methodology that takes into account the respondents represents the Internet population.
Consider these trends identified in the study:
- Of the 105 million Americans who participate in social media, seven million are considered “heavy” social media contributors — defined as people who participate in six or more activities and connect with at least 248 people on a one-to-many basis on a typical week.
- Time spent communicating online went from 27 percent of time online in 2006 to 32 percent in 2008. “We’re really looking to create personal relationships and communicating with people,” said Josh Crandall, president of Netpop.
- Time devoted to entertaining activities online went from 49 percent of the time spent online in 2006 to 20 percent two years later. Entertainment was defined as participating in online games, accessing videos, and accessing Web sites for fun.
- 54 percent of micro-bloggers post content or “tweet” daily.
Suhui
This is actually pretty darn interesting. (:
Feb 05, 2010 @ 4:07 am
student grants
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Jun 02, 2010 @ 4:20 am