Readers reply: ought to we flip the web off? | Life and elegance

[ad_1] T he web has turned fringe perception into mainstream politics and coverage – from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to return to a earlier world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss concerning the on-line world that's definitely worth the danger to liberal tradition and primary freedoms? Ought to we flip the web off? Mees Visser, Groningen, the Netherlands

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Readers reply “I can’t allow you to try this Dave.” Landofsander

Sure. We did simply high quality earlier than it got here alongside. Michael York, by e mail

Bit late now. Goldgreen

Studying a newspaper from world wide. I'm about to do my grocery purchasing on-line. I'm messaging household on the opposite aspect of the Atlantic. And also you need me to show that off? The issue isn’t the web, it’s the individuals. 1Eloise

In keeping with Google’s AI Overview: “Come and have a go for those who suppose you’re onerous sufficient.” EddieChorepost

With out Google Maps I'd most likely nonetheless be strolling in circles in the midst of Epping Forest. 1AngryMan

Due to Google maps, I'm strolling in circles in the midst of Epping Forest!! Doomxsfsddgvhyt)

I received’t be the primary to level out what the web has provided to disabled individuals. It’s a spot the place somebody I do know, who finds talking almost unimaginable because of bodily challenges, could be fluent, authoritative and, most significantly, correctly listened to eventually. And that’s only one instance. It’s not for me or anybody else to take that away. I truly hate net 2.0 with a ardour and for any variety of causes, however I can’t refute this level, nor would I search to. Asurea

Truthfully, with out the web I'd be remoted and alone. I've a conservative household and am within the closet and queer and trans. With the web my world lastly expanded and I lastly turned free. I discovered about myself and have become blissful and at peace. I met my most vital individual after a lifetime of issue connecting to individuals and I discovered issues I liked that modified me. The web has executed numerous hurt, sure, but it surely’s not black and white and has been a lifeline for queer and disabled folks similar to myself. I'm so grateful for the connection and friendship I discovered due to the web. Kati777

The web itself is a powerful technological achievement, not an ethical failure. It has democratised entry to data, lowered limitations to publishing, related marginal voices and reworked schooling, science and tradition in methods which can be onerous to overstate.

The issue isn't “the web” a lot because the focus of energy in a handful of social media platforms that algorithmically amplify outrage, misinformation and fringe perception whereas disclaiming accountability for the implications.

A lot of the injury may very well be addressed by treating these corporations as accountable intermediaries reasonably than impartial pipes: imposing transparency round amplification, significant legal responsibility for hurt, and requirements nearer to these lengthy utilized to publishers and broadcasters.

Rolling again to landlines and letters would imply dropping actual, hard-won freedoms. The problem is to not abandon the web world, however to civilise it. littlewaster

Please God sure. Nonetheless good and handy it's to guide a practice ticket or switch cash from my checking account, none of it compensates for the breakdown in society which is happening due to what's now a malignant on-line world. Kirsty McNally, by e mail

I don’t know anyone who thinks society has improved within the final 30 years. I miss how enjoyable and open-minded we was once, and I miss being engaged with the true world, in all my time awake on this planet. Is there any likelihood of this truly occurring? I hope so. Peter Rizzo, by e mail

Ought to we flip radio off? Ought to we flip newspapers off? Ought to we flip the printing press off? And books? Ought to we flip off writing on paper and drawing on cave partitions? These questions have been most likely all raised by somebody, not very lengthy after these respective innovations escaped the management of their inventors. Every time, the earlier elite misplaced management to the plenty over info and discourse, historical past retains repeating. Randomusername222

No. We might miss that which is a deeply embedded and almost indispensable want of humanity – connection. The web permits us to shortly have interaction with different people (across the planet!), which may very well be a lifesaver for these of us who can't discover group and acceptance in our speedy environment.

In having the ability to share our experiences we will galvanise opinion to push for change (I’m pondering of the homicide of George Floyd and following outrage, and in addition that in an period earlier than the web, it was by the sharing of pictures of brutalised peaceable protesters for racial equality within the American south that the nation was shamed into reform).

The web permits sharing in a means unprecedented in human existence; it's this means to hitch minds and hearts, typically throughout all identified and synthetic divisions that helps us discover ourselves as people and communities, nations, and perhaps at some point as a planet. Henry Thorpe, by e mail

Happier days or a time of restricted contact? {Photograph}: H Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock The web is a communication medium, it isn't the communication itself. Blaming “the web” is like blaming the publish workplace for those who get a nasty letter. Turning off the web could be like turning off mains electrical energy, or banning street transport apart from horses.

You possibly can’t flip the clock again. There was no long-lost golden age. DopFnord

My job in IT closely is determined by it. Outdoors my job, I’ve deleted all social media apps from my telephone. It’s been fairly a liberating expertise. That complete realm has been hijacked and I discover it worrying how many individuals use it as their main supply of reports and data. Fortunately this paper appears to be one of many few locations of resistance. AyJayEm

Clearly it’s far too late to place the genie again within the lamp (maybe a extra correct metaphor could be to unwet the mogwai), however I typically discover myself wishing we might roll issues again to only earlier than the invention of the smartphone. That means, we’d nonetheless have many of the advantages of the web, however it could be contained inside a cumbersome machine that lived within the nook of a room in our houses and on our desks at work. We’d be capable to flip our backs on it each time we left the home or workplace, and we wouldn’t be obliged to hold it with us on a regular basis (I do know generally we’re not “obliged” to hold smartphones with us, but it surely takes super strength of mind to swim in opposition to the tide on a regular basis, to not point out how tough many organisations make it to do issues offline).

To me, that looks like a fairly good stability between having fun with the benefits of the web whereas preserving these priceless and eminently human elements of our lives that the web has executed an awesome deal to wreck, if not outright destroyed. SignedUpToWriteThis

The best choice is to make use of the web moderately and by no means to change off your mind. willemijnheideman

There's nothing on the web that doesn't depart a digital footprint. Governments might so merely make “social media” chargeable for the accuracy of what they publish, in the identical means {that a} newspaper is accountable. If they are often sued, they may management the loopy individuals spouting lies. Make them accountable. Sanction their homeowners. China and Russia management the web. It may be executed. CynicalGeorge

If something, this text and feedback has proven me that an enormous quantity of Guardian readers don’t know what the web is or what elements of contemporary life could be affected by “turning it off” (almost every little thing, almost definitely from the ability grid on up). unhelpful

The query poses “the web” as each the basis explanation for that which ails trendy society and because the antithesis of liberalism and human freedom. That is, after all, main the witness. The web isn't designed to respect geographical borders. Its expertise isn't freed from political bias, although having been devised within the US that bias is in the direction of the fashionable western conceptions of freedom that the author holds in such excessive regard.

The previous GDR (East Germany) managed breathtaking ranges of landline tapping and turning relations in opposition to each other. Conversations have been continuously recorded. I don't see how a return to solely in-person contact, cassette tapes and landlines would intrinsically profit these of us who worth freedom.

The web is designed to be versatile, scalable and open at distance. The openness that doesn’t respect conventional notions of borders is identical openness that enables states to make use of marvellous applied sciences in opposition to their very own populations, as a result of right here’s what governments perceive: individuals wish to really feel related to at least one one other, these connections can threaten the established order, ergo these connections should be coralled and managed.

Individuals and organisations campaigning for freedom have lengthy gathered and communicated utilizing the web, predating by a few years the fashionable “walled gardens” of social media. These voices are nonetheless right here and there and in every single place. Maybe, for those who step away from the noise of everybody shouting into the void, you’ll be capable to discern them speaking about operating the world otherwise. Dorkalicious

I've mobility points, but I’ve managed to do all my Christmas current purchasing with out leaving the home. I designed our Christmas card and uploaded the picture to have it printed. We’ve simply had a giant meals store delivered.

I can see by way of the NHS app on my telephone {that a} prescription I requested has been authorised and despatched to our native pharmacy. The pharmacy will textual content me when it’s prepared. We've a number of FaceTime periods deliberate with household and associates world wide.

I make numerous use of the web. It’s merely a query of utilizing it properly. snowybeach

I used to be identified as a kind 1 diabetic within the early 80s and it was an especially isolating expertise. I knew nobody else with the situation and simply needed to cope with issues very a lot alone. It’s so a lot better now for newly identified youngsters to have the ability to connect with others in an identical place. AucklandCanary

All the things besides the dial-up modem … the way in which issues, lately, have been. {Photograph}: Phiwath Jittamas/Getty Pictures Individuals confuse the web, which is a communication device, with the varied platforms, social media included, that use it. There are numerous extremely helpful, sensible issues we do on the web that profit us. Not every little thing is a social media swamp, one thing we will select to interact with, or not.

The web continues to be in its infancy, so we’re on the proverbial wild west stage of its growth with a bunch of crazies, carpetbaggers, extremists and entrepreneurs allowed fairly free rein, so it may be grim. Governments and political campaigners have each tried to take advantage of this “freedom” and in addition didn't handle it, partly as a result of they don’t perceive it, so it’s a little bit of a cesspool.

Add the likes of all of the tech bros, and it will get even worse.

Not all dangerous although. Enshittification is now effectively recognised and individuals are getting pissed off with it. The times when everybody believed what they learn are going quick, too, sarcastically hastened by the expansion of AI slop and the likes of Trump and Musk. There’s extra open criticism of such slop, and much more questioning of what’s the reality and what propaganda. The platforms are run by rich rightwingers however even now, a lot of the dialogue is about apparent propaganda, pretend AI-generated shopfronts and content material. I consider social media has began to lose its attraction for many individuals, with individuals posting and fascinating much less.

The web doesn’t should be turned off, it simply must be higher managed and, on a private stage, used extra rigorously and responsibly. It must develop up. DJT1Million

We’re within the company seize stage of the web, which is why the person interface for most individuals now consists of checking the identical 4 apps again and again, and posting the identical content material from considered one of them on to a number of of the opposite three.

Being on-line is now not actually fulfilling, it’s merely compulsive behaviour or obligatory for collaborating in society – and is continuously actively annoying and irritating in proportion to what you get out of it.

In its first decade the probabilities of the web appeared democratic and limitless. Now it’s simply one other plaything and management mechanism of the Oligarchy.

Frank_Lynn

For many individuals on the earth, the web gives one of many few alternatives for women to review. I think about that might be missed. GUsername1

I used to be about 32 when the web turned extensively used, and I typically wrestle to recall how on earth I discovered issues out. I learn extra precise books from cowl to cowl and my consideration span was longer. I now wrestle to focus for longer than a couple of minutes. I as soon as used the telephone quite a bit to guide issues, which meant having to talk to precise individuals extra. Mates reunited was pretty harmless enjoyable, however then Fb was born, Snapchat, TikTok … . ChrisPook

There are conceptually easy sufficient options to the stink of the web sewer. One is to forbid anonymity. All uploads to include a supply tackle.

The opposite could be an excellent better boon – to tax adverts. nosuchzone

No. However democracies might want to learn to tackle misinformation to problem the mobocracy. Apart from, it nonetheless has so many optimistic and benign makes use of. As a musician, I'd miss the benefit with which new expertise could be discovered and concepts shared. I’m positive others will discover causes of their very own for not wanting to show the clock again. fender64

Possibly a world internet-free day could be doable as a means of reflection on being too depending on it. I'll always remember that day in April in Spain when all of the electrical energy went off and one couldn’t entry the web. Individuals have been a lot nicer to one another and helped each other out. You couldn’t entry the information with out a transistor radio and that wasn’t a foul factor. DaveTroll

I’m positive I’ve examine surgeons who must do one thing uncommon having the ability to get reside knowledgeable steerage by video name. That’s probably life-saving.Hummusexual

Meta simply suspended my Fb account, most likely for reporting too many hate teams. So I suppose which means much less web for me. Tatrabant

High quality of life was a lot better earlier than the web. Individuals had time for one another, it was doable to grasp and repair machines, and comfort was not depending on accepting limitless nastiness, fraud, and fascist adventuring as a truth of life.

Digital processes are helpful for analysis however have proved a catastrophe for human communication and now gasoline criminality quicker than the power of legislation enforcement to comprise them. Pull the plug and allow us to study to reside once more. Elephantmoth

It was completely different, however whether or not it was higher trusted circumstances. These individuals world wide who now have entry to some type of schooling due to web entry would possibly disagree with [turning it off]. middle24

With out the web, I’d not have my job (engineer), my bachelor’s and grasp’s levels, would’ve discovered it a lot more durable to search out my condo and roommate, and couldn’t do most of my purchasing on-line so would wish to take longer and extra frequent journeys simply to buy since I’ve chosen a car-free life-style.

However I’m additionally solely on one social community: Reddit, which permits me to learn and work together with others about simply the subjects I choose. I solely allow notifications for issues that truly matter on my telephone. I’m additionally among the many minority not staring down at my telephone on a bus or practice, partly as a result of it offers me movement illness. I additionally hardly ever put on headphones whereas out, because of preferring to tune into my surroundings or let my thoughts wander.

So I feel the issue isn't the web itself however how we use it. Many fall into the entice of semi-passive consumption of media, permitting these on the opposite aspect of that content material to disproportionally affect their concepts and behaviors. Had been extra individuals clever and type of their utilization of the web, that’s what would make it higher. fr33_th1nk3r

Aviation is so built-in with the web that there could be chaos at airports. Should you contemplate that shutting down aviation on the identical time could be an excellent factor, simply contemplate how a lot meals is available in to the UK by air freight, and the way a lot will get exported the identical means (Scottish whisky and salmon). There’d be chaos. Socialismnow

Make everybody use their actual names on-line. You get a single e mail tackle and a single “internet-wide” person account. That can clear up most of your issues proper there. allanbabb (Replied to by BristolBoy: “Except you're a dissident in, say, Russia or China, after all”, and by DauGiHyfryd: “I ponder if a few of us will, in a yr or two, be taken to activity for our presently authorized posts within the UK.”)

My reply is a powerful no. Though there are some areas of the web which have grow to be walled gardens of algorithms, AI slop and promoting, there are such a lot of different areas the place the spirit of the early web lives on. One instance is the “indieweb” the place individuals amateurishly code their very own web sites, making public no matter content material they need reasonably than staying inside the bounds of media corporations.

The rise of the ‘indieweb’ additionally contains the resurgence of the e-mail e-newsletter (or RSS feed for those who like). As an alternative of scrolling on infinite social media feeds, I get my mind going with some thoughtfully written weblog posts in my inbox, introducing me to views I'd by no means have come throughout within the offline world. Lengthy reside the indieweb! accidentalusername

Yeah go on – let’s see what occurs. Extra outlets on the excessive avenue, more cash spent regionally. Extra social cohesion, interplay and tolerance? ForfrocksakesGibbons

The grass is all the time greener. As with all issues, the secret's stability. The web is a device. It’s as much as us collectively to take advantage of out of the instruments we have now. Sadly, the individuals energy of the web is more and more owned by the topmost shareholders. Kromenoid

Did you strive turning it off after which turning it again on once more? DeusPascitCorvos

Why cease there? Why not return to tribal hunter gatherer existence and carrying animal skins?

Face it. Each period has its challenges and this one is not any completely different. Turning off the web is throwing the child out with the bathtub water. krut

The power to speak, simply, with associates who reside world wide could be very a lot a optimistic final result from the web. That and Wikipedia, which is a crowning human achievement – an nearly full, detailed encyclopedia that's effectively sourced and referenced, arguably extra updated than, say, the encyclopedia Britannica. And science papers – I'd not like to return to digging by a library. Lupe_ev

Sure! From 8pm to 8am day-after-day. yogainspain

The important change is to make the administrators of social media companies personally chargeable for the content material of every little thing their algorithms place in individuals’s feeds. If they're made to pay for all misinformation, pretend information, hurt brought about they could clear up their programs. Aitku2

We might miss concern and nervousness. SpringCrocus

I simply appreciated the sardonic wit of the questioner posting this specific query for dialogue on … an web web site! Randomusername222

Search engines like google and yahoo, together with voice – activated and AI pushed, are invaluable as cognitive decay kicks in. Talking for a buddy … SimonMaxwell001

The one teams of individuals able to doing that on a large sufficient scale are governments, and, effectively, would you belief them to try this for the proper causes?

The web isn't the issue, it’s every little thing {that a} small handful of extraordinarily highly effective tech corporations determined was a necessity after the web took place. tildar

Web no, social media sure. lexicon_mistress

The entire level of the web is to keep away from being turned off and to interpret makes an attempt to intervene with it as injury and route round them. It’s even funnier when individuals discuss turning off AI. AI is more likely to change us off Corkerry

The web is rubbish and has made every little thing worse however I've made a shitload of cash from it. Manley

We must always at the very least delete every little thing and begin once more, this time with a lot stricter guidelines on anonymity and porn. Justdreaming

With out the web I wouldn’t know that 5G cellular indicators brought about Covid-19. Corkerry

The web has turned fringe perception into mainstream politics and coverage – from authoritarianism to vaccines. No, that’s enabled by “the web”, but it surely’s not what the web “is”, or anyplace close to every little thing networking is able to. leadballoon

A significant subject with the web in its present type is accountability. Anonymity and pseudonimity predominate and are exploited. You possibly can’t inform the distinction between a malign overseas actor and somebody with a real grievance. Clickbait content material is picked and amplified by the media giving it false weight. Frustratingly, the instruments that guarantee accountability and stop anonymity have been round for over 20 years however expertise corporations haven't carried out them. We're paying the worth for the liberal and paranoid – albeit well-intentioned – philosophies on which the web was based which permit identification to be obfuscated. The ironic scenario we now discover ourselves signifies that criminals can talk securely -using the mentioned technologies- whereas conserving their identities secret. This wasn’t a part of the plan but it surely might nonetheless be corrected. The query is, who is ready to choose up the invoice? ChrisGilbert

I spend all Sunday alone in my flat. I fairly like daft cat pics on t’web to cheer me up or phoning household and associates abroad utilizing Messenger or WhatsApp. I’d be much more remoted than I'm now with out it. scouser58

I've been steadily lowering my time on-line and my life is turning into richer and quieter. I take heed to CDs, learn books and simply spend extra time being attentive to the world round me. This could solely be described as liberating.

Was alarmed to learn that mail service is turning into extra restricted in some locations. This takes away our means to have a selection in how we conduct enterprise and the way we attain out to others by way of publish. The web should not grow to be the one option to talk! LauraW

I'd love a dialogue of how precisely the AI economic system will work with out staff. (I’ve unplugged every little thing however the web – no apps, no streaming companies, no social media – simply web.) irisbjones

Trump solely has to signal a directive within the pursuits of “nationwide safety” that briefly suspends US cloud infrastructure corporations similar to Alphabet, AWS, Azure, Cloudflare, and so on, from supplying their companies to a rustic, then sit again as they endure financial collapse. wyrcommunity

Mendacity in mattress on a Sunday morning studying the (on-line) Guardian on the opposite aspect of the world. I'd miss that. Bizzytheginge

I had no concept what the “web” was till I Googled it. It sounds terrible! huw1964

If we did, I’d miss sending and receiving emails, Wikipedia, Google pictures, masterpieces of world artwork, looking out poems, tune lyrics, immortal quotations and previous films, YouTube music, translating different languages into english, each day information, critics of garbage and conspiracies, and Notes & Queries, which asks all the proper questions. I'd undoubtedly not miss insolent and boastful social media, unending podcasts and smartphone selfies. RPOrlando, by e mail

If the web have been to crash completely tomorrow, I wouldn’t be upset. I could also be an previous fart however to me the pre web days have been higher. It was so good when you would search for somebody’s quantity in a telephone guide and provides them a name and they'd truly reply. That doesn’t occur any extra. Now if you wish to discuss to somebody you must have the within scoop on their quantity after which ship them a textual content to inform them that at such and such time you can be giving them a name after which, simply perhaps, they may truly reply. This isn’t progress, that is simply plain bizarre.

I’m a senior and it could be unwise to only run off to a cabin within the woods however actually, I would as effectively be a hermit within the woods with how the world has grow to be. I’m fed up with how issues are and the place we appear to be heading. Issues aren’t bettering, they're getting worse and the web is basically in charge. TimMcGiffin, by e mail

Sure! I converse as a toddler of the 90s, in my opinion every little thing was higher again then and it acquired worse right down to many components however the greatest one could be the web. Pretend information is an issue, social media takes dumb individuals, makes them dumber and spreads its ignorance quicker than any pandemic.

Convey again Argos catalogues, teletext, the cinema listings within the native paper, deliver again the native paper at an inexpensive value, staffed by people, not AI bots. Convey again magazines (although clearly enhance paper recycling infrastructure). You possibly can’t hack a checkbook from Moscow, you may’t destabilise a rustic utilizing a ham radio midway around the world. It’s time to cease viewing hi-tech as the way in which ahead. Martin Meyer, by e mail

I can’t consider something about life that the web has made higher besides totally free worldwide calling. Completely different sure, however not higher. After all I can keep in mind a time earlier than the web which a big proportion of the inhabitants can't, in order that they don't have anything with which to check it. I’d be very happy to return to the 1980’s, with out Margaret Thatcher after all. Sam McGregor, Bideford, Devon

If the web have been shut off tomorrow, there could be extra jobs, extra friction, extra gatekeepers. However the snake oil salesmen would stay. They all the time have.

The query isn’t whether or not we must always flip the web off. The device isn't the illness. Our refusal to domesticate discernment is. Lynette Seebohm, by e mail