50 things that are being killed by the internet

[Blue_Tires]

The internet is no respecter of reputations: innocent people have seen their lives ruined by viral clips distributed on the same World Wide Web used by activists to highlight injustices and bring down oppressive regimes...Below we have compiled - in no particular order - 50 things that are in the process of being killed off by the web, from products and business models to life experiences and habits. We've also thrown in a few things that have suffered the hands of other modern networking gadgets, specifically mobile phones and GPS systems.


Do you agree with our selections? What other examples can you think of? Please post your comments on the bottom of the story – we hope include the best suggestions in a fuller list.

1) The art of polite disagreement
While the inane spats of YouTube commencers may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".


2) Fear that you are the only person unmoved by a celebrity's death
Twitter has become a clearing-house for jokes about dead famous people. Tasteless, but an antidote to the "fans in mourning" mawkishness that otherwise predominates.


3) Listening to an album all the way through
The single is one of the unlikely beneficiaries of the internet – a development which can be looked at in two ways. There's no longer any need to endure eight tracks of filler for a couple of decent tunes, but will "album albums" like Radiohead's Amnesiac get the widespread hearing they deserve?


4) Sarah Palin
Her train wreck interviews with Katie Couric were watched and re-watched millions of times on the internet, cementing the Republican vice-presidential candidate's reputation as a politician out of her depth. Palin's uncomfortable relationship with the web continues; she has threatened to sue bloggers who republish rumours about the state of her marriage.


5) Punctuality
Before mobile phones, people actually had to keep their appointments and turn up to the pub on time. Texting friends to warn them of your tardiness five minutes before you are due to meet has become one of throwaway rudenesses of the connected age.


6) Ceefax/Teletext
All sports fans of a certain age can tell you their favourite Ceefax pages (p341 for Test match scores, p312 for football transfer gossip), but the service's clunking graphics and four-paragraph articles have dated badly. ITV announced earlier this year that it was planning to pull Teletext, its version.


7) Adolescent nerves at first porn purchase
The ubiquity of free, hard-core pornography on the web has put an end to one of the most dreaded rights rites of passage for teenage boys – buying dirty magazines. Why tremble in the WHSmiths queue when you can download mountains of filth for free in your bedroom? The trend also threatens the future of "porn in the woods" – the grotty pages of Razzle and Penthouse that scatter the fringes of provincial towns and villages.

8) Telephone directories
You can find Fly Fishing by J R Hartley on Amazon.


9) The myth of cat intelligence
The proudest household pets are now the illiterate butts of caption-based jokes. Icanhasreputashunback?


10) Watches
Scrabbling around in your pocket to dig out a phone may not be as elegant as glancing at a watch, but it saves splashing out on two gadgets.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6133903/50-things-that-are-being-killed-by-the-internet.html

[City of Mills]

1. Hahaha porn in the woods

What's up with that anyway? Me and my friends would ride our bmx bikes through the woods, and every now and then we'd come across some torn up pages of a Playboy or Hustler, it would be like discovering gold...the sounds of "Holy sh*t check it out!" and "Look at this one" would suddenly fill the air as we uncrinkled the ripped up sheets and ogled the water-stained pictures...

[pokerfan]

4. But Google Image Safe Search keeps it from our children!

There! They'll never figure out how to change that! At least not until they're eight.

(True story: I had to teach a 45 year old man how to switch it off so he could find porn with Google. :banghead:)

[bikebloke]

6. Lots of porn in the woods.

I have to wonder if many people were stashing their porn in the woods. Or was it a few starting a new stash after we kids discovered their old ones. I guess it was healthy curiosity that had us poking around tree stumps and hollow trees. Usually looking for turtles.

[pokerfan]

12. Tractors, farm equipment, abandoned cars, etc.

were also great sources. Less water damage that way. At least I hope that was water.

[Common Sense Party]

9. That wasn't water.

[pokerfan]

2. Seven Ways The Internet Is Ruining Your Life

September 23, 2009 by Andrew - Hunter College

Needless to say, the Internet is here to stay. It’s integrated into every aspect of life, from keeping in touch with friends to sealing business deals to finding the love of your life. It helps you do your homework, throw a party, figure out how to build a gravity bong – for anything you can think of, the Internet is there. But the Internet is also completely changing who you are. Here are 7 Ways the Internet Is Ruining Your Life.

1. It’s making you stupid

Before the collective idiot-savant brain, Google took over 90-percent of your thinking task load, you actually had to, you know, learn stuff. If you had a question you needed to answer, you’d have to go to the library to look it up. Not anymore. Now, because of the instant gratification of “Googling” something, we have nearly zero attention span needed to study, and really learn something (especially something that won’t make you money.) Not to mention all the things you used to have to remember, like addresses or who your friends are, that are now just stored somewhere online. Seriously, you’re about one iPhone app away from scrapping the whole thinking thing altogether.

2. It’s warping your sense of reality

While the Internet does a great job at connecting people from all over the world (usually in order to have regretful sex), it’s not so good for figuring out how people actually operate. In other words, just because you’ve met people from all over the world doesn’t mean you have the same wisdom as someone who’s actually traveled all over the world. You may have plenty of information, but without the context of experience, it means very little, despite the feeling that you know how things really work.

3. It’s ruining your social skills

Despite all the additional etiquette rules we’ve all had to acquire for things like sending an email, “Facebooking,” posting in forums or chatting online, the Internet is actually making you worse at real socializing by the day. Why? Because every second you spend on the Internet is a second not spent interacting with someone face-to-face. Now, when people could talk face-to-face, like at an office, they email or IM each other, instead of just turning their chair 90-degrees and saying, “Yo where the fuck are your TPS reports?”

4. It’s making you fat

I’m sure this one needs no explanation, but just to be safe: If you spend all your time sitting at a desk or on your couch with a computer on your lap, you’re going to get fat. Period. Along with making you fat, the Internet is also making you lazy, both mentally and physically. (Seriously, when was the last time you walked to a book store?) Plus, the lazier you get, the fatter you get. And the process just spirals out of control until you’re too obese to masturbate. What then?!

5. It’s turning you into a douchebag

Besides keeping you from getting laid and making you suck at small talk in the real world, spending too much time online slowly turns anyone into a complete dick. That’s because people aren’t programmed to speak anonymously. When we do, we start acting like complete dipsh!ts every chance we get. And before you know it, you’re screaming at someone in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS about which cute cat video is better. I mean, c’mon – have some self-respect.

6. It’s stealing your privacy

Just FYI: You have zero privacy. Everything you do online – I mean everything: the emails you send, Websites you visit, what you write, even what your mouse scrolls over – everything is recorded, and kept in a searchable database. Not only that, but because of ubiquitous Internet access, people are now constantly available, which makes the concept of taking a vacation practically non-existent. Your bosses can now check your Facebook page to learn personal infor-mation about you. And God forbid you upload naked pictures of yourself – because that sh!t is never going away. Ever.

7. It’s making you boring

No matter how entertaining, engaging or informative the Internet can be, it’s making you boring as all hell. To not be boring, you need to actually do stuff. Go out into the world, travel, explore, drink, fight, fuck – just do something interesting that doesn’t involve a keyboard and a screen. That way, you’ll actually have some good stories to tell, some scars to show, something interesting to say. Twittering links and regurgitating ideas you read elsewhere does not make you a full, well-rounded person. It just makes you the same as everybody else.

[Heidi]

3. And so few can distinguish Helvetica from Arial.

What internet-enabled Cretins we're becoming. I suspect that not knowing seraph from sans-seraph type is next.

[pokerfan]

5. True that

But I know how I can find out! And that's really the important thing. Right?



(Or I could just ask someone on a message board.)

[evlbstrd]

7. Serif.

Seraphim are tiny angels.

[Heidi]

8. Speeling, too.

Teh Google has it, so you must be wrong. :rofl:

[evlbstrd]

11. I can speel just fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif

[pokerfan]

13. not to mention even the most rudimentary math skilz

[pokerfan]

10. I had no idea Ceefax was still around

Haven't been to the UK since 2000. I assumed it would have been replaced by now.

[insanity]

15. I loves me the Ceefax

As an American I always found the system oddly delightful.

And I confess to consulting the oracle of the modern age (Google) for just about everything.

Wolfram alpha, however, is quickly becoming the most useful source of knowledge.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Number 4 is fine with me. nt

[tabbycat31]

23. me too, but her fan club took over the comment section

[BuelahWitch]

16. I don't agree with number 9

All the LOLcat pictures in the world won't budge my belief that cats are smart enough to someday take over the world. Right after nap time, of course. ;)

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. "The art of polite disagreement"? Moron. You're more full of shit than a Mexican restaurant toilet.

Seriously.

:P

[PVnRT]

18. Stuff costs more than it used to! Young people use swear words!

[PeaceNikki]

19. CD's killed "Listening to an album all the way through", not the internet

The moment it became a one-button click to get to the next song, listening all the way through was dead.

[pokerfan]

21. True

Even in the bad old days, you couldn't listen to an entire album (on LP) with having to flip it over halfway through. Even eight tracks allowed you to listen to just 1/4 of the album over and over and avoid the other 75% if you wanted.

But with the internets, the single is back in a big way in that people are now purchasing music by the song/track now instead of getting stuck with an album of filler. And that's a positive, not a negative. And I still have the option of buying/listening to an entire album if an artist or group puts out something worth listening to all the way through. More choice and more control over my music is more better. I agree, it doesn't belong on the list.

[Initech]

20. Record stores

[RFKHumphreyObama]

22. George Allen's political career

I think the Internet played a key role in highlighting his despicable macacca comments and his shady background on racial issues and this probably played a big role in his defeat. Without the Internet, I think there's a good chance he would have made it to the White House :puke: