iCRAZY- how does the internet affect your life?

Have you read this article on the effect of the internet on our lives?

If not, I recommend you do so.

I have been thinking some deep stuff lately.  Mostly about life and time and the way I use my time and what my life consists of.  I spend a lot of time online, especially this summer.  I've got some big goals with this blog and those goals require a lot of time on the internet.  A lot.   Naturally, I tend to wonder what the effect of so much time online is.

Last week I wrote a post on the pros and cons of blogging.  I talked about how much I love the blogging "community" but how I also feel a certain pressure to measure up to other bloggers.  I mentioned that I fear the blogging is not "real" and doesn't accurately portray real people.  The response to this post was phenomenal!  There were so many bloggers and women who added their two cents-  so many genuine responses, and if you haven't read up on them yet, well what are you waiting for?!?

This whole thing has been on my mind ever since, so when I saw this cover of Newsweek, my interest was immediately piqued.  I read.

Interesting things I learned in the article:

-The average American spends at least 8 hours a day looking at a screen.  Americans spend more time doing this than any other thing, including sleeping.

-More than a third of smartphone users get online before even getting out of bed in the morning.  (Are you guilty of this?  I know I am!)

-The average person, regardless of age, sends and receives 400 texts a month.  Teenagers send and receive 3,700 texts a month.

-The internet and mobile technology can help contribute to insanity.

-The more time online, the more the brain showed signs of “atrophy.”

-The brain of a person who is addicted to drugs and alcohol looks the same as a brain that is addicted to the internet.

-An article in the journal Pediatrics noted the rise of “a new phenomenon called ‘Facebook depression,’?” and explained that “the intensity of the online world may trigger depression.”  (Reminds me a lot of the "blogger effect"- not feeling as good as everyone else because of their seemingly perfect lives.)

 -Children describe mothers and fathers unavailable in profound ways, present and yet not there at all. “Mothers are now breastfeeding and bottle-feeding their babies as they text,”  said the article.

- The effect on high schoolers- adolescents who are still so malleable is especially profound.  According to the article, "This evaporation of the genuine self also occurred among the high-school- and college-age kids she interviewed. They were struggling with digital identities at an age when actual identity is in flux. “What I learned in high school,” a kid named Stan told Turkle, “was profiles, profiles, profiles; how to make a me.” It’s a nerve-racking learning curve, a life lived entirely in public with the webcam on, every mistake recorded and shared, mocked until something more mockable comes along."

- The article ends by saying this:  "…all of us, since the relationship with the Internet began, have tended to accept it as is, without much conscious thought about how we want it to be or what we want to avoid. Those days of complacency should end. The Internet is still ours to shape. Our minds are in the balance."

I'm not exactly sure what is meant by "The Internet is still ours to shape."  I did, however, read a quote by Marjorie Hinckley that really helped me put things in perspective.  She says this: 

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

This helped me to think about my ultimate goals in life- strong faith, strong marriage, and strong family.  And I thought about how the internet is either contributing or not contributing to that.  I came up with a few ideas of things I could do to help "shape" the internet and these are them:

- Stay true to myself on my blog.
- Keep some things private.  There are some details of my life readers will never know about online.  There are triumphs, happinesses, fears, and insecurities I just won't give to the internet.  There is information I have that is personal and sacred, and I am going to keep this that way.
- Keep track of the amount of time I spend online.  Allow myself a certain amount, but when the time is done, get off.
-Make sure I am spending more face to face time with my loved ones than internet time.

How about you?  Does this trend of the internet seeping into every little part of our lives worry you?  Those of you with children, do you think it is important to monitor their time online, and if so, how do you do so?  Do you see the internet's growing pervasiveness in our lives as a threat?  Is it something you worry about or is it all being blown out of proportion?