The Web

[Belacqua]

What do you think about this description? How much do you see this playing out?

I think there's a lot of truth in what he says. 

And I'm sure he acknowledges that the Internet has many legitimate and helpful uses. After all, he has agreed to have his interview put on the Internet. 

We all make use of maps and databases and things like that. Find a medical specialist near you, all that. 

But there's no doubt that the Internet has shaped people's behavior and encouraged undesirable things as well. 

I think the whole interview is worth reading:

https://europeanconservative.com/article...uel-james/

Just because the speaker is conservative doesn't mean he is speaking nonsense. For example, he says:

The essence of pornography is taking what is really an experience between two subjects (a man and a woman) and turning it into a consumable commodity. Sex is not a product. It’s not something that can instantly downloaded by an isolated individual and then discarded after it accomplishes its purpose. Sex is personal. It’s human. It’s experiential. Pornography, especially online pornography, creates an artificial product that cannot really satisfy, because it was taken from something that is ontologically different.

Obviously, I think that sex is not only and always between a man and a woman. Same-sex sex is sex. But what he says about porn being ontologically different from person-to-person sex is definitely true. On-line communication between people you'll never meet in real life is not the same as old fashioned friendship. It can be a very good thing, but it is not the same, and it has risks as well. 

There is a lot of evidence that young people's minds are affected by Internet use. Attention spans seem to be shortening, which means that the ability to focus on tasks and maintain concentration is harmed. Porn is one aspect of it, because it gives the illusion of instant gratification without consequences, but this is not completely different from simply watching very short non-porn videos, or posting comments and waiting for the dopamine that comes from clicks and likes. Someone raised on this stuff is NOT learning the ability to sit down and read a serious novel for a couple of hours. 

My niece has degrees in early childhood development, and she is extremely strict about her twins' computer use. She has been horrified at all the times she has seen little kids get handed a tablet just as a way to keep them quiet.

I am extremely grateful for some things the Internet has given us. When I moved to Japan it cost a fortune to telephone my family in America, but now we can do hours-long Skype calls for free. And I'm sure that my academic research would have taken YEARS longer without Google. But I am very glad that my mind was mostly formed before the Internet took over.