
 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Jan. 10, 2007
/ 20 Teves, 5767
The Dark Side of the Internet
By
Pat Sajak
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I like the Internet. I use the Internet. I do more than half my shopping on the Internet. I have a website. I read most newspapers online. I know how to use a computer as well as most and better than some. So what is it about the so-called "online community" that worries me so? Why do I have a dark feeling about its impact on the next generation?
Let's start with the fact there is no "community" online. A community has houses and shops and schools and churches. It has places where people interact eye-to-eye. It's where you know who your friends are, and they know you. It's where you can shake a man's hand and take his measure. It's where you can turn to someone you trust in troubled times, and lend a hand to a neighbor.
The online version of community, on the other hand, is made up of millions of faceless screen names behind which people hide. It thrives on the kind of anonymity which brings out the worst in so many. It allows its users to sit in darkened rooms for hours on end while they pretend to be social. It's never having to really meet someone, have a real conversation or interact on a human level.
Most Internet users, of course, are not drawn into this nameless, faceless virtual world. They chat with their friends and do their homework and listen to music and research term papers. But for a growing number of young people, the Internet has become a place to hide from the real world. Support groups are springing up to help parents deal with children who have become recluses, even as they form a wider ring of online "friends".
Millions of man-hours are being lost as companies pay their workers to surf mindlessly or troll around various chatrooms. Relationships are torn apart as easily-available Internet pornography comes to dominate lives. Like fantasy sports, a frightening number of people are living fantasy lives. It's as if the invisible friends many young children create have become as real as the ever-beckoning keyboard of their laptop.
Ironically, you can use the Internet to find organizations which deal with Internet addiction. On at least one of them, the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery , you can take a quick test to see if you are an addict or are heading down that road.
The Internet has some wonderful possibilities in terms of spreading information and ideas and, ultimately, freedom around the globe, but it also poses the danger of creating a generation of users who are more comfortable sitting in front of a glowing screen talking with strangers than they are in dealing with the reality outside their doors.
It would be tragic if this technology, with the potential to open up the world, ended up enclosing all of us behind individual walls.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Pat Sajak's column by clicking here.
JWR contributor Pat Sajak is the recipient of three Emmys, a Peoples’ Choice Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's currently the host of Wheel of Fortune.
Archives
© 2007, Pat Sajak
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|