Life Online

 How do you view the World-Wide-Web? As another form of entertainment? 

No, a lot better than that,  and a lot worse too. The Internet is much more seductive and addictive than TV, or movies or any form of entertainment. And  it is also much more open to both good and evil.

Why do you say that? 

Because of the extremes the Internet embraces, the good and bad uses of the Internet.  Look at Internet addiction, for example. TV is to Internet as marijuana is to heroin or cocaine. TV, the lesser or milder addiction,  prepares the way for the stronger and more overpowering. The Internet can get us so caught up in our own grandiosity that we become completely blind to how stuck we are on ourselves, and are totally convinced that we are very self giving and generous with all the people we are in touch with online. The Web easily becomes Ego-inflation under the guise of  self-donation. The self-deceit the Internet invites us to engage in is infinite in scope.

That sounds extreme and exaggerated. The Internet is only a tool that can be put to whatever use one wants to use it for. It's not evil in itself.  Like marijuana, for example: marijuana can be put to bad use, but it can be used for medicinal purposes too. 

We're saying the same thing. Anything good can be put to a bad use. And the bad use, the abuse, does not deny the goodness of the proper use. But the abuse of the Internet is more harmful than other abuses precisely because the Internet seems so benign as a tool. 

 What proof do you have that the Internet can be so good and so bad? 

Look at the evidence for yourself.  One example where you can find the data is on the Internet: look into the volume of porn sites, the variety of porn that is available nationally and internationally, plus the ever increasing amount of money spent on Internet porn. It is in the billions of dollars. Think of the money, hours, energy, lives wasted, both by the purveyors and the users. Incalculable. That's just one example of tremendous misuse. It is also possible to participate  in Twelve step programs on the Internet, which is certainly a good use,  to deal both with alcohol or sex addictions, but the participants are minuscule in proportion to those of us who are addicted.

Don't you read blogs, or news reports, or do research online? 

Yes. The Internet is a good tool for that. But, by its nature, the Internet encourages superficiality, not depth. 

But the intellectual work of the greatest minds is made available on or through the Internet! The Web is like a world library at your fingertips. That's not superficiality. 

It may be out there, but it is buried under mountains and mountains of  error, opinion, misinformation, half-truths, trivia and nonsense, so the wisdom of the ages is hardly at your fingertips. No search engine can perform the work of sorting out the fool's gold from the real thing. Search engines have no sense of value, no way to prioritize or measure worth.  You know the verse in the Gospel where Christ talks about a drag-net that collects all sorts of things, good and bad, and then the angels sort it out? That's not a bad image of the Internet, except we aren't angels when it comes to sorting out, and easily lose ourselves in enthusiasms that are self destructive. 

 Doesn't the Internet facilitate global communication? Isn't that a great boon?You can be in touch with people everywhere! 

Yes, but communication has many levels, levels of intimacy and trust, and takes time to develop. Some people actually do speak the truth  with love on the Internet.  But many of us are just narcissistic and exhibitionistic, instead of humbly and honestly communicating. I still cherish a hand written letter as the most thoughtful and honest communication, even though some blogs come close. Face to face conversation is next, telephone conversation is third, email is fourth, and texting doesn't even make my list. I hate cell phone chatter. It doesn't seem like real conversation, just constant wordiness without any real depth to it. I'm not saying that real communication doesn't take place on-line, just that the quantity of  the posing, posturing and spinning proliferates.

I bet you belong to Facebook or one of the other Internet social enclaves? 

 Yes, I like to see what like -minded people think, to stay in touch with people I don't see on a day by day basis, and to enjoy their perspectives.

Fine, but you already know what like -minded people think. 

True. But there is comfort in numbers, fun in the camaraderie, and strength in the mutual support..

Do you think true dialogue is possible on the Internet?  Only rarely. Exposure to opposing points of view certainly can take place. But genuine movement  towards truth? I think that requires a more personal setting. The Internet creates the illusion of intimacy, not the real thing.