Your optimism is heartening. Seriously. I don’t share it, though. The Internet is a bell that cannot be unrung, barring in my mind some kinda cataclysmic Logan’s Run - type ending to things. “Thanks” to computers in public schools, and “learning as games”, now kids from even low-income families are computer literate (or getting there) by age 5 or 6. The Internet acts as mediator for their interactions with the world. Smart phones are basically mini computers as it is. Everything is being filtered through Social Media, “pics or it didn’t happen”, etc. 144 characters or TL; DR. It’s an embarrassment of riches, so much to choose from, so many options, that nothing worthwhile gets picked. I just can’t see a system like this being self-perpetuating; it’s gotta collapse in on itself sooner or later. I don’t think the Human Spirit was cut out for this kind of thing. Sure, inventing fire and getting burned and learning how to use it is great, but I don’t think too many folks see The Internet as anything but a plus. Almost no one is anti-internet. The only way to voice a hearable criticism of the Medium is via the Medium itself. It’s inserted itself everywhere. Commercials (not even for computters!) with images changed by hands that come onscreen and finger “page scroll” to the left or right. Totally unnecessary. But it puts everyone in mind of conceptualizing everything in a trope of computer interactivity. How much time do you spend online? How many times a day do you check your email? On “An Idiot Abroad”, Karl got a call from his wife, asking how to use the DVD player. And he was in Chichen Itza. How freaking depressing is THAT?
