I didn’t even see your response until now. I have had a tendency to leave comments on this blog and move on, so if I’ve failed to respond to anything else, it’s because I haven’t seen it.

To answer your question, I’m 25. I remember getting onto forums when I was 8 or 9–using an online service that had nothing to do with the world wide web. I don’t even know if the web was well established at that point. I actually met my wife, who lived in Norway at the time, online about 8 years ago.

You grew up communicating online? Wow, how young are you? (don’t have to share that info here, obviously)

Just wanted to play devil’s advocate–while sitting in front of the TV doesn’t help developing motor skills, I think playing video games helps with hand-eye coordination at least.

But video games are addictive, too-probably more so than TV. They combine the active aspects of the internet with an emphasis on the fantasy and escapism offered by some TV shows–at least on the internet, more often than not, we’re dealing with day-to-day reality on some level.

I think the addictiveness of any medium is dependent somewhat on a person’s temperament. For example, I don’t miss TV, as I mentioned–but when my internet connection goes out, I feel genuinely deprived. I have grown very accustomed to having information at my fingertips, and to being able to interact with so many different people so quickly and easily. In some ways the internet may keep us connected, but in other ways, it may socially isolate us. I had to really learn how to deal with people face-to-face, having spent much of my childhood interacting with people online instead.

I am with you in terms of being bewildered by how people are attached to their TVs. We own one but never watch — we got it out of our system in 2002 and have never wanted one since. We just keep it around for severe weather information only, and even then, we go to internet first.

That said, internet can be powerfully addictive, too. News, e-mail, forums — some days, I do wonder if I’ll be happier without it.

Anything can be addictive, as you said, and it can interfere with lives. It’s time to reevaluate when you can’t stop it when you told yourself what’s when you were going to quit and go do something else.

ari