Call me old-fashioned, but the recent results of a Zogby/463 poll still took me by surprise. Nearly one quarter of Americans report that the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other. Say what? I thoroughly enjoy my time on the Internet, and it’s hard to imagine what we did before it was available, but it’s not taking Mr. F’s place anytime in the next millenium or two….I’ll be waiting to see what relationship experts think about this one.
The poll featured some other interesting tidbits. Singles were more likely (31%) than the general population (24%) to say that the Internet could serve as a substitute for a significant other, but there were no differences between men and women. Self-styled “progressives” were more likely to view the Internet as a substitute for a significant other (31%), compared to only 18% of those self-identifying as “very conservative.” I’ll leave that one to the political scientists to figure out.
You can see the entire poll results here.
One of the darker findings was how anxious many Americans are to have the government regulate Internet content. Only 36% believed that blocking video content would be unconstitutional. That would be me–if you start blocking some content, where do you stop? Yes, some of the stuff is pretty horrific (beheadings, etc.), but we’re not China either (yet).
Among the other interesting findings are results showing that 10% of Americans said the Internet made them feel closer to God, 20% said they’d sell their name to somebody for $100,000 and 78% of 18-24 year olds have a MySpace or Facebook page. Kudos to Zogby for asking some very interesting questions.
8 Comments
c.busso · October 29, 2007 at 7:58 pm
The part of this entry that stuck out to me was the censorship. I wonder what the demographics of this study were if only 36% thought it was unconstitutional. I think it is the caregivers responsibility to regulate internet use just like tv. There are some bad things on the internet, but there is also HBO and all the other paid channels with the same kind of things on them.
Laura Freberg · October 29, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I agree with c.busso. Here’s kind of a creepy survey result from the National Constitution Center (the percentages are those who got the answer correct):
Can you recall any of the rights guaranteed by the first amendment?
64%–speech
41%–religion
33%–press
17%–assembly
Amazing that only 33% recognized freedom of the press and only 64% recognized freedom of speech. I’ve seen other research that suggests that most Americans would vote against the Bill of Rights when the provisions are not identified as part of that document. You can see the rest of the survey at
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/CitizenAction/CivicResearchResults/NCCNationalPoll/TheAnswers.shtml
nichol.myers · October 30, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Although I have had a history of difficulties with garnering an appreciation for the opposite sex (insert elbow in the ribs here), I couldn’t imagine having a computer internet connection as a significant other.
For starters, you can’t “touch” an intangibility. The internet is great for “company,” so to speak and I myself have found online friendship via ICQ (the old standby to AOL IM and Yahoo, etc.). However, making the leap from online conversation to having a committed relationship with an object in space reflects two things in my opinion: our American-lean toward the electronic age and the distance seemingly created over the last 30 years in American marriages/relationships. Simply stated, our values pre-internet were of infidelity, companionship and understanding (not to mention, there were no hair-trigger divorces). Nowadays, simpler and quicker is better and less committment seems to be favored as well.
These developments are unfortunate — to say the least. I won’t be signing up for an online dating service any time soon, let alone accepting a proposal from my computer. 😉
TNguyen · October 30, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I actually spend about 80% of my time on the internet and am guilty of having a Myspace account. However, I cannot see myself actually “dating” the internet (I thought the internet was used to find your significant other?).
I am in a serious relationship and even as a girlfriend and a full-time student, I find most of my time dedicated to being online. I love what the internet lets me explore, however I don’t love the internet itself.
JacobAlv87 · November 1, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Hahaha…that is me laughing at the zogby poll. I honestly do not see how the internet can even come close to having a significant other. Those who feel different, I beleive, are simply trying to express their regard for the internet as a distraction from their own lonliness. Perhaps the internet keeps them busy and entertained, much like having a girlfriend or boyfriend, but It’s hard to me to understand how they feel it can be a substitute.
As for the censorship part of the blog, I think it would be ridiculous to block video content. Like C.Busso said, it is the responsibility of the caregivers to oversee what their children are looking at. If they honestly can’t be “the adult” and control their child’s computer use, then there may be bigger problems in the child-parent relationship that should be addressed.
mjblume · November 2, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Sometimes (especially when I’m procrastinating studying for a midterm–like now) I spend hours on end on the internet. I’m also guilty of checking my Facebook religiously…Anyway, though I think MacBooks are pretty sexy (I’m about to break-up with my PC), I don’t think I could ever get intimate with a machine. However, I have some friends that are CS majors, and they may feel differently.
As far as blocking videos and parts of the internet, this is not North Korea! It won’t happen. Parental controls are one thing, but total censorship is another story. I’m not surprised that only 36% of the country think internet censorship is unconstitutional. ..After Bush got voted in twice, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to politics.
I think I’m going off on a tangent. I’ll stop here…back to biopsych…
Dianawagen · November 7, 2007 at 11:39 am
Every wedding this year that I have been to was thanks to the computer! Every newlywed couple met on Match.com. This is strange in many ways but atleast its real people geting married in the end. The comupter just brought them together. I hope the best for them all and and never imagined that dating could be as easy as shoping for a new outfit. As I write this in the cal poly computer lab I can see an older guy checking out some Matches as I type. Wierd. Maybe the government should censor Match.com Make people go through some psychological testing before the first date, that might be benifiting for the future generations the .commers will create.
Engineobi.Com » The Internet as a Significant Other????? · October 29, 2007 at 7:31 pm
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