Just when you thought the world was going to hell in a handbasket comes a hopeful bit of news: for (apparently) the first time, porn is no longer the most-searched-for thing on the internet. Social networking sites are Number One. Personally, I don’t think porn is *necessarily* a bad thing, but I do think actual human interaction is a better thing.* This is, I think, quite a hopeful finding for those worried that technology is making us more distant from each other, and also for those feminists who have thought that pornography is inexorably exerting greater and greater control over our lives. (And nice for those like me who have been dubious about both of these claims!) This is at least some evidence against those worries: people are, increasingly, more interested in actual interaction with other people.
*Hmm… Looking at this claim, I’m no longer so sure, since plenty of actual human interaction is bad. I’m not quite sure how to formulate what I mean, and would appreciate suggestions!
“people are, increasingly, more interested in actual interaction with other people.”
I wonder about the implicit assumption behind that ‘increasingly’. I suspect people have *always* been more interested in actual interactions with other people, and the only difference now is that we’re conducting more of those interactions online (when previously they were offline).
Excellent point, Richard.
I think questioning that “actual human interaction is a good thing” is good. Watching porn can be understood as human interaction, especially when it is done in pairs or groups, and is arguably not a good thing (though not *necessarily* a bad thing, as you put it).
But thanks for the link. This is indeed interesting!
Or, gasp, the majority of people don’t find porn very exciting on a constant basis.
[...] via Feminist Philosophers, social networking sites have passed porn as the top attraction on the internet [...]