1409 Online Sloth

Describing online activities needs subtler definitions. For example, if someone told you they spent 6 hr/day in a classroom, that’s impressive, but to say you spend that much time on your phone, that’s a wasteful addiction, the equivalent of online sloth. Of course, there’s plenty of ways to waste time on the Internet: social media, videogames, movies, porn; but watching YouTube history channels, political commentary, or how to fix your washing machine, are much more beneficial than doing many things that don’t involve a Wi-Fi connection. Exercise, cooking or gardening don’t have the long-term value of getting an online degree; those are the equivalent of offline sloth. Unfortunately, online viewing statistics point to time-wasting sites like TikTok & Instagram, and online porn is notorious for the amount of bandwidth it consumes, somewhere around a third. Popular YouTube channels are personality driven rather than informative; time & money spent playing videogames are the largest entertainment industry. It seems that most of the people spending vast amounts of time in cyberspace are indeed wasting it, but there are those that are getting ahead in life, all because of what’s productive online.