The Web Will Kill Us All, Unless We Take a Walk in the Park
Will Facebook give us cancer? Not if we browse it on an iPhone in the park! Such is the pseudoscience of health and the Internet.
A study in Biologist, a science journal, concludes that the less we talk to our families, the more likely we are to die young. Psychologist Aric Sigman writes that lack of social contact actually interferes with our blood chemistry and immune system and could lead to "cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia," according to a British tabloid's summary. And Internet usage lowers social contact. Ergo, Facebook gives you cancer.
Yes, but what does that have to do with today's Internet, a Guardian blogger asks. The study Sigman cites dates back to 1998 — before Wi-Fi, before pervasive social networking sites, before cheap laptops, before iPhones. The phenomenon of an Internet-obsessed dad avoiding his family in the basement doesn't reflect how people use the Internet now. If anything, the contemporary Web affords an excess of social contact.
So, is it dangerous to use the Web? Yes, if you're doing it inside. A recent study finds that access to nature improves health in all kinds of ways. Trees can even improve the symptoms of ADHD. And treeless urban environments increase aggression.
There's an obvious conclusion: Blog if you must, but do it outdoors. And whatever you do, don't be that guy reading FriendFeed at a bar instead of talking to your drinking companions.
