More than half of Americans would scrub themselves from the internet, 18% wish it didn't...

[midian182]

In brief: The internet is now so embedded in society that for those of us who were around at the time, it's hard to remember what life was like before it covered the world. But while the web offers many benefits, a lot of people wish they could remove their digital footprint. According to a new survey, 55% of Americans would delete themselves from the web if they could.

NordVPN, one of our favorite virtual private networks (download here), carried out a survey about internet users in America, which covers about 90% of the population. It's interesting to see that more than half of the 1,002 consumers said they would delete themselves from the web, with the most popular reason, given by 47% of participants, being that they don't trust the net.

The next most common reason people want themselves removed from the web was the fear that someone would hack them, shared by 42% of respondents.

It's understandable why some worry their online presence could be exploited, but a surprisingly large 18% of those surveyed said they wish there wasn't an internet at all, and 8% said they never use it.

Looking at what specific online data people want deleted, over half said financial information, 26% percent said embarrassing moments, 26% said old dating/social media profiles, 24% named unflattering photos/videos, and 23% said previous employment history.

The survey also asked what personal information people would like to know about someone they know. Criminal records was the most popular answer, followed by social media accounts, and, ironically, financial information.

It also seems people are willing to pay plenty of money to be completely anonymous online. A majority 31% said they'd pay up to $100, 12% would pay between $101 - $500, 8% would pay between $500 - $1,000, and 3% would pay more than $1000.

NordVPN said the results aren't a sign that people were afraid of the internet but aware of the good practices required to stay safe, such as using a VPN, sharing less personal information online (especially through social media), and using strong, unique passwords, preferably via a safe password manager.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/94214-over-half-us-citizens-would-scrub-themselves-internet.html

 

[theruck]

And how many of those 18% realize the effect of no internet on their lives?

 

[envirovore]

Don't get me wrong, I (for the most part) throughly enjoy the internet and it's spoils, however I do feel that giving the general public (myself included) access to it was a huge mistake.

 

[Dimitriid]

This data is too broad to be useful. For example, I can immediately tell you that if you *just* say "The internet" you get these results. But if you actually narrow it down to "Social Media Networks" for example, THAT is what the majority of people find issue with and want to leave behind, except they can't because social networks are built to trigger addiction like responses from people that are already engaged there: Everybody loathes Facebook but billions check it from regularly to frequently according to their own numbers they lost audience for the first time ever very recently. Same for Twitter. Same for youtube or twitch or tiktok any and all of these networks have an abundance of people talking about their grievances with the services while being actively using them anyway.

Yet if you ask the exact set of people that answered they wanted to leave "the internet" if they would like to work remotely permanently, an inherent part of "the internet" a good percentage of them if not *most* of them would revert their answers. Similar trends if you ask them if they want to go back to buying DVDs and CDs as THE ONLY option with streaming services not being available at all. Same answers if you ask them if they want to go back to ONLY having a travel agent and very high costs of reputable hotels to travel and give up plane ticket sites and airbnbs most people just wouldn't want to actually get rid of "the internet"

The issue is not telecommunications themselves: it is almost universally seen as a net positive and huge improvements that makes some activities orders of magnitude better. No the issue and the major miscommunication here, is the corporate influence and outright dominance of social networks as what nearly all people know as "the internet" as it's the main curating portals for it.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

So most people would rather watch TV on an over-the-air vacuum tube box in glorious interlaced 320x180? Most people would rather listen to music on their transistor radio that crackles when driving under a power line? Most people would rather wait for an attendant at the gas station to swipe their credit card with an addressograph so they can pocket a receipt that leeches black ink over everything it touches?
I doubt it very much……..

 

[elementalSG]

Most people also voted to ban dihydrogen monoxide. So…

 

[fps4ever]

So most people would rather watch TV on an over-the-air vacuum tube box in glorious interlaced 320x180? Most people would rather listen to music on their transistor radio that crackles when driving under a power line? Most people would rather wait for an attendant at the gas station to swipe their credit card with an addressograph so they can pocket a receipt that leeches black ink over everything it touches?
I doubt it very much……..

18% is not "most people" and I don't remember those things being that bad except for the cc theft issues. More importantly all of those things pale in comparison to how much the Internet can damage your personal life. Don't get me wrong I think the Internet is a wonderful technology advancement but it has also been detrimental with social, privacy and financial issues beyond what most could even fathom before it was invented.

 

[Nobina]

Junkies wish they would stop using drugs but they can't cause they're too addicted. We're never getting off the internet no matter how much it impacts us negatively mentally.

 

[Strontium]

While I can't say that life was "better" before the internet age, it was certainly less stressful. Now, it only takes 20 minutes from the time one person lies to a reporter until riots start...

 

[Davidc145]

You survey people that use a VPN then act surprised when they say they wish to limit their data on the internet? I'm shocked it's only 55%

 

[psycros]

What does "90% of the population" mean in the first paragraph?

 

[Kosmoz]

Junkies wish they would stop using drugs but they can't cause they're too addicted. We're never getting off the internet no matter how much it impacts us negatively mentally.

Never? I would not say that with WW3 around the corner...

I'm pretty sure that a major external factor will stop internet worldwide in the near future.

 

[waclark]

And how many of those 18% realize the effect of no internet on their lives?

Well, for some of us, it had no impact when we didn't have it. Or rather, it had no impact that we cared about. Sure, letters took days to send and receive, but that was expected so no one had an issue with it. Ordering "online" was slightly harder, you had to get a Sears catalog and call someone or go to the store and order something not in stock. We had to keep encyclopedias at home or go to the library to look up "facts".

But for all those shortcomings there were benefits. It was a lot harder to steal someone's personal information and use it to access bank accounts. Our "mailboxes" weren't filled with letters that could access our personal information if we opened them. We couldn't be harrassed by trolls outside our own local neighborhoods.

This is not to say I want the Internet to go away, but if I could go back in time and change one thing, it would be to disallow anonymous use of the Internet except in specific instances like crime reporting or whistleblowing. It's the old, great power, great responsibility homily.

 

[Sausagemeat]

In fairness, I believe it was a higher percentage of Americans who voted to stop teaching Arabic numerals in schools.

On a less silly note I do feel communications have changed the world vastly, mostly for the good but also for the bad. When I was 20 in 2007 I moved to Thailand. I had no smartphone, no laptop and the only internet I had access to was in an Internet cafe. I didn’t speak to anyone from home for a month after I left and when I eventually did it was either an email or a short expensive long distance phone call. But nowadays when I’m out there or anywhere I’m practically permanently connected via a piece of glass in my pocket. It’s big progress yes but we have definitely lost something along the way.

 

[MaestroIT]

Why doesn't the "yes" and "no" answers sum to 100%? What were the other options?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The internet is the greatest achievement of mankind and coincidentally is destroying our minds and traditions.

 

[Underdog]

And enabling mass surveillance by governments, organisations, and talented hackers and fraudsters.
Apart from that its great!

 

[bviktor]

Yeah, "would".

 

[Dd663]

You survey people that use a VPN then act surprised when they say they wish to limit their data on the internet? I'm shocked it's only 55%

Yeah, there's obvious sampling bias at play here. And with a sample size of just 1000, too, this survey is in no way representative of American viewpoints as a whole.

What's funny though is the claim that 8% don't use the internet at all... When the respondents were all VPN customers. Who were probably sent the survey over the internet.

 

[GregonMaui]

"18% wish it didn't exist". I wonder how that correlates with people who don't like the ease at which outlandish claims can be fact checked.

 

[adamada72]

I'd give up the internet in a heartbeat if we got back a culture that was interesting. Vapid, quick & low effort is the norm for much of everything now. I miss art and creativity. Thanks Net it's 50% your fault

 

[Gezzer]

"Studies" like this one are always problematic and barely scientific. And that's before asking if the entity surveying had any alternative motives, like selling a VPN service for example. How did they choose the participants? How were the questions actually worded and presented to the participants? Etc. While I'm sure that many, myself included, would love to sanitize our on-line presence to a certain degree, the Net and reduced privacy is now the norm so we have to deal with it, not wish it away.