Skip to content
Technology & Innovation

The Internet’s True Costs

“The Internet is a Soviet bread line,” says Damon Darlin at The New York Times. Sure we are elated at all the “free” content, but we lose hours and hours searching for what we want.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

“The Internet is a Soviet bread line,” says Damon Darlin at The New York Times. Sure we are elated at all the “free” content, but we lose hours and hours searching for what we want. “Paying with time rather than money seems just as common on the Web. I jump through a number of hoops nearly every day to find my favorite television shows online, having cut my cable and TiVo DVR service to save about $110 a month. So to avoid paying about $3.60 a day, I instead spend 5 to 10 minutes searching for shows on Hulu.com or Clicker.com. Is it worth it? I don’t know.”

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Related
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
13 min
with

Up Next
“The world we live in is so overrun with environmental pollutants that it is next to impossible to keep oneself truly healthy.” Sadhbh Walshe at The Guardian laments the lack of regulation.