to the point where it has acquired quasi-addictive power, especially over younger generations.
Another Atlantic article points to the effect smartphones may be having on this younger generation (having the internet, specifically social media, with you at all times). Quote from the article from a 13 year-old: "I think we like our phones more than we like actual people."
digital technology has provided internet users with software tools which make it trivially easy to copy, edit, remix and publish anything that is available in digital form
Which is perfect for OER
And it's difficult to see how we could disable the network's facility for generating unpleasant surprises without also disabling the other forms of creativity it engenders.
I'm reminded of the power of social media to bring people together and tear them apart
All of which might lead a detached observer to ask: if the internet is such a disaster, how come 27% of the world's population (or about 1.8 billion people) use it happily every day, while billions more are desperate to get access to it?
This article is over 7 years old, so I thought I'd look up some more recent statistics. According to the International Telecommunications Union, 53.6% of households in the world have internet access. ITU 2017 Fact Sheet