[alphang]

Funny you should mention 'forcing them to':

"I'll wake up in the morning and go on Facebook just ... because," Casey says. "It's not like I want to or I don't. I just go on it. I'm, like, forced to. I don't know why. I need to. Facebook takes up my whole life." http://kottke.org/13/05/wanting-to-be-liked

[antoko]

replace "facebook" with "HN" in the quote above... How many of us could have said that?

Are we forced to be here?

[xtracto]

And Reddit, and Slashdot and WoW and usenet...

Aren't there studies that find there is an element of addiction to browsing the internet?

[jamesjguthrie]

"Withdrawal symptoms: If the person stops using the Internet, they experience unpleasant feelings or physical effects."

It's a bit like having a drug addiction really.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder

[CyberDroiD]

Wanting to stay connected and communicate with other humans is not a disorder, it's actually quite healthy!

I think it is fascinating that people feel compelled to visit Facebook or any website, and don't know why. It's like calling someone every morning: you want to communicate. If you stop doing that suddenly, you'll miss it.

Calling it an 'addiction' or 'some strange social force' or other conspiracy ideas are interesting, but flawed arguments.

[qu4z-2]

I somewhat question the effectiveness of ... let's say Reddit as actual communication, though. Maybe I'm projecting, but I find my online social interactions are nice, but don't really compare to actually hanging out with friends, or even taking time to do something I enjoy, like cooking a nice meal or whatever.

At the end of a couple of hours of commenting on people I know's pictures of cats or whatever I look back and think "Wow, where'd that time go?" whereas if I've done something "productive" I feel much better. It's possible that's just because I've filed time-on-the-internet under "wasting time" and so I'm judging myself, but I think the feeling bad was the reason I decided I shouldn't do it, not the other way 'round.

Sorry, that turned into a ramble.

[fudged71]

To me, it's the fear of missing something important. Something that I would regret not seeing.