My prediction would be gradually the hyper connectedness becomes the norm while the last generations who remember “quiet” die. Of course there would likely always be small fractions of the population who look to the past and practice mindfulness, almost like how people re-enact the civil war battles. But I would guess largely highly saturated connectedness becomes who we are, in spite of a vocal minority who long for a different way of living.
It feels different than most old ideas that I've seen die before. Yes, of course there's always an inevitable "good old times" moment, but this one... There's something lurking behind it. It's not just nostalgia, it has the roots of a fight seeded in it.
We'll see. Maybe I'm now just old enough that this time, it feels different. But it does not feel like what happened to VHS, or the CD, or land lines, or any number of things that we've declared outdated in the last few decades.
But I don't know if the freedom of being quiet is lost to the past. The digital detox is increasingly a thing now; the youthful are attuned to and aware of the manners in which they are marketed to. It's only natural that we begin to see countercurrents, and only natural that humans intentionally disconnect to be one with the world around them.
Yes, exactly. The internet has been a cure for this, and we're lucky to be around for it.
When books were invented, there was an outcry against the idea. "We'll never have to use our memories!" Yet books have generally been seen as a positive thing.
Why should the internet end up any different?
I'd recommend perusing The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, which suggests that exposure to rapid and substance-less feedback cycles can actually change brain chemistry in undesirable ways. The book is a bit sensationalist, but is nonetheless a good jumping-off point for exploring the perils of internet addiction.