Advertising on television and in magazines has changed greatly from the time when it was permissible to advertise almost anything. We no longer see how romantic it is to smoke a cigarette, and people seem to drink nothing stronger than beer in heart warming social frameworks. But even so, smoking and drinking are still heavily encouraged by the numerous methods of persuasion that abound in our society, and often people find themselves in addictive situations as a result of a promise of glamour.
Whether or not internet use can be considered an addiction may still be open for debate, but the societal pressure to start using this tool, to go online and discover all that the internet has to offer seems to be more reminiscent of tobacco advertising than of anything related to technology. And we have no lack of opportunities to nurture our addiction. We're encouraged to do our banking and our shopping via the internet, and that just about everything else. We all breathe air, though nobody would claim that we're addicted to it. If the internet is going to become an all-inclusive technology that pervades every walk of life, we won't be able to survive without it. Excessive use will be an anachronism, and the line between everyday use and addiction will be even further blurred.