{"id":21423,"date":"2026-01-04T14:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T13:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/readers-reply-should-we-turn-the-internet-off\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T13:37:46","slug":"readers-reply-should-we-turn-the-internet-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/readers-reply-should-we-turn-the-internet-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers reply: should we turn the internet off?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers\u2019 questions ponders the online world \u2013 from what\u2019s despicable to what\u2019s indispensable<\/p>\n

\u2022 This week\u2019s question: can you really fake it to make it<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy \u2013 from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Should we turn the internet off? Mees Visser, Groningen, the Netherlands<\/em><\/p>\n

Send new questions to <\/em>nq@theguardian.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nThe long-running series in which readers answer other readers\u2019 questions ponders the online world \u2013 from what\u2019s despicable to what\u2019s indispensable
\n\u2022 This week\u2019s question: can you really fake it to make it?
\nThe internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy \u2013 from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Should we turn the internet off? Mees Visser, Groningen, the Netherlands
\nSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers\u2019 questions ponders the online world \u2013 from what\u2019s despicable to what\u2019s indispensable \u2022 This week\u2019s question: can you really fake it to make it? The internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy \u2013 from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it …<\/p>\n

Readers reply: should we turn the internet off?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":21424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21423"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}