iPhone: Not As Hot As Scarlett Johansson, But Good Enough As A Temporary Significant Other

from the perhaps-because-it-provides-access-to-Scarlett-Johansson-pictures dept

Sean Garrett writes in to point us to the bizarre/amusing/random factoids his tech-wonk/policy shop discovered in its latest poll of internet users. As Garrett notes, this poll is "completely without an agenda." Unlike most other polls, you can check out the actual questions asked, the demographic data and other relevant info. Given the topics covered, you can pretty much figure out why there's no need for an agenda here. Beyond the headline grabbers, such as the fact that many people (and, no, this shouldn't be a shock) find stars like Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson, and Patrick Dempsey more attractive than an iPhone, there are some interesting factoids mixed in. A somewhat scary 53% of people seem to think that online video content should be regulated, with 29% thinking it should have television-style regulations. It'll come as little surprise, I imagine, that the older you are, the more likely you are to be in favor of regulating content online. While 78% of those in the 18 to 24-year-old range have a social networking profile (that's it?) only 14% say it's an important part of their identity. Why else do you think those sites are so faddish? Too bad Microsoft didn't have this kind of data before it dumped $240 million into Facebook. Only 11% of folks are actually interested in having direct mind-access to the internet, but maybe that's because they haven't tried it yet. It would certainly solve the problem of feeling disconcerted when you're not connected. There are some other fun stats in there as well, including the fact that about a quarter of people responding see the internet as a perfectly acceptable temporary replacement for a significant other. Of course, their opinion might be different if that significant other were Scarlett Johansson...
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: data, internet, polls


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Oct 2007 @ 9:26pm

    LOL

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike F.M, 25 Oct 2007 @ 12:44am

    Would be worried.

    I would be seriously worried if a large percentage of people did find an iPhone more attractive than Scarlett Johansson. More useful, maybe. But more attrsactive?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    anuj, 25 Oct 2007 @ 1:03am

    Holy crap!

    iphone has brains and it looks attractive too....scarlett lacks the former :-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 2:34am

    "It'll come as little surprise, I imagine, that the older you are, the more likely you are to be in favor of regulating content online." what exactly are you imagining ?!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 4:41am

    Older people know less about the internet. If you don't know what something is or how it works, regulate it to hell untill it dies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    b00x, 25 Oct 2007 @ 5:06am

    Internet regulation

    I am 63 years old, so I guess I'm one of those "older people (who) know less about the internet." That was Anonymous Coward's first stupid assumption. His (yeah, his) second was that "we" want everything we don't understand regulated. Well, he was mostly wrong. I don't understand why stupid runs rampant, and I would love to see the comments of certifiable jerks regulated.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 25 Oct 2007 @ 6:28am

      Re: Internet regulation

      You know, AC is correct. Sure, you may know a lot about the internet but as he states, 'Older people know less about the internet.' If you take all the older people, 50 and up, and combine all their internet knowledge you would not even come close to the combined knowledge of younger people. Heck, I'll even give you 40 and up. Even if you are Al Gore, Mastermind/Inventor of the internet, your single genius would not elevate your age group over the younger crowd.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 9:05am

        Re: Re: Internet regulation

        "Heck, I'll even give you 40 and up." you realise that's the people who originally built the interweb and dreamed up the majority of the technology that goes with it? exactly which group of younger people are going to know more ?!!!.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 4:12pm

          Re: Re: Re: Internet regulation

          "Heck, I'll even give you 40 and up." you realise that's the people who originally built the interweb and dreamed up the majority of the technology that goes with it? exactly which group of younger people are going to know more ?!!!.
          teenagers! that old skool schitz just dont cut it anymore. the tards that built the net just need to get out teh way now so we can fix it. facebook rulez!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 6:22am

    There you go regulating again, way to prove his point. Its sad to think that people want online video regulated because they're to damn lazy or stupid, or both, to keep themselves or they're bastard children away from content they deem inappropriate.

    Mindless people stop turning over control of your daily life to the government to regulate. If you can't keep your kids from watching inapproprate videos on the internet wear a fucking condom or kill yourself.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2007 @ 10:16am

      Re:

      That was a joke, dude, designed to show that he was mentally acute enough still to have a wit. To which you responded with.. a stupid comment! Deliciously ironic

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 25 Oct 2007 @ 6:28am

    lol

    "Only 11% of folks are actually interested in having direct mind-access to the internet, but maybe that's because they haven't tried it yet. It would certainly solve the problem of feeling disconcerted when you're not connected."

    Lol, boy would it ever.

    Although, wouldn't these poles by their nature be slightly biased towards the younger generations and those who spend time online anyways?
    If somebody only uses the internet for email, they would never visit the site to participate in the polls. Also, all those without the internet are of course not participating.
    Just a thought =P

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    BadDog357, 25 Oct 2007 @ 7:06am

    Silly, silly people..... Don't you know the internet is for PORN!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sammy colbert, 17 Jan 2008 @ 1:18pm

    I think all polls are bogus! Just kidding. I'd rather sleep with my iPhone vs. a movie star, more because the iPhone is easier to sleep with.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.