To Surf or Not to Surf, That is the Question

Are we so consumed by the internet that we stop being individuals?  I recently saw this article and this quote in particular:

“And so it seems to me that the writer’s responsibility nowadays is very basic: to continue to try to be a person, not merely a member of a crowd. (Of course, the place where the crowd is forming now is largely electronic.) This is a primary assignment for anyone setting up to be and remain a writer now. So even as I spend half my day on the Internet—doing email, buying plane tickets, ordering stuff online, looking at bird pictures, all of it—I personally need to be careful to restrict my access. I need to make sure I still have a private self. Because the private self is where my writing comes from. The more I’m pulled out of that, the more I simply become another loudspeaker for what already exists. As a writer, I’m trying to pay attention to the stuff the people aren’t paying attention to. I’m trying to monitor my own soul as carefully as I can and find ways to express what I find there.”

I love this, but I also appreciate the irony that I found it online... while bopping around on twitter one morning.  

 

There seems to be this constant war in my life - if I'm not online, am I failing to interact with readers in the way they wish which will lead them to discover and enjoy my work?  But if I am online, do I lose the introspection that enables me to create?  I get some of my best ideas in the car or in the shower - is part of that because I am alone with myself in those moments?  

 

What do you think?  Are we all becoming loud-speakers for the same causes?  Internet is about connection (that's the beauty of it), but is it possible to be too connected?  Do we need a level of disconnect to create?