An intimate relationship with the internet.

A Zogby poll about Americans and the Internet:

The poll found that 24% of Americans said the Internet could serve as a replacement for a significant other....

... [B]ut most are not prepared to implant it into their brain, even if it was safe. Only 11% of respondents said they be willing to safely implant a device that enabled them to use their mind to access the Internet. Interestingly, men were much more willing than women. Seventeen percent of men said they were up for it while only 7% of women wanted to access the Internet using their mind.

"Interestingly"? More like predictably, isn't it? What would the world be like if we could see the internet, at will, in our heads? People can already think about anything they want — even while giving the appearance of relating to the outside environment. But they'd be able to speak about things as if from knowledge or memory when they were only reading from the internet. I think your real memory and conscious mind would deteriorate as you transferred your attention to the seemingly more reliable and capacious internet, and you would lose track of this deterioration and perhaps not care, as you gradually slid into robothood. Ah, I assume this has been written to death in science fiction books, but I haven't read them. Anyway, my advice is don't get the device and stay away from those who do.

As for the internet "as a replacement for a significant other" — how did people interpret the question? Substitute "reading" or "watching television" for the internet, and you can see that there's nothing abnormal there. If you didn't have an adult companion living with you, what would you do differently? You might say, I'd be fine. I see people when I'm out or at work, and I'd be fine by myself at home. I'd have plenty of time to read and write — or play games and look at pictures — without anyone physically present and needing my attention. Is there anything wrong with that?