W

ho needs companions when you have the Internet to humor you 24 hours a day?

Some say laughter is contagious. But can human beings share laughs when their eyes are glued to computer screens?

Better Internet connections and cheaper access are causing more people than ever to spend more and more time on the web.

A recent survey from Nielsen found Indonesians spend an average of 14 hours a week, or two hours a day, on the Internet.

Even though that figure is lower than neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, it is a significant increase from a decade ago when connections in the country were unreliable and expensive.

The next question is, with so much time spent on the web, what are people — who are staring at screens, some for more than seven hours a day — doing in the cyberworld?

Are they really working nonstop like their employers hope they are?

Apparently not.

Thirty-year-old Puguh Aji Murwo is one example. The civil servant uses the Internet not only for work but also for fun.

One of Aji’s favorite activities is browsing humor websites.

“It’s for refreshment so I don’t get stressed with my work,” said the man who works at the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry.

He logs on to a variety of funny websites amid his routine 9-to-5 work schedule.

Among his favorites is ngupingjakarta.blogspot.com, the local version of the famous “Overheard in New York” blog.

Ngupingjakarta is a hit among Internet junkies in Indonesia. The website, which features absurd and ridiculous snippets overheard on the streets of Jakarta, is a solace amid boredom and tight deadlines.

The site now has more than 1,000 entries since it was established in 2008. Due to its popularity, similar websites have emerged in Bandung with ngadengebandung.blogspot.com and Yogyakarta with ngupingjawa.blogspot.com.

Such facts suggest the emergence of local humor websites in Indonesia.

Renowned humor writer Isman H. Suryaman believes an increase in the country’s Internet literacy had encouraged the trend.

The number of Internet users in Indonesia rose to 55 million as of September, from 42 million in the same period last year, data from MarkPlus Insight reveals.

Unfortunately, most popular humor sites enjoyed by web users in Indonesia are adaptations of foreign sites.

Isman says Indonesia still lacks original humor websites for people here tend to make local versions of successful foreign sites.

Besides Ngupingjakarta, Indonesians are also familiar with na9a.com, which is a copy of the famous 9gag.com.

There have been no copyright issues so far, as most Indonesian humor sites are not profit oriented.

But, there is another problem: quality.

Indonesian humor sites are still far behind their foreign counterparts, as the former rarely update their content.

This upsets Daniel Hendrianto, 27, a computer programmer and avid fan of humor sites.

“I don’t think the admins [website administrators] here can be as consistent as there,” says Daniel, who enjoys reading popular humor sites and webcomics like 9gag.com, xkcd.com and dilbert.com.

Isman blamed the situation on website administrators who are not serious and treat the sites as side projects.

“We still lack vision and don’t know how to make [sites] profitable,” said Isman, who runs two humor sites but also faces difficulties managing them.

The situation is different from foreign website operators who can earn enough money through ads and merchandise.

Popular names like Randal Munroe, the creator of webcomic Xkcd, and Scott Adams of the Dilbert comic strip even have profitable side jobs as speakers at seminars. Adams has also published several books with high sales numbers.

Despite lacking creativity and serious human resources, people like Daniel and Aji still enjoy reading Indonesian humor sites as they offer local jokes that cannot be found on western websites.

Inspired by Ngupingjakarta, Aji even created his own blog in July of last year.

The blog, called gaptek-banget.blogspot.com, also collects hilarious snippets of people dealing with technology.

Unfortunately, the blog is not running now, not only because Aji is busy but because the careless man forgot the password.

Brokenhearted, Aji doesn’t want to set up a new blog, making himself only an online jokes connoisseur.

He diligently looks for updates from certain humor sites on the net and shares them with friends through social media.

Aji strongly believes that in the end people only need the Internet to be able to laugh. No direct human interaction is needed in the digital era, Aji argues, as people are connected to each other through the Internet.

His conclusion comes from a daily experience. The man works in a room filled with people busy on their own computers. No looks are exchanged, discussions made or even laughs shared.

Under such conditions, Aji has no choice but to return to his computer to work, as well as to find life and laughs.

Some local humor sites:

1. ngupingjakarta.blogspot.com
2. na9a.com
3. theposkamling.com
4. bertanyaataumati.blogspot.com
5. serasasekali.blogspot.com
6. the-fool-found-a.blogspot.com