According to Reuters, a German broadband association called Bitkom surveyed 1,000 Germans aged 19 – 29 and asked them if they had to choose, which would they keep: their current partner (or automobile) or their Internet access. Eighty-four percent of the respondents said they’d rather have the Internet. And the survey equated automobiles with romantic partners? Ouch.

How can a country right next door to France, arguably the most romantic nation on the planet, go so far astray? Granted, Germany has often been the butt of many jokes suggesting its culture values efficiency over sentimentality to the point of being humorless, but that’s just an outrageous stereotype. Isn’t it?

Perhaps this survey is just an example of how intrinsic the Internet and technology have become in our daily lives. The Internet is not really so much of a tool as it is a crutch.