Should We Be Concerned About How The Internet Is Taking Over Our Lives?
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Like many of you I use the Internet for a good portion of my waking hours to do a multitude of tasks including researching for articles and writing my blog posts. Last evening while roaming around the Internet I stumbled upon an article which covered how TV content would be coming our way on the Internet. This is when something hit me? Are we becoming so dependant on the Internet that our lives are being controlled by our computers, cell phone or other devices?
I can only look back on how the Internet has changed my life during the past 15 years that I have been surfing. I recall discovering a new kid on the block called Yahoo that made finding stuff on the Internet easier for most of us. I also recall using Netscape as my primary browser since Internet Explorer had yet to be developed. Our system used POTS [Plain Old Telephone System] to connect at a speed that one can only describe as dismal and slower than molasses. Maintaining a connection without a disconnect became an art as all of us would seek answers to the computer problems that plagued all of us. Email became our primary means of communication since it provided us with a way to contact multi people at once providing them with the same message.
Today we use the Internet for just about everything in our lives. I rarely shop at brick and mortar stores any longer but make the majority of my purchases online. I use the Internet as my primary source of information including news, social networking, tv program updates, blogging, shopping, weather, movie rentals, email and now streaming movies. Which brings up my asking this question.
Are we allowing the Internet to consume our lives? If the Internet went down for an extended period of time would our lives come to a screaming halt?
Share your thoughts with us.
PS Another thought. When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter to anyone?
2 Comments
mhz
April 13th, 2009
at 2:12pm
The net is such a paradox. It brings a lot of convenience, when its working, but is HEAVILY dependent, and should not be implicitly trusted.
Just like everything else, it is put together by companies which need to save money where they can, and workers who have to get it done and get on to the next job, so they can get home on time.
Of course it has vulnerabilities, both in infrastructure and software. People just need to make sure they have worst case alternatives for getting their work done, because something so dependent can screw up at any time.
Luckily the infrastrucure companies often have pretty good response time for emergencies, but there can always be wider damage than anyone anticipated. As you mentioned in your fiber optic article, there can also be insider sabotage.
Kudos to the guys who fix it when its broken.
BTW, if you want to have the brick and mortar option available in the future, you better do your business there some percentage of the time… e.g. even though most of us shop online sometimes, I have found myself in situations where I needed something quicker than I could get it online, and was very glad to have a local store!
Plus, there are PEOPLE there, which is an opportunity to make a friend. Yeah, I know that PEOPLE clog up lines, park their cars improperly, and be pretty annoying sometimes, but if you’re reading this, then you’re one of them too, and therefore don’t really have much right to complain about them.
At worst, they’re better than talking to a recording, and at best they can teach you something good.
Bruce
April 13th, 2009
at 6:25pm
Living in the sticks I have two main forms of entertainment at the end of the day: satellite TV and satellite internet. I started on the internet in 1994 with Mosaic offered by Compuserve and 5 hours of service on a 14.4 modem (or was it 2400??) at a cost of $9.95 a month. I have gone from an amazing exploration experience (Wow! I would think to myself - what potential this has!) to complete dependence on researching for work and personal needs, news, sports, weather, opinions, etc. I’ll admit it - I’m hopelessly addicted, and have been for years!
Remember dialing into your favorite bulletin board to download a piece of software, get some news or share an opinion on the board? Configuring TCP/IP software to make the process automatic - and what a thrill when it actually worked!?
A young internet on Mosaic through Compuserve… man, that was slow but I sure was excited to be out there! By teaching myself computers and jumping onto the internet early, I was far ahead of many of my colleagues at work and that positioned me for some pretty rapid advancement.
The last letters I wrote to anyone (non-business) would have been a to a beloved Aunt that died from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 2003.