Funny, I can remember when the internet first came into the picture. I worked for America Online at one point in my illustrious career.
It wasn't bad enough I was online at work, I would go home and get online right away. That was back when I played Cosrin, the online role playing game that was text based. Most of the calls I got for customer support were asking how to block the internet from their kids or how to allocate X amount of time for the kids. They also wanted to know how to block unsafe sites, monitor chat rooms, etc.
Now kids are online more than adults it seems and it is all geared towards them. For the most part. I'm pretty sure some two year olds have their own websites, if not soon-to-be born kiddos.
It has changed the lives of many. It is the communication choice of the times. I even admit to keeping in touch better with my family and friends and their goings on through Facebook. So it has changed my life in lots of different ways.
Now I pose the big question. Could you survive without the internet?
Sometimes I think I could. I'd like to get back to the lifestyle before internet. But a lot of that has to do with my geographical location. If I had more available to me, I'd be out and about more often. I'd unplug more often. But then I would miss it and the 'connection' I have.
So how has the internet changed your life? Could you survive without it?
5 comments:
Go back to the old way of researching? No thanks. Besides, how would I market my books without the Internet? And there would be no eBooks.
When I went on holiday a few weeks back, me and my fiancee agreed we'd check our emails a max of twice a day and facebook only once. That was tough.
As much as I'd like to sometimes escape the Internet's pull, I know how tough it would be.
@ Alex ~ Yes, the internet is a wonderful marketing tool! And it would be a sad day if there were no ebooks.
@ Jamie ~ It was tough for me to go on vacation and not have the unlimited access I was accustomed to, so I know how you feel!
I completed my bachelors degree because of online classes. But I had a decent job and was just hoping to improve. Not exactly what happened but hey, no complaints.
I doubt I'd be self-pubbing my novel if there was no internet. Books were published before the internet but I wouldn't have my partner I'm working with...just so many things.
I love the interwebonlinenet - if I'd known what I was missing before Sir T.B-L. invented it I'd not have been so happy not knowing what I wasn't missing. Or something. It's a whole new skill - from pre-internet ferreting out of scraps of information to now being presented with world-class rubbish heaps of ... rubbish ... and sorting out the few gems hidden among the rest.
Emaile has to be one of the best forms of communication ever (when not auto-filtered for spam by over-zealous corporate servers), and eBooks and websites are a treasure beyond rubies.
Other than that, I have no strong opinions on the matter.
Other than that it is so sad that the folk who, pre-internet, never opened a book now, in turn, never open anything other than a facebook/porno/superarket website either ... the true magic of the medium is still utterly lost (mayhap wasted) on the same folk!
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