Tonight, I asked “C” a hypothetical question.
If all the countries of the world simultaneously held a vote on whether to keep the internet or go back to the old ways, how would you vote?
We both had to think about it for a few minutes.
I think the internet has had both negative and positive impacts on our society and the way we live.
Being instantly connected, at all times can be both a blessing and a curse. I can’t possibly be the only one that finds instant this and the texting and the constant barrage of beeps and dings intrusive and bothersome. By the same token, being able to instantly answer any question you have no matter the topic via a quick web search or through programs like Siri is time saving and convenient.
Having internet and a good device, allows you limitless possibilities. Convenient ways to network, immediate access to information, easy ways to shop, thousands of games and millions of cat and dog videos. It’s brilliant!
I was first introduced to the internet when I was in University. We had computer labs where you could go and check your Pegasus Mail on a monochrome screen. I remember the first time I sent an email. Pointing at the little flying envelope icon, I marveled at how simple it was. It was an easy way to stay connected with other students that you may be doing group work with. Text messaging was still a few years away at that point and this was as close to instant as we had.
I couldn’t believe how far we’d come as people. Before email, at best, we could leave a message on their home answering machine and just accept that you wouldn’t be resolving this today.
When it’s being used leisurely, I love the internet. It’s great. I’m totally one of those people who constantly check their phone. I love Netflix and I love that I can take my iPad to bed with me to watch videos until I get tired. But when you have a job to do, and it’s being slow or your computer crashes or a program doesn’t work like it’s supposed to. I curse it. I curse the day it became publicly available. Which, according to the internet, is August 6, 1991.
Internet and technology certainly has made life more challenging at times. For example, I spent the last week and a half preparing for our first broadcast on internet radio. Well, we spent hours and hours learning new programs, searching for good topics, writing out bits and the flow of the near 3 hour show only to learn upon setting up for broadcasting live- our Windows 10 has expired. Apparently when you buy computers now, it comes with Windows and Office but no one tells you it’s only registered for a year. After that, you are required to pay $165 for a new activation key for Windows. What a scam! We can’t afford that right now and without it we can’t broadcast, do our podcasts or get important Windows updates. The very thing that has allowed me such an opportunity, has taken it away just like that. The irony, is bitterly painful.
Despite the obvious nettlesome aspects of virtually living on the internet, there lies a darker sinister element. The crime, the hacking, the pedophiles, the identity theft, the loss of privacy, the dark web, the cyber-bullying and the way people talk to one another online behind the protection of anonymity. It’s made us colder, shortened our attention spans, affected relationships and has changed the way we even spend time in person with one another. It’s made us less trusting and more paranoid. It’s turning us in to simulated zombies. It’s confused us with fake news and propaganda. When we think we’ve become smarter, the internet lets us know with a leak or a whistle blower just how dumb we’ve actually become.
I think that I would vote to go back to the old ways. If nothing more than to not be hunched over a computer or device everyday. Do you remember sunshine? I miss the smell of outside. Can you remember peace and quiet? I miss face to face communication. I miss the bliss of ignorance and not knowing every foul detail of every wicked deed done.
How would you vote?
A) Go back to the old ways
B) Keep the internet
I’d love to hear your feedback!
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Live Humbly, Be Charitable, Live Graciously,
Sam
Images
Life Before Internet https://ricardobarroselt.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/life-before-the-internet-a-conversation-lesson/
Freedom https://pixabay.com/en/woman-happiness-sunrise-silhouette-570883/ User jill111
The Blog Broad 
Oh yes!! I would go back too.
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Right?? Remember how we used to actually “people” together? Now we just sit in the same room staring at our phones in silence.
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I refuse to let my life be run by the phone. I use my answering machine and voice mail and screen calls. I think I shock guests when they are over b/c I just let the phone ring and the machine get it – unless it is expected and important.
I’ve been really surprised by how many in my parents generation are glued to their phones. They definitely are not ‘people-ing together’. My husband and I have often been sitting in the living room with my inlaws while they are glued to their phones, … and we just look at each other and smile and sigh.
I do like using my cell phone while travelling. It comes in handy for accommodations, maps and playing games as a passenger. OH! and there was that one time on summer vacation, where my camera’s card was full and I just kept taking pictures but they were erasing/overlapping them as fast as I was taking them, so when I transferred the photos from the camera to the laptop, I discovered that I was missing SO many and the only ones I had from those days were the ones that I had taken with my phone and had posted on social media. So, as difficult and stressful as cell phones and social media can be – they sure come in handy from time to time! 😀
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I’d go back. It made working a law office easier but honestly it’s just so much pressure to be so present every moment of every day.
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It really is
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I would keep the Internet as I like the educational opportunities it brings me when I do research (and so much more easily than if I were to only have encyclopedias or other paper books). But I would suggest adding in guidelines to offset some sinister elements you speak of. I suppose as with all things there’s the good and bad to it…
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Oh it has definitely made it easier for writers for sure. It’s one of the things I love about the internet. That and all the cat and dog videos lol
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very interesting question. i’d vote to go back before there was internet. certainly there are a lot of benefits to the internet, but if we never had it, we wouldn’t know what we were missing. kids would still go play outside, adults would actually meet up in person, and we wouldn’t all compare ourselves to the “friends” we have on facebook. I think most of us thought we had a pretty great life until the internet showed us that our former classmate on facebook is gorgeous, rich and spends their free time volunteering at senior centers.
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