Published in storytime tapestry and gather.com
I was just sitting here today working on the computer as I always do and a computer for rocket mobile I believe it was came on. This commercial got me thinking about just how much we live in a digital world, a world of cyber friends, cyber games, cyber emails, cyber relationships.
Of course there are people who do not have the Internet nor want it, and of course there are people who have it and hardly use it but for the most part that is not the case. People are becoming more and more dependent upon the Internet and cyber space to fulfill their every need.
The Internet and Business
I know I use the Internet primarily for research work and to write articles that I will be paid for, living on disability on a meager existence does not pay the bills but the money I make on the Internet certainly helps.
Many businesses use the Internet to sell their goods, just take ebay and amazon.com as an example.
Millions of little businesses worldwide put up a website and reach many more people than they could of if they had just a small brick and mortar establishment.
Not to mention all the expenses that a small company saves on rent, maintenance on the building, staff, benefits, insurance, and so on.
Many of the larger companies want the best of both worlds and have a physical building and a website profiting by reaching the maximum clientele.
Businesspeople would be at lost without a laptop, which they can take with them to review notes and research material while traveling on a train or plane before getting to their destination.
Political Motivation
Before, political candidates had to telephone and canvass door to door; an effective but very time consuming process, now they can tap into the web, have an official website and offer a newsletter for their supporters.
Online Bill Paying and Online Banking, Shopping, Grocery Shopping and Restaurant Orders
Since I have been disabled this feature of the Internet is a godsend for me, I cannot walk out the house to do my own banking or bill paying unless I do it over the phone or online.
I don’t have the money to purchase products over the net, especially if they are coming from the states and I must pay duty but many people do use this type of shopping for everything from the clothing to computer products.
I just found out recently that grocery shopping is available over the net in IGA a major grocery chain here in Quebec. That too will be a great help if my son is no longer capable of shopping for me.
Although I have not used the service, many restaurants such as Domino Pizza offer restaurant orders over the Internet.
Is there anything that does not use the worldwide web anymore?
Spam
We have all been assaulted by the ads on the Internet. Where before they were coming to our home address in the form of junk mail now they are infiltrating our email address as well. By the way have you gotten your supply of viagra yet and did you make your appointment for a penis enlargement? What are you waiting for is the 100 some odd emails spam not enough? Maybe you need a few thousand more? And women don’t listen to common sense if you get that viagra and penis enlargement spam email, go get it done as well. What you don’t have a penis? Nonsense, you got the email so you have to have a penis too, there is no way around it, the email is not wrong you are!
Internet Socializing and Dating
Internet socializing – Since I am disabled I do not have the social life that I once had and my friends now are primarily the friends I have made over the Internet, but don’t get me wrong I do still have friends in the real world, just not as many as I had before. Many people are in the same situation where their only friends are on the Internet. The Internet is good if they never had friends before. The Internet not so good if they are able bodied and can get out and socialize yet prefer to sit in front of the computer and live in virtual reality rather live in the real world.
Internet dating – Okay lots of you will shrug at this one and say too dangerous, too many people pretending they are something they are not, too impersonal and so on and so forth. Okay there is truth to all of that but there is also a good side to Internet dating. If you really do not have the time or know where to go to date you can find decent people on the Internet who are in the same position as you are. I met my Matt over the Internet 9 years ago and we are together for life.
The Internet has become such a part of our daily lives how can we every live without it?
Online Games
At one time you played a game at home with family and friends. This old fashion game was called now what was that archaic name again, was it monopoly? Yes board games were the rage, then the digital world took over with video games, and games made for computers such as Atari, commodore 64, Nintendo and progressed to today’s games like, playstation, Wii, and whatever else is the latest technology.
These latest games reach out to the online community and you can play with other players from all over the world. It is exciting and addicting and many people have lost their real time social life and even jobs or family over the constant playing of these games.
Some people will look down on these people and say what a shame, how can a person let their whole life go like that and just want to play a game all day long?
I have news for you; most of us are just as addicted but in different ways. I had a friend that I used to travel to the university with. I would pick her up in the morning before classes and we would travel together. One morning she was running late, and panicking. Hey that happens to all of us at one time or another right? What was not quite right was that late or not, she couldn’t leave her house before checking her email. I asked her what could possibly be so important that it couldn’t wait until she got back home. It was just some friend she wanted to hear from. Gees, the email was more important to her than being late for class.
That brings me back to my first paragraph of this paper. I was watching the commercial and looking carefully at what it was saying. This portable system allows you to do everything you need to do everywhere. Of course that is an attractive selling point.
However the examples they gave was particularly distressing. Here they have a woman with a laptop, she is on the bus.
Okay I will accept that, but here is where it really truly interferes with real life.
She is sitting in a boat with a male friend or partner whatever it may be and she is on her computer. What happened to spending a day out in nature with her companion? She is not even seeing it, or enjoying it, she has her face buried in a computer, which she could have stayed home and done anyway.
They also show her up in a ferris wheel in an amusement park. Why the heck did she go to an amusement park, spend her money, and then sit on the computer and not enjoy the ride? I just can’t understand it.
If I get the opportunity to go out and enjoy myself, I want to do just that, which by the way is the healthy thing to do.
If you are going to take your computer everywhere you go, then you are not enjoying life and sorry to say my friends, you are no better than the kid or adult addicted to a computer game at home, only they may be smarter in one sense, they are not spending money on extra things like going to the amusement park and yet not enjoying the ride.
Take the ride of life in the real world before it is too late. Computers and the Internet play an important role in our daily lives but they should never, never take over our lives.
