technology and life

It was just another boring weekend during the summer. My aunt and uncle were in town, and they brought my ten year old cousin along with them. Being said boring summer day, we ended up walking around a flea market, checking out what junk people were trying to sell. We came across a woman trying to sell her old –and by now, obsolete– typewriter. My mom started explaining to my cousin how she used to have to type reports and such on a typewriter when she was in grammar school. My cousin listened to every word, obviously fascinated. Finally, she looked up with a puzzled face and asked my mom, “Aunt Linda, when you had to use a typewriter, how did you get out to the internet?” We all laughed about it, but the idea got me thinking. Is the internet really that popular now? The internet has had a huge impact on the world, but I was curious about how much it affected me. I was determined to find out.
The internet has been around for a long time, but it became common in the 1980’s. Since then, it has grown incredibly. Now, almost everything has a website. If it doesn’t have a website, you can find information about it via another website.
In my early years of grammar school, reports and papers were usually typed. As I grew older, it became a requirement. Some of the other kids in my classes would complain about this, but I always liked it. Things were so much easier on the computer. If you messed up, you did not have to worry about erases and how they smudge. You did not need to go wandering through the house looking for a bottle of White-Out. And you certainly did not have to write the entire paper over again. It takes much longer to get cramps when you use the computer, and it looks so much more professional. I guess some people just don’t like doing work in general. Even the reports got easier. Sure as we got older, they got longer. But now we can do them in one place. I can sit down at my computer and start typing up a document. When I need information, I just pull up the internet browser. I usually use Google, but there are plenty of other search engines available. Thousands of websites show up when I type in my search. Now I have my document and all my information all together right in front of me. Making a trip to the library is no longer necessary. I do not need to worry about being able to check out a book on my topic. When I was in grammar school, we all had reports on the same topic. Then, if I was not the first person in the class to make it to the library, I would not get a copy of the books since others will have already taken them home. Looking online, we can all be on a site within a few minutes of each other, or even at the same time. Being able to search and find all that information –and more– from the comfort of my own home is much more convenient. Also, I can send out a mass email or instant message to my classmates to compare information while I am working on my report. I do not have to waste time calling one person at a time to try and figure something out.
The convenience factor is clearly a positive impact on my life. That same point, however, is also on the negative end of the spectrum. How lazy have we become? People keep demanding that things are made easier and easier for them. As if it was not already easy enough to just type up a document, computer designers have invented a program that lets me speak into a microphone and the program transcribes the words right into a document for me! Now I can sit in my easy chair and just TELL the report what I want it to say. I have made friends recently who have never checked a book out of a library; they don’t even own a library card.
Laziness is only one of the negative effects of the internet. There is also the unreliability factor. Certain websites are user-created. That means that someone can type up and submit an article that is false or has untrue pieces of information in it. Certain controversial issues are very sensitive. Someone who disagrees with an issue can go in and change the article to say horrible things about the issue and the people who believe in it, and vice versa. As a student who does not know much about these issues, when I log onto a website to find information, I expect it to be a neutral website made strictly for informative purposes. Also, I work best under pressure. I tend to wait until the last minute to do my work. There have been instances, however, that there has been a power failure or the internet has been down. If I had been using books or periodicals, this would not be an issue. I am positive that I am not the only one with this problem. So lately, inventors and programmers have been working to make the internet more steady and reliable.
I believe that the internet has had effects on everyone, both positive and negative. Anyone who says they have only had positive experiences, or only negative, is not telling you the whole story. Or they are not looking at the big picture. Sure, everything gets easier, but we get lazier and start relying on things that are not completely reliable. We are also becoming less personable, as we can contact each other without meeting up with them. I can send out a few emails and get information or material things without even meeting the person I acquired them from. This cannot be good for us in the long run. While the internet has been helpful, I hope we all start realizing that we need to have back up plans, and we need to meet face to face. How can we call ourselves one nation when we are not even willing to meet face to face?