The most important mass medium in my life is the internet. This is because I use the Internet everyday, and for a variety of purposes. I use the Internet to communicate with my friends as well as attend school and manage my life.
Gag me. I haven't been in third grade for a long time, and I just refused to write it. So, the following is what I wrote instead.
Sure, it strays a bit from conventional essay writing practices. I did include all the hyperlinks you see in the text here; it's a statement; it's funny. Some of the hyperlinks are funny. Hopefully my lack of editorial organization fitting a "proper" paper writing outline and scheme will not detract to much from my grade, or my purpose in writing this piece. he he
I suppose there are people who are capable of living their lives without the Internet; I am not one of them. The idea of a world without email increases my heart rate; and the thought of completely losing Internet access for any serious length of time sends me into a full-on panic attack. And, I am not being melodramatic when I say, “I cannot function without the Internet.” I’m sure that I could give up MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, OkCupid, LastFM, iTunes, MSN Messenger, AIM, and Yahoo IM if absolutely necessary. While these programs/sites are important to maintaining my sanity, and useful in maintaining contact with friends around the globe; they are not imperative to the continuation of my life. However, without the use of the Internet and my email, I would not be able to access my bank account balance, verify course enrollment, solidify my financial aid and student loans, even attend my courses. In short, my life would fall apart.
I have constructed a life executed almost entirely over the “web.” Perhaps I was able to envision this scheme because I am a product of the “virtual age.” The Internet and I are a virtually the same age; actually, I am 4 months older than the Internet. Well, this is not really true if you place the birth of the Internet as the initial APRANET development throughout the cold war. But if you do, as I have chosen to, say that the Internet was born on January 1, 1983, when military computers (formerly using NCP) migrated to the use of TCP/IP protocol then I am 3 months and 22 days older than the Internet. However, that Internet was not available to the general populace, much like I (as an infant) was not ready for mass socialization. The Internet and I exploded upon the world in tandem in the 1990s.
APWNN (Place With No Name), lovingly referred to as “place,” was an online bulletin board (BBS). Unknown to the majority of the UNO library staff, the UNO library servers were running a massive text-based BBS for the entire New Orleans geek community. Everything that was worth reading or writing about was on “place:” cheat codes, program code, Whitewolf and Wizards of the Coast game updates, and of course online drama. I was rocketed into the world of instant data procurement and communication. The transition from friends logging onto APWNN with a Commador-64 to using my Macintosh Centris to remotely access Tulane University’s servers to research my junior year science project seemed instantaneous. By the time I joined the Air Force, our home-based web access was a hack (with a stolen user Id and password) into the remote Loyno (Loyola New Orleans) server and my roommate was tech-support for a domain hosting company. Even I was falling behind the dot-com power curve!
But, it would be my military service that made me realize the power of accessing the virtual world. Online banking and livejournal (lj) became my personal saviors. From my dorm room in California, I could manage my bank account in New Orleans (Bank One was not in California at this point) as well as update more than 20 friends on my life, love and adventures. Email was convenient, but the freedom to update lj once as opposed to cutting and pasting drawn out stories into emails was stellar. The blog culture became imperative to my communication. Now, the only people I email are my parents and grandparents; and that’s only because I can’t be bothered to censor my blog.
I have mentioned two aspects of online life: the social aspect and the business aspect. These are both very important to my life. However, when discussing the usefulness of the Internet we cannot forget the information accessibility. How did I survive without Wikipedia, imdb, Google, and AskJeeves? I don’t know. All of the knowledge of the world exists behind the search engine. If I want to whether or not Verka Serduchka (the Ukrainian entry in Eurovision this year) was in fact “ripping off” Gogol Bordello or vice-versa; I do a search in Wikipedia. If I want to know how much money I need to travel from Edinburgh, Scotland to Varna, Bulgaria, I go to SkyScanner. Much like I cannot imagine going out clubbing without a cell phone (I did buy a UK cell phone as soon as I reached the country.); I cannot imagine not instantaneously being able to find the answer to any question I have, no matter how random.
The world exists online. I’m not referring to computer games like SecondLife (in which a world literally exists completely virtually); I find that frightening. I am referring to the fact that I can, without getting out of my pajamas accomplish most, if not all of my daily errands; communicate with my friends in Germany, America, Korea, Italy, etc; as well as complete and turn-in my homework. I haven’t been to a CD store in years, and only go to bookstores for the smell. This is the modern age; but it is a double-edged sword. As the virtual world expands and science fiction becomes science fact, we cannot ignore the possibility that we are changing as a race. Human interaction no longer requires the physical. Direct brain interfaces are not theoretical anymore, and may be released in the video game market within the year. I have chosen to live my life online so that I can see the world. I believe that as communications technology expands the market base while shrinking the world, not being comfortable with international culture and interaction will become an alienating disability.
However, What about the people that live their lives in order to not see the world? New psychosis are rapidly developing across the globe as more and more people become incapable of face-to-face human interaction, replacing what is necessary for the continuation of humanity with virtual relationships. As we continue to make leaps in virtual technology and human systems interaction, I believe these elements will balance; human interaction and virtual interaction will continue to feed each other and allow for a universal world-view. However, it’s not a bad idea to remember that the writings of Jules Verne and Ray Bradbury were once considered as ridiculous as “The Matrix” is today. Internet addiction is not just a theory it’s a reality. I have experienced the pain of Internet withdrawal; symptoms of which I’m sure can be likened to any “hard drugs” available. So, I leave you with this humorous take on what can occur when people are “disconnected,” while I go check my email, IM my friends, update my lj, edit my Facebook, and pay some bills.
What happens when the Internet goes down?
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