Let’s take a trip down internet memory lane, you know, back to the days when AOL.com ruled the world, and we had to “dial-a-connection” before we could even access the internet. Or even before that, to the 1960’s, when Marshall McLuhan first envisioned the concept of a ‘Global Village’. No one believed that McLuhan’s theory could one day become reality, but it has, thanks to the World Wide Web.
In the space of a decade, the internet has come a long way. Just take a look at how web pages have advanced in 10 years:
Sony web page in 2001:
Bill Clinton, U.S President (1993-2001) famously said:
“When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the World Wide Web... Now even my cat has its own page”
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It’s true, almost everyone, even fictional characters, seem to have a social networking page these days. Society has gone from spending an average of 46 minutes, per day, on the internet (2002), to spending an average of 4 hours, per day, on the internet (2012).
An insightful infographic - ‘The Internet a Decade Later’, shows how much the internet has changed over the last 10 years. Click [here] to check it out.
With these changes in mind, the question raised now is whether the internet is having a positive or negative effect on our daily lives.
Many seem to argue it is having the latter effect. It is argued that the internet now prevents people from interacting on a face to face basis. We are probably more inclined to send someone an email, or a Facebook message, rather than speak to them on the phone. Some do not consider this “real life” interaction. But we are still communicating with “real life” people at the other end of emails, are we not? Also, with social networking sites such as Facebook, you are probably now, more in contact with people, than you would be otherwise. You’re even less likely to lose contact with them. At the same time, for those who lack social skills, or can’t seem to meet people in more traditional ways, it’s a great way of meeting people.
Many argue that the internet is simply filled with “filth”, such as porn, and other temptations. I’m not going to argue that this isn’t true, but it is filled with other stuff too! One should consider the internet as the world’s largest library, which is essentially what it is. It’s filled with all the information and knowledge you could ever desire, and even better, you can access it at the click of a finger! There’s no need to spend hours in the library searching for what could be found in minutes on the web. As for the vast amount of porn available on the internet, well that’s just a reflection on our sex-obsessed culture. There’s really no reason to presume that the internet is wholly responsible for this. If someone really wants to access porn then they’ll find a way. I mean, just go to Ann Summers, they have a great collection of porn videos, not that I’ve personally seen it (well I have, for educational purposes), and yet we don’t seem to object to having an Ann Summer’s store on every high street!
I was meant to produce two blogs; from the beginning of the worldwide web to what we now access today, however I found it necessary to merge the two blogs together and give an in-depth analysis and make necessary comparisons.
The internet has undoubtedly revolutionized and adapted to the rapid demand and advances of society. Well, we can argue that the internet is one of the reasons society has become more demanding and advanced couldn't we? Regardless, the internet has become an essential in our daily lives and is like a secondary life to us. Thank god for internet blogging!
