As I'm cleaning up the kitchen this morning, I spy this leftover reminder of the fun we had Thursday night and I start thinking about the internet. The connection you ask? I'm thinking about what the internet has made or is in the process of making obsolete. I'm thinking about the advances the internet has made in our everyday lives, what it has made easier and thus maybe even harder!! The first thing I thought of was phone books and even catalogs, although, those have been going out for maybe even longer than the internet has really played a huge role in our lives. My question, after Thursday, is what ever will we do without phone books in their altogether paper glory when we have little guests and no booster seat? Ok, so we have one plastic booster seat, but we had two kids who needed one. Both kids needed to eat, so what to do? Pull out the phone books! Or, in days gone by we would have needed to supplement with a Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalog or both! So, the internet is taking away booster seats, but at the same time opening up a whole new shopping experience to us! The internet is taking away our encyclopedias (do the kids even know what those were any more?!?!) but giving us far more up-to-date, real-time, straight-from-the-source information that could indeed lead to greater understanding of peoples and cultures in an effort to make world peace. Or, because the only communicating we do is from behind an impersonal screen and we never get to MEET these people face-to-face it may continue to breed more and more hatred because sites can also be so one-sided. The internet has taken away the ability to communicate effectively while opening the door to more communication. How? We can leave a quick message on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, a comment on an article, but never really sit down over coffee or tea and just honestly, openly discuss issues at hand. We have lots to say, not all of it nice; we can stay in touch with long-lost friends and family, but we can't talk to one another. The postal service is languishing in debt because so little mail is going out, but email can run rampant. But what kind of mementos will we have to show our kids that they will in turn show their kids and so on through the generations? Where are the love letters? Where is that last letter from Grandma, from the soldier at his post? "OH NO! We deleted that!" - never to be returned again. The internet lets us "see" our loved ones in video, in chat. We can see how much the grandkids are growing, how much they talk, how busy they are, but how much can we really connect and sit with them and read them a book while holding them on our laps and cuddling them? We forward funny emails, nice emails with good messages, but is there a personal letter involved? The internet has become so ingrained in our lives that we may even begin to feel panicky without it. I love to find recipes on the internet, but then when I don't write it down with trusty pen and paper, I may not find it again, or at the store I can't remember the ingredients. Yes, I know there are internet capable phones, but we aren't springing for the plan! Directions to grandma's house are now just a click away, but what if it were to vanish tomorrow? Have we lost our skills to survive without the internet? And all of these musings are here -- on the internet -- for you to ponder too. What if we went a day without it? A week? A month? What would you HAVE to look into each day? What would be your resource without it? Who would you connect with? How far would you walk on a crisp fall day? Who would you smile at on the street, in the coffeehouse, in the library? What would you read? Where would you shop?
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Internet
As I'm cleaning up the kitchen this morning, I spy this leftover reminder of the fun we had Thursday night and I start thinking about the internet. The connection you ask? I'm thinking about what the internet has made or is in the process of making obsolete. I'm thinking about the advances the internet has made in our everyday lives, what it has made easier and thus maybe even harder!! The first thing I thought of was phone books and even catalogs, although, those have been going out for maybe even longer than the internet has really played a huge role in our lives. My question, after Thursday, is what ever will we do without phone books in their altogether paper glory when we have little guests and no booster seat? Ok, so we have one plastic booster seat, but we had two kids who needed one. Both kids needed to eat, so what to do? Pull out the phone books! Or, in days gone by we would have needed to supplement with a Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalog or both! So, the internet is taking away booster seats, but at the same time opening up a whole new shopping experience to us! The internet is taking away our encyclopedias (do the kids even know what those were any more?!?!) but giving us far more up-to-date, real-time, straight-from-the-source information that could indeed lead to greater understanding of peoples and cultures in an effort to make world peace. Or, because the only communicating we do is from behind an impersonal screen and we never get to MEET these people face-to-face it may continue to breed more and more hatred because sites can also be so one-sided. The internet has taken away the ability to communicate effectively while opening the door to more communication. How? We can leave a quick message on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, a comment on an article, but never really sit down over coffee or tea and just honestly, openly discuss issues at hand. We have lots to say, not all of it nice; we can stay in touch with long-lost friends and family, but we can't talk to one another. The postal service is languishing in debt because so little mail is going out, but email can run rampant. But what kind of mementos will we have to show our kids that they will in turn show their kids and so on through the generations? Where are the love letters? Where is that last letter from Grandma, from the soldier at his post? "OH NO! We deleted that!" - never to be returned again. The internet lets us "see" our loved ones in video, in chat. We can see how much the grandkids are growing, how much they talk, how busy they are, but how much can we really connect and sit with them and read them a book while holding them on our laps and cuddling them? We forward funny emails, nice emails with good messages, but is there a personal letter involved? The internet has become so ingrained in our lives that we may even begin to feel panicky without it. I love to find recipes on the internet, but then when I don't write it down with trusty pen and paper, I may not find it again, or at the store I can't remember the ingredients. Yes, I know there are internet capable phones, but we aren't springing for the plan! Directions to grandma's house are now just a click away, but what if it were to vanish tomorrow? Have we lost our skills to survive without the internet? And all of these musings are here -- on the internet -- for you to ponder too. What if we went a day without it? A week? A month? What would you HAVE to look into each day? What would be your resource without it? Who would you connect with? How far would you walk on a crisp fall day? Who would you smile at on the street, in the coffeehouse, in the library? What would you read? Where would you shop?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Amen to that...the internet is a wonderful tool...if used in the right way...but it also takes AWAY so much that we used to have and don't anymore because of it. What it takes the MOST of that I see...is TIME...often WASTED time. Yet, we honestly think we can't live without it...we could but we choose not to, because as I said...there is so much we can learn...and so quickly! Thanks for your perspective. A BALANCE would be the best choice when it comes to spending time on the internet!
Hmm, I have benn thinking of some of these things too lately. I tried to remember how my life was before without internet. I was wondering how I didn't get bored :-)). And then I remembered the things I used to do that I now don't have time for. One of them is reading, then getting together with friends more often and so on... Anyway, now I have kids and a husband, so I would have had less time ayway. But, over all, I wouldn't go back to leaving without internet. I just try to be careful with wasted time, as Pam said.
Thanks for posting this!
these thoughts have definitely crossed my mind. i agree with mom- a balance is key. i also know an email in my inbox will never make me feel as elated as i feel when i get a real letter in my mailbox.
Post a Comment