I was shocked to read the side note on the “Does the Internet Make You Smarter?” article where it stated that there were an estimated 1.8 billion internet users around the world in 2010. I immediately thought “I am sure there are more today”, and I was right. There is are an estimated 4.66 billion internet users in the world today. However, it is still difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of just how many people that is — just imagine how many ideas are constantly spreading from them, too.
It’s all still very interesting to think about, even as someone who’s grown up in this internet age we’re in. My experiences growing up with the internet, though, have also lead me to this reliance on it, and an egotistical perspective that everyone else has grown to rely on it too. When in reality, only around 60% of the world is using it.
While reading about the internet, I was fascinated by the historical timelines and perspectives all the articles gave. It’s nice to take a step back and track all of the media and digital advancements made over the century even though it can be quite stressful as well. It can be stressful to think that the internet is a strong point at the top of a triad between itself and print and broadcast media. It seems more and more each day like the internet is becoming the center of a solar system to me, because of how much more drastically it has affected my thinking, as was pointed out by Nicholas Carr.
However, I believe the internet is only as alive as the people make it. Just like when Carr mentioned the mechanical clock being put to use, it became alive the more people adopted it into their lives. The internet has become a commodity, and Carr put it extremely well when he said “It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.”
Personally, I love how the internet has made important information really accessible to me and members of my community. It is really easy to communicate with members of my community and loved ones, now more than before. My family and I haven’t always had the luxury of having WiFi, but now that we do, we can speak more easily with family members outside of the country. We can also look up things more quickly, like when certain communities will take place, where certain stores are, what application we might need for programs, and an online translator always comes in handy, too.
I am still scared and pessimistic about a lot of the internet, though. I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to delete my Instagram account, despite how much I like to share my art. I would be embarrassed to hear the amount of hours I’ve spent just surfing social media, just because I would feel like that was so much wasted time. I’m constantly worried about the invasiveness of certain apps like Facebook (and therefore Instagram as well). I’m also pessimistic of how people in power use the internet as well. There’s just so much, and it can all be very tiring.
In the end, I’m just glad I have other things in life to appreciate more that the internet.
