Have I told you I hate the Internet? Well, I do. I also love the Internet. Conflicted much? Thanks to the Internet I can watch shows about serial killers, some of the worst possible movies ever made and view how-to videos on my phone…how do I build that personal warp speed engine…found it on YouTube. Do I need any of that? No, not really but that’s not the point. The point is I can do it. Also, thanks to the Internet I still have to go to work…from home…follow the ever depressing news cycles, make sure my kids are in front of a computer for school each day and throw tantrums when the Internet cuts out on me. Now you see the love/hate relationship I have with the world wide web.
Thanks to the pandemic and being forced to stay at home, we have a different appreciation of the Internet. It allows us to shop from home, have our kids homeschooled, keep our job, communicate with family from long distances and still be entertained by our favorite shows…love that Tiger King. It also means purchasing more bandwidth, dealing with slow downs because everyone is on the net, going broke spending so much money on Amazon and the occasional drop of service for who knows how…there it went again. Am I back up?
Imagine if this pandemic occurred 30 years ago. The web was in its infancy, phones were not miniature computers/televisions and PCs were strapped to a desk and not as portable as today’s laptops. Some people may pine for the good old days of having to listen to all those beeps and boops as you waited for your AOL to call up and get on line but most of us have accepted the new Online world as a way of life. Just like we did in the late 50s with television…and yes, it is rotting our children’s brains (video gaming).
Take this article for example. I am typing it on my laptop from a remote location, then I will email it to my IT guy who lives over 190 miles away. He will in turn post it on our Internet blog page and then everyone searching on the web will ignore it. Hey, I’m realistic, it’s no cute cat video. Did you see the one where the cat is playing piano and…sorry, got off track.
I know the economy has crashed because of the pandemic but think how bad it would have been if there wasn’t the kind of Internet access we have today. How could Amazon grow to become the monster company it is now with Jeff Bezos being worth, what is it now, $200 billion? Of course for the rest of us it seems pretty dire. We are out of jobs, can’t pay rent, not sure where our next meal will come from, but we can still buy the little wire we need to hook up our latest electronic device, which we can’t afford, to the web.
I know there would be a tidal wave of panic and confusion if all of a sudden the world wide web went on the fritz but think about it, it would also mean we would have to check the morning paper for the news. That would allow us to absorb all this stress inducing information at a slower pace. How many of you remember checking the paper each morning for the latest news or sports scores? Ok, I heard someone out there accuse me of being ancient (another benefit of the web, people can spy on you). We would also start writing letters again to communicate with distant family and friends. Hey, who just equated that to prehistoric cave paintings?
It would also mean that social media would disappear. How nice it would be not to notice the President of the United States and some of the viral things he says for a couple of days. I can hear that huge sigh of relief at the thought.
I started my career in the newspaper business and loved it. I have seen it disappear over the decades as the Internet exploded. I am an optimist and believe people will adapt. Many of those newspaper writers now write online content for very popular blogs and news sites. Many publications have given up print media and are strictly online. Think of how many trees we are saving as a result. Nothing wrong with a little tree hugging.
On a serious note, I do appreciate the Internet for one thing. My son, who has a serious precondition and would be facing a death sentence if he was infected by the virus, is able to stay healthy by quarantining and working from home over the Internet. He tells me he is working 50 hours a week and dealing with affiliated offices all over the country. He does all his shopping online, a friend drops his groceries at his door and the only time he goes out is to walk his dog, as long as no one else is in the area. I am sure there are many like him and thanks to the flexibility of the web, it is saving lives. Enough of the sappy stuff, let’s get back to those cat videos.
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