An entire life online – is it worth it?

The internet is known to be the biggest source of everything. Information, porn, money and everything else you search for. You don’t even have to move your butt from home to buy food, you order it online. You don’t have to try on clothes and search for hours for some dress or suit, you can have it delivered after you find one on the net.

I for one prefer to touch the clothes I buy and at least see with my own eyes what the heck I eat. But I do use the internet every day. Just a few days ago I was having a small talk with my dad and realised I cannot live without internet. It’s like food, I need it or I’ll go nuts. At least I admit it 😀

This discussion occured when the internet went down for a long period of 2-3 minutes. I wasn’t even using it, I had my math book in front of me and I was reading. All of a sudden, the warning message popped out “limited connectivity” or something like that. In an instant I left my desk to see what happened, reset the router and stayed nearby to see if the little green lights turned on.

I think most of us are net-junkies. Our grandparents and parents lived a happy life without any of this and didn’t fall in depression like we do. Of course, things have changed and for those who earn their living online this is not eaven discussible. For them even 1 minute of internet dropping can be awfull (think about uploading some huge file or hundreds of small files on a server and having to start from the beginning just because there was a “pause” of 3 seconds). I’m referring  to people like me who felt like the world came tumbling down and there was no need for stress, I could have easily read my book without even having the computer on.

The even more sad part is, when I think about it, I’m one of the “sane” people. I don’t own any kind of gadgets. I have my computer and a laptop at home, that’s normal. I have another laptop with wich I “travel” if I’m gone for the whole day from home, but only use during lunch hours and a very ugly cellphone that cannot even take a decent picture. No Iphone, no smartphone, no nothing.

When I’m gone from home I never feel the need to check my email or anything else. I prefer to enjoy “normal” life. It’s sad when I see my colleagues talking during breaktime but at the same time browsing the net on their gadgets. Studying, but every 5 minutes, checking their emails on their phones. Traveling with friends on the train but browsing pictures on their tablet.

Human interraction will always be between humans, not between a person and a twitter account, for example. If there isn’t a matter between life and death, why can’t we focus on something else for a second? Instead of being online every second we could enjoy the company of others, the smell of a flower we pass by or the coffee we have with our friends.

We are all already addicts, I for one have no idea what I would do if I couldn’t use the internet every day, I admit that. I have family at home to talk to online, I have an email to check, noone writes paper letters anymore, etc. Some make a few extra bucks online, others live exclusively online, it’s their job. There are tons of stuff we all do on the internet but why do some feel the need to be online non-stop for no serious reason?

The sky will not fall if people don’t check facebook statuses every 2 minutes or if you enjoy a relaxing walk in the park instead of clicking refresh in your inbox every chance you get. I understand the need to do all this, but everything has to have a limit.

All this doesn’t do anyone any good. It only distracts us from important things. There are to many things to lose if all we do is live online. There was even an experiment made, called The Social Experiment (wich ironicaly has a facebook page…) and most teens who participated realised there are tons of interesting things you can do besides being online every second of every day.

When I’m not online I usually read. I have to study a lot and only use the net when I have to search for something I cand understand from my books. When I go away from home for the whole day I usually listen to music on the road or read something. It relaxes me. When on vacation I use the internet a lot, but never when I see my folks and friends or when enjoying the views of another city. Even on the toilet I prefer crosswords.

What would you do if you could’t update your status every hour or couldn’t check emails for a whole day and won’t be able to text your friends? Would you be able to keep it cool or would you go nuts?

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One comment

  1. I am working online a lot, since it’s my business. Still, if I can run from it, then I do it. There’s one thing to need to work and a different ball game to not be able to go for a walk without being ‘connected’

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