Been pondering how the internet has changed my life

[canadianbeaver]

I love to draw and I have been working on a new project researching the style of MC Escher, where one thing turns into another:

This is real "old school" and is based on math, thinking and drawing.

It occurred to me how much my life has changed since I spend so much time on the internet.

1. I would not have the interest or knowledge I have in cigars, let alone specifically Cuban cigars, or the friends online or in person as I travel globally.

2. I would not have learned how to buy and sell online since I had 2 years as a dealer on eBay. So I know more about scamming and trustworthiness online.

3. Much to my horror, I am active on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, so I should not be surprised if I see a post that says, "party at Rotenberg's Friday - my parents are away"

And you?

[TexAg]

I know exactly how you feel. I swore up and down that I would never get a Twitter account much less Tweet about what I'm doing at the moment. Now, I have the Twitter app on my phone and I can't stay off of it. And don't even get me started on Facebook. I spend more time on Facebook than I do on any other site. Before, sometimes during, and after class that's all I do. Now, when I go anywhere with my laptop, if there is no internet, its practically useless for anything more than a paperweight. It's frightening to me how much I've become hooked on social media and the internet.

I am glad that I opened an Amazon Seller Account though. I make so much more money back on my books each semester than the university bookstore is willing to give me. You buy a $180 book from them, hardly use it, then try to sell it back and the best price they can give you is $10. Ridiculous.

[canadianbeaver]

OK, just thought of another... I do not go to the bank anymore, except to maybe buy foreign currency or go to my safety deposit box (may once every couple of years), or to use the bank machine.

And mail a letter... rarely!

LOVE to buy cigars this way!!

[TWalker]

The internet has helped me find and buy difficult to locate items, at a decent price usually, too. It's great for comparison shopping. It's also helped me while away hours and hours reading false news, blatant lies and some other complete horse **** that is passed off as truth. It's given complete crack-pots a pedestal to stand on and hawk their insanity on anyone willing to stop by for a few minutes. However it has also reaffirmed what I suspected already and that is just how much I dislike most forms of social media. I've always been a private person and the thought of a facebook account, twitter account, or the like, just makes me shudder. I don't spy on my kids because they're all adults now, and frankly, I don't want to know what kind of trouble they're up to. I prefer to just give them a call when I want to catch up with them.

The internet has been a bitter-sweet experience for me.

[ptrthgr8]

I worked for Amazon.com for 7 years... had that never happened, I never would have gone from Seattle to North Dakota, wouldn't have met my wife, wouldn't have owned any machine guns (verboten in Washington State, but not North Dakota), and may never have seen fireflies. My work with Amazon helped us buy a house (gotta love stock options!) and helped me get my current gig.

I love the interwebz. It's been good to me and I know it. I love technology. Aristotle and other such men were smart... but I've got an entire world's worth of information at my fingertips. I may not know everything, but I can learn damned near anything using my PC, laptop, or smart phone.

I used to be into PC gaming pretty regularly and was part of a "tactical realism" community/team for several years. (We played the Call of Duty series mainly.) Being able to storm an occupied French village with teammates from across the globe was cool. We used TeamSpeak so everyone could talk in realtime right then and there - we had folks from the US, UK, Canada, Oz, Japan, and Russia (we had a single Ivan in our group for a while!) No way would that every have happened 20 years ago.

And online shopping? Fuggitabowdit. B&Ms are almost pointless nowadays.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[riazp]

Internet is changing everything. No one goes to the library to do a research project. Everything is availeble online. I'm barely on facebook anymore but very active on twitter. The wealth on information availeble at your fingertips is amazing.

[cottierm]

That is why I so much enjoy libraries nowadays: just a few of us among the physical books!

Best,

Michel

[Puros Y Vino]

I've made my career in IT. As a telco / Data Centre guy, I was around for the proliferation of the Internet to common folk. I've always enjoyed playing with new technology,: hardware/software etc. But I'm also a bit of a luddite. I don't care for Twitter or much social media other than LinkedIn. I completely deleted my Facebook account and content about two years ago. I don't care to have a smartphone. A basic cell with email does me just fine. My approach to IT has always been about maximizing efficiencies through technology where it made sense. Not just to push hardware & software. I started off in a small consulting firm where we are able to extend our clients existing technology inntvestments vs making them rip out everything and start fresh. Sadly, that approach has died off due to the disposable aspect of everything that is manufactured. The FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) aspect of the business makes my blood boil.

The amount of information at one's fingertips is completely astounding. If you get lost, you can find your way. If you need to make a decision on a product you can read up on it in advance and make a purchase online. The flip side is that there is too much dependency on the tech. People are forgetting how to do things without the technology. Office email has made every person an island unto themselves. In the old days you would walk over to your co worker to ask a question, hash things out, etc. Nowadays, that one email is expected to be the be all and end all to the start of a conversation, the commencement or delivery of a task or a potential scapegoat. As someone that has managed billion dollar data centres Ive seen great leaps in data protection , redundancy ,etc. But I always told my clients. If you have something you really need to keep. Print it out and store it somewhere. Do your own business continuity and disaster recovery planning. You are ultimately responsible for your data. I've seen companies lose a lot of their data due to either being cheap, procrastination or putting too much faith in technology.

I still love tech, but I dont ride the early adopter wave. I dont get the fastest CPU, I get the 2nd or 3rd fastest CPU and save myself a lot money. I dont slobber over myself to get a new iPhone. I just shell out $75 on a cheap phone and pay as I go. If I want to have long conversations I;ll use the landline or Skype. My cell is for emergencies or a quick call or text acknowledging where I am and when I'll be there. The internet as it is now will die. It will be completely overrun by corporations. You're going to pay more to access things and get less in return. In the early days it was like the Wild West. A lot of individuals provided content and shared ideas. That has died off bit or transformed (i.e. Facebook). There is still lots of cool stuff out there though pioneered by some enterprising folks. All is not lost. But one thing that is becoming clear to me is the tightening of information that is outside the mainstream. The copyright hysteria has gone completely overboard. Youtube sucks these days. Video content is blocked by geography in the name of protecting antiquated business models. If I want to see a Colbert clip I have to surf to a Canadian site that holds the "license" to broadcast the show. So much for a "free internet".

[Puros Y Vino]

Free porn Frank....Free porn....

That was there at the beginning and shall be there to the end Shlomo.

[canadianbeaver]

I guess the tech side is pretty obvious... and the porn of course :dollarsign:

But the mega shopping, epub books/music and special interest forums? Not sure they saw those coming.

The one thing that ticks me off about the music $... if it costs, let's say 0.99 cents to download a song, then that is probably $10-16 an album. And no hard copy costs? Phooey.

[phidelt076]

In addition to what has already been stated, the Internet has helped me learn and tackle projects I never would have been able to without it. I'm a member of a few Jeep and Corvette forum and the diagnostic info and upgrade walk throughs with pictures have saved me tons of money over the years. I did all of the work my jeep myself to take it from a stock 2dr to a lifted monster, wired up with a winch and off-roads lights. I had my laptop in the garage with me following detailed instructions someone took the time to write during all these projects. If I got stuck on something all I had to do was get online and ask the questions and I had the answers in no time.

[ramon_cojones]

Free porn Frank....Free porn....

LOL

My iphone 4 was the best thing I ever bought two years ago, I don't know how I lived without a smartphone before.

[Puros Y Vino]

Before there were "forums" there was/is Usenet. Forums are the children of Usenet and bulletin boards. As for music costs, that whole industry is a scam. Printing CD's is cheap enough. Downloading songs have associated infrastructure costs too though. The truth is the music industry is not "truthful" about their operating costs and models. They've done so much real damage in the name of "copyright". The Internet exposed their antiquated business model as not being viable in the digital age. Instead of changing with the times, they lobbied for punitive legislation.

[TWalker]

Frank, you and I are in a very similar field(except I'm a field tech). I doubt that it's much of a coincidence that we have similar personal views towards technology.

[Puros Y Vino]

Frank, you and I are in a very similar field(except I'm a field tech). I doubt that it's much of a coincidence that we have similar personal views towards technology.

From your comments, I'd say so. I am more in the ITIL field now. IT process management. I've been out of "Operations" for some time. Way too demanding on my personal time. I still mess around with new tech but not to the same degree as I used to. Ironically, getting into cigars has "slowed" me down a bit. I enjoy my "unplugged" time a bit more. Though i do find myself smoking with an DSLR or tablet nearby in case I feel like writing a review. One very interesting thing I've noticed, especially amongst younger people. There's a lot of lonely people out there with their smartphones. It seems people need constant validation. You can be in a roomful of people with smartphones and 90% of them won't talk to each other. They'll be talking/texting into their phones with those they want to talk to. Then again, I live in Toronto and it's not the friendliest of cities so that might factor in. I myself prefer NOT to be called. I am pretty deft at handling emails though. Just a habit from being in Operations I guess. I've come to know that as much as email, instant messaging, etc enables quick communications it can also have the opposite effect too. A break in the flow of information can often mean you're being ignored. Case in point. My buddy runs a volleyball league. Every week he sends out an email to everyone to see who is showing up. Almost 90% of the players take 3-5 days to get back to him. And we know that each and every one of them has a smartphone. They will even walk off the court to answer them!! A fairly quick response is expected as a courtesy so we know how many are playing and if there are spots open for guest players. As an IT guy. There is no excuse to not respond within 2-8 hours. No one is that busy. Unless they're a surgeon.

[bassman]

No Facebook or Twits for me, but I love You Tube. So much free live music there from just about any group- famous or obscure. Check out Luther Wright & The Wrongs- a Canadian country/bluegrass band that remade Pink Floyd's The Wall album.

[Smallclub]

The internet has changed my life.

My penis got enlarged thanks to the many tips I received via email.

[ramon_cojones]

I am now harder and last longer than ever before, thanks Ron Jeremy.

[Fuzz AI]

The internet has changed things alright. I can no longer enjoy laughing at the perverts, trying to hide their faces as they scurry into the porno stores.

[Rehman]

To wrench this discussion back up from the nether regions...

Some things have had to go. When Kodak went under, it took with it the lost souls of film photographers, and with them the entire concept of photography up to that point - what it was, what it did, how it was done.

Letter-writing, too, is all but gone, supplanted by text messages and tweets - the composition and organisation of thoughts has been replaced by their mere utterance. (It is not that people read less, but that it isn't possible to read more; there's too much information and too little time.)

To slop back down to the nether regions... we owe porn. In the Year of the Net 1995, in the very first posting I ever wrote for Internet publication, I observed how the technology was being driven by pornographers. (At the unchallenged peak of a steaming heap of previously illicit and proscribed causes.) I wonder how many aspects of the present-day browsing experience, from pop-ups to streaming videos, were debuted in their honour.

Also, in that piece, I presciently predicted the end of my personal prospects as a professional writer. This was not what I had ever meant by "free speech". The barbarians had broken down the gates and were going to bury us alive. And thus has it come to pass.

[TWalker]

You can still write, Rehman. You just need to write about porn.

[Rehman]

You can still write, Rehman. You just need to write about porn.

Shlomo won't pay.

[mk05]

oh god, this is like asking what the invention of the wheel did for humanity in 1000AD.

[Rehman]

oh god, this is like asking what the invention of the wheel did for humanity in 1000AD.

Speed limits set at the rate of a galloping horse.

[Hash]

I do not know if i missed the following points in the previous responses.

With all the positive impacts the Communication Revolution introduced Internet one of them,there are serious drawbacks,personal relationships are becoming impersonal,people are finding it much easier to communicate through the social networks,I notice when they meet in person long poses of silence takes place.They feel more comfortable posting their news on the net.