Can I be bothered? Who needs a website?
According to ‘Internet Live Stats’ there are over 1.5 billion websites currently on the Web, and there will be over 2 billion by 2019. To me, that is an extraordinary amount. What could they possibly all be for? They seem to be dominating the world and diminishing the use of books and physical learning resources. It’s sad to think that we now rely on typing and clicking rather than walking and finding our local library or newspaper stand. The alluring idea that the Internet can solve our never ending questions, thoughts and worries is too much for us; we lack getting of our backsides and finding it some other way. Why? Because it’s easy. There is the luxury of millions of websites being packed full with information and all our unanswered questions, so not using the Internet would just be foolish. Although, using the web as our knowledge machine comes with its risks; with only 50% of us trusting what we read, it can be easy to say that the internet isn’t the most reliable source.
Apparently the average Brit checks their phone up to 10,000 times a year and it’s found that Americans check their phones 80 times a DAY. That doesn’t even put into account the amount of hours we are on our other internet accessible devices. That’s an extraordinary amount of time and actually it’s quite embarrassing. How ridiculous are we to be wasting so much time on something so unimportant? I feel like someone has tricked us, as if they are creating a way for us to be sucked into a tiny device while a great mastermind is creating something to make us their minions or slaves. I suppose they already have. Is Steve Jobs really dead? He could be out there, feeding us with anything and everything so that he could suddenly click his fingers and BOOM we would immediately bow down to him… We wouldn’t even know, too busy stalking someone’s Instagram.
Anyway, back to the question; ‘Can I be Bothered?’ the answer is no. I cannot be bothered to do a lot of things. I’m a 19-year-old student and, to me, that means I’m automatically going to be lazy. I’m not writing this out of free will, I have to. So when I find out that there are billions of people already creating websites out there, such as Amazon and Apple, why on earth would I want to contribute to that number and compete with the big dogs? I cannot be bothered to learn how to make my website successful, I cannot be bothered to come up with the work to put on my website in order for it to become remotely interesting, I cannot be bothered to persuade people to go and look at my amateur website AND I certainly cannot be bothered to have to worry about what people think of it and how successful it’s going to be; going to my lecture and having to read out a teeny piece of work is hard enough let alone sharing my work with the whole world.
However, due to the nine grand a year being funnelled into my University, I feel I should at least try and make something of myself. And creating a website will probably be the best way to do that. Although my initial thoughts are I cannot be bothered, I have managed to convince myself that this is something I need to do. Plus, I want a half decent grade when I graduate.
So, to conclude, are Websites worth it? Yes, if you do it right. It’s very frustrating when you browse through the web to find a specific website, then to disappointingly find out it’s terrible. There’s usually just a picture and a phone number or an email address. Terrible. Even more frustrating when you find a website that is almost impossible to use. Have you ever been on the Chanel website? Nice bags- shit website. You’d think if you were spending that amount of money that you’d at least get the luxury of being able to find the product you want easily. But, I suppose, if you wanted a bag like that you’d go to Harrods, not order online… Anyway, I have digressed, back to the point of this post. After much thought I do think websites are the way forward for anyone trying to promote themselves. As sad as it maybe that we have become totally engrossed in technology rather than looking up to the clouds, this is the way we have become and in some ways it’s a very ugly way to be but in others, its beautiful. Making our mark on technology will be making our mark on the world. So, I will create a website, whether I can be bothered or not.
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