Response to What is the Internet?

The internet is everywhere and we have easy access to it. The internet is the digital world of messaging apps, social media, articles, videos, games, etc. It has everything from entertainment to education. There are quite a few things that scare me about the internet though. The author of one of our readings talked about how he used to be able to read long books and articles for hours. He was so immersed in it that it became a type of entertainment for him. However, after reading and searching for things on the web, he no longer had the want or even the willpower to read something that was more than a few pages. He thinks that the internet caused that because he became so used to the efficiency and immediacy of the internet giving him exactly what he wanted answers to. That thought also crossed my mind a little while ago. I remember when I was younger I would read for hours on end just for the sheer enjoyment of it. Now it is so hard for me to actually sit down and read because I am so used to the quickness of the internet. I get what I want almost immediately and it does not seem as necessary to read an entire article when I can skim through and find what I need. My mind moves so fast and I have become so impatient because I expect everything to happen quickly. For example, when I am on the internet the page uploads immediately (unless there is an error) or if I am playing a video game it moves so fast that I barely have anytime to think. I even found myself having a hard time sitting through movies and anything longer than ten minutes (unless it is extremely riveting) because I am used to watching lots of short clips of videos on the internet. I have the capacity to sit through longer videos but I mostly prefer the shorter clips. It makes me sad because there is still that part of me that wants to waste my time reading and use my brain to come up with images of what the story is telling instead of looking at a screen to tell me what I should be imagining. I want to be able to be more patient and at peace if something doesn’t happen immediately. However, the internet is a huge part of my life and most others’ lives too that it is hard to change the mindset that I now have from using the internet.

Although there are other scary things about using the internet, it also has some good uses! I said in my intro video that I like Kpop and I would never have found it if it were not for the internet. So I’m really happy that I have youtube and social media so I can connect with people in another continent and listen to their music. I have also been able to reconnect with people through social media. In fact, I have become really close with one of them and hang out with her a lot. It is much easier than before the internet to find answers to questions and to look up scholarly articles for my research papers. It is super nice having the world at my fingertips. So the internet is good and bad. I just hope that one day we can alleviate some of the bad and have more of the good. #dgst100