Any promising new invention will have its naysayers, and the bigger the promises, the louder the nays. It's not hard to find smart people saying stupid things about the Internet on the morning of its birth. In late 1994, Time magazine explained why the Internet would never go mainstream: "It was not designed for doing commerce, and it does not gracefully accommodate new arrivals." Newsweek put the doubts more bluntly in a February 1995 headline: "THE INTERNET? BAH!"
It's amazing to think about the Internet and how it affects our lives now. This may not be the case for some, but in my opinion, computers have become nearly useless when an internet connection is not available. It has completely changed the way we obtain information and increased the rate at which we are able to do so. Knowledge about anything and everything is at our fingertips. It has also changed the way we communicate. 10 years ago we had telephone and mail. Now, in addition to that we have: e-mail, IM, message boards, newsgroups, VOIP (Internet phones), video communication and probably more that I'm not thinking of. The Internet has become a necessity of life. I have a few friends that do not have internet access at all and some use dialup (which is worse than not having internet access, in my opinion). I don't know how they do it.
2 comments:
I don't know what I think about the Internet as a "necessity", but it is very useful. I didn't use my sister's laptop when I was at my grandma's house Spring term because it didn't get an internet connection there. I'd say that the Internet is about as much of a necessity as a cell phone. You can do without it, but having it sure does make life easier.
I doubt I would be able to function without it. I could lose the cell phone. I wouldn't like it, but I could live without it. I think the internet is a necessity for me. If it's not for you yet, I'd be willing to bet that it will be within a few years.
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