How the Internet Affects Our Society

How the Internet Affects Our Society

Nearly 70 million American adults access the Internet on a regular basis. They use it to conduct business, communicate, and just pass time. The Internet provides information that is sent and received at the speed of light. It helps bridge time, distance, and cultural barriers, but that is just part of the paradox that even though the internet may expand the world in which we live, we still have to virtually isolate ourselves to access it. (Greenfield) It may seem to be a great invention, and it may connect us to almost anywhere in the world, but at what cost? Increased use of the Internet means that one would give up, to some extent, communication with living beings and other technologies. This overuse of the internet can lead to decline in work performance, use of other media, and face to face interactions.

I lived in an off-campus dorm my freshman year in college. We had a computer room in the building next door, and my roommate and I also had a computer in our room, but it was not hooked up to the Internet. Even when I just had to type a paper, I headed over to the lab, thinking that if I got bored with the paper, I could just "surf" the net for a little while. One night, that little while of "surfing" turned into 5 hours in a chat room. When I realized how long I had been there, it scared me. I found that I had been spending more time in that computer lab than I did in the outside world. My only friend was my roommate, and she was hardly ever home. I did not have a job at the time, so I could not meet people that way, and I was very home sick, so I thought my only release was through the computer because I had become bored with watching television. I would lock myself away in the secluded lab, where I was alone for most of the time. Sometimes, I would not talk to a living human for more than 2 to 3 hours a day, and most of those hours were spent talking to my friends and family in Houston. I became a very lonely person, and I even felt for a while that I did not care if I ever talked to people again.