Do you like the Internet?

[FPAlpha]

I think the Internet is one of the greatest inventions in modern society.

Information distribution is a key aspect, data transfer a second. The Internet has greatly influenced our way of life and will continue to do making some things easier (shopping for example) and providing or enabling quite a number of jobs.

The downside though is that it has changed some things that were common.. retail has gotten a hit with the advent of online shops with often cheaper prices and direct (and many times free) direct delivery endangering existing jobs and making it possible for tech savvy criminals to pull off amazingly lucrative crimes (just read about a student "club" that managed to steal 12 million $ from banks and people).

All considered however the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and it has become a staple in life.. my generation (i'm 35) and those younger will always have an internet connection.. a new place must have rooms, electricity, water and be able to connect to the internet (prior to the internet it was a phone line but with cell phones who needs a landline anymore?).

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think the Internet is great. You can get too involved in it and take some of it too seriously, but overall it's an amazing tool both for personal and professional use. Hell, without the Internet, my job would be impossible or at least very, very different.

I believe it can be a great tool for communication and socializing but only if you use it that way. If you just talk to people online and then never meet any of them I think you are missing out. I've had a lot of fun meeting folks from TrekBBS and elsewhere.

 

[Shatnertage]

Makes doing research a lot easier--fulltext New York Times going back to 1840 makes some aspects of research unimaginably simpler.

 

[Lowdarzz]

I find the internet to be overrated. If I'm not doing research, mostly looking up books from the library, for a paper or occasionally posting on this message board I'm not using it.

 

[TheGodBen]

Now, when I'm watching a TV show and I vaguely recognise an actor from somewhere, I wont spend all night trying to figure it out, I can just pull out my phone and find the answer. That's the beauty of the internet.

At the same time, the internet introduced me to 2Girls1Cup and goatse. With time, I learned to forgive the internet for those, but I will never be able to forget.

 

[Naira]

I like it a lot.

I first joined at an early age, around 11 or so. My father works at a computer center and whenever he'd take me to work with him I'd surf. Then, we got a modem at home and I used to spend around half an hour a day on-line (dial-up and all). I mostly used to look up information about TV series etc.

Now, I spend some time on-line for pleasure and much time for work. The Internet has made my work as a researcher much easier than for the generations before me. I can't imagine having to wait for conference proceedings and journals to be printed and delivered to my University library. Or not being able to look up manuals for computer languages or irritating linux issues on-line.

However, the Internet has changed a lot. What I remember from my first years on-line is that the people were generally more warm. Also, everyone stuck to nicknames and most people (myself included) were almost paranoid about their real name and life details being leaked. Now, we all have a Facebook page (again, myself included) with our real name, our photos, our social connections being posted for everyone to see.

 

[Alex1939]

I like the internet.


I do miss a time I could go on vacation and family,friends, people from work or whatever could have the phone number to my ROOM and thats the only possible way they MIGHT get a hold of me.

That's more of an anti-cell phone thing i guess, but I do miss TRUE vacations.

 

[An Officer]

The internet, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I couldn't possibly list the ways in which the internet has enriched my life in one post. When you are a bit of an odd duck like I am, the internet is essential, it feeds all my strangest and obscurest interests and flights of fancy. The friends I have made, the interests I have cultivated, and the experiences I have had, I could not possibly have imagined or dreamed prior to 1997 when I first began to use the web on a daily basis. Long may it live!

 

[Shikarnov]

I more than like the Internet, I depend on it. Its existence has freed me from the shackles of living where my job dictates. No matter where I am in the world, I can use the Internet to communicate with clients, coordinate with colleagues, keep in touch with friends and family, and so much more. I'll grant you, there's something to be said for rounding up the guys and going to share a few drinks at the local pub. But there's so much more to say for traveling around the world, staying in new places long enough to learn a language and appreciate a culture, and choosing where you WANT to be, all without missing a single day of work. The Internet lets that happen.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I'm a fan. It's a major convenience, and it feels a bit like living in the future. I do slightly worry, however, what would happen if it suddenly went away.

I like the internet fine; I just don't like you.

 

[Amaris]

. . . there was an interesting author who wrote a book (maybe 10 or so years ago) on the massive downsides of connectivity. People no longer seem to know their neighbors as well as they know people scattered randomly about the world.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- if your neighbors happen to be assholes.

I was born in '79, so I remember a time without the Internet, and was there during the 90's when it really started becoming big, so I've used it, but not all my life.

Hell, you're a young whippersnapper. I remember when “pen-pals” were a popular thing. You could communicate by snail mail, which usually took at least a week or two to deliver, with someone on another continent. Now the internet lets anyone communicate instantly with thousands or millions all over the world.

Look at our youth, constantly on Facebook which many have said actually de-socializes us, moving us away from that face-to-face communication.

And I'm sure the same thing was said about the telephone 100 years ago. The internet is a tool, neither good nor bad in itself. Like any tool, it all depends on how you use it.

True, but there's something to be said for handwritten communication. When I wrote a letter to the Dalai Lama, I actually hand wrote it, with paper and pen, because I believe in tactile contact, even through a piece of paper.

 

[Holdfast]

True, but there's something to be said for handwritten communication. When I wrote a letter to the Dalai Lama, I actually hand wrote it, with paper and pen, because I believe in tactile contact, even through a piece of paper.

The Lama accepts psychic contact only, through the ether.

Just FYI for the future.





I think the internet has evolved sufficiently that it's no longer a case of liking or not liking it as an invention, but rather liking or not liking what you can do with it. It's like asking if you like cotton thread or wool yarns, rather than if you like specific items of clothing made from those materials.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I'm thankful that the internet was around when I was doing research in college and grad school. It just made things so much more convenient.

 

[RandyS]

Without the Internet I'd have never have met some of the world's most inhumanely cruel and thoughtless women, and dated them.

Heh. I didn't need the internet for that.

I also remember a time without it, but I'm glad to have it.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I like the internet.
I don't really have any friends so the internet lets me talk to people.

 

[LeadHead]

[Lou Welch] Beats a kick in the teeth. [/Lou Welch]

The internet is great, games, connecting with long lost friends, news, shopping. Works for me.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I love the Internet. Thanks to online selling and print-on-demand, a ton of great old literature is available again that I was never able to find as a kid. It also allows access to great old music and video, as well as new stuff, that wouldn't otherwise be easily available. It has also allowed me to publish and sell my own stuff all over the world.

And, of course, it has allowed me to meet great people from all over the world that share my interests. Before the Internet, I spent most of my life bored with the people around me, wishing I could meet people that I could talk to about interesting things. Now I look forward to visiting my forums and having some nice conversation.

 

[Goliath]

It's not without its charms.

I have to wonder, though, about the meaningfulness of this thread. Does anybody really think that a bunch of posters on a Star Trek BBS are going to reply, "no, I hate the internet, it sucks"?

 

[Shikarnov]

True, but there's something to be said for handwritten communication. When I wrote a letter to the Dalai Lama, I actually hand wrote it, with paper and pen, because I believe in tactile contact, even through a piece of paper.

There's something to be said for handmade anything. People pay a lot of money for furniture that's crafted by hand. For porcelain figures painted by hand. And etc. There's a definite psychology involved that assigns quality to such things, even when they may often be vastly inferior (as in the case of a hand-written letter which may be difficult to read, can be damaged by water or other wear, is slow to arrive, and wastes resources).

Like Captain Picard touching the Phoenix.

For my part, though, the last time I hand-wrote more than my signature, I got cramps.

 

[Goliath]

For my part, though, the last time I hand-wrote more than my signature, I got cramps.

As I watched my students writing their midterms this past Wednesday, and their hands gradually turned into claws from the effort, I laughed inside, and thought: "That's it! Feel the burn!"