19th
Me and the Internet
When posed with the question, “How the internet has changed my life,” I really don’t know how to answer it. I think I’m too young to remember a time when computers and the internet were not available some kind of way. I remember as early as second grade using computers in school to learn to type and play games. My first experience with the internet that I can remember is my third grade best friend having at her house. I really didn’t know what the internet was back then or what it was capable of, I just thought it was cool. Through the rest of grade school, I did learn the “old fashioned” way of researching and then was introduced to using the web as a researching tool. I did find the way of the internet much easier and quicker, but it really was no different than using the Dewy Decimal system at the library.
The best example of how I can see the internet changing my life is when my parents have questions or need to know something. Their used to pulling out the phone book, making countless calls, and by the end of the day, still haven’t gotten anywhere with what they’re looking for. Now, I can step in and show them how to look up information on the internet and answer questions for them easier than they used to answer questions for me when I was younger.
What I think is amazing is that I think me and the rest of my generation is ahead of the game now, that we know basically everything about the new technology that’s out there and how to incorporate it into our daily lives, something that my parents’ generation will probably never do as well as we can. And to think that my children, and my grand children and so on will surpass me and I will one day be in my parents shoes is mind boggling and scary.
Computers and the internet is just something I grew up with. I was four-years-old when my parents bought our first word processor, so I really don’t remember a time not having one around. In a way, the internet has spoiled me. I’m so used to having whatever information I need at my finger tips, and when I don’t find what I’m looking for and have to actually do real research, I get very frustrated. I would love to live long enough to see computers just take over and print would become obsolete.
