That's hyperbole, of course. I managed just fine before the Internet. Everyone did. Many people still do. So I guess the message should be more like I wouldn't want to go back to not having the Internet. I really wouldn't want to.
I was living on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia when I first became aware of the Internet. This would have been around 1992 or so. The boyfriend of a gal I worked with was a real geek, so of course he was all up on the latest technologies. One day, he decided to teach a class at our office during a few evenings in building web sites using html. It seemed completely magical to me at the time. It was the first time I'd ever created something directly using computer code. My mind filled up with all the amazing possibilities, especially regarding organizing information.
At some point after that, I got an internet account for my little Mac Classic, and joined a local BBS (Bulletin Board System). Many younger people won't remember BBSs...they were the precursor to Internet Forums, which were the precursors to chat rooms. Right from the get-go, it became obvious that the anonymity of communicating through a computer gave many users a complete disregard to the concept of shame or politeness. Personally, I've always done my best to behave online the same way I do in person. And I realized early on too that once it's online, it's there forever...so I never did or said anything that would shame me to be confronted with again today. My online policy is: If I'd be embarrassed for my mother to see it, I don't do it.
From the BBS I moved briefly to America Online. You may remember the deluge of America Online disks that got sent through the mail in the early 90s, enticing people to join. But it was too expensive to use as much as I really wanted to, so to avoid temptation, I gave up on it. But man...I felt like a kid in a candy store while I was using it. There was so much there! Forums and information on every conceivable subject. At least, it seemed so at the time. Compared to what we have access to on the Internet today, AOL was like a small-town library compared to the Library of Congress.
And now, the Library of Congress is like that small-town library compared to what's accessible online.
I was inspired to make the Internet today's thankful subject because I had just heard an interview on CBC with a guy named Ryan Nicodemus. Ryan told of how he'd once been a successful executive with a fancy apartment and a nice car and lots and lots of stuff. At some point he became disillusioned with his lifestyle, realizing that it would inevitably make him like so many people around him at work who were miserable and making themselves physically sick in order to achieve and maintain a fancy lifestyle. So he gave it up, and now he runs a website with his friend, called www.theminimalists.com.
Since I'm always toying with the idea of purging myself of a lot of the stuff I own that mostly never even gets touched, and much of which I've forgotten I even have, I was really curious to find out more. Before the internet, I might have been out of luck. Maybe I could have found his book at the library (but probably not, as it's pretty specialized). Maybe I could have bought his book. Both of those options would have required a trip somewhere, and in one case an outlay of cash, which I probably would have put off and put off till I totally forgot about it.
But that didn't happen. As soon as I got back to my computer after listening to that interview earlier, I pulled up theminimalists.com on my web browser, and it's sitting there in another tab (one of many, many tabs), waiting patiently for me to go have a look when I finish writing this post.
I do this kind of thing pretty much every day. I hear about something that piques my interest, and I go to the Internet to find out more. Besides email and the web, I think the best thing about the Internet is Wikipedia. That's almost always my first stop when googling random subjects that I don't know have specific dedicated websites. I use Wikipedia more than any other website, except perhaps Google, simply because I have to use Google to find the Wikipedia entries I want...among other things.
I think the Internet has made me smarter. I mean it. I learn so much every day online. A lot of it is useless garbage, to be sure -- that's inescapable online. But a lot of it is very useful, interesting, valuable stuff. I also communicate better with friends and family because of the Internet. I love writing letters, but I seem to have an allergy to mailboxes. Being able to sit down at my desk and write up a letter and send it by email means that I keep in touch with far-flung people I'd usually have very little contact with.
Within the past two years, the Internet has changed the way I work too. It's changed so much. I'd say it's been a positive change. Instead of being a sponge for anything the TV networks decide to provide at their own discretion, I have become interactive with the information I choose to consume. I decide when and what information and entertainment I want to consume. I decide from whom I get it. And, if I want to, I can be a part of it...as I am with this blog, and others I maintain (albeit spottily).
Yep, the Internet plays a very important role in my life these days, and I'm very thankful for it. I wouldn't want to ever do without it again. I can see myself at 80 years, if I live that long, sitting in the lounge at the old folks' home, pecking away at my laptop, or whatever weird and wonderful new device will be de rigeur in 30 years, absorbing, contributing and enjoying my connection to the world.
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