I have a slight over-reliance on the Internet. Well, let’s just agree to say its a “substantial” dependence. But not to worry. I know for certain I’m not the only one.
We all go to the Internet to seek help regarding many assortments of issues ranging from personal health to construction—even friendship and health advice. You may have asked the Internet for advice or even gave the advice, whether anonymously, under a pseudonym (CatWhisperer2020?) or even under your own name. Basically, the Internet has grown to be the information mecca of the world and more specifically, the hub of self-appointed masters of life and all things entailed within it.
We should note that our generation came about after the world had achieved great feats in technology. So, it shouldn’t seem out the ordinary that we should developed a certain form of attachment to it. From everyday issues to life’s greatest and most arduous dilemmas, dilemmas that are usually left to the workings of interpersonal relations, people have now suddenly been diverted to the World Wide Web for answers.
With the click of a mouse/track pad (tell me again how tech savvy you are), the answers to the most embarrassing questions that one can’t even fathom the thought of asking another human being are immediately right in front of us. If you’re of a more socially awkward personality like me, it’s probably become the answer to your one of your oldest prayers.
Ranging from social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook, other media platforms such as YouTube and whatever other articles you scour from the dark crevices of the Internet, now we can seek input on the most miniscule questions and situations of life. Nonetheless, we shouldn’t be sheepish about it.
We should consider ourselves lucky to have so much information at our fingertips. So goes the times of pouring over numerous books and asking whichever family member and friend we can find, just to find the answer to our burning questions at the end of our quest. I can hear the whines and moans of the nostalgic, but it’s time to accept that times are simply easier for a reason and it’s better to make use of that reason than to waste it. The web has given a wider range of responses from self-proclaimed gurus of life on each social platform, no matter the geographical location! Yes, you can be a preserver of specific things and movements of times passed, but also realize that it would be a shame to miss out on the growing enigma in itself, the Internet.
It would be untrue to say that as with the increase of reliance on the Internet for guidance, so came the decline of the need for parental figures or mentors. The emergence of the Internet shouldn’t be to take over these roles but to rather supplement it. But as usual, with the good comes the bad. It is important to not forget that people online are taking each day as it comes, just as you are, whilst taking whatever life throws at them. From what I have noticed, the web is filled with individuals who believe they have cracked the greatest puzzles of life and so do their blinded followership . In essence, it should all be taken with a pinch of salt. It becomes your responsibility and is up to your discretion to determine if its right for you. You get the final say!
But in the end, coming from someone who fails at times to take life by its reins and rarely jumps headfirst into projects to see where it would take me, you need to just clench your fists and live your life. A quick skim through an online text or video should be enough to get the information you need, but for it to be taken to the point of using the Internet as a crutch for any decision in your life…it’s unhealthy! Your life should be distinctively yours alone and less like the self-help master on that off-base blog.
Such was the time that I was preparing to leave home for university, filled with anxiety over what to expect, that I devoted long nights to scouring the internet for advice, only to meet, “20 Ways To Make Friends During Frosh Week” and “How to not Miss Out on College Fun.” In reality, at times I just needed to stop being so bothered about the future and live whatever experience life gave me in my own unique way because only I knew what would work for me.
With the digital age, many are at ease with asking whatever questions they desire from the Internet for the fact that it removes the complicated process of going through individuals. Coupled with answers within reach in a matter of seconds, it’s practically a Godsend. Ask and you shall find, as they say! The key is just critically analyzing whatever piece of information you get and not using it to the point that it takes over each decision of your life as to stop your personal experience and journey of life.
Comments are closed.