You don't realize how often you use the Internet, until you don't have it. I can't help but hum the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi" as I type this... "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?"
It is somewhat sad to realize that I am as dependent as everyone else on this constant connection. I wanted to share some of the obstacles that I encountered during what I refer to as the "dark week." Some are common sense issues and others were more surprising to me because I didn't even realize it would be an obstacle because I didn't have to connect to a browser to use them, but alas, I lost the Internet, not my browser.
- Checking my e-mail in the morning to see if any classes are canceled or if there are additional things that I need to factor into my day
-Checking Facebook (we are all creepers, don't even try to deny it!)
- Checking the weather using my weather widget before getting dressed. I was not dressed appropriately for the weather one single day this week!! It is quite hard to predict the entire day's weather based on what it is like in the morning, especially in Western NY where one day it is 65 degrees and the next it is 20 degrees!!
- I was making a CD for my boyfriend and wanted to look up lyrics to one song to see if it was actually appropriate... I ended up not putting the song on the CD just to be safe!
- Researching for a paper
- Researching information for my radio show in order to write the script for this week's show
- Finding an article/blog to use for my Social Media essay
- Looking up a word online (I actually had to use a DICTIONARY!!!)
- Doing additional research for my interview for Northwestern University the following Monday
- Working on my application for Northwestern (because it is all online!)
- Organizing the NYC trip that my boyfriend and I are taking over Thanksgiving break
- Bidding on a Christmas gift for my Mom on eBay (I tried to have my brother do it for me, but by the time he remembered, the bidding was over)
- Talking to my bf. Chris is in Rochester, and neither of us are "phone people," so we tend to do the majority of our communication on AIM and video chat, neither of which are possible without the Internet.
- Google mapping (yes, I did just turn that into a verb...) my way around Chicago
- Coordinating the submission of recommendation letters on the online system
There are so many more obstacles that I encountered, but to be honest, I have tried to block it out of my head.
One thing I found surprising this week was how many people communicate solely via e-mail and Facebook. I would call someone to figure things out and they would let it go to voice mail and then respond via email. I can't say that I am not guilty of it, but I will be rethinking doing that from now on!
I can only hope that when I return home on Tuesday I will be able to launch into that amazing world that I have felt so lost without!!
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You have nailed it right on the head. We ALL rely on the internet, maybe a little too much. I'm guilty of creeping on facebook or going on a tangent when I need to be writing a paper that's due at 8 a.m. the next morning! It's often times hard to avoid doing the things we love, considering most is done through the internet. Your blog is a prime example of how often we do use the internet, especially with planning trips, buying gifts, or just communicating with loved ones. I sometimes wonder how our lives would be if the internet was not present at all.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you that the Internet tends to be a great procrastination tool. I can say that I got a lot of not-Internet related work done when I didn't have the Internet because my ability to procrastinate was greatly hindered!!! As for how our lives would be without the Internet, much more difficult than it is now! :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with both your post and Janelle's comment about it! The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is go on the internet. Weather.com is set up as my homepage so the first thing I see is the weather for Fredonia, then I check my email and (I admit it) go on facebook. It's a habit I can't even help it! Sometimes I log onto the firefox and automatically just go to fredonia.edu to check my mail and then type in facebook. I'll exit out of the internet knowing it was really pointless to just go on, then I'll remember I was really trying to go on ANGEL to get a homework assignment or something. The internet is just such a huge part of our life that it's hard to stay away from it! I even have a hard time turning off my computer at night, even though its a huge energy waster. I had actually lost my phone last weekend and had to wait for my replacement to come in, and I think the only reason I didn't go crazy without having a phone was because I had the internet still. Heck, I used facebook to let my sisters relay the message to my parents why my service was shut off!
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't have facebook with my sister, they probably would have freaked out after not getting ahold of me for 4 days! Just goes to show some of the benefits of it I guess?
Haha. I can't tell you how many times I have logged onto the internet to do work and ended up spending an hour doing something else and completely forgetting why I originally logged on in the first place!!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that there are a lot of benefits though. I had a similar thing happen to me with my phone!