Some Reflections and Thoughts on the Internet
When people call me, they complain that I never answer the phone. I’m a teacher, so I have a habit of having my ringer off. If my ringer is always off, it can’t ring when I’m teaching class. Since I teach class 32 weeks of the year, I just got in the habit of turning off the ringer.
These days, I keep my ringer on, so I don’t miss calls. For the most part, the calls I get are from telemarketers.
In terms of the Internet, I browse daily if I don’t have heaps of work to do. I like certain things about the Internet, but there are many things that I don’t care for. That is only natural considering the endless stream of content on the web. Statistically speaking, some of it will resonate, and some of it won’t.
I have a couple of reasons for my daily web use. I like to learn new things even if those things are outside of my discipline. The second reason is to find inspiration. The inspiration I speak of isn’t specific. I just browse sometimes and an image, quote, or video will spark an idea. The idea may not even be related to the content. I then develop the idea in whatever way I’m moved.
What I dislike about the Internet is how much distorted information is out there. Well meaning people who are fairly intelligent end up spreading bad information because they can’t see that there are problems with the logic. I am not saying I know everything or that I have some special ability to catch every instance of bad logic, but I do teach logic, which makes some of the bad logic seem like nails on a chalk board. If I am annoyed by something on the Internet, it is easy enough to do something else.
I did spend over a year offline. I had to delete my social media accounts completely and uninstall my apps in order to stay offline. It felt odd at first, but then it was fine. Eventually, I decided to come back to the Internet because I was curious about what was going on in the world and wanted the learn things and get inspired.
One random fact about me is if I go out in nature or travel, I usually vanish from the Internet because I like to be immersed in what I am doing. On this one trip I went on, my friends and I were on a boat in the canals in Copenhagen. One of my friend’s girlfriend was taking selfies the entire boat ride. A swan swam up to the boat, and she looked at it through her screen. I took a photo too because the swans were a beautiful part of the trip that I wanted to look at later, but I wasn’t experiencing the entire boat trip via my screen. Something about not experiencing the entire activity through a screen struck me as sad. A screen isn’t as good as being somewhere in person. I prefer real life activities and do engage in plenty of them, but like many people, I’ve recently been spending a lot of time at home by myself, and so I end up on the Internet sometimes.
Why this reflection on the Internet? The Internet has opened many doorways and connects people who would have never found each other. It also has shaped the social climate in ways that haven’t even played out yet. It is a powerful thing. I think people should reflect on their Internet use.
Some people advocate a move back to flip phones. Smartphones offer a lot of convenience though. I have a suspicion that people wouldn’t really want to go back to flip phones if their lives depended on it. Part of it is addiction. The human brain gets dopamine hits for every favorable element that comes up, such as likes on a post or a story about a favorite topic.
If anything, we might consider how many big-tech industry workers raise their own children with less emphasis on technology. Those people would be the experts, and they don’t want their children glued to screens.
What are your Internet habits like? Do you have any insights to share? Comment below.
Updated 4/2/22
