Bloggerstock: The internet ate my...

Alright folks, the time is here, Bloggerstock--Round 1!
With great pleasure I introduce to you Alex, from IceWolf's Ramblings. Alex is a graduate from Ithaca with a B.F.A. in Theater Production Arts: Technology. Currently he works as a master electrician for Pioneer Theater. His hobbies include photography, enjoying the outdoors, hiking, biking, skiing and camping, but don't get your hopes up ladies, he's taken! If you enjoy photo, theatre, and life in general I strongly advise you to check out Alex's blog.

I also have written a post with the same title, I am privileged to have my post on display at Ella Unread's captivating blog (highly recommended), From the STUPIDEST corner of my mind, check it out!

And now I present to you, "The internet ate my..." by Alex Wiesman.



Well, here it is folks, the first topic from the Bloggerstock "round robin." I didn't really know where to go with this topic, it seems like a topic that has a lot of points of attack. I could go with a completely fictional story, which could be kinda fun, or I could go with my traditional blogging style of musing about and meandering around the topic just to see where it goes. Odds are the latter is where I will end up.

Life is short and yet here I am sitting in front of the computer. I spend a lot of time sitting in front of the computer and most of that time is spent surfing the internet. We have access to basically the entire world at our finger-tips, some might say that you don't really ever have to leave your home to experience much of the world.

It is an interesting topic that I seem to drift back to every now and then. As a blogger the internet does eat up a lot of my time. Then there are the other internet commitments that I have including being a forum moderator for a theatre forum and setting up the Bloggerstock web presence. It is kind of ironic that I keep interrupting my writing of this blog post with other things to do on the internet!

That only the tip of the iceberg though. While I try to do a lot of local shopping and such, sometimes it is a lot easier and often cheaper to buy things online. I buy things not only for myself but also for work from various places around the nets. Sometimes I buy things from vendors who turn up in a Google search who I really have no idea who they are. When you actually sit down and think about it, that is kind of crazy. Even ten years ago people would really have a hard time buying from vendors they knew nothing about, today we do it all the time.

Now consider how much of ourselves and our lives we put online. As bloggers, we often just lay it all out there. Then consider that almost everyone and their mother (literally) has a Facebook or MySpace page (or one of the other wannabe social networks). It is almost impossible to sneeze without the entire digital world knowing about it. It is just very interesting that we live so public lives these days and we are totally OK with it (for the most part anyway).

So, what has the internet eaten? Well, for starters, I think that it is slowly eating away at inter-personal relationships. So many people find it so much easier to "make friends" online rather than in person. It really amazes me that people turn to online services like eHarmony to find their "soulmate." Heaven forbid you actually talk to someone in person. Why do people think that finding a person to spend their lives with with easier and/or better online?

Why do people find it easier to communicate in such an impersonal setting? Shouldn't we still teach and learn how to interact on a personal level? This is why I think that it is important to actually get out and do things with other people. Sitting at home on you game console playing against your friend across the street is kinda silly. Why play Wii sports instead of getting your friends together to go bowling or play baseball? Why do people play "games" like Second Life?

The internet is a great thing, a powerful tool, and useful. I think that we just need to remember that it isn't real life. The internet is eating society and I think that we should be a little concerned. Get out, enjoy the world every now and then!

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Enjoying bloggerstock? You can head over to IceWolf's Ramblings to read another take on this topic. Who knows you may also like some of my other posts!