5 Ways I Use the Internet

1. I mainly use the internet to look up information, or to do research. Since the internet is incredibly efficient, and easy to use, it is my number one source for general information. I don't even use phone books anymore, just whitepages.com. Other favorites of mine are Google and Wikipedia.

2. Social Networking! Since no one seems to be able to make a phone call anymore, or write a letter, especially if they live far away, social networking has become the answer to our click-of-the-button connectivity. As most of us know, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, have now become a part of most of our daily lives.

3. Internet Banking! I cannot express how easy internet banking has made my life. I no longer have to wait in line at the bank to deposit my check, or live with the fear that my electric bill will be past due, thanks to the internet. Direct deposit allows my money to be in my account right on time, and allows me access to my funds to pay bills at any time with instant affirmation.

4. Entertainment! Ahh...the laziness of it all! For a small fee each month, I can have access to just about any movie or TV serious out there, all from my home computer. The creators of Netflix, and Hulu have almost canceled out my need for a television all together. Even if I want to watch local news, I can simply go to their website and be just as informed, if not more, than those who wait on the regular 5, 6, or 10 o'clock broadcast.

5. Shopping! It is amazing how easily it is to be able to go to a store's website, and pick and choose items to buy without having to deal with crammed parking lots, adament salesmen, or screaming babies! Even better, depending on what you are willing to pay, you can even have next day delivery! The only way it could be more efficient, is if I could order groceries online, and have them show up on my doorstep within a couple of hours on the same day! I know, I know.....baby steps. =)

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is a term that refers to ISPs maintaining an even playing field when providing internet service to would be competitors. There are currently efforts underway by large ISPs to provide a higher tier of service for those companies with the ability to pay.

The fear is that powerhouses like Amazon and YouTube can pay to make navigation within their websites faster and therefore more convenient. Furthermore, ISPs can make certain content inaccesible, eliminating one of the internet's most appealing features, the fact that wherever you access from you can access the same content.
　
"Thou shalt not discriminate among bits based on who made them or what they're doing"
is the 11th commandment for proponents of net neutrality. Though this seems like a new high tech problem that could only be realized in the 21st century, I found some examples almost 150 years old that would suggest otherwise. In 1860 a US federal law was passed regarding the subsidization of telegraph lines which stated that:

"messages received from any individual, company, or corporation, or from any telegraph lines connecting with this line at either of its termini, shall be impartially transmitted in the order of their reception, excepting that the dispatches of the government shall have priority ..."

—An act to facilitate communication between the Atlantic and Pacific states by electric telegraph, June 16, 1860

Just as there was an awareness of the potential abuse of the system, there were also opportunists who attempted to circumvent these types of regulations. In 1888, Almon Brown Strowger invented an automated telephone exchange system designed to bypass non-neutral telephone operators who redirected calls for profit.

Ultimately the solution to this issue will determine how the internet evolves. If neutrality is not maintained, the internet could lose its dynamic nature and end up analagous to our cookie cutter suburbs, homogenous, predictable, and worst of all, boring.

The Need for Speed

Why am I taking “Internet and Society”, you ask? Well, in truth, I am taking the course for several reasons. First and foremost, it fulfills one of my course requirements! Before you get all worked up, I chose this one specifically for a number of reasons.

First, I am still a member of the digital immigrants; therefore, I still need a little guidance when it comes to my usage of the internet. While I am interested in the plethora of new things that the internet offers these days, I am still in the process of perfecting the basics.

I believe that we all must be accustomed with the complexities of being able to connect with the rest of the work via the internet, whether it is for your career, or simply entertainment. I have enjoyed learning the many different ways to find information, follow a certain subject, or just get my opinion out there for people to either enjoy or not.

The value of obtaining this knowledge is limitless, based on just how committed you are to learning how to do new things on line. In my experience, the more you want to know, the more you will learn, and the easier it becomes. At first I was a little hesitant to learn certain things, mainly because I thought I would never use the information, but I have been proven wrong. I feel more comfortable, especially in being able to understand more of the language of the internet, and how to apply that language.

I totally agree with the Net Generation norm that says we are a generation that has a need for speed. When email and chat rooms first became a normal thing for me, I was amazed merely by the technology itself; therefore I did not have such urgency for speed. However, now when it takes a page longer than a second to load, I feel like ripping the computer from the wall and throwing it across the room!

The Net Generation has become one of instant gratification, not because there is anything wrong with it, but we have been spoiled with more efficient machines and internet service providers. Although I am simply glad to have a means to get online while I am at home now, I tend to forget that my machine may or may not be up to par with one I am used to at work or school. Either way, I think all of us can agree that it is very irritating to not get an immediate response to a message, or an instant page load when we are all capable of doing so at the click of a button.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0, according to about.com, is the idea of human society merging with a network of computers through the usage of interaction, not simply reading information that is presented to us. Although there is no definite meaning of the phrase Web 2.0, the idea is one that connects people more intimately and collaboratively, through social media, social networking, and wiki pages.

Social networks such as Facebook and Myspace have opened up a new door to social interaction. Web 2.0 allows us to not only read information that other people have presented to us, but alter and add to a web page, making it unique, and for a quick minute, all our own. As well as it allowing us to change the information that we are able to see, it provides us an outlet to interact with other people’s ideas.

Social networking sites allow us to make new, and keep in touch with old friends, as well as allow usto give others updates on what is going on in our own lives. We can openly share and view with others on wiki pages such as Wikipedia.com, where many people go instead of picking up your typical encyclopedia to research a subject.

The way Web 2.0 works is as simple as clicking on an application on your desktop. However, once you click on that application, you are instantly connected to millions of people through various, easy to use websites and networks. It makes the internet more responsive to our needs as users.

How does Web 2.0 affect me?

Whether my use of Web 2.0 is catered more to social networking or becoming more familiar with wiki pages such as the one we use in class to stay connected and updated with each other, it is gradually becoming more of a staple in everyday modern life. More and more, it seems that those without their own social networking pages, or blogs, are now seemingly the outsiders in society. To some, they are lagging behind, and need to catch up with the rest of us! Even so, in a few years, it seems we might not even have the use of cell phones or email anymore, and we will all be communicating via Web 2.0 alone!

Innovations of the Internet

Over the past twenty years, the internet has made many great advances, both technologically and innovatively. Early users and creators of the internet probably had no idea what kind of significant impact the internet would have on the plethora of information that the public is now freely able to access with the simple click of a button.

Originally, the internet was created as a way to play with hypertext, as well as provide a personal database of information. It was a way for great minds around the world to be able to share information without having to use one common machine. Over a short span of time, the internet has morphed into probably the single most used source of information, and connectivity among modern society.

One can only presume if the creators of the internet were aware of the impact they were making on the world when they were putting together the rough draft of the World Wide Web. While these men were undoubtedly genius in their own right, I highly doubt they could imagine the great extent to which this humanlike “machine” would become. At the time of the internet’s creation, what would begin as a way to share technical information would become the basis to everyday life for most of us.

Who would have known that we would not only be able to search for basic information on line, but pay bills, talk face to face with friends overseas, or do some grocery shopping from the comfort of your own home? While the internet is my favorite way to look up simple information such as phone numbers, background searches, and basic knowledge that could once only be found via encyclopedia or micro phish, its many uses greatly outnumber the basic uses it was originally designed for. Programs such as Skype, for some people, have replaced picking up a telephone and calling someone long distance. Why would you, when seeing someone as you talk to them is much more personal, and let’s face it, fascinating?

The implications of the rapid advancements of the World Wide Web suggest that we are merely on the brink of our capabilities as humans using what used to be a simple word processor. In our own homes, we are now able to “become” the machine, and teach it new tricks. Each time we click on a link, type a word phrase in a search engine, or visit a website, we are seemingly molding the internet into something all our own.

The advancements of the World Wide Web not only amaze me, but sometimes (actually most of the time) I feel as if I cannot keep up! However, as long as we as humans maintain a sense of order and respect for each other, then the internet can actually benefit us more than we had ever imagined. Although some fear that we are actually becoming robots in our society, none of us would be where we are today without the internet’s capabilities, and I look forward to growing and learning more along with it.