My first introduction to the internet was sometime in the mid ’90s via chat rooms (Do those even exist anymore?). I’d sit online for hours at a time talking with strangers about who knows what.
I was a very slow typer. It wasn’t until college when I had instant messaging capabilities and constant internet that I was able to finally learn how to actually type, rather than using the old hunt and peck method. But, man, come college, a whole new world opened up to me. I had loads of music at my finger-tips (this was before Napster became officially illegal), and even a long distance boyfriend that, get this, I met via AIM.
If I were to write down everything I do on the internet these days, particularly the tasks I can no longer complete offline, I think I might be frightened by the length of the list. And yet, I love that I can carry the internet around in my pocket. It’s so easy to get from place to place when Google maps travels with you constantly.
Last week, on the long drives to and from South Bend for the holiday, my road trip buddy and I played hours worth of trivia, mad libs (mad limbs!), and brain teasers via my phone. We streamed music live from the internet. We double checked the maps to be sure we weren’t headed off course.
Today I searched for jobs, watched television, read the news, looked in on my friends, did research, and worked on school applications via the internet.
Last week I read a Washington Post about the “explosion” of apps released for young children recently. Scientists are concerned that relying so heavily upon a screen can hamper child development. I definitely understand these concerns, but the devil’s advocate in me wonders if the use of apps from such a young age might, rather, better wire children’s brains for a world in which computer screens are king. Maybe it’s of benefit to them to learn very early on. Or maybe not.
Either way, the internet is pretty amazing, y’all. It is not an overstatement to say it has changed the way the world works.
How’s that for a Cyber Monday post?
Space That Matters 
Don’t forget iPad apps for cats! Which I am going to go research right now!
I read somewhere that out in California there is a high demand for screen free schools, that Google workers don’t want their kids exposed to it all yet. I wonder when the right time is…