The Internet and Our Life
There is a big influence of technique on our daily life. Electronic devices, multimedia and computers are things we have to deal with everyday.
Especially the Internet is becoming more and more important for nearly everybody as it is one of the newest and most forward-looking media and surely “the” medium of the future.
Therefore we thought that it would be necessary to think about some good and bad aspects of how this medium influences us, what impacts it has on our social behaviour and what the future will look like.
The Internet changed our life enormously, there is no doubt about that. There are many advantages of the Internet that show you the importance of this new medium. What I want to say is that Internet changed our life in a positive way.
First we have to make a differentiation concerning the usage. You can use the Internet at home for personal or you at work for professional usage. Let’s come to the first. To spend a part of our day on the Internet is for many people quite normal. They use this kind of medium to get information about all kinds topics. Maybe some of them are interested in chatting, probably they are members of a community. Whatever you are looking for, you will find it. Even if you want to have very specific information, you will find it in a short time. Normally, you often have to send a letter, than you have to wait for the reception of the reply, or you have to make some telephone calls and so on. In any case, the traditional way is the longer one. To put your own information on the Internet is also possible. Create your own homepage, tell other users about your interests, what you want, that’s no problem at all.
As we all know, software costs a lot, if you buy it legal. Free software, free music is available on the Internet. You just have to download the program, the mp3-file or whatever and that’s it. Why do you want to pay more as you need to? Special websites are created just to give you the newest programs, or to tell you where you can get it from. Napster might actually be the most famous one.
The computer is a fix part of every modern office and the greatest part has also an access to the Internet. Companies already present their products, their services on the Internet and so they get more flexible.
The next advantage I want to mention is the faster development. Many universities and research institutions are also linked. They are able to exchange experiences, novelties and often they start new projects together. If they are linked, they can save time and money.
Especially at the business sector knowledge is power. If you are the leader of a product, of a technology or just of an idea you are able to make a lot of money. To get into this position, the Internet can play an essential part. Companies all over the world are online. If you want, it is no problem for you to exchange experiences, you will hear new things, you will see some facts from another point of view. For this reason you will find new solutions, new ways to go, so take this chance!
“Learning by doing”, everybody knows this phrase and its still an essential part concerning the Internet. Children also use the Internet, most of the time they will “play” over the Internet, but they learn to work with the computer. There is only one way to learn something, you have to do it. Even it’s the first contact with the computer, after a few minutes the person will know that the computer-mouse is no animal running on the monitor. He or she learns to write on the keyboard, to navigate, to open and close programs, to save data... within hours. Try to do that on a normal computer course for beginners, you will need more time and the most important fact, it’s not as funny as surfing on the Internet and so they participants are less motivated.
Let’s change over to another positive effect of the Internet.
In any case, everybody’s private situation is different. For many women their own children are the main reason for staying at home. Nowadays this won’t be a problem any more, you can do work on your computer at home, called tele-working. Also men take this opportunity to work at home. What are the consequences, the advantages of tele-working? Sure, if you have a family, you can spend more time at home, probably you can spend more time with your children. Next is, that you can organize every day in the way you want to. Meetings at the company are reduced to a minimum. Tele-working is also an advantage for the owner of the company. Official studies substantiate that people who work at home are more motivated than their colleagues at the office. .
You see, the Internet is really a very positive medium. Use the Internet and discover the advantages of this new, forward-looking medium!
Another advantage of the internet is that you can join a community.
You can create new social contacts all over the world, which you could not do so easy without the internet.
Such communities can also help people who can not go out to find friends in the real life because they are disabled. Therefore they can chat with other people via the internet. Sometimes it is also easier for people, who are afraid to look into the other’s face while talking, to chat with a person that they do not know. There is something between them which makes it easier for them to communicate. It also does not matter if you have a terrible appearance because you can pretend to be whatever you want. You can also change your gender and your age to talk about topics which you do not normally do.
However, there are no time and place limitations and there are no boundaries, both geographical and political. You can chat with people in Australia and you have freedom of your mind in a way.
Moreover the internet is much cheaper than the real life, e.g. phoning a friend in Australia costs more than to chat with him.
From my point of view the e-mail has replaced the traditional letter. You do not have to buy stamps anymore and it is much faster and also for free. You can also add files to your E-mail and that’s why a big data transfer is possible. Therefore you do not have to send disks with information around the world anymore and you have your information in a digital way.
Another free service of the internet is sending SMS. You can save a lot of money if you do not send it with your mobile phone especially from Austria to America. You also have the opportunity to register as a user. Then you can use more things, e.g. sending E-postcards, I-messages (messages between registered users), and lead an address book.
You can also place your digital photos in the internet. With a password and a login name your friends in America can look at your photos without sending them to them.
Another important part is online gaming. You can play with people from all over the world and share your knowledge. In my opinion it’s more exiting to play with friends than playing alone.
Additionally, another big advantage of the internet is the easy access to information. Online reference books and dictionaries replace the way to the bookshop or to the library. It is again cheaper to search for information in the internet than to buy a book, that is old after one year. In the internet a lot of information is renewed and up to date. You can also find information which is very new and a book does not exist yet.
Moreover you can read the daily newspapers from all over the world, sometimes for free. You do not have to buy them anymore. In addition, most newspaper sites have an archive in which you can search for old articles.
However, the internet is also a big “advertising company”. A lot of enterprises have a homepage with ads and support opportunities. On some of them you can order products online. Then you do not have to go to the city anymore. You avoid waiting in front of the cash because of a long queue.
Moreover, you can get the newest stock exchange courses because the stock exchange in the Internet is always the most current one. You also have the ability to tell the computer to buy shares when the course is down.
Besides you can learn with the internet. CBTs (Computer Based Training) already exist but you can also join an internet course with other members.
Furthermore you can hold videoconferences which means that e.g. your teacher is sitting in his office in America and teaching you in Austria.
This is very important in the medical sector because doctors from all over the world can join an operation. So specialists can give tips and help other doctors to complete the operation successfully. The patient has not to wait until a specialist will come from America.
But this is only available because of the internet 2 which is much faster.
The internet is a database full of information and offers us a lot of services, sometimes for free. This makes our life easier and sometimes also cheaper.
All in all I think that the internet is very useful especially for students.
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