I Really Like The Internet — Do You?

I really like the Internet.

It makes me feel connected to the whole world, to people I couldn’t normally meet, to places I couldn’t see, to facts I wouldn’t otherwise know about, and a lot of other cool stuff.

I don’t understand why, every now and then, some people feel the need to disconnect for a while. I hear that spending much time on your phone, on social media, on your computer, is dangerous because it makes you forget that the basics of human interactions happen vis-a-vis and we miss out on appreciating what’s out there when being stuck inside on our devices. They even made a screen time app that measures your activity on your phone and provides you with a weekly report of your most-used apps, a breakdown of your miserable life on the web.

I beg to differ!

Google became my best friend when it allowed me to continuously check out music artists’ bios, research music albums, similar or related acts, and much more. Wikipedia came in with its fantastic hyperlinks that helped me connect the dots between a fact and another, and led me to discover so much fun stuff I wouldn’t have found in a regular music shop.

Actually, a big part of the things I know today, of my culture, come from browsing the Internet. Can you imagine how precious this is?

It allowed me to never feel left out in bar conversations and made me aware of bits of many different historical happenings, daily news, anecdotes, events, all the topics you might probably want to delve into when you’re surrounded by friends, acquaintances, or the drunk guy you started talking to for no reason.

Same goes for social media.

It builds a place for putting your thoughts out there, promoting your work, exploring trends, reaching out to someone you care about — where’s the negative?

It’s an opportunity for you to be everywhere at the same moment because, unless you’re mastering teleportation, it’s unlikely for you to be able to attend that Writers’ Fellowship event taking place in Seattle in 2 hours. But if the event is broadcasted on Instagram or wherever, not only will you be able to e-attend it, you’ll also manage to go for that beer with your ex-colleagues you were so longing for.

Needless to say how much I value watching videos, music videos, interviews, stand-up comedy acts, follow the performers and be aware if they’re ever going to be in town, see the latest release of the new Fender Jaguar or that author I like who’s slowly becoming an influencer.

Last but not least, I’ve made friends. I’ve e-met significant people (and I mean for myself) who have in their way given me something special, sometimes a true eye-opener on the things I care about the most. Maybe I won’t be able to meet them anytime soon but being connected to them, even though a screen, is still worth my time.

There’s countless opportunities for you to find go the long way, to discover how to start the online business you’ve always been making plans on and make money out of it, to create a new community for sports lovers or build an app, to learn more about history, movies and art, acquire more design skills or cooking skills, or whatever skills - to satisfy any single curiosity, expectation, need, crave, dream you’re having right now. It’s countless opportunities you can’t miss out on.

There you go! I hope this helped ease your mindset regarding the Internet. Please do share any thoughts with me or drop me a line on my social media, preferably good words…

Naah, I’ll also accept cussing!