Evolution of a Network Community

How long have you been surfing the web? And no, I don’t mean today, I mean for how many years? At what time frame did the internet become so popular? Some people say when E-Mail was started. Others when Google appeared. Most of you would probably say anywhere between the mid and late 90’s. I really didn’t start surfing until the new millennium. I’m only 18, but that’s beside the point.

What would you say if I were to tell you the Internet has been around since 1982? Pretty weird don’t you think? It doesn’t seem like we have been online that long. And truth is, we haven’t. It pretty much wasn’t until the 90’s that the Internet became a daily thing for a lot of people. I’m sure there are plenty online today that only check their email.

But the real question is, “What has the Internet done for us?”. I believe the Internet has evolved a community to operate on a vast amount of networks. Eventually we will all be connected to the internet by some form or another. The world is updating itself too quickly to go back now. Does anyone see that as a problem? I’m not really sure how I feel about it. I do enjoy being able to connect with my friends several hours away in a matter of seconds. It can take someone longer to pull out their phone and call a person than it takes to connect to them. With social networks like Facebook and Twitter, there are limitless opportunities for someone to get in touch with another. I know many adults that have found high school and college friends through Facebook that wouldn’t have any other way, besides hiring a private detective! But with more information we put online, it opens another kind of door. And that door is fraud. It’s not very hard for someone to steal your identity and I have to caution you about putting up delicate information. Put it this way, if I wouldn’t tell something to a complete stranger, I try not to put it online!

I realize that I went on a rant but I felt like it was important. So, in your opinion, what has evolved a network community? Maybe it’s not Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. Perhaps It’s how you express yourself as an individual in a virtual universe!

The Internet Making Us Dumb?

About how much on average do you browse the web? If you’re anything like me, many hours a day whether on my laptop or smart phone. Teens on average spend well over 25-30+ hours a week online. So the average would be over 4 hours daily! And all that reading is certainly taking a toll on our reading and logic levels.

Think about this, when you go to read something, do you spend 15-20 minutes reading articles? Chances are no, you do not. We find the information we are looking for by quickly skimming over what we read and get little snippets of information at a time. But how can that make us dumb you ask? Well people who spend more time online aren’t necessarily going to have a lower I.Q. than someone who spends more time reading books. But this type of information access isn’t helping our generation at all.

I am just as guilty of it as the next guy. I don’t have time to waste by reading long articles trying to get the information out of it. Instead, I plug-in my questions to Google, and it generally gives me the answer at the top of the article I click. That means it’s very easy for me to spend just a couple of minutes reading quick bursts of information and this isn’t helping me.

As technology grows, more and more teens will turn to the internet for everything they need. Many have access to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites which makes reclusiveness more likely to happen. Young people need to engage with their peers by other means than the internet. Online games also take a toll on a child’s education. About how many hours do you spend playing video games? I am an avid fan of the Call of Duty online so that can easily take several hours each day from me. But I also attend a public university so I will always have access to people. That can’t be said about some young kids either in elementary or high school.

This is more or less a message to parents who may be reading this, “watch the amount of online activity your child has!”. Too much Facebook, Twitter, etc. will be bad for any child developing. They will be more prone to seeing things you may not necessarily agree with. There are filters for these networks but it would be impossible to stop everything from slipping through! Personally, I think your child needs to be well over 12 or 13 to have access to these social networks! Many parents would agree with me on this. Anyways, what are your thoughts toward this? Don’t be afraid to leave your comments down below!