The Internet

What even is it?  A big network we use to buy and sell products?  A place to connect with people around the world?  A platform for us to create and innovate?  Or is it a big data collecting monster that uses our own weaknesses and information against us?

I think it's a little bit of both.

We use the internet to make our lives more convenient, to find new opportunities and to create new ideas.  But while we are doing these things the internet is collecting all sorts of data and information from us.  Then the internet uses that information to sell us products and services.

We use the internet as a massive resource.  For school, for news, even for sports.  There are programs out there that allow you to analyze video, pick apart technique and compare to other footage of yourself or someone with better technique than you.  In this way you can use the internet as a tool to better yourself as an athlete.

Look at education.  We TOTALLY use the internet to our biggest advantage.  There is so much information right at our fingertips.  We have access to a database and collection of knowledge, but not just the knowledge of people like you.  You get to see viewpoints and arguments from people all over the world, with completely different values, systems and beliefs.  Think about how much more of a global understanding and appreciation we gain from this.
Also, online learning!  Adults with busy lives and little extra income can now go to an online university and earn their degree instead of spending over 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars to do it in person.

Language is another thing people learn off the internet every day.  It can be interactive and it can help you for work, travel or just general interest.  Say you're taking a trip to Brazil.  Why not learn a bit of Portuguese before you go?  That way you can communicate, understand and appreciate the culture and the experience way better.

Another major way we use the internet is to raise awareness and money.  Online campaigns are a great way to get a message out into the world quickly, and relatively easily.  Look at the ALS ice bucket challenge.  It became the thing to do over the summer, turning a disease that barely anyone knew about into something everyone was talking about.  And as a bonus they raised a whack ton of money for research.

Tons of celebrities joined the campaign, which led to more people finding out about the challenge, and then participating in it, and then tagging their friends to do it too.  A vicious, yet productive cycle.


Okay, now the not so good stuff...

We use the internet as a gigantic marketplace.  You can buy and sell anything you want from a t-shirt to a car.  As convenient as this is, in order to do it you have to give up tons of information about yourself.  Not just all the personal information about yourself like your name, age, gender, birthday, address, phone number, etc.  They also know what websites you visit, what ads you click on, what you search for, even where you hanging out.

*****THIS IS SUPER CREEPY!!!!!*****

It is next level stalking, yet somehow since it's just the "internet" tracking you not your creepy balding middle aged always wearing too much cologne and never enough clothing neighbour it is somehow more acceptable.

Side note: my neighbours are all actually super nice people, but hey lets make this seem dramatic.

The saddest part about all this is that people are so addicted to the internet that they (in some cases) physically can not stop themselves from using it all hours of the day for every aspect of their life.  It's like they thing it's their lifeline, and without it they'd be nothing.

***Reality Check***

Life consists of more than just what is online.

Lets be real, the internet isn't going anywhere.  There are SO many ways that we can - and do - use the internet.  You can't hide from the internet, it already knows basically everything about you.  We just have to learn how to keep our private information private, and not let it control our being.

There is a balance to everything in life.  If you eat a lot of ice cream, you have to go do some exercise.  But if you do a lot of exercise, you can eat some ice cream.  See...Balance!!

The balance between how much we use the internet and the internet uses us is something we need to learn to control.  The internet is a great tool as long and it's not being used against us.

We need to make sure the USE outweighs the USED.