Being Used, It's Not Great (Taemin Kang #2)

It really isn't.

The Internet, it`s a great place. And I mean it is a great, really great, it`s great. Nowhere else in human history have we as people been able to so easily able to access and share knowledge with people halfway across the planet. And save for a few things too inappropriate to be included in an educational piece as this, the Internet is basically one of the best things to happen to humanity both technologically AND culturally. No other time in history could you have a functioning conversation with a complete stranger in a completely different language, and share with one another your beliefs, life stories, and even debate topics in the safety of your mom's basement. The Internet truly is one of the Revolutions of human history.

But, as great as it is...

The Internet is a great place, but at the same time, while it does offer a lot of things, those things aren't free. We can access information with great ease, and have near instant access to whatever we can Google/Yahoo/Bing on our phones, but that also has its fair share of issues.

If you would so kindly, refer to GIF to the right.

Who/what this is, is a symbiote, and if you took Biology in high school you'd know that symbiotes are organisms that feed off of their host while simultaneously providing a service for them. Sound familiar? Well maybe not the whole "feed off of their host" part but the part where it mentions the services a symbiote provides their host.

The Internet, with all its fair share of benefits to us, comes at a cost. I'm going to be looking at how it affects us habitually.

 We all know this guy.We also know this guy.

This is the look of a guy who got caught on their phone when they probably shouldn't have been. But why in the world would he be on his phone when there are plenty of people he could interact with? It mainly comes back to the issue that our constant use and involvement with the Internet, specifically in regards to the services located on our cellular devices, or phones, as it's called nowadays. He's looking down at his phone, which means one of two things:

1. He's getting a text from his friend

2. He's trying to play off the fact that he as crippling social anxiety by looking like he's busy checking his phone.

So what does this have to do with the Internet?

Well, if you haven't been paying attention to the previous paragraphs and skillfully placed pictures and GIF, the point I'm trying to make is that the Internet, and more specifically it's services and functions in our lives can affect us in one of the most powerful ways: habitually, Humans are creatures of habit, and once a habit is formed, it's incredibly difficult to break, which is why the Internet and the rise of it's placement in our lives has had such a grip on how we live. The Internet controls us, by giving us good things, there's no doubting the goodness in being able to send a dog filtered selfie to your friends with the caption "streaks" to validate the genuinity of your friendship with them. But, it always comes at a cost, "with great power, comes great responsibility" as a great man once told his nephew. You being able to constantly text and interact with people via phone, can lead to you habitually checking your phone every few minutes because you think someone texted you, and it becomes an issue when it happens during important events like job interviews or in a more extreme case, while you're driving, It can LITERALLY COST YOU YOUR LIFE. So, the Internet does control us, it controls you, me, and even those who don't think it does, because the Internet is more than just Snapchat and filters, it controls complex electrical systems, and even how NASA gets people into space without dying from lack of air pressure because someone used the wrong units. The Internet controls us, whether we like it or not.