a few things that have changed because of the internet??!? …

I’ve been seeing a lot lately about how life has changed because of the internet. It’s hard to imagine life without wireless internet, but think about it. Only a few years ago, all we had was dial up and a modem that made those weird beeps and hissing noises (and you couldn’t use the phone when you were surfing the net.)  Before that we had a desktop computer with no internet connections but we could play the heck out of solitaire and minesweep. BUT even before that, do you remember life before computers? What in our lives is different because of the “internets,” what has been forever damaged because of it, and what is better? Here is my take on it…

PRIVACY – First and foremost, the internet has completely ruined privacy. I’m really secretly thankful that I was a full-fledged adult when Facebook and Twitter came along. When I think back to all the shenanigans we went through in high school and after, I cringe to think how I would have described my activities on Twitter. And we’ve all heard stories of people not landing a job because of something that was on their Facebook page. These days there is no mystery about where you’re going, whom you’re with, or what you’re doing – and even if you do have so much “fun” that you can’t remember, don’t worry – there is always someone there with a camera and before the weekend is out, there are pictures on Facebook. And now we have Loopt, foursquare, and other apps that work with those incredible smartphones that let everyone know exactly where you are, 24-7. And with the advent of the new iPhone 4, there will be no more of the “sorry honey, I’m staying late at the office” because now we have video phones, so your “honey” can see exactly where you are… Even for responsible adults, the lines between invasion of privacy, stalking, and socializing are often blurred.

LISTS – Yes, lists. Do you remember how much fun David Letterman’s top ten lists were? Well, I guess they’re still fun, but if we happen to miss them, we can go to Google or Bing and come up with not just David Letterman’s list, but EVERYONE’S version of a top ten list. And it’s almost impossible to make a list of something that doesn’t already have a list made about it.  Anything you want, it’s out there without even having to spend a lot of time searching.

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES – Do you remember the Watergate scandal? Woodward and Bernstein were amazing investigative reporters with a secret informant called “Deep Throat.” I wonder how that whole deal would have come down today? And what about Clark Kent and Lois Lane? When I picture them in black and white, I hear the clicking sound of the “news wire” machine and the typewriters. That was the time when it really took something special to be an investigative reporter. Magazines and newspapers seemed like glamorous, exciting places to work. Wow, has that changed. The printed versions of newspapers and magazines are on their last legs. When we want to know something, depending on what it is, we immediately go to CNN.com or TMZ.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY – Yes, photography, or maybe the art behind photography. When I was younger, only the very elite had 35mm cameras. I saved for what seemed like years to buy my first one. I would take pictures using film, reel that film back into the ‘canister’, send it off, anxiously wait for about a week, get the pictures back, only to find out the settings were all wrong and everything was either over or under exposed. So you try again. After many months of trial and error, I finally almost figured out how to use my totally manual, non-auto focus 35mm camera. Now if you don’t own a digital camera that fits in your pocket, it doesn’t matter because your phone takes pictures too. Then you quickly download them to your computer and if they aren’t quite right, you open up Photoshop and adjust them this way or that, add a few filter effects and you create a masterpiece.

MUSIC – Even when an artist makes it big, they have to tour to survive – they can’t just sell music anymore; there are just too many ways for consumers to “steal” music. Even though Napster was buried, music is still fairly easy to share without paying for it. I honestly try not to get music for “free.” If an artist offers a free download, sure I’ll take it. But (especially with young artists) I buy a CD instead of borrowing someones to copy. I WANT to support their talent. As for the music stores where I spent many many hours of my youth flipping through racks and racks of albums—well those stores are mostly gone… There are a few music retailers left, but they also sell movies, iPod attachments, and other paraphernalia to survive. It does seem like vinyl is making a comeback but for the life of me I can’t figure out why. I can’t even count the number of albums I ruined by leaving them for 10 minutes in a hot car. AND, we would buy an album and play the ENTIRE album  over and over until the grooves were worn and the sound was no longer crisp. We knew every word to EVERY song. Today, iTunes gives us the option to pick and choose which songs we want off of an album, and sometimes we choose to buy only the “hits.” When we do that, we end up missing out on a lot of great music.

CELEBRITY STATUS – There was a time when you had to be a REAL celebrity with real talent to make it in the entertainment industry. Now ANYONE with a camera can post a video on the internet, get 2 million views, and become an instant celebrity – maybe not for good reasons, or the right reasons, but a celebrity nonetheless.

OLD FLAMES AND OLD MEMORIES – Remember how cute your grade school crush was? And there was the gorgeous quarterback on the football team or the cute cheerleader. When we sometimes wander down memory lane, those people in our past are just as cute as they were 20 or 30 years ago – and probably equally successful. So now, all we have to do is google them or look them up on Facebook and guess what?? They’re just as old as we are, and the cute boy with the long hair who lived down the street is now completely bald and on his third marriage… Definitely a reality check.

SPELLING AND GRAMMAR – Between texting and quick typing, spelling and proper grammar is definitely the loser. I try to hold on to what I learned in school, but I find myself abbreviating things to make the 140 character limit and typing “YAY” instead of “YEA”…. look it up people, while “yay” may LOOK phonetically correct, it is not a word.

NIGERIA’S REPUTATION – This country in Africa was once known as an exporter of oil. Now it seems like all Nigeria exports is fraudulent emails using incredibly bad English, asking people to help secure millions of dollars, just hand over all of your personal information…

TRUST – Yes, I know the internet hasn’t completely ruined trust, but think about it… If you don’t like the way things are in “real life”, you can immerse yourself in Farmville, Zooville, YoVille, or any of those other virtual games and build and decorate to your heart’s content. And take this a step further, you can create a whole new you in something like “Second Life.”  So what if you’re middle-aged and slightly pudgy, in Second Life you can be 24 and smoking hot forever. You can pretend to be whoever you want to be, your only limit is your imagination… just remember, that wonderful person you met in the chat room isn’t necessarily who they say they are either…

Yeah, wouldn’t that be nice, 24 forever 🙂