Well here we are. Having won the blogging competition (By the narrowest of margins!) it’s now time for me to post my first real blog
So first off I want to thank everyone for being so patient because this has taken a long time! As you all know by now, I currently can’t get the internet in my flat, so that means the only time I can get on the net is when I’m at the Uni campus. Anyway, enough about that, you didn’t click on this to read about me and my troubles (And if you did, get out more!
), but there was only really one subject I could do this blog on and that is…
Internet-less, Wii-less… A good thing?!
‘You only realise what you had once it’s gone’ I’m sure you’ve all heard that phrase before and it is spot on! It applies to everything in life from that ex-girlfriend to that SNES console your mum convinced you that you didn’t need anymore just because you had both an Xbox and N64 so it was really just wasting space, even though everyone knows how great it is to pick up an old console and how much they could be worth in the future…(But that’s for a different day). We take the Internet for granted now; it’s pretty much always been there for most of my generation and probably always will be. The ability to load up a browser and have access to vast amounts of information at a click of a button is as normal as using a computer for Word Processing. How lucky we are to have this great resource to learn, discuss and develop our knowledge of the world…
The trouble is that we don’t use the internet for this. Instead we take what is essentially the greatest resource in the world for granted and we spend our time on the facebooks, youtubes and miniclips. Now of course, we’ll all argue that this is because we are simply using the internet for enjoyment and to be part of online communities such as this one, but when you actually sit back and think what could be achieved if we all spent that time differently on the internet, you do begin to wonder if it’s just all time being wasted. I’m as guilty of this as anyone and the things I’m missing the most are the likes of facebook, msn and, of course, WiiTalk. Yet it’s only when you lose the internet, that you realise how much you use it for other things as well. For example, I’ve had an essay to do this week but I’ve not been able to research it here without the net. So we do use the internet to learn, but only when we need to.
Losing the net didn’t just interrupt my hard studying though
Without it I feel like I’ve been cut off from all of those online communities I mentioned. Even though I’ve only been without it for about a week and a half now, it feels like I’m missing so much and that I will never catch up. Every time I come on WiiTalk it seems as if the whole forum has jumped forward and left me well behind. Also, without the net, it’s a lot harder to find subject for blogs! And, more importantly, research them. That’s not forgetting that the software on my Laptop can’t update because it uses the net. Luckily it’s mainly the anti-virus/spyware one that’s complaining, but with no net there’s no threat! Every cloud…
Now, are there good points to not having access to the internet? Well, yes. Let’s face it, the internet may well be the greatest resource known to man, but it’s also the greatest distraction too. So when it’s not there you find yourself seemingly having more time to get on with other stuff, such as tidying your room, studying and feeding your pet iguana. All essential to the student lifestyle…And the iguana’s life. Instead of loading up the internet I found myself hanging out with flatmates even more, going out more often and even getting essays completed days before the deadline! Would they all have happened if I had the internet? Who knows…The interesting thing is that I am also Wii-less… I left it behind when I moved in because it’s part mine and part my brothers, but seeing as he hasn’t touched it since I left (He always was the bad apple of the family), it should be arriving Wednesday! However, had it been here these past few weeks it would probably have meant that I would’ve been spending a lot of time on that instead. So, returning back to the opening line, it’s only when you lose things like the internet and your rather awesome Wii that you realise just how much time you spend on them and what doesn’t get done because of them!
So here I am still Internet-less, Still Wii-less, still missing both badly, but still content. It’s far too easy to bury yourself in the vastness of the internet now and watch the time speed by. Your priorities soon shift and you lose sight of what really is important. The internet is not a bad thing, nor is sites such as facebook and myspace. Like all good things, it’s about moderation and not forgetting about what matters most to you. Of course there’s a very good chance that I’m just very annoyed and jealous of you all with both the internet and a Wii so I’m just trying to ruin it for you
So read into it what you will and have a think about how you feel you spend your time online and what you could be doing. It’s very easy for to me to say all this sat here, but it’s amazing what you can do with no distractions…
Thanks for reading.