The internet is sprouting its seeds
Technology has been sprouting and ingraining our brains for years. Over time, we become addicted and miss out on real-time with our friends and families. There are subtle yet significant ways companies have discovered tools to encourage and make our minds vulnerable. I have fallen victim to the auto-playing technique. Immediately, when I see an auto-play or suggested video to watch next, I become intrigued and spend all of my attention watching it. When this happens, I fall into the neverending "rabbit hole." I've succumbed to this tool because of the convenience, and if I had to look up the next episode, I'd most likely skip it because of either laziness or getting distracted by a notification.
After reading Emma Rathbone’s article titled "Before the Internet," it appears that many of the instances mentioned revolve around one factor: courage. I say this because before the internet we weren't so focused on others' thoughts and opinions on what we wanted to do. We could become whoever we wanted without feeling judgment or seeking validation. We were able to change our identities without our past lives catching up to us. For instance, the people we would meet wouldn't be able to search our history, and if, by any indication, an assumption was made about you, there wasn’t a reliable source. Before the internet, we were more inclined to be creative. There were instances when I was bored and didn’t know what to do. It was our decision on how to keep our minds busy and what we decided was important enough to spend time on. We weren’t waiting for something to happen to motivate us to do something active because everyone else was doing it. We had time on our hands to discover ourselves.
As I started to grow older mentally, I realized a variety of thoughts. I was missing out on things in my life because of the internet. Comparatively, I also realized that if we remained as it was before the internet, our world would be as advanced as it is now. On both sides, there are benefits and drawbacks. It is about the sacrifice we are willing to make and what to prioritize. Ultimately, I think it depends on the person. Perhaps some should spend less time on the internet and more time discovering themselves and figuring out how they can reach their true potential. What makes them genuinely happy is their pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, others should spend more time on the internet. Though this could appear as a negative opinion, our world is a fast-paced environment, and if we are unable to keep up with the changes, we get left behind.
