Beware! Enter with Caution! These were some of the warnings I heard about twenty years ago. Even the gatekeeper stated "Not responsible once you enter". Of course I ventured inside. The first time or two were quick visits, but soon I began to take more time and look around. It wasn't much to see. Sure it was vast, but it was drab looking and underdeveloped. Yet, I could see the potential. In twenty or thirty years this could be huge. Turns out my bold prediction was understated. If you haven't figured it out the gatekeeper was called Netscape(I think) and I'm talking about the Internet.
Back then, most people got to the internet via one of the on-line services like America On Line, or Prodigy. With the introduction of the personal home computers these services were available for a monthly fee. This was the start of social networking, even before the internet. Ironically these services introduced us to the internet which eventually offered everything the services had rendering them useless. These on-line services were an important first step in the development of the internet and I will blog about them at a later time.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
First the good. The information super highway. There is no denying the amount of useful and non useful information on the internet and some of it is actually truthful. Google has become our window to the world of anything we want to know or see. My smart phone has a Google ap that I simple talk into the phone my search words and it works remarkably well. In fact, I just say "The Reality Check Report" and there is my blog lasted in the top five! How cool is that. The internet is only limited to your imagination.
Unfortunately there is plenty of bad. Texting while driving comes to mind first. Then there is the invasion of privacy issue. We can't blame the internet entirely on this, but it certainly has helped promote it. Don't believe me? Check out youtube. If you are out of your home and something happens to you that you wouldn't want to be public notice, well that just won't happen. Cameras are everywhere and they see everything. Then there is the time people use on the internet. Time that a child should be using on school work(unless the internet is used for school work), socializing(and I don't mean text messaging), sports and exercise, or playing video games<G>. Time that a parent should be using parenting. Time that a spouse should be ... you get the point.
The good and the bad. The internet and mostly facebook has become a huge presence lately in the world. Without facebook Egyptian president Mubarak would still be president and not confined to a hospital bed behind bars. Libya's Moammar Gadhafi would still have a strong hold on his regime without the internet. No wonder China has tried to clamp down on Google to try to control the internet.
Then there is the just plain ugly. Child pornographers have used the internet to exploit and promote their sickness. I have heard of snuff films(actual killings of people) being distributed on the internet. Al quaeda has used the internet to promote their hate and violence. All kinds of fringe groups can use the internet to present lies to look like the truth. I haven't tried this but I'm sure if you Google "the world is flat" or "Obama is not a US citizen" you could find plenty of sites that will present truthful looking facts to support these beliefs.
The internet is here to stay with all the good, bad, and ugly. Pandora's box has been opened and there is no turning back now. I don't have a clue as to what the next twenty years are going to be like with the internet. I am curious about something though. I wonder how many FBI and CIA agents who walked the streets twenty years ago to get their information are now doing the same behind a desk(on the internet)? Or how many will be doing the same twenty years from now?
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