Imagine a world where you can find any bit of information that you could ever want. Now, imagine a world where you are entertained at the click of a button. Lastly, imagine yourself in a virtual world where you can network and develop relationships with people you have never talked to face-to-face. That scary little world, my friends, is called the Internet. Ever since Al Gore created the Internet, people have become addicted to their computer screens because of all of the cool things and endless entertainment that it provides them.
In the United States, most people equate the Internet with the accessibility of dirty pictures and videos. But, there’s way more to it. Instead of relying on the snail mail for a birthday card from your grandma, you can instantly send and receive letters, cards, etc. via electronic mail. The best part is it’s FREE! But, that’s not all. Some people may be a little too tired, lazy, or incapable of going to the bank. So, of course Al Gore and the Internet gods had a solution. Why not create online banking? Now, people can handle their money online from the click of a mouse. Of course, now that there are online banks, there are online bank robbers also known as “identity thieves.”
Imagine John Dillinger without guns, fancy clothes, safe houses and you have a modern day identity thief. A little less glamorous, huh?
A few trends have developed with the emergence of the Internet. For one, people are networking more than ever. With so many faces to book and so many things to tweet, people are learning things from…each other (gasp). And now, there’s this thing called Chat Roulette where you can either chat with a student halfway across the world or make fun of old, morbidly obese shirtless men.
Also, we see the Internet becoming a one-stop portal for everything in our lives. Sooner or later, I envision a world where the instant we turn on a computer, we will instantly gain 25 pounds and grow pimples because of the addiction that is the Internet. People will become creatures similar in color to the creatures in I Am Legend (that is until the Internet offers some sort of tanning service) due to lack of sunlight.
Regulation, however, is not necessary.We live in a free society and although there is a lot of potentially offensive material (see Chat Roulette), it is up to parents and individuals to censor themselves and their children.
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I remember when I was in high school, I was driving home one afternoon. I was fiddling with the radio, but as soon as I looked up I saw a shirtless, 300-something pound man on a riding lawnmower, driving it on the sidewalk while walking his dog, which happened to be a 2 pound Maltese Teacup. I almost swerved into a tree from laughing so hard. The drastic difference between the size of this man and his dog, combined with the humor in the immense laziness of driving a giant riding lawnmower on the sidewalk to walk your dog was too much for me.
The point is, I make fun of morbidly obese shirtless men off the internet as well.