While working on my family website earlier today, I began a discussion with my Grandmother about the Internet. My mind is still rolling around the impression I have of how tremendous the Internet is! She was born in 1941. In her words, "Even telephones amaze me - that I can pick up a telephone and talk to Jason in Iraq just amazes me." Then it hit me - the Internet is not just a way to communicate words one with another. The Internet allows us to exchange who we are. This includes our personalities, ideas, motivations - our very selves.
How can this be? Never before in human history has a method of communication existed that allows a person to share text, audio, visual, and (now) emotion. How do we share emotion on the Internet? It used to take a lot of skill to bring emotion into the written word. Even with pictures, no author could express emotion without a certain degree of training or talent. Now a simple emoticon can express emotion. It takes little or no training or talent and requires only a minimal investment of time.
So, not only is the world connected more completely and quickly than ever before, it is connected more deeply and expressively. How will this change the world in the long term? We have only seen the creation of the ability and not fully the impact. It has only been around fifteen years since the public gained regular access to the Internet. It has been in common use even less a time than that. What will the world be like in fifty years? Who will become the leaders of the deeply connected world? Will we even know their name or just their screen name? Might "holyanne8745" one day be elected president? Doubtful. But holyanne's power to influence who will become the president might be tremendous.
Use this new power wisely, Reader. The world may one day depend upon it!
How can this be? Never before in human history has a method of communication existed that allows a person to share text, audio, visual, and (now) emotion. How do we share emotion on the Internet? It used to take a lot of skill to bring emotion into the written word. Even with pictures, no author could express emotion without a certain degree of training or talent. Now a simple emoticon can express emotion. It takes little or no training or talent and requires only a minimal investment of time.
So, not only is the world connected more completely and quickly than ever before, it is connected more deeply and expressively. How will this change the world in the long term? We have only seen the creation of the ability and not fully the impact. It has only been around fifteen years since the public gained regular access to the Internet. It has been in common use even less a time than that. What will the world be like in fifty years? Who will become the leaders of the deeply connected world? Will we even know their name or just their screen name? Might "holyanne8745" one day be elected president? Doubtful. But holyanne's power to influence who will become the president might be tremendous.
Use this new power wisely, Reader. The world may one day depend upon it!
No comments:
Post a Comment