Everyday Life+ Web 2.0

The Internet has changed everything from the way we communicate to the ways we shop and conduct business. It is an all-encompassing interactive “medium” that has drastically changed the way society thinks and acts. Everyday life has been changed quite significantly because of the Internet. Communication between people has been become much more easier and efficient through email. MySpace, Facebook, and the other social networking sites have been crucial towards the interaction of people across time zones.
This quote from the article “The Internet and Social Life” does a great job explaining just how the Internet effects everyday life:
“…will change almost every aspect of our lives- private, social, cultural, economic, and political…because (they) deal with the very essence of human society: communication between people. Earlier technologies, from printing to the telegraph…have wrought big changes over time. But the social changes over the coming decades are likely to be much more extensive, and to happen much faster, than any in the past, because the technologies driving them are continuing to develop at a breakneck pace. More importantly, they look as if together they will be as pervasive and ubiquitous as electricity.”
The PEW reports show that the Internet has also affected democracy. Issues are easier to access on the Internet, which has helped people become educated about the issues before going to vote. I have no clue how people did it before, other than the traditional speaking campaign. It is refreshing that know that EVERYONE is able to get this information on the Internet.
Community involvement, according to Bargh and McKenna, is helped through the Internet. Participating is greatly helped through the Internet in that it gathers everyone towards a common goal or interest. I know some organizations that are much more easily accessible over the Internet then through traditional methods.
I laughed at Rheingold’s “Virtual Community” piece in that he would experience all of these emotions on the Internet. He wrote, “My flesh-and-blood family long ago grew accustomed to the way I sit I my home office early in the morning and late at night, chuckling and cursing, sometimes crying, about words I read on the computer screen. It might have looked to my daughter as if I were alone at my desk the night she caught me chortling online, but from my point of view I was in living contact with old and new friends, strangers and colleagues.” This reminds me of my old roommate IM’ng everyone he knew and actually crying, laughing, etc.
In my opinion, the effects the Internet has had on everyday life has been overall positive. From finding your long lost best friend from your old high school to emailing your relatives, it has helped us in every way imaginable socially. Sure, there can be drawbacks, but the pros outweight the cons in my opinion.