Living Offline

The Internet is the one of the most intricate technological developments that humanity has ever created. Its potential as a tool for communication and information sharing is beyond comprehension. This blog is an excellent example. In theory millions of people have access to these thoughts that I am sharing with you now, although it is unlikely that any more than a few handfuls of people will ever read these words. Like anything else, the internet is a double edged sword. With all its fascinating resourcefulness comes a distortion of how we view the world. The Internet is not real, at least not in the same sense as a face to face conversation or live music. The Internet encompasses documented presentations of things that are real, but the medium in which they are presented is not. Despite its capacity as a tool, I will argue in this essay that the Internet erodes the natural capability of humans.

In this day in age we have to look no further than our keyboards to find any kind of information on literally any topic, at any time. This monumental power has resulted in a population of disenchanted learners; we no longer have to ponder questions that might used to have taken us weeks to find an answer to, now we can just Google it. Some might argue that humans have acquired so much knowledge that we must store all of our information in some form of technological database. Vannevar Bush foresaw this development of a record keeping mechanism for the human mind, he named such a device a “Memex”. “Consider a future device for individual use, which a sort of mechanized private file and library”. But at what cost does our personalized library of knowledge come? At some point we become so reliant on our mechanical data-keepers that we can no longer retain information ourselves.

Our level of dependence on the internet (and computers in general) has never been more apparent than now. The way we learn, communicate, and record our lives is completely entrenched in computer systems. Blogs are the epitome of Internet communication. But at what cost does the convenience and apparent practicality of Internet blogging come? Yes perhaps it offers a medium to communicate ideas to multitudes of people, but at the same time might it not hinder our ability to do so in the real world? Understanding the consequences of new technology is nothing new. Nathaniel Hawthorne saw the derogative social effects technological convenience; “In one way or another, here and there, and all around us, the inventions of mankind are fast blotting the picturesque, the poetic, and the beautiful out of human life”. This quote has never been more relevant than now, and the rate of technological innovation is astounding to point that the human psyche might find it difficult to keep up.

Blogs and the Internet are amazing in the sense that many people have access to the same information. However blogs have become the social norm, everybody is writing and no one is reading them. In a culture where there is an unhealthy emphasis on the individual blogs offer an outlet for rambling on about oneself in the hopes that someone else will read it. Statistically your blog is probably not being read, even if you have insightful and informative things to say there is so much competition in the blogosphere that it often takes getting your name out there a different way before people start paying attention to what your writing. It’s understandable, everyone wants to feel like what they’re doing is worthy of being broadcasted to the world, but this is just not the case. Blogs present a means of self-validation, however superficial they may be.

The Internet is the primary medium in which some people experience the world. Social networking sites, news pages, online media, and video games all can consume one’s perception of the world. As people become more and more acclimated to living on the Internet they progressively lose touch with the “real world”. This technology is so new no one knows the true effects on the human mind. People in my generation are the first to have been raised with the Internet; and even we didn’t have it when we were little kids. “The effects will be more perceptible on our children, and the generations that shall succeed them, than on ourselves, the mechanism of whose life may remain unchanged, though its spirit be far other than it was.” Hawthorne’s analysis of the airtight wood stove is strikingly relevant to this current discussion. The long-term effect of the Internet, as well as other technology, is impossible to determine. Artificial intelligence is developing at a disturbing rate, and may yet disprove Vannevar Bush’s prediction that “Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it”. If the last few decades of technological innovation are any indicator, than the possibility that we might duplicate the human thought process artificially seems within the realm of possibility. But at what social cost will this new technology come?

In summary I find the Internet and the culture of blogging interesting to say the least. I certainly do not oppose the Internet and what it has to offer, I am simply skeptical of the effects it is having on our culture. I believe that we have the capability to utilize these tools tactfully, within the bounds of moderation. We must acknowledge the relevance of cautionary writings such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, yet also see the benefits highlighted by Vannevar Bush. Both writings offer insight into the modern world. It is my conclusion that we must be wary of the Internet and what it enables; yet we must be even more wary of what it inhibits.