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Coston Beauchamp

Rachel Fields

English A

Nov 15, 2010

It’s Only Exactly What You Make of It

The virtual world is a constant in daily life today. Messages that involve anything

from business to family activities are sent over the internet more often than through

regular paper snail mail. Even the nickname snail mail gives a negative look at that

traditional mode of communication. The internet is not strictly a form of communication

but also a way for people to socialize with each other. Consider facebook, myspace, and

even videogame online multiplayer forms like Call of Duty or World of Warcraft and the

amount of interaction people can have without ever having to see each other. But, this

could also put these people and our society at a disadvantage through addictions such

as IAD (internet addiction disorder) or the sedentary lifestyles some people take on as

an addition to their online habits. I personally engage in my fair share of the Virtual

World but not at the detriment of my human relationships.

The Virtual World does not play a significant part in my life. And this is for good

reason. I myself have been caught up in the videogame frenzy before. I’ve spent not just

hours on end, but days of my life totally caught up in the plot and aspects of certain

games only brought out of the trance by a frozen system or glitch in the game. Just

recently I realized how easily I fall into this pattern and gave away the system. That
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could also be easier for me because I do have a life and friends outside of the Virtual

World.

For me now, the internet is a tool. I don’t have a facebook or myspace or any

other type of social network page (you weren’t alone out there Ms. Fields). I personally

also don’t text very often and even though I’m in a semi long distance relationship (she

goes to school in SF), I minimize my phone usage. I do or don’t do all of these things

because I prefer to talk and be social in person. If I really care what someone else is up

to I can easily call or send a text and meet up with them. Quite often these social

network sights create a false sense of socializing. I mean really, who actually has 400

friends that they correspond with on a not even weekly, but a monthly basis. It is a

perfect waste of time that you could be studying or learning to cook or any other great

skill like gardening.

The time that I spend doing the network thing is you guessed it, ZERO. However,

I’m on the internet on a daily basis emailing, shopping and many other things. Yes I do

admit that correspondence is easier through the internet. It’s tremendously faster and

less cumbersome than traditional communication forms. The net is also vastly more

convenient than TV. I don’t have to be home to watch a show. I can wait a few days and

the full episode, including those obscene capitalist profit breaks, will be on that

networks site. The school aspect of the internet is amazing. I did go to school, if only for

a short while, when the library was still the primary means of research. This was lame
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because depending on the funding of your library it was quite possible to be writing a

paper on twenty or thirty year old outdated information. Now I can just turn on my

computer and find just about anything I want.

Anything I want truly means anything I want. Does this mean that the internet is

a bad thing? Well, it is all in the eye of the beholder. I use the internet for school and to

communicate with friends and family and sometimes watch TV. There are others out

there, however, that would use it for heinous purposes. Pedophiles search for kiddy

porn or even stalk young children online taking advantage of the lack of face to face

time. There are those who only wish to play a game but become so attached they lose

sight of what counts and what doesn’t. Should an entire medium of entertainment and

learning be condemned for less than a percent of its users? I don’t think so. That would

be like saying all Catholics love little boys or all Muslims want to be suicide bombers

that’s wrong. And that is why it’s good that we have checks in place to regulate that kind

of activity. Also, there is a new facility in the U.S. that is designed to help serious

sufferers of IAD. There are those out there who scoff at the idea of another addiction.

But, that is only because it is in its extreme infancy and it is a human thing to turn your

back on something that could be serious enough to affect all ages.

The internet is an amazing tool that has helped our society leaps and bounds

from where we were only just fifteen years ago. It is a serious form of communication

and learning that should be valued for the good that it does. Anything harmful that
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comes from it is only the fault of the user not the thing and the people who suffer from

its wide spread entertainment value should receive help if it is for a legitimate purpose.