I I often wonder what people did before Al Gore invented the Internet. Being online from the age of ten makes imagining a world without a web difficult. For instance how did you stay in contact with that random person that sat next to you in ECON 101? How did you discover your IQ, buy plane tickets, comparison shop, watch television, or plan a trip?
Living in such a geographically isolated area my Wi-Fi connection has become my metaphorical tunnel to China. Let me explain:
Every kid has that phase where they imagine they can get to China (or some other undiscovered country) by digging through the Earth or entering a magic wardrobe. Eventually we all grow up and realize the impossibility of such travels but that doesn't stop us from continuing to reach outside ourselves for new experiences. Enter the Internet. The world wide web allows me to escape the confines of my physical location; becoming that mystical tunnel to China.
With my computer (and now my Ipod and cell phone) I can expand my knowledge of languages and cultures. Buy almost anything. Use a wiki to plan my Europe trip with my sister. Edit and print pictures. But most importantly I can stay in contact with friends and family from Alaska to Iraq, Mexico to New Zealand.
So although we are physically seperated this blog allows my friends and famliy to experience my amazing-ness and travel with me on my Internet adventures.
BTW: The above image is just one example of a map of the Internet. Click here to read more.
5 comments:
Hurray for blogging! Hurray for nerds!
PS- I also linked to your blog on mine so I don't have to remember the URL. Hope you don't mind
My "tunnel to China" was a small, imaginary door--about the size of a laundry shoot, that took me through a cave to the Front Desk where a person in a red jacket asked me where I wanted to go and then pointed me down a hall to a door with the place name on it, handed me a giant key like the ones at gas stations for the bathroom and smiled. They always called me Ma'am. I was four.
You know, inorder to maintain your readership, you have to write on you blog more than once. I know this from a handful of failed attempts.
I haven't been able to write because my laptop has been at the repair shop and government computers block blogger, facebook, myspace, et al. So I posted now you happy?
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