I love the internet. I don't deny it. But I hate it as well - also undeniable. I love how much easier it makes my work - to go to PubMed, type in a few words and have it spit out journal articles that haven't even been published yet! No poring over that medical compendium index or whatever its called. But at the same time, I miss the effort and satisfaction of having to physically track down an article, photocopy it and slog over its pages. Plus, the lack of tangibility that books have. I had to pore over journals that were over 100 years old for Art Hist and referenced the collected works of John Ruskin that had obviously had generations of over researchers go over it - it was that beaten up. *sigh* But then, it wouldn't be beaten up if it were on the net since it would then not require physical handling!
After hearing rumblings of it, I had my first interaction with the internet in 1996 when our IT teacher tried to demonstrate its use and other things. I was largely unimpressed due to the slowness of our school's connection and poor formatting. It was just like reading the MSY site. Things changed in 1998 when the internet was connected to our house via a 32.2k modem. Still slow, but now I could satisfy my desire for knowledge at home! I also discovered email and chat rooms and somehow ended up exchanging correspondence with a US Marine until he got posted to the Gulf (probably not the wisest thing I've ever done).
University brought huge changes in the role of internet in my life but it didn't become that integral as my Faculties continued publishing their own notes and forcing us to purchase them rather than download. Instead the net became the means to explore celebrity gossip and use a variety of instant messaging programmes such as tetranet Big Two and ICQ to communicate with friends. And of course a way to share our favourite music and to waste time while significant others were busy playing LAN games :P.
While I accept its role in my life, I curse my dependence on it for communication (oh god, life stopped when the email server went down) and deadlines are even scarier when you have to submit something online and you know everyone else is jamming it at the same time. Procrastination increasing multi-fold. The downgrading of print media. The constant threat of viruses...*sigh* But I appreciate the ability to see and speak to people on the other side of the world short of flying over there. How much easier it makes my working life and a myriad of other aspects. From my original dismissal to the present dependence, the internet and I have had a difficult relationship. I consider it akin to an abusive lover - capable of doing things to make me sing your praises to all and sundry, but never knowing when you're going to turn against me and make life hell. And yes, I see the irony in me posting this online
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