75. The Internet

           

     As a high school teacher I work with kids who don’t really even understand what life would be like without having instant access to their friends and the information of the world. Anything you want to know you can almost instantly find within a few seconds of asking. There are all kinds of complaints I have about that, but in the end I’m really thankful for the internet.

            Of course my students often look at me as someone might look at a display in a museum, perhaps an interactive museum where the dinosaurs will carry out requests. I still remember (probably because I still have one in my closet) the typewriter. Now, when I type and hit the e before the I when I mean it to be the other way around, my word processing program automatically fixes it for me and I can then store the file, along with photographs that I took with my iPhone, on the very web log (blog) where people like you, perhaps complete strangers or perhaps good friends—these days perhaps both in one person—can read it within seconds or days of when I posted it. Now I can pull out my phone like a miniature version of George Jetson’s clunky desk-top like phone and speak to my friends across the planet (if I can get the time zones right). And we can see each other as well, even give tours of where we are at the time.

            It’s funny that we’re all enchanted by the magical world of Harry Potter while in reality we’re all a bit wizard like with our internet connections through those little wands we call phones. The rapid changes in the world come about through our interconnectedness across the planet through the ages. As an English teacher I’ve always loved the connections I’ve made with people through the centuries. With the internet I’m able to do that even more and I can share it with you. That’s why, as an American, I am thankful for the internet.