Caution: Attention Span of 3 Minutes Required

What is the internet? I feel like the Internet used to be able to be distinguished as a more separate entity in its earlier days. Not as many people had such unlimited access to it. However, in Western culture and especially in the Western world, the internet has grown into something completely embedded in our lives. The internet is all over the world, and it is crazy how something so free can exist in such different ways in various parts of the world. We are lucky in the United States to have free speech on the internet (although of course there are some exceptions) but for the most part, we are provided access to this incredible tool of free expression and idea sharing. The internet is everywhere though — just look at Tik Tok. Tik Tok comes from China and is a huge platform in many countries, the U.S. included. The same goes for other social media applications. It is amazing that through the internet we can be exposed to images and content we might never have the opportunity to experience in person.

Now, there are still problems with people living in rural/undeveloped areas in American having access to the internet, but in many parts of the world the internet is a necessity, especially as a college student. The internet is no longer just a helpful tool or a facility used by the elite. The internet is totally ingrained into our everyday lives. Computers used to be bulky and scarce, now I can hardly think of someone I know who doesn’t own a portable laptop. For some people, the internet is like a family member or friend, providing entertainment, comfort, connection, and more to those who need it to do so. For college students, it is the means by which we complete nearly every assignment, research any paper, or even attend our classes. Especially during the pandemic, the internet became the only way we could continue our education.

The internet is alive: it grows and changes like a person and has plasticity like our brains do. The internet may have started out similarly to the printing press — as a means of accessing and disseminating information — but as we read it has evolved to include many forms of mindless entertainment that sucks up a lot of our time. Sometimes I am astonished at the amount of time that passes while I scroll through endless pictures and videos. One moment I look down and the next two hours have gone by. The internet is beautiful in its power to connect billions of people through access to information and content, but the readings this week have also caused me to acknowledge how dangerous the internet can be too. The internet has the power to leverage itself against long standing innovations, like cable television, as we have seen through the emergence of streaming services that make you pay to see content on different platforms that all used to be available in one place. It also changes the way we think. As I was reading the articles to complete this assignment, I was struggling to stay focused just as they described. I wanted the information immediately. My brain has gotten so used to immediate stimulation bottled into 6 second Vine videos or 15–60 second Tik Toks, or hundreds of Instagram images on my feed. My attention span was wavering because I have grown up in an age where I’ve been retraining my brain on the internet for years. It is scary to think that I’m losing the ability to focus and deeply engage with the written word. But what am I to do? How can I keep up if I don’t evolve to skim information when everyone else is doing so to get ahead? As great as the internet is, it definitely feels good sometimes to step away from it. It’s addicting, and that scares me because I know I need it. However, I think that as long as we acknowledge that the internet is affecting how we think, we can be aware and work to use the internet to better ourselves instead of getting lost in it.