OneWebDay Submission

September 10, 2008

When the Internet became of age in 1993 I was sitting in my elementary school computer lab smashing the keys on a first generation Apple 2E. Back then, I just thought a computer was a large beige box that occasionally allowed me to play my favorite Atari port like Frogger or Oregon Trail. Little did I know that the computer, and the Internet, would become such an enormous tool in the way that I conduct my life. The Internet has been for me a tool that has allowed me to communicate with almost every source of information. In this day in age every company, interest group, and individual has his or her own web site that is available for access.

The internet offers a broad range of communication options that can become extremely complicated, but it is not the most complicated communication outlets that play such a significant role in how I conduct my everyday, but the small, menial Internet uses that have shaped the way I live. The Internet has made it so calling for pizza became a thing of the past, I just visit the Dominoes Pizza website and order my meal. Right when I wake up I am on the Internet to check what time my bus will be arriving. It is the simplicity at which you can do tasks that even a few years ago would take several minutes can now be done in a matter of clicks.

The majority of my online time is spent looking up numbers, checking dates, and reading the latest news stories. While I have not found a soul mate using one of the many online dating services, or helped a woman give birth over video chat, I have found driving directions on Mapquest, and for me that in an of itself is how the internet has changed my life.