Outline
This essay is a comparative study on life before and after the internet came into being. The focus is more on those issues that have affected our life the most, like communication media, relationships, business, etc. This also discusses the similarities that existed between life before the internet and after.
Life before the internet versus after the internet
In the following essay, we discuss the similarities and contrasts that existed between life before the internet and life after the internet, referring to (Ashley). It includes the various changes that occurred to human life in terms of relationships, work, communication mode, etc with the advent of the internet.
Life without the internet is something that is hard to believe for the kids of the present generation. Before the advent of the internet, for communication one had to depend completely on the post office or old age telephone services. The whole process was cumbersome and expensive. Only the rich could afford all these services. The rest of the world remained in dark. Before the internet came into existence, the terms friendship and relationship had a lot of meaning. There were no virtual friends. Everything was so real. To know what’s happening in the world, one had to wait for the morning newspaper. To plan a trip, one had to visit the travel agent and find out whether the ticket was available. For checking his/her bank account or for transferring his/her money to some other bank, a person had to physically go to the bank and complete necessary formalities. For accessing books, one had to go to the library which was literally a routine for people who were fond of reading. For advertising a product, one had to go all the way to the advertising agency and wait for days to ensure that the advertisement was accepted or not. To say about, there are lots. If you ask people of those generations, they would surely say that they miss the life before the internet. Even though people say the internet led to globalization, some still feel that they were closer to each other when there was no internet.
Now, when we see life after the internet, it is altogether different. The Internet has become the mode of communication. It has taken over the functions of the post office, postman, and all the intermediary requirements. We can also keep a copy of the sent information. Communication has become much faster. And the technology comes at a cheap rate that anyone can afford it. The terms like virtual friends, chatting, phishing, blog, etc came into existence. Banking and other business transactions have become easy and fast. Friends are no longer real. No longer do we meet our relatives personally and hug them or get their blessings. The world has become so unreal. With the advent of the internet, advertising a product or service has become very easy. The Internet has indeed simplified our life to a great extent. To understand these differences one could refer to the web page- (What was Life like before the Internet).
It describes life before and after the internet in a very comic sense but does make us think actually how the internet has changed everyone’s life.
From all these observations one can conclude easily how the internet has helped us to be part of this fast-growing era. Life indeed has changed and we cannot expect it to be the same. Man has always found a way to deal with issues and surely will find ways to keep the values that have diminished after the internet boom. But, one should always remember that life has changed the way we wanted it to change and nothing was brought forcefully. It was our never-ending needs that led to these technologies and this need is the only common thing that existed in the life before the internet and life after the internet. The remaining things are direct consequences of our needs.
Works Cited
Ashley. Cyber Notes: Life before the Internet was Like: Cyber Notes by Cybernet. Cybernet News. 2009. Web.
What was Life like before the Internet. Joeschmidt.com. 2006. Web.