My Gratitude Letter to the Internet
Dear Internet,
When we first got acquainted I had no idea that you would mean so much. You would change. As we serendipitous met through assignments, emails, music, books which mentioned you in theory. I couldn’t imagine then how much you would educate me, entertain me, enrich me. But I am mostly glad that I met you because now I can’t imagine my life without you! I am grateful for your existence. There are so many things I would like to thank you for, here are a few:
Endless Knowledge: Anything I could ever imagine to learn, experience and create I could do it with you. You could cater my different moods through the endless channel of entertainment, information, education, wellness, science and so much more. How could you be so accommodating with such a large population using you? And still made me feel so important.
Communication: I could connect my cousins in the other part of the world with just a few clicks of the mouse. Understand unique cultures, heritage, travel destinations and experience various places just by a click of my fingers. It deepened my connection and understanding of the world.
Netflix and chill: My favourite pass time has shifted from playing out to binge-watching, reading or just playing video games. With the wide variety of movies, music, game, books, or software that I could possibly think of is available right. It has completely shifted the way that I viewed entertainment.
My Profession: Just stepping into the professional world, numerous tools and platforms that allowed me to freelance my skills from home. This has helped me possess additional management and schedules. My friends search and apply for jobs completely through the internet, which has opened up the world job market from them and many others.
Money and Payment: No need to carry my wallet anymore! Digital wallet and cards have made it possible for me to be carefree enough not to care about wallets.
E-Commerce: Nowadays going to shop is so old school from grocery to laptops to fashion to everything is available. E-commerce enabled us to choose a product or service of our choice from any vendor anywhere in the world.
No more standing in the lines: Now I can take a picture of it with my tablet and send it to the bank through an app thanks to the internet. Or just check bank balances in real-time. Instead of printing out a manuscript and mailing it, you could get an e-receipt.
But there are times I wish you went off just so that lives on social media would stop mattering so much and a real conversation could take place without interruption of ping. Cyberbullying didn’t exist. Probably, depression, loneliness and social Isolation wouldn’t exist and people would look out from screens. And my family would stop unnecessary online shopping.
The distractions have multiplied. (I have been distracted a ton of times especially while researching getting lost in the web of the web from the internet to memes the journey takes split seconds and results in wastage of hours. But the Internet, memes are one of the favourite parts of you they are so relatable, clever or so silly that they are worth the laugh.)
Well that said, today you are nearly 30 years old. I hope you change many more lives like mine. And still inspire the generations to merge your amazing qualities with real conversations, feeling their heartbeat more, less screen time and just physical time.
Yes, it’s been a twisted a tipsy journey to navigate through you. But you have been a part of my life since I can remember. Maybe it is just sending an email or playing hot dog bush after coming back from school. Gradually you become such an integral part of my life.
Happy International Internet Day!
P.S Thanks for the spell checks and a platform to express and have my opinions.
Yours,
Maithilee Shetty
Originally published at http://thoughtmartini.com on October 29, 2019.
