What would I do without the internet?

Last class we talked about the beginnings of the internet and email. What is kind of fascinating about the creation of the internet is that it is all somewhat recent (like the creation of Amazon.com and Google)

I can remember the first time I sent an email. I was replying to one a friend sent me (and hardly knowing what you do with an email to be honest). I used angel stationary that one of my friends had accidentally gotten the angels to flap their wings on.

Since then, it's amazing how much I've come to depend on the internet (and computers). Encyclopedias and paper journal articles are becoming rarer and rarer when I go to do research for a paper (although, since I'm an English major, I like to say that I won't read anything unless a tree died to make it). I almost never go into bookstores, and a lot of the books that I do read are purchased online at Amazon.

So what would I do without the internet? My life would be barely functional. Sure, I could go without it for short periods of time, and gain time to do things that I never seem to have time for - like practicing my harp. (yes, I play a 47-string, 7-pedal, ebony, concert-grand, pedal-harp). But for the most part, it would be like going back to card catalogues (search engines are so cool!).

The internet has been the gateway to knowledge and the way that people share creative ideas, customs, and opinions. Where would we be without it?