The internet....

I have been thinking about the value of the internet lately. You know when you turn 30 you suddenly get all this perspective. Soo...the internet is a great thing. I can find things much more quickly now like take out menus, random facts and keep in touch with friends and family near and far. But, is the internet also just another distraction for us? I mean people say that the gay issue is a distraction from the discussing the fact that we are in Iraq and do not seem to have an exit strategy. (Side note: on NPR some strategist mentioned that if we have an exit date the terrorists will do everything bad on that day. Interesting point, but can't we have an exit date and just not broadcast it to the world?) Does the internet bring us closer together or just give us a reason to have random conversations with strangers? Does having all this information overwhelm us and make it difficult to deal with issues in ways more than sending an email to our congress person?

I am all for the internet. I love to send pictures to family, keep up with friends and know the weather instantly in the place I am going to visit...but as we look ahead 20 years what will the internet look like? Will it just be myspace pages and wikipedia? How will the world be better because of the internet? I think this is key to its survival...


Little fact on the internet:
The first usage of the word "internet" was in 1974 according to, of course, wikipedia.