Changing TimesDarrell Saunders"Adaptability is the key to success today" (1). A long time ago our ancestors used to get up in the morning, shoot a duck or two, maybe catch a few fish, gather some berries and sleep with a full stomach at night. In order to continue to eat and sleep indoors, these hunters and gatherers mutated into modern form fillers. Instead of gathering berries and shooting those noisy ducks, young humans spent a long time in school learning how to read and write in preparation to become modern form fillers. There were important future forms to be filled out including: time sheets, unemployment forms, student loan forms, racetrack forms, welfare forms, pension forms, and occasionally a lottery form. Then the computer showed up, and a new electronic invention, "The Internet," called on humans to mutate again The word computer is still formidable to many. Something that looks like a TV sits on a desk and is accessible by a keyboard and a mouse. The computer doesn’t possess a personality, unless the user gives it one, and it can only do a few tricks, based on lots of 0’s and 1’s. But something dramatic happens when you link 100 million or so together, the name changes to the Internet. "A simple way to visualize the Internet is view it simply as a permanent physical connection of tens of thousands of computer networks scattered around the world, and where every individual computer on any of these networks can communicate with any other computer"(2) It isn’t the physical qualities that are impressive, but the staggering variety of content that gives the Internet a mysterious quality to many people. Einstein said this about the mysterious, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."(3) Help! I’m lost in cyberspace! The analogy of a jungle fits the Internet well. Like an unexplored jungle, the Internet has traps, snares and dangers to avoid. Culwick said, "Innumerable studies of animal behaviour lead to the inescapable conclusion that modes of behaviour in the higher animals are dictated by underlying psychological needs, the need for identity, for stimulation and for security" (4). The abbreviation for the word "Internet" is "Net", suggesting we have all been caught for something or for someone. Are Internet users simply being manipulated by this medium because of their psychological needs? All users of the Internet have many decisions awaiting them such as to porno or not to porno, to play violent games or peaceful games, to buy or not to buy, to chat room or not to chat room, or whether or not to spend the rest of their lives reading online newspapers. The Internet is a mysterious jungle of information and entertainment" The Internet's impact on society also divides users and non-users. The Pew Research centre said, "fully 75% of those who go online say the Internet is a good thing because it brings together people with similar interests, while just 14% say the Internet is bad because it can bring together small groups of people with dangerous ideas. Among Americans who do not go online, just 42% say the Internet is a good thing, while 37% worry that it is bad."(5) The Internet poses a danger to children who are developing decision-making skills. Children handle the complexities of decision making different from adults. Watching a four or five year old child in front of a candy counter, clutching a looney in his or her hand demonstrates this difference. Awesome! The raw power of choice with the general pattern going something like this: I will have one of…of……………..of…no…uhm… how much are they, uhm,…. no I will have three of those,…..no… uhm,…….uhm…. do you have gobbies in red, no, uhm, well I don't want yellow gobbies so I'll have… By natural selection, the weak store clerks died of stress or high blood pressure. Of course there are different kinds of decision makers, for example, the impulsive child can spend his looney and have his mouth full of candy in less than ten seconds with the theme of gimme, gimme, gimme. Gimme 5 jawbreakers, gimme 10 candy worms, and gimme 4 yellow gobbies. There are many positive sites, such as Surfing the Net for Kids that lists hours and weeks of fun for young developing minds. On the lighter and more positive side the Internet can be just plain fun and exciting for children. One of the most popular websites currently is Hampsterdance. So get a bag full of yellow gobbies, then click and have some fun. Albert Einstein once said, "I cannot believe that God would choose to play dice with the universe."(6) The probability is that the Internet is not that complex after all. It is revolutionizing every aspect of our everyday lives. The modern Internet mutant doesn’t have to leave their house, they can buy their food in Nanaimo at Quality Foods without leaving their house and just wait for delivery. Pay all your bills, Click again, to find a job, another click and take an online university course. Maybe the future mutant will be wired permanently to the computer since they don’t have to go anywhere but into cyberspace. Looking for friends and lovers, no problem, just a few more clicks. One of the emerging Internet personalities is the random surfer, who constantly asks the question, where will this click take me, remaining a mystery along with the question. What is a yellow gobbie anyway? 1. Culwick, A.T. 1968. Don't Feed the Tiger. Nasionale Boekhandel, Cape Town, pg. 35. 2. http://www.stargate.co.uk/intro-definition.htm 3. http://stripe.colorado.edu/~judy/einstein/famous.html 4. Culwick pg. 49. 5. http://www.people-press.org/tech98mor.htm 6. http://stripe.colorado.edu/~judy/einstein/famous.html |