The power of change

Only having access to dial-up as a child, I hated using the internet for anything beyond school work. At first whenever I thought of the Internet I placed it in the same category as peas. I hated them and was in the worst mood when my dinner involved them. Even my favorite foods, such as meatloaf, were ruined when my mom put peas in them. Back five years ago, the Internet was just as bad as peas. Now, the Internet isn’t so bad, as long as you have access to high speed. The availability of high speed Internet has changed my opinion, and habits. I now enjoy using the Internet to research, and even surf the web for fun.

This change got me to thinking about my last trip abroad and how it had been changed by the Internet. Since, I recently got over my hated relationship with the Internet I actually began to use it to research the countries that I wanted to visit. I was able to do more than merely book a hotel for my first nights stay. I was able to find out more information about their culture, language, foods, environment, geography, politics, business and much more. Before, I would buy a Lonely Planet Book to give me all this information, however, now with the plethora of information on the web I didn’t have to purchase the very heavy “travelers bible.” Through the Internet I am able to gain a little insight into places that I have never been.

Changes due to the internet have led us as a society, to be more aware, active and responsible for things out of our immediate sphere of influence. Gordon Brown in his presentation for TED spoke of this change. This idea that the Web has linked people around the world was his message. He talked about the fact that we now have the “capacity to feel the pain of others… and have the capacity to communicate instantaneously.” He suggests the internet has opened doors for us to create this global society where everyone should feel responsible and help others who are in need. We have the information and now we need to organize and do something with it. Check out his insightful presentation from TED.com.