Humans have strived to be connected to others since the beginning of time. Finding ways to connect to others has been a serious job in our society for ages. Now that we have accomplished this constant connection and availability to anyone around the world, people are beginning to find it a burden. This accomplishment has given our human society so many more opportunities than we have ever had before, and it is called the internet.
The internet now allows us to not only better understand and express ourselves, but also others around us. We now use the internet as a tool to understand, and almost be apart of others lives through social media, no matter how far away others may seem. We have been given the opportunity to meet and interact with more people from more places than we could have ever imagined. Social media has also given us an outlet to express our interests, values, dreams, and feelings on our own online pages to share with the world. As stated in Kenneth Goldsmith’s intro to Wasting Time on the Internet, “Facebook is the greatest collective autobiography that a culture has ever produced, a boon to future sociologists, historians, and artists”. The internet gives us the opportunity to reflect on ourselves, and also gives us a platform to find people with the same interests or values. We forget how many more opportunities to find jobs, build relationships, and learn about our world come from the internet. So why are some of us beginning to find this a burden? Is this not what we have strived to find?
Literature & the Internet 