The Internet: Why do We Still Use the Internet?

As someone who was born during the dawn of the internet, when AOL was brand new and modems used to make that weird noise when connecting, I ask myself “why do people still use the internet?”, well I still use the internet to watch movies and TV shows, I just recently got a NetFlix subscription, my work and much of my free time is spent on the internet. I am, bored, so I use the internet.

I just went to internet.com, for the first time in my life, it was not a surprise that like GoDaddy, internet.com is a domain name registrar, meaning that “Get your own domain name” is the first thing that you see. Why would someone want their own domain name in the first place?

I remember when the internet was made up of only forums and games, people used the internet for Email and having your own domain name was a luxury and prestige that most people did not know was such a simple thing. The internet was fun! I was a kid and the internet was the end to all of the boredom.

Today life is boring probably because of the internet, I hardly leave the house and when I’m at home I am always stuck to a screen that is connected to the internet on some sort of site or the other, but why do I still use the internet? I can watch TV on a non-internet based subscription, but it costs 3 times more, I can go to the market or to the store to buy things but it is so much simpler and even cheaper just buying whatever I need online with my credit card and having it brought to me.

But still, I hardly leave home and while I am awake, I am usually in-front of a screen, on the internet. I own tens of domains, lots of online properties but I almost never venture into the real world. I live 20 minutes from the beach but see the ocean only a few times per year. The whole world is just a short plane flight away, but I am busy, on the internet, we all are. If you are bored it means that you are free, I read this somewhere in some Google search that I made a few days ago.

So I still use the internet not because it is fun and not because I love it like when I was younger, I use the internet because I am bored and I use the internet to make a living. I use the internet because it is comfortable for me and helps me to be lazy, once in a while I open the window in my apartment to let some fresh air in, I put on some music, on YouTube of course.

I remember when music was on tapes, then CDs, then MP3s and MiniDisc, now I listen to music only on YouTube or sound-cloud. I used to be a big gamer when I was younger, playing Counter Strike 5 hours a day at least, before that it was red alert and for a while Heroes, I also played Utopia for a while. Today I have my smartphone, but i don’t play games anymore, today I manage websites, for a living. And in my free time, as not to feel totally bored, I use the internet.

Why don’t I take up meditation?

Just stare at the empty black screen for 10 minutes, then close your eyes, think of nothing, breath, let the minutes, the hours go bye. Meditate. Meditate on the question, “why do people still use the internet”, after all we don’t really need it, it’s bullshit, it’s just a money making machine. Do I need Google in my life? Facebook? YouTube? Even if I really do, then is it worth ruining my health over endless hours of sitting in front of screens and forgetting about real life outside of the screen?

I just made myself a cup of coffee, I still don’t know the answer to the question of “why people still use the internet” is it just an addiction? Just like the cup of coffee I am drinking right now? Have we just gotten so much used to being on the internet all of the time that we have forgotten that life still exists? I remember reading a publication last year about people using online website pornography during the holidays, when people are home and have a free day, with nothing to do, they watch porn more often. They masturbate. With pornography on the screen, on the internet. If they didn’t have the internet what would they do, would they go out and buy a porn mag? Would they look for someone to have actual sex with? Who knows..

The new generation in the digital age does not really have a choice, I did not really have a choice either, I remember my parents bought a computer at an absurd price because it was new technology, they wanted the new technology, they showed us the internet and we loved it. I am 30 years old now and maybe it’s just the 30 year crisis happening and whatnot but I ask myself this question and I have no real honest answer.

I guess we still use the internet because we are bored. What would we do with our free time without the internet? How would we manage? I’m sure we would get things done a lot quicker, maybe I am wrong though, maybe people still use the internet because they NEED it and not because they are just used to it. People maybe need the internet and maybe even many people would die if we did not have this pretty much FREE and LIBERATED communication web.

They say in the Arab spring that Twitter saved many lives, the internet has never saved my life. But maybe some day it will..

Hackers, why is it that hackers are always trying to hack my websites just because of the location of my servers? Yes the internet is a place to show how much you hate someone else, it’s also a place to show how much you love and support someone else. So maybe people still use the internet to show their opinions and feelings? To read about things and get new information in order to make new opinions? Probably yes.

This question probably has 5 billion answers. So why do you STILL use the internet?

This is a Globally Bored web-team post in The Internet section of our site. Written and posted by a genuinely bored person.