Tangled in the World Wide Web by Niki Paz

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Pre-Internet generations had interesting ways of distracting themselves from the boredom of their dreary lives. People would spend their time outdoors, flying kites, riding bikes, and the like. The dawn of the Internet introduced new forms of entertainment. For one, online gaming has tasted remarkable and phenomenal success because of its ever-increasing demand throughout the world. Other activities include watching videos on YouTube and surfing countless websites. These have become day-to-day in the lives of many Internet consumers.

Even celebrities have taken to using the Internet for promoting their causes via blogs, websites, and social media accounts. Self-endorsement is not the only way to benefit from the Internet; E-commerce is used for all type of business dealings that involve the transfer of money through the Web. Online transaction has become the norm with almost all businesses. Several websites such as Omidyar’s eBay allow customers to bid, buy, sell, and even auction products online. Bill Schrader shrewdly observes, “Almost overnight, the Internet's gone from a technical wonder to a business must.”

Mundane tasks like booking tickets for a movie or paying bills and taxes have suddenly become exceptionally easy after the introduction of the Internet. Who would have predicted that we would no longer have to leave the comfort our own homes? One downside to this is fewer occasions for social interaction and consequently, the widespread deterioration of social skills.

The changes in society brought about by the Internet (whether positive or negative) have often gone unnoticed because of its ubiquity. Jim Clark best summarizes the reason for its prevalence in our lives: “The Internet is not just one thing; it's a collection of things - of numerous communications networks that all speak the same digital language.“ It transcends the boundaries of age, gender, race, etc. The Internet has become a part of everything we do because it is what connects all of us together.