The Necessity that is Internet

Today I got home to find that my Internet wasn’t working. And I was NOT HAPPY.  In fact, I was incredibly perturbed by the inconvenience of first having to shut down and restart my computer to see if that was the issue (it wasn’t). I then grumpily attempted to navigate the system preferences to fix the connection, which left me with that annoying loading circle for twenty minutes (ultimately unsuccessful), and finally, with much more force than was probably necessary, unplugged and re-plugged-in our internet modem (which eventually seemed to fix the issue).

It’s incredibly common to hear about the woes of our dependence on technology, but I still find it crazy how much I take my Internet access for granted. Not only that, but it seems I’ve almost reached the point where I feel entitled to this privilege. I deserve this! How dare my Internet not work for me when I get home after a long day!

Beyond this entitlement, I realize, too, the extent to which I simply NEED this access to survive. As a graduate student, the majority of my readings are posted online for me to access, as are assignments and notifications from professors. As a classroom teacher, I relied on Dropbox to save lesson files from my home computer in order to access them at school the following day. Assignments are sometimes submitted in a hard-copy format, but more often than not are submitted online. And would my life be complete if I couldn’t check Facebook at least once a day? No way. The extent to which we rely on multiple aspects of the Internet on a daily basis is truly phenomenal.

This universal dependence shows in the increased accessibility to Internet access. Wi-Fi is offered on planes and trains in addition to a plethora of public venues. And if all else fails, thank goodness I invested in that data plan!

Is all this connectedness bad? No. There are tons of benefits. But are these benefits so essential that, rather than embracing my broken connection as a chance to catch up on good reading, I proceed to have a minor conniption fit? I’m not sure.