DHAHRAN, 8 July — The Internet is slowing down the pace of life in a physical sense. The more we use the Internet the more we take short cuts. It is like sitting in the dining room and getting a seven-course meal without stirring a single pot. This over-reliance on the Internet has reached such a level that surfers now looks for everything and anything on the Net. Whether it is research material required as background for a thesis or a new recipe for a housewife, the Internet serves both equally with a similar efficiency. There is no more need to run around libraries and leaf through voluminous books. Just put your subject on the search engine and you have 1,001 results on the subject.
The unemployed do not need to run around employment exchange or employment bureaus. They could just post their resumes on various specialized sites and the chances are that he will end up with a worthy position.
Parents no longer need to take their children to amusement parks or on picnics as children’s priorities in recreation have also changed. They find much joy in games available on the Net and to them it is fun to play cricket with friends on the Net.
A worried mother looking for a suitable match for her daughter could just find the right groom through matrimonial sites.
In practical life, e-banking, e-commerce, educational sites, e-mails and even chats have made life much easier and left users with plenty of hours to spare. Physical activity for us, with our obsession with the Net, becomes almost negligible, resulting in several physical and emotional problems.
Psychiatrists agree that the outlet of energy is absolutely essential not only for physical health but also mental health. Many post-Internet era studies have revealed that long hours on the Net not only impairs eyesight but also causes hypertension and psychological disorder. Research conducted in the United States said that children sitting by their computers for more than three hours non-stop were prone to psychological trauma in later years.
Health experts as well as psychiatrists agree that computer users should strike a balance between physical activity and time spent in front of the computer screen.
There is no denying the fact that the Internet is here to stay. But, then, it has to be remembered that it is our own creation and it should never dictate our life’s pattern or change our priorities.
It is a fact that Internet has made our life easier and has brought the world to our keyboard. People, who have had a taste of the Internet, now cannot see life without it. It has not only made life easier but has also saved plenty of hours for its users. Now the question is how and where those saved hours are going to be spent? Is there any time management on our minds or are the saved hours again going to be spent on the Net non-productively?
It has been observed that many Internet users after using it constructively continue to surf various sites aimlessly. They are like a child who has nothing else to do and roams around the home from one room to another.
Such surfing is a misuse of the Internet. For a housewife, the productive way would be to give more attention to her children and her husband. For a husband, his priority would be his kids and wife; the family. But the tragedy is that even in their spare time, families spend their time together discussing their latest discoveries on the Net. Even in social gatherings the conversations turn to the Net.
In fact, the Internet is supposed to provide us with plenty of spare time so that we could meet our social, religious, cultural and family obligations in a more satisfying way.
In reality, the problem does not lie with the Internet but with its many surfers, who are misusing it. Are we not overdoing it? Are we not misusing it?