Internet

I would first just like to start off with how astonished I am that there are people out there that are incredibly intelligent enough to create things like computers and the internet in the first place. I can’t even imagine what thoughts must go on in their brains, thoughts I would never be able to think of or understand in a million years. But that of course is off topic, I tend to do that very often, my friend Brandon always makes fun of me for it. See there I go again! Anyway, the internet is such a vast place; it is amazing the way people can connect all over the world. Information is so easily accessible to many of us nowadays, and has been for so long that I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to not have the internet. I mean the way my grandma talks about how she had to do research in school is incredibly different from the way we are able to retrieve information now. For example, mylifesaver.

Of course, there is no such thing as perfection. There is always a flaw, always the pros and cons, ups and downs to anything. You could argue countless negative ideas about the internet. For example, there is an excessive amount of information that isn’t child friendly on the internet that kids could browse at any time. But there is also an excessive amount of information that all people, no matter what age should not see. Race and gender, although they are issues that have become less prevalent over the years, are still existing problems. The subject is sensitive for many people, and I guess that’s why it really shocks me that some people are able to say some of the stuff they do. I do not find myself a judgmental person, but clearly some people are, especially when it comes to race and gender. This is seen quite often still today, even daily for some people. For example YouTube, some people may browse it daily when they are bored (in class) – just kidding, or when having trouble falling asleep they may just go to simply look up some calm music to help them pass out. The problem is, almost every single video will have some kind of inappropriate comment on it.

My boyfriend is black, I am white. We have discussed many of the racial stereotypes, while many of them may not seem too serious, such as black people liking watermelon or chicken. I am lucky that he has a pretty easy going personality and sense of humor because some of the stuff I watch on YouTube, for example these hilarious guys, can drop some jokes that may be offensive to different races, as well as gender differences, and I don’t want to offend him. What is appropriate? Where do we draw the line? It is something I think we as society may not think about as often as we should. While anonymity is good because it can allow people to be themselves, it is bad in the way it seems to lead to many harmful statements and attacks to certain groups of people. It’s a shame.