Technology serves as a means of communication. The Internet is, in my opinion, the most advanced piece of technology mankind has ever created. With the world at my fingertips I cansee what my friends have been doing via Facebook or watch what is trending in the world of gaming on YouTube. Without the internet I would never be able to know if a friend went to an amusement park and had made a cool video about their time there unless I called them on the phone and asked.
As a senior in high school, applying for colleges is infinitely easier and less stressful. If I want to see if a college has my major, I can take two minutes of my life to check on my smartphone as opposed to searching through the pile of letters at my home or for leaflets at the library. Say that said college does have my major but I want to see what the campus is like. I could go to Google Earth and see if the campus is to my taste. Without the internet I would never be able to get that information as quickly.
There are many other things that I would never be able to see or experience without the internet. For example music, a force of nature strengthened by the power of the internet, allowing artists to increase their sales and popularity in unprecedented amounts because now a kid from Seattle can stream the same song as someone else in the Midwest or New York. Without this technology I would probably hate music in general due to the lack of variety I hear on the radio or sold in stores.
The gaming industry, is now amplified by the internet too. With the internet, games can connect people from across the globe to interact and enjoy themselves. I myself have made a friends online, whom I later made time to meet in real life. When we met in person we had plenty to talk about, our mutual experiences online and in person. Because of the internet, I was able to meet someone from a completely different walk of life, and the result expanded my world. Another way that the internet has affected my world is via the online service Twitch, the big name in streaming that was recently acquired by Amazon. With Twitch I can see conferences such E3 or Comic-Con and regular people streaming from their homes. I watch gamers, bloggers, and others just by going to one website. Another great example of this would be YouTube, where I access content daily – from gaming press releases originating with IGN, to events in Ukraine on the Vice News YouTube channel.
With all of these informational sources I can; see a person on my screen who is streaming from the opposite end of the world, look at college campuses via Google Earth, or check the news on YouTube. From these connections, I gleam a better understanding of people who live in other places, who have different opinions and thoughts and I believe that I have become a more well-rounded person because of it.
