The Internet: From Novelty to Necessity

Our lives have become dependent on the internet, not only within the household but also on the move. Our phones are now able to connect to the internet in most locations, so we are able to Snapchat someone from an obscure location, we are able to use Facebook when we are waiting for some sort of public transport, and we are even able to just simply able to use Google to find information at any precise moment. With a lot of people conforming and becoming Apple fanatics, iPhones introduced the use of iMessage which using internet connection to send messages, pictures, and videos to other iPhone users. This is the automatic way of contacting other iPhone contacts and when the internet disappears, so does the use of iMessage , therefore sending messages become green and 'old fashioned' - an ordinary SMS.

So, when we lose this ability of having the internet wherever we want, we lose a luxury, not a necessity, but just a luxury that in our minds has grown to be a necessity. Lots of us will go to extreme lengths to avoid the barrier of no internet. We will buy a drink we don’t even want, just so we can sit in a café that has Wifi, or we will dawdle around the exterior hoping to gain just some access. A lot of the time the biggest struggle is when we travel abroad, our networks and contracts don’t include using our allowances away from the UK. I get confused because my contract includes unlimited texts and minutes abroad, however I still seem to get charged. However, is having no internet access really the end of the world? 

There’s no doubt about the fact that I am a keen social media user. I update my Instagram and Facebook frequently, as well as always using Snapchat and iMessage. Since getting an iPhone, I spend the majority of my free time on it, and have neglected my laptop, except for when I have to write lengthy blog posts because then it comes in handy. Although it is probably an obsession, it also is a great aid to many moments such as being lost or wanting to find a specific place.

Last week I was on a family holiday in Wales. I originally was very disappointed and almost surprised when my mum informed me there was no Wifi at our cottage. These days most places seem to offer wifi, but apparently not this one, but it didn't seem as much of a problem because hurray for 3/4G, then reality struck me of the last time I went to Wales…no signal. The last time I went to Wales I was a lot longer, and god forbid, less attached to my phone. I’d seen the location of our cottage, and it was bang in the middle of nowhere. So not only was there no wifi, but there was no signal which mean no internet on my phone, and not even signal to send normal texts.  Further, this meant I needed old fashioned entertainment of books, DVDs, board games and family time to fill evenings!

The majority of the week we were out all day until the early evening, and when I was out there was a certain distance away from the cottage where my phone would suck me in, and I’d be unresponsive for a good while, whilst I frantically checked messages, Snapchats and Facebook. It’s sad really, sad that I get that desperate that I’m holding my phone in my hand, watching the top left hand corner of my phone for ‘3G’ to appear. It’s mad how quickly my phone would die too when I’m using it so much, compared to when it’s shoved upstairs on my bed, whilst I was downstairs at the cottage.

I love Wales, it’s a beautiful country with so much nature to be discovered. Some of the beaches I got to witness were beyond stunning, and a million times better than the Southend coast. Southend's beach is not only filthy, but it’s insanely overcrowded compared to these natural-looking beaches that were almost deserted for hundreds of yards. We were so lucky with the weather too, because when I thought Wales I did think rain and cooler temperatures, but the weather didn’t fall below 22 degrees. Not only were there nice beaches, but breath-taking caves, forests, rivers and waterfalls. This one waterfall we saw was so high, and it just made you feel like you were in a more exotic country than Wales. I’m not always an outdoors person, but take me somewhere beautiful and I won’t want to go home. Not only was it pleasing to the eye, but I was finally able to get back into a bit of photography. Here is a selection of my photos.

It is no surprise that I wanted to share these moments with other people, therefore being out and about enabled me to do so. I shared a few pictures of pretty beaches, waterfalls and caves on Facebook and Instagram, but as soon as I was back at the cottage it was back to nothing. Once the initial pining for internet was gone, it became easy to not have it. I actually spent quality time with my family and got wrapped up in a Wales bubble. It’s nice getting wrapped in a moment without being so interested on what’s going on around with other people. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be aware of the world around us, but for moments in life we should just endure it and take it all in. It also clears your mind a bit, can give you a detox. I got myself into a nice routine, making the most of the days.

Now I’m back at home I find how I have slipped back into bad habits, constantly checking my phone and scrolling through Facebook, when the majority of the time I seem to gain nothing from it. I do believe that Facebook is a great way to find out what people are up to and for this reason, a long with keeping in contact, I find it a hard thing to remove myself from. I think that we have just adapted our lives so much now that these things which were once a novelty, are now so firmly fitted into daily routines that it makes it hard to avoid. I guess sometimes it would just be nice to strip it all, and revert back to basics. I remember trying to make this point in my dissertation about modernisation being unavoidable. I tried to use an example of comparing pen to paper with chiselling into wood to make messages. It was all very long winded, but my point being, as things become simplified through the internet, such as simply using a device to google something, rather than an old fashioned paper dictionary, we would more than likely choose googling. I rest my case when the word ‘googling’ isn’t even an alert for spell check on Word anymore.