What if there was no internet? Would you have the job you have now? Are there people you never would have met, and if you never met those people would the direction of you life be different?

I know that if there was no internet I never would have met a number of people whom I now consider good friends, and I never would have had the balls to start writing. I also wouldn't have done all the traveling I have done in the past two years, since most of my traveling has been to meet friends I met from various bulletin boards. I also think I would be a lot thinner than I am, because instead of sitting my fat ass down in front of the computer I probably would be doing things outdoors.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

Answers

I would have long since died of ennui, induced by my job.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I wouldn't be in contact with a lot of old friends that I email on a regular basis, but haven't seen in years.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

Yeah, I really, really don't get how people spent all day at work before the internet. I couldn't have hacked it.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I probably would still have this job even if the Internet didn't exist. The first computer project I was involved with was not related to the Internet per se, and I think everything would still have led me to right here. There are definitely people I have gotten to know that I would never have met if it weren't for the Internet. But so far, although I've done a lot of traveling, none of it was due to the Internet, even indirectly.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I think about this a lot. When I was a little kid, before I knew about computers even (technology was slow to arrive to my community), would I have believed that I'd spend all my days linked to the world via this internet thing? Would I be more or less intelligent had I never encountered the internet? Would I have ever met The Recent Ex otherwise? (doubtful) The internet has a LOT of influence on my life. I'm pretty sure it's a good thing...but it's not something I want to let go unexamined. Am I happier because the internet, and if so, is that okay?

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

Oh, my life would probably be about the same, but at a slower pace. I think the WWW and email have vastly contributed to the speed expectations of our culture. I used to work with a person who wanted to assassinate the founder of FedEx. Just because it was possible to have things overnighted, meant that people expected overnight service on darn near everything else, too. Days of being able to roll back the postage meter and blame business delays on the USPS are over.

Do we really *need* things to be as fast as we *want* them to be? There's so much instant gratification available that anything that takes time and effort doesn't even have a fighting chance. I see this in my job, where it's often my work schedule that gets squeezed, and in my dog stuff, too -- people want a five-minute solution to behavior problems that have developed over the course of several months, or sometimes years.

I think my mini-rant has started to drift off-topic....

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I'd have to go to the library to look things up, which means I wouldn't look very many things up. And I would not be able to buy used books from Powell's in Oregon. And when I lost my dictionary I wouldn't just be able to dial up and go to www.dictionary.com.

But I'd get more real work done. One of my resolutions was to spend less time online. It's harder than you'd think.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I would definitely get more work done. My girlfriend and I would actually have to buy adult entertainment instead of surf for it. If the Internet weren’t around I would still be running a BBS though. I kinda miss that. I met a lot of really good friends through my BBS.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I've been a writer/journalist since the days when "hi-tech" meant an electric IBM typewriter. I can remember when we got our first television. Personally, computers and especially the internet, have been a liberating influence on almost every aspect of my work. The amount of stuff I can store and then revise without a complete re-type? Whew! And research!!!...I couldn't live with the WWW. Well, I guess I could. But it would be a helluva lot harder and I don't even want to think about. You still have to get out at the scene and face the nitty-gritty up close and smelly, but the Internet has bade the basic mechanics a lot easier. And yeah, I've made a lot of friends and contacts I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I shouldn't overlook the pornographic pictures you can download and e-mail to those friends who anger you. It beats the hell out of telling them to get fucked in print, knowudimeen? :-} A picture is worth a thousand words.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

I wouldn't be as well informed. I can research everything I want from my little lighted typewriter. Don't like TV so I need a source of amusement. People I have met on the internet HAVE NOT been a plus. But I have become the internet Guru for looking things up for friends.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

My job is still basically the same as before the WWW so I would probably still be doing the same work but would have to be more creative on how to look busy when there is absolutely nothing to do. My work depends on internal customers so when I do my job, they don't need me but when I don't everything gets royally screwed (and not in a good way). Typical government catch-22.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2001

If I didn't have the internet...ACk...I would need a mocha latte enema

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2001

Before the Internet, I wrote letters longhand and read books and magazines compulsively. I did research by physically going to various libraries. So not much has changed other than not having to go hike to a library *building* if it is cold or I'm busy, and I don't have to hide a paperback in my lap anymore when the boss comes by. If anything, I'm more productive because I'm multitasking and don't have to factor in commuting-to-information-sources time. Rock on. And whereas I've never watched much TV, I watched MORE when I didn't have online entertainment to fall back on--mainly to watch movies & to get up to speed on world news. My sedentary activities haven't changed all that much. If anything, I get out more often than I used to because I've made more friends who want to go to concerts or out to eat and stuff. So it's made me a bit more social, which is not what it is 'supposed' to do. I mean, we're all supposed to be (according to cliche') these antisocial unattractive nerds sitting in the dark not interacting with other humans, right? Well, in my experience, that's a false stereotype. (I don't think any of you folks are unattractive nerds, for example, and you all seem to have lives.)

I love the Internet. It makes it easy for me to keep in touch with friends all over the world and my long distance bills are much more reasonable these days. I also spend a lot less money on postage.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2001

I wouldn't have my current job since I work at a dot com, which would mean I wouldn't have those stock options which would likely mean I would still be living with my crappy, threadbare living room furniture that now lives in the garage. Of course, I wouldn't owe so much in taxes for 2000 -- since of course I sold some stock and put NOTHING away for taxes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those new millionaire secretaries or anything.

I would also be less enlightened because when I need to know something now I just look it up. I wish there had been an internet when I was in college. I would be spending more time listening to my relatives & friends complain that I don't stay in touch, since email has made my life easier in that regard. And I still wouldn't have developed the 10 rolls of fil, some of which are seriously 9 years old....sent them in to ememories.com etc. And damn glad I didn't have to pay to have them developed because they suck beyond the fact that the pictures are all yellow.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2001

I also wouldn't have been able to get back in touch with nearly so many people. It's much easier to look someone up and send them a "Hey, what the heck have you been up to" email than to call them on the phone. Recently my best friend and I have taken it upon ourselves to look up all our old friends from summer camp and put together a contact/what we're up to webpage, and it's been amazing how many people we've been able to find.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2001

I work with midrange computers so I'd still have this job, but I'd miss out on the daily cussing while trying to push large files across the Internet.ughhhh. I'd also miss out on knowing a few people in England. I wouldn't be able to keep up with the news like I can now (although, I should really dodge it for a while...it's just making me upset.) Reading some of the fantastic journals out there brings hope to me that I am really surrounded by some creative people...even when I can't recognize it at first.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2001

I would not be preparing to serve Scrnwrt's Famous Chicken DeeLite nor would I have been able to ask her for recipe help.

Most importantly, I would have never been able to research the hell out of the health problems that I have so that when I went on my crusade to find a doctor to help me, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted and had the documentation to back up my decisions. It is SO VERY IMPORTANT to take charge of your own health now, and my post-internet-assisted years have been a lot more informed and healthy than my totally-dependent-on-asshole-doctor years. The comfort of knowing that so many other women are dealing with the exact same symptoms that I am has made my quality of life so much better.

And porn. How would I have ever known there were so many varieties?

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2001

All I know is that I would get a hell of a lot more done, especially since I'm emailing or icqing people all day long! Not that I'm complaining because it's fun and I laugh a lot.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2001