Point to Ponder

Have you ever wondered how dependent we are on the Internet?

This thought just came to me while I was surfing the Internet. The answer obviously is: "Very Dependent". But why? Why is it that we always log on to the Internet whenever we need information? Why don't we go to the library and sift through all the books available? Why don't we look into the tons of magazines and journals anymore?

Are we happy to know that we get what we want within a few minutes?

Of course we are. The internet is as big as the milky way - maybe even bigger. And smart tools like Google do us a favor by giving us the most relevant information. But don't you think our life has become too mechanical with the genesis of the Internet? Picture this. You wake up one fine day, only to read in the newspaper that the Internet is dead. Kiss it goodbye. Isn't that scary? Do you think you would then make the effort to go to libraries and collect information. You would probably mourn the death of the Internet for many days, thinking about all the good things you used to get easily."He was a good man", as they say.

I realized that libraries are good fun when I sat down to write the summary of an article from the Harvard Business Review. Old habits die hard, so I started by logging on to the Milner Website. When I found the article, I started reading it - only to find that an article 20 pages long is a big pain in the eyes when read on the monitor. I then went to the fourth floor of Milner and got the HBR from one of the shelves. That is when I figured out that pre-historic concepts like "reading in the library" have not lost their charm. And they are good fun!

Internet is good. But don't depend too much on it. There are many people on this planet who don't. And probably they never will.