Ian WhiteLoving Living Online
October 15th 2006 15:11
Category: No Category
At no time in Human history has so much information been so readily available. The term “google” is a daily part of our lives. If I need to know anything, I can find millions of references in (0.06 seconds). I research a lot of different things throughout the day and I am not a member of my local library. I spend a lot of time online. I think we all do nowadays. I almost can’t remember what life was like before we were able to do all of this great stuff online. It is truly amazing. I have Credit Cards and Bank Accounts with five different financial institutions. Imagine the farting around I would have to do if there were no ATMs, let alone no online facilities. I would never put up with it in the physical world. I would just learn to simplify.
This has all become mainstream in about the last eight to ten years. Pretty much every conceivable service is available online, and I am certain it must be possible to get on with life without coming into contact with anyone, except maybe for the occasional delivery person dropping off your groceries. It would make a fascinating social study, and probably an even better science fiction story set sometime in the future where human contact is out of vogue. To give you an example of what I mean, in the past three months I have done all of these things from the comfort of my home and (with the exception of number 11) without actually making any human contact.
1. Applied for and received a Credit Card
2. Paid bills including Telephone, Electricity, Gas, Rates and Tolls.
3. Found a new place to live.
4. Rented and Bought DVDs and Xbox Games.
5. Done all my banking
6. Lodged my Tax return.
7. Researched specific time periods in history.
8. Received email from friends locally, interstate and overseas.
9. Found a new job.
10. Studied modules of a Bachelors degree
11. Put profiles onto various dating websites
Number 11 may well be the greatest indication of a shift in our society. These dating websites are huge business, and it’s no wonder. We go out more socially now than ever before. But it isn’t always in a purely social environment where we meet people we become interested in. I used to actually enjoy going into a bank in Main St. because there was a really cute teller working there and I used to go weekly or more often. I think in the last two years I have only been inside a branch twice. So how do we meet the people we no longer bump into because we don’t have to go into the Post Office or Bank or Butcher or whatever, not to mention that a lot of people are not comfortable meeting people in Bars or Pubs or Nightclubs - so where do we meet these people? With the rest of our lives online, it seems only natural that this would be where we head with our more private sides too.
Online living has provided a number of great things to our lives. My favourite two so far are convenience and choice. I can do in an hour what I used to do in three or four and at times when stores are closed. And I am also free to select the item I really want, so I don’t have to settle for something almost right. Sounds good for a shopping website – find the exact product I want, that fits my needs precisely and get it – and guess what? That is also what we are able to do with dating sites.
This has all become mainstream in about the last eight to ten years. Pretty much every conceivable service is available online, and I am certain it must be possible to get on with life without coming into contact with anyone, except maybe for the occasional delivery person dropping off your groceries. It would make a fascinating social study, and probably an even better science fiction story set sometime in the future where human contact is out of vogue. To give you an example of what I mean, in the past three months I have done all of these things from the comfort of my home and (with the exception of number 11) without actually making any human contact.
1. Applied for and received a Credit Card
2. Paid bills including Telephone, Electricity, Gas, Rates and Tolls.
3. Found a new place to live.
4. Rented and Bought DVDs and Xbox Games.
5. Done all my banking
6. Lodged my Tax return.
7. Researched specific time periods in history.
8. Received email from friends locally, interstate and overseas.
9. Found a new job.
10. Studied modules of a Bachelors degree
11. Put profiles onto various dating websites
Number 11 may well be the greatest indication of a shift in our society. These dating websites are huge business, and it’s no wonder. We go out more socially now than ever before. But it isn’t always in a purely social environment where we meet people we become interested in. I used to actually enjoy going into a bank in Main St. because there was a really cute teller working there and I used to go weekly or more often. I think in the last two years I have only been inside a branch twice. So how do we meet the people we no longer bump into because we don’t have to go into the Post Office or Bank or Butcher or whatever, not to mention that a lot of people are not comfortable meeting people in Bars or Pubs or Nightclubs - so where do we meet these people? With the rest of our lives online, it seems only natural that this would be where we head with our more private sides too.
Online living has provided a number of great things to our lives. My favourite two so far are convenience and choice. I can do in an hour what I used to do in three or four and at times when stores are closed. And I am also free to select the item I really want, so I don’t have to settle for something almost right. Sounds good for a shopping website – find the exact product I want, that fits my needs precisely and get it – and guess what? That is also what we are able to do with dating sites.
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
You make a good point too. As a single girl, if I sit down and catalogue the places I go that are potential man-hunting sites.......there's really not many of them. I think that's why the online thing has grown so popular.
Good luck.
KylieW
Comment by singlebloke
Yeah, its not often that you get a blokes point of view on this stuff...it seems that girls are a bit more open to admitting they use a dating site than we are. Im not quite at the stage where my mates and family know about it.
Can anyone say "anonymous" or "gutless". I know its weak, but my mates would give me heaps about it. As far as they know, anyone I meet I met hrough "friends".
Some of the stigma about using dating sites may be gone, but not all of it.