The Internet And How Americans Communicate

How has communication through the internet changed other ways in which we communicate? The internet is one of the most important inventions of its time. Most Americans use the Internet on a daily basis and it has dramatically changed not only the way that we communicate, but also the way we spend our free time. Shirky believes that we are shifting what we do in our free time from watching T.V. to computing on the internet. (Shirky) “As of June 30, 2008, 1.463 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats” (Internet). The internet has been around for a while, but within the last decade it has really grown into something huge. Now we use the internet for obtaining the news, getting answers to our questions, and communicating with our friends and family. This has been made very easy with things such as Google search, email, Instant Messaging, blogs and MySpace or Facebook. Computers and the Internet have to some extent become a necessity for the majority of people.  

American life has pretty much turned into a fast paced whirl wind. Not only do we expect, but we also demand to have things done in a fast pace. We have been trained and expect to get what we want when we want it. The Internet plays into this by providing endless information to use at the simple touch of a button. As Nicholas Carr stated “A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after” (Carr). We no longer have to wait for the newspaper or to watch the morning or evening news. Why would we do that when we have the World Wide Web at our fingertips? I know when I’m looking for the answer to a question, I go to my handy dandy little computer and I do a search for what I‘m looking for. Yes there are still people who read the newspaper and watch the news. The point that I’m trying to make though, is that if you want to know something that instant, you can go straight to the internet and look it up.

“The Internet has...