I seem to recall a time when I was five years old, and had my first memorable experience with the computer in my house. There was this learning software on a floppy disk (already sounds ancient) involving a happy-go-lucky rabbit, and from what my parents tell me, I loved it. This pre-dated online anything, and that was the only entertainment I had (that didn’t belong to my older sister) or was able to use.
Looking back on that experience, it’s hard to even fathom that I can play newly-released video games on a website (Steam), watch [bootlegged and legal] movies in 720 and 1080p, and find news about anything I wish to search for, all at my disposal. This rapid takeover is why I believe businesses like book/publishing companies are becoming obsolete; anything you need can be found by doing a simple search on Google. Listening to mundane and monotone news reporters talk about something that you could easily find ont the MSN homepage is no longer necessary. E-books can be purchased on Amazon or iTunes, making a trip to Borders unnecessary and time -consuming. Where the TV and Books are one-dimensional, the Internet is multi-faceted (which might just be the understatement of the century). Getting news in a matter of seconds beats reading the entire paper over a period of an hour which, is this generation of “NOW”, is greatly appealing.
Its greatest strength, however, is its greatest weakness. The convenience of shopping, talking, watching TV/movies, even ordering food in the comfort of your own home creates no need for human interaction.
That aside, the Internet is perhaps the greatest invention to have existed thusfar, changing the way information is distributed and accessed, and how people interact locally, nationally, and globally. It will define not only our generation, but generations to come.