What do you love about the internet?

[Redsoil]

I know some people claim the internet is isolating people and stunting their social skills, but I've actually found the opposite to be true for me.

I love the fact that I can learn about almost anything, at a time that suits me, for as long as I wish to take (or not). 

I love that I can find many differing viewpoints I may not have considered otherwise.

I love that Amazon has umpty-million books I can load in seconds to my Kindle *sigh of pleasure* 

I love being able to see life through other peoples' eyes online.

I love that I get to see far-away countries and learn a little about day-to-day life there.

I love the spectacular artwork and photos one can access.

I love that I can catch up with friends I may not otherwise see, and find those that I've lost over the years.

I love that I can skype on Facebook with my husband when I'm away .

Oh, and I LOVE lolcats!      (...and buying stuff I can't generally get in the rural area I'm in.)

What about others?

[MayHug]

I love that my daughter and family can be several states away and I can still "see" them. I remember ages ago when my sister went off to college in far away state, we'd get to talk once a week for a couple of minutes and write letters.

Now I skype a few times a week with the grandsons and still send cards and packages. Best of both worlds!

[HoneyBee42]

I'm also fond of the internet because I can:

shop and get exactly what I want (small "city" in a rural area--I put city in quotes because it's legally called that, but at 16k pop, it feels more like a town).  I'm not stuck w/ limited choices or an hour drive (each way).

access to books (the nearest brick and mortar book store is an hour drive away, otherwise it's limited to the small selection of books at the groceries or at Walmart--sure there's the library but that's no help for the books I want to keep)

The ease of researching 'big ticket' purchases

I love being able to find out the answer to just about any question.

I love forums and email and that my children can use facetime to keep in touch with distant family.

[scotcat60]

Because it helped me to trace long lost cousins, and to find out information about a great great uncle who was  an actor, and quite famous, and my cousin and I helped the lady who was writing a book about Australian theatre with photos and information about him.

[Bijou]

I love that I can look something up and get an answer in the time it takes me to type it in.  My sister has no computer and can't relate relate to this 'magic'.  Sometimes when we talk on the phone she'll say something like, 'Remember that song from such and such a movie?  What was that?'  I enter it in and bingo, there's the answer.  She is amazed.
(Yes, I know you can't believe everything you read on the internet...''garbage in, garbage out...and I don't buy it all).

[camlan]

One of the things I like about the internet is forums like this one. People can post that they have a problem, even in the Hugs folder, and other people rally around to help and offer support. Posters go out of their way to write out advice, or type out that they've had similar problems and how they handled them, or even go and do research to help someone find a solution. Doesn't matter if the problem is a hangnail or a new baby with a serious disability--people come together to help.

Reinforces my belief in the basic goodness of human nature, it does.

The ease of communication the internet offers is amazing. Last week, my nephew had surgery, and his younger brother and sister spent a week and a half with me. They were able to Face Time with their parents on their iPods, and see their brother the first few days after surgery, when he wasn't allowed to have visitors yet because he was in ICU. It was reassuring for the kids to see their brother was doing okay.

And then there's the fact that the internet is made of cats. 

[demarco]

Speaking as a person who hates, hates, hates, the telephone, I love email.  I love how you can get your message to people instantly but don't have to worry about interrupting them.  I love how you have evidence of what you said so you don't have to worry about forgetting it and the recipient can't deny you said it.  I love how you can email pictures as soon as they have been taken. 

[Reika]

For an extreme introvert like myself, being able to socialize online is a huge blessing. I'm able to do stuff with people (play games online, chat, etc) without having the strain of having people around.

Then there's the ability to meet people on other parts of the planet and find out from them what life is really like there and the surprising number of things we have in common. Without the net, I would never have met some of the coolest people I know, some of whom have been there during my worst possible moments and are still my friends.

Being able to look stuff up. Sure, I take a good bit of it with a grain of salt, but all the information out there is amazing.

[Library Dragon]

POD demarco!

The way it had revolutionized the way I can plan travel.  Work calendars are easily shared. I can video chat with my DH while he's in Europe.

[zyrs]

I can remember a line from an obscure book or song I read/heard once 45 years ago, type it into a search engine and maybe find it.

[nuit93]

As someone who was HORRIBLY introverted in her youth, I found that IM'ing and chat rooms literally taught me how to hold conversations with people and helped me be more comfortable in learning how to handle face-time interaction.

[jedikaiti]

I am WAY closer to far-flung cousins now than I would have been otherwise. If it weren't for FB, I'd know them by name only, and probably have never met them at all (I have a LOT of cousins all over the place).

I love that when I am having trouble sleeping I can turn on a classical radio station in Switzerland or Russia and listen to nice music without being distracted by English-language announcements.

I like all the friends & acquaintances I would never have met otherwise. One of them I even met before there was a World Wide Web - we met on (very) old BBS forums!!!

I love that the only thing standing between me and a good chat with a friend in England is time zones - I once ran up a $200 phone bill on one conversation between London and Glasgow!

I love being able to listen to all kinds of things (movies, music, tv shows) in other languages at a drop of a hat.

I REALLY love being able to satisfy curiosity at any time, on very nearly any subject.

[Venus193]

All of the above plus the ability to connect in person with people who are interested in the same things... through Meetup.com. 

The great thing about that is the discovery that interests are not defined by age, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.  My horror movie group has people older than I am and the classical music group has ones who are younger.

Also... ideas from other people online.  This St. Patrick's Day Eunice and I will be laying out a baked potato bar at the party.

[atirial]

• The variety: music pictures, stories, so many things I would probably never had found without it.
• Talking to people on the other side of the world.
• The ease of finding information and research - evenb if you have to double check everything it is still faster than  encyclopedias.

[staceym]

So many things..


instant access to any information you may need

also as a quiet person/and one who does not like to talk on the phone - email/text/twitter

ability to d/l books or buy books

ability to pay all my bills on line - I only write one check a month

being able to find message boards or forums for people who have the same hobbies or like the same TV shows or music




as a big fan of a singer...

love youtube - able to upload and d/l video of his concerts or appearances

being able to "see" what is going on at a concert via cell certs or photos being uploaded to facebook as concert is going on

and though he hates twitter - we (the fans) love when there are sightings of him being tweeted 

but also his ability to communicate through blog, twitter (he may hate it, but he does it) and FB