I welcome you to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learner's featured post. The internet and access to it is one of the best things that happened to humanity; it provided us with everything we used to step out of the house for, and it made it accessible from home without needing to step out of our houses. The internet brought to the comfort of our homes those things we had to step out of the house for, those things that we could only access when we stepped outside; the internet made it easy to access them from home.
Those days you see men standing and arguing by the newspaper stand every morning, but since the internet came into existence, it is difficult to see that happening in my area again, as everyone now reads the news from their phones and don't see the need for newspapers anymore.
I think one of the things that helped the adoption of the internet is the Corona virus pandemic when we were all advised to practice social distancing and avoid crowded places, at that point both churches, school and classes were forced to adopt online services and online classes, that way social distancing was being practiced even our parents who always preach about screen time and warn about how much time we spend on our phones were now forced to spend time on their phones too as that was the only way to stay updated and be part of any church service then, and even after the pandemic was over things never went back to the way they used to be instead the adoption of the internet increased to a higher level.
The pandemic made remote jobs and freelancing jobs the order of the day, and I think we humans saw the convenience that came with it, and even after the pandemic was over, we could not go back to our usual way of life and the type of jobs we were into before the pandemic. These days many people prefer jobs they can do from the comfort of their homes; even onsite job offers allow online interviews these days, so the internet has completely taken over most physical and offline activities. In those days you would journey to the end of the world for the interview of a job you were not even sure of, but now the internet has saved us that stress.
The other Sunday I also saw on a friend's status where he said, "If I go to church, who will stream online?" It might be funny, but it is true; someone has to stream online, and that way you don't really have to be physically present anymore, and you will follow up a class or a church service without needing to step out of your house. Even in a family house there is little or no time for physical bonding, as everyone is glued to their phones and scrolling through TikTok and other social media platforms. There are people living in the same house as you, but you only see them in the morning after morning devotion or at night when they come out of their rooms to look for food.
As much as the internet is good and has made life a lot easier, the truth is that it is also making us distant from each other. We don't visit friends anymore; instead, we call them or video call or just chat them up. No physical contact is made with friends and family for months, and we are comfortable with it because we chat with them, but we fail to understand that there are conversations a friend or a family member wants to have with you, but they don't want to do it online. When they see you in person, they are more comfortable and can open up. In the long run, the internet and doing everything online will only make us even more distant from each other, and that way bonds get weaker, and we start losing bonds we are supposed to keep.
