Two decades of the Internet: how life changed

Almost two decades have passed since I owned my first email address. That coincided with when I prepared for my studies in the U.S. I recall that most universities were accepting applications still in paper and only Stanford started online application.

Once I landed in the U.S., the Internet was essential in campus life. PowerPoint was still somewhat new. I wrote a thesis on how the Internet has changed the reporting of medical news, comparing online and offline versions of the media. In summer job I was involved in a project to create a Japanese edition of CNN.com.

Now I stay in touch with professors, friends and colleagues who live on the other side of the planet on a daily basis via Facebook. I can see what they think and do very well, whereas I have almost no idea about my neighbor next door.

Just about any information is available. I can do almost any shopping online including grocery shopping. The supermarket delivers vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, cereal, juice, etc. to my doorstep. I take an English lesson every day from teachers who live in Asia, Europe and USA. I can see YouTube and don’t have to keep VHS videos.

Overall life has been a lot easier. There might be some negative sides; for example, I tend to compare my life with others’ perpetually and feel the grass next door appears greener. That said, I’m overall quite content with the status quo and the Internet has greatly contributed to that.