How often is it that when someone asks you what are your interests, the first few thoughts that cross most minds are reading, surfing the net, music, sports etc. Reading being the highly common answer as mostly it varies from those who pick up the morning newspaper to pass a glance at the days headlines, who follow a blog on the net, to the few who have to read something different before they can let their eyelids close and follow the thoughts of their mind. With the recent advent of the internet era (do not take it to be a complaint) we have seen the rise and even more stronghold the 'www' world has taken in many lives. Interests prior to its start have been pushed back, diminished or else everyone does eventually become smart, and they find a way to incorporate their past with the future. Many weave their hobbies and interests into the internet so as to attain the better of both worlds, or so they think so! Readers start to read .pdf or .doc files instead, sports freak start to play Soccer and Cricket over the internet with their avatars, music buffs start to search for the latest free download sites and so on. That leaves me with the question is there any sphere where the internet has not extended its tentacles?
Even if I start to think of my personal interests and leave aside all those who I know and especially those who I know for whom interests have almost sunken completely into the world wide web, I too am sure that I can’t say with conviction that I haven’t also in some way fitted the internet into my previously internet detached interests. I never ever had read E books in spite of the fact that I do enjoy reading a lot, but then this time around with Harry Potter being released at the beginning of the week, it left me with no option but to start reading the .pdf file before I could get my hands on the hard copy. So there, now I have used the internet and very easily mixed it up with my interest, now what waits to be seen is whether it was just a one time happening or will it be just a start to many other happenings… But I do know one of my interests which for sure can not be available on the internet. In fact I know of it being available in forms but those would never give you the true experience!
http://www.neopets.com/
http://www.marapets.com/
http://www.virtualpetsworld.com/
These sites have virtual pets wherein you adopt a baby virtual pet, feed it, play with it, put it to bed and so on. But, this certainly is not the way it feels to have a real pet in your house. One might say that these are for those who cannot keep a real pet, but I do not agree that its impossible to keep a pet of any kind... if you do not want an animal scurrying around the room, why not a fish or maybe even a bird in a cage. Or is it because you believe that a pet is not meant to be kept away from its habitat and should be left freely in nature? If that’s the case, then why all the virtual dogs and virtual kennels, just because they are virtual? So then in that case they don’t exist, which again beats the purpose of bringing in a new member to the family. I believe that there are some domains as I have shown above, where the web cannot replace reality though it certainly does try to do so…
Even if I start to think of my personal interests and leave aside all those who I know and especially those who I know for whom interests have almost sunken completely into the world wide web, I too am sure that I can’t say with conviction that I haven’t also in some way fitted the internet into my previously internet detached interests. I never ever had read E books in spite of the fact that I do enjoy reading a lot, but then this time around with Harry Potter being released at the beginning of the week, it left me with no option but to start reading the .pdf file before I could get my hands on the hard copy. So there, now I have used the internet and very easily mixed it up with my interest, now what waits to be seen is whether it was just a one time happening or will it be just a start to many other happenings… But I do know one of my interests which for sure can not be available on the internet. In fact I know of it being available in forms but those would never give you the true experience!
http://www.neopets.com/
http://www.marapets.com/
http://www.virtualpetsworld.com/
These sites have virtual pets wherein you adopt a baby virtual pet, feed it, play with it, put it to bed and so on. But, this certainly is not the way it feels to have a real pet in your house. One might say that these are for those who cannot keep a real pet, but I do not agree that its impossible to keep a pet of any kind... if you do not want an animal scurrying around the room, why not a fish or maybe even a bird in a cage. Or is it because you believe that a pet is not meant to be kept away from its habitat and should be left freely in nature? If that’s the case, then why all the virtual dogs and virtual kennels, just because they are virtual? So then in that case they don’t exist, which again beats the purpose of bringing in a new member to the family. I believe that there are some domains as I have shown above, where the web cannot replace reality though it certainly does try to do so…
