Has your life gotten simpler or more complex since you started using the Internet?

As a fan of organization, the Internet, and by extension, smart phones, have made my life simpler.

Getting directions, buying tickets, checking weather, sharing calendar dates or address book entries — all are much simpler jobs thanks to the Internet.

Both. The internet makes it simpler by having a tremendous resource of information in my pocket; the internet makes my life more complicated by having a tremendous resource of information in my pocket.
As a curious person and natural procrastinator, I am very easily sucked into the vortex of one bit of info leading me to seek more info and on and on…

It is not an either/or thing. In some ways, it has gotten MUCH easier to have the internet. Finances and communication for two examples.

But in the other ways, more complex and more dependent.

So, a little of both.

Simpler for the times when I’m watching a film an think to myself “what other films has he been in? I’m sure he was in that film I watched the other night!” then i just whip my phone out and check instantly.
More difficult for the times where its like “I’m having a party, the easiest way to invite everyone will be through facebook, god i hate using facebook, what a pain in the ass. Oooh look, someone’s posted a video… Eeewwww it’s a girl being fucked by a dog!”

For me it saves a lot of time, especially shopping.

Simpler. I used to have to go to the library to do the research necessary for my work., Now I can do it from home.

This is an interesting question – because I was just talking about this with my husband.
For me the real impact to my time/life wasn’t so much the internet but my smart phone.

I had an early vax account back in 1990 (the pre-cursor to the internet was a network of university computers – I sent messages via the main frames to my friend at Central Michigan Univ. when I was located at a university in Ohio) – so I’ve been “emailing” and writing code for more than half my life at this point.

I was on message boards with a Commodore 64 back in elementary school in the 80s, and I’ve worked in software development with a virtual/remote team since the mid-nineties..so the internet is something I’ve used nearly my entire adult life. That said, the internet to me has been like a car. It’s a tool to get someplace – and just like it would be inconvenient to have to walk long distances or go back to horses & carts…it would certainly slow me down to have to go back to looking things up in a card catalog in a library, hand-writing letters or using my land-line to place a phone call—but I could do it.

As an introvert, I have to say Amazon Prime (and the endless aisle that Amazon provides) has certainly made shopping easier and more enjoyable for me than ever before – and its a time saver, to be sure.

However, the biggest changes I noticed in my daily life coincide with my first iPhone – back in about 2008. Suddenly I quilted less, exercised less, and at least initially..I found I read fewer books.
I was spending all this time playing little games or looking at Facebook or checking incessantly for emails. Such a time waster! I never thought this small hand-held object would have such a profound effect on my time management!
It has taken me from 2008 until just recently (say, the past 6 months?) to finally start reclaiming my life and setting.the.dang.phone.down.

Here’s something telling.. the last full quilt I completed was in 2007.
I’ve gotten back to reading a lot more (thanks to the Kindle…but then I have to also work at not playing games on that device, too) ..and I’ve gone back to exercising and quilting now, too.

Initially I think the iPhone seemed like a great time saver (it’s a map, a way to check email and webpages and entertain yourself all in one!) but I’ve learned to put it down and walk away from it. It’s necessary to untether myself and engage in real life a lot more… I don’t know if other people struggle with this like I do (again, major nerd & introvert here..so electronic gadgets are like my drug of choice)...but at least for me I’ve had the greatest impacts to my life and well-being from hand held smart phones/tablets, not just the internet.

I can prove I’m right a lot faster than I used to.

@dutchess – wrong!!!

Either way I’m right!

In many wasy, it’s made it more complicated.

It might easier to find out “stuff” quickly but then you have to go through so much chaff to find the wheat.

It saves me time, it wastes my time.

Overall, I would say my life with the internet is neither easier nor more difficult. It is just different.

Well, I now know stuff about porcupines that I didn’t know I needed to know!

Definately simpler in that information is at hand easily.
But not so good since it enables one to stay sitting at the computer for long periods of time.
I now shedule time for exercise and getting out and socializing for balace in my lifestyle.

Yeah. I gotta get out and work on my yard.

Definitely more simple in many ways.

O yes it improved my live and made my work load so much easier at work.
VIVA INTERNET!

Well, I went out and worked in the yard. Now I don’t feel quite so guilty about sitting here on my butt being useless on the internets!

One the one hand, I am so much more able to manage finances with out any running around. It enabled me to access information no matter where it was stored and I could work with other researches all over North American and in some case around the world.

On the other hand, as a bright but very distractable academic, there are too many ways to get busy doing all kinds of nothing when I should be doing a lot of one thing very well.

Simpler, but that doesn’t make me happier. Simple also means lazy. I’ve gained 25 lbs since I’ve had 24/7 internet access in my home.

Definitely yes, on my opinion because many people got more information from the internet, its save me a lot of time especially with it comes to shopping and paying my bills. Simpler because I work online, its very convenient, you don’t have to commute everyday going to work with a heavy traffic. At the same time I can take care of my daughter. A full time mother and a full time worker.

I want to work online….