What do you thank access to the internet for?

I use Google to look up probably a dozen facts a day. When we watch TV or talk about history and such, my wife and I will find ourselves wondering about this, that and the other. Before Internet access, I would probably not have tried to find most such answers in an encyclopedia, because even with an index, it was tedious and often fruitless to search. There was no keyword matching capability. If the Internet had been around when I was a kid, I would have been much brighter by the time I completed my education.

The democratization and spread of information in a way never seen before.

Information is power.

Edit: And the democratization of creativity.

@ETpro- if there were internet when I was a kid then I would have had a “pen pal” in every country, would probably speak several languages by now as well as have a book or two written.

@tranquilsea- Information is power. With a celly then you can show people Elvis really isn’t dead.

@Neizvestnaya Exactly.

To me the internet is like having my own private library, open 24 hours a day, and that is heaven for me.

Thanks to the internet, I can finish my degree and pursue another one at my college even as my husband and I move all over the country (thanks to online courses). I can also keep in touch with friends and family as we move around. Best of all, I can talk to my husband almost every day while he is in Iraq.

Al Gore?

All the old Ethel Merman clips on you tube! She is a Star!! ;))

My most favorite person.

I thank access to the internet for more knowledge than I could possibly of otherwise gained.

@ETpro I do the same thing! It’s great to be able to look up more information about things we’ve seen on TV or read in a book. My kids ask all kinds of questions that I can’t answer, but a few minutes online usually gives us what we’re looking for. We’ve been able to learn how to raise monarch caterpillars, what kind of bird nest we’ve found, how to raise tadpoles, what kind of bugs my son brings home, and a thousand other random tidbits. I learned how to get rid of warts using banana skins, how to can fruits, and how to bleed the line to the oil burner to get it started after that one time we let the oil tank run out.

I also love to research a place online before we visit. Let’s say I want to take my kids to a zoo we’ve never been to before. I can quickly look up admission costs, directions, any special events the zoo might be hosting, whether or not there are picnic facilities and, if not, directions from the zoo to the closest kid-friendly restaurant.

I love that I can go online to quickly order things like praying mantis eggs, that I can swap books, games, and DVDs with other people for nothing more than the cost of shipping. I can keep in touch with family and friends, and get addicted to things like Fluther. :)

Honestly, sometimes I wonder how my parents functioned back in the good old days without all of the convenience of the internet. They must have been forced to use the phone or read maps! The horror!

The net lets me contact others with Aspergers Syndrome. Virtually impossible otherwise, we tend not to “flock”. Without the face-to-face element. I can almost have a social life.

@MissAusten Absolutely. The information store available on the Internet is so close to infinite that the major limits on learning when using it are knowledge of search methods, our own creativity and initiative to look.