We have lived through the development and distribution of the most advanced telecommunication devices the world has ever known. We have moved from arranging to meet people at places a day or two before the event, to now organizing to see someone and do something minutes beforehand. We can send letters electronically across the world in under a second, we can hear the voices and see the faces of people (in real time) from countries we have never been to – all from inside our living room. Our lives have become geographically reduced to the desk that we sit at; but our 'presence' has become national and international.
The internet has changed the way that the world operates; the information we are privy to; the impression we have of the way life is and the characteristics of the human population. Growing up as the internet was invented has definitely been an exciting and varied experience.
I might sit my theoretical kids down and tell them that my understanding is that the internet, among many other things, has served as a mirror to society. I might recall to them that at the outset of email, search engines and websites it seemed that we dealt with fairly neutral topics. I remember that email chain letters went around that talked about innocent and interesting statistics. There was a professionalism to the information that was shared on the internet. I suppose that there was limited space and none of us was sure what this 'information highway' was exactly. Essentially the outset of the world wide web was as international forum for 'small talk'; pages dedicated to facts and figures about our favourite car or country or ecosystem. As the world figuratively shook hands through this medium, we began to speak across countries about the pleasantries of life on planet earth; like an international conversations about the weather.
It took a few years for the world to warm up; this level of freedom in global 'friendship' was unprecedented – instead of the controlled stream of tourism that received the same, approved, intentional, face of the country's society; we were now speaking plainly and openly and face to face.
As in any friendship or relationship there are a series of 'safe' topics of conversation. We reserve our opinions about things until we are sure we are amongst friends, like-thinkers. We need to be standing on enough secure 'common ground' before we can speak our mind. The more someone feels comfortable to share their real and honest opinions, the more you actually know that person; not a version of them they have allowed you to see.
I'll tell my kids that as the world continued talking online we slowly began to give more and more of ourselves away. Websites became more opinion-based than strictly 'facts only'; we made way for self-expression and a variety of human interests. The development that we saw on the internet was essentially a revelation of what the world was like. We were becoming used to each other and comfortable with expressing our ideas and showing our true colours, and so we carried on.
The technology was also advancing; making way for larger sites, a greater volume of sites, media-heavy sites, streaming video, high resolution images – our limits were quickly disappearing both socially and technically.
What all this meant, was that over the course of a few years; we had a body of information that to some degree reflected the world we lived in. The Internet functioned as a mirror; showing us in data what we were concerned by and interested in. Into this melting pot of information we had all contributed our real preferences; our real selves.
Somehow what ensued was both very great and very terrible. There was a portfolio of the greatness of humanity; the talent and kindness and creative generosity that the human race exhibits. But there was also the darkness and depravity; the collective Jekyll and Hyde of our world. What we had discovered as we ventured farther into the true identity of the planet was warped selfishness; an obsession with immediate gratification; addictive and destructive pursuits. The mirror was held up to our faces and what we saw staring back was hideous. The Internet soon became a testament to the genius and pollution that both run through our veins.
And if I was given the chance to recount this short history and warning to my children; I would want to make sure that they didn't feel superior. I would tell them that if a personal mirror was held up to their faces and hearts that they would soon see this duality in themselves. This beauty and creativity and promise; but also this self-inflicted destructive tendency; this inability to be the person they know they should be; this enemy within.
I would tell them that growing up with the development of the internet was a time where we were reminded of who we are as people; a mini Morality Play or echo or mirror that showed us something of who we are and warned us of what we might become. And perhaps conclude with Robert Louis Stevenson by saying: "With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two." And that this man, in his two parts, is not in need of a new technology, but in need of a Saviour.
Sam Manchester is a University of Sydney graduate interested in Sociology and Ethnography. He spent a couple of years living and studying in London, but now is home on the North Shore enjoying Sydney's arts and social scene and working in a 'three cup' cafe.
Sam's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/sam-manchester.html