The Internet, I feel, is a constantly expanding thing. It seems that we can never truly understand it in it's completion, and that is an acceptable thing I believe. I thought today, while running a google search, of what the Internet would look like if we could see it in it's entirety. How would our minds allow us to picture it? This notion of a constantly expanding thing entails that, no matter how we try to come to grips with this massive experience, we can never truly capture it all together.
This is a bit of a digression; I'm sure no one would disagree with with the statement that the Internet is constantly expanding. However, I feel there is a controversial claim to be made here. If the Internet is constantly expanding, do we have the duty, as a digital citizen, to continue to try to grasp at this mostly ethereal object? If so, how do we do that? And further, what is the point?
I was struck today by the thought that there are huge number of things that I will never seen on the Internet. Some of which I would want to see, and some of which I wouldn't. Needless to say, that material still exists in this ever expanding universe that makes up the world wide web. I began to wonder what one average person's browsing would look like against the giant picture that is the Internet. If my visits to different URL's were lights in a very large very dark room that alighted every time I hit my return key or clicked my mouse, how much light would I create?
This discussion serves to frame up my position currently. As I have said, I have taken a look at my Internet usage overall, and I began to wonder to what degree am I using the Internet? As a digital citizen, am I fully in grips with the Internet as a whole? Am I providing a fair amount of information to my fellows in order to keep the web alive? I have drawn the conclusion that I am not. It seems to me that the way that a digital citizen goes about sticking his hands out at the Internet is through the creation of new material. By liking on Facebook, or commenting on Youtube, we are attempting to master the Internet even just to a microscopic degree.
As a person, I wish to be more fully in grips with the vast technology my time affords me; I believe that this is mandated by existing in my generation. In an effort to become a more fully realized digital citizen, I have started this blog. I do not claim to be any kind of prolific; in truth, I feel as though I am stumbling about in the aforementioned large dark room, feeling the walls for some kind of foundation. Regardless, here I am, doing my best to stumble. It is my hope, this recording of some of my thoughts will prove fruitful and complete. It is simply an effort to burn my lights a little brighter, and clarifying my own thinking at the same time. I look forward to this journey into the darkness.
Light Burning Faintly.
The Start of a New Journey
Pen In Foreign Worlds
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