How has the Internet impacted your life??

[minisaremighty]

[SIZE=12pt]I was talking with my husband yesterday about our moms and a friend that is their age. None of them have a computer or internet access.[/SIZE]

We got to talking about all the things that would not have been possible for us without the World Wide Web. Here are just a few (I'm certain I'll leave a few things out because the list is so long!):

-Allows us to research medical conditions for humans and critters alike, sometimes resulting in being able to treat ourselves or determining we HAVE to go to the Dr.

-We have saved THOUSANDS of $$$ over the years because of the research we've been able to do. Comparison shopping, booking vacations direct, etc.

-We've made THOUSANDS of $$$ by selling a collector car over the internet and a lot of misc. stuff on ebay

-Allowed me to research and research all the different dog breeds I've been interested in and connect me to forums and breeders

-Allowed me to make friends on various forums where we all have a connection (main interest of the forum). Learned tons about various things from these forums and other people's experiences.

-Allows me to keep in touch via email and picture with out-of-area friends and family, since I don't write letters nor make phone calls.

-Was able to furnish an entire room with a Polynesian theme via the internet (would NEVER have been able to have the room furnished the way it is without the internet!)

-I got my real estate license via an online course

-Find out news as it's happening since I don't have tv news access

-I'm big on research and it allows me to research things to death

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I'm sure there are many things I've over looked. I just can't imagine my life without the internet. I just wonder what it would be like not to have ever experienced it by choice.

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How about you? How has it impacted your life?

 

[Jill]

SOOOO many ways!

It makes my work life easier. Now I make equity trades using an online system, vs. calling them in, have clients sign new account papers on an e-pad and submit that documentation over the internet, sometimes email with clients (prefer the phone for that kind of thing), download presentations from vendors vs. waiting for them via mail or overnight, do online training and continuing education for my licensing, etc.

As for personally, the internet makes it so easy to keep in touch with friends, this very message board is my favorite place to chit-chat since I have no peers at work (just assistants, my dad and clients!), it's brought new horses to me that I'd have otherwise never known about, and even got me a dog (Kelsey, our collie). It makes shopping so easy and I hate to shop unless it can be online.

Also, as you point out, the internet makes it so easy to LEARN about anything that catches your interest or concern.

Don't know what I'd do without it really AND we are moving on to the next level as high speed internet is finally available in my area and will be installed next Saturday! Yay!!!

 

[Pepipony]

Going to sound corny but I think it saved my life. I belong to the medical mystery of the month club and it was the internet that allowed me to research my symptoms and figure out what it was and then find the way to prove it. Funny, but I thought that is what Drs went to College for years on end to do

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[minisaremighty]

Don't know what I'd do without it really AND we are moving on to the next level as high speed internet is finally available in my area and will be installed next Saturday! Yay!!!

:aktion033: Congrats!!! We went to high speed wireless just before Christmas and it was life altering! LOL!!! After being on dial up forever, I had no idea what I was missing out on! Hubby had high speed at work, so it drove him nuts and he just stopped using the computer at home. Now he had to get his own laptop because we ALL want to be on with this wonderful high speed thing!!!

Going to sound corny but I think it saved my life. I belong to the medical mystery of the month club and it was the internet that allowed me to research my symptoms and figure out what it was and then find the way to prove it. Funny, but I thought that is what Drs went to College for years on end to do

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:aktion033: That's great! I wouldn't doubt it one bit. I don't put 100% faith in Drs. after having two mis-diagnose my father for two years and he ended up dying from a cancer that should have had a very good survival rate. Unfortunately, it had spread to his bones by the time they figured it out. I think the internet is good for self-diagnosis in some cases. I diagnosed my own pain (gall bladder issues) after seeing my doctor about pain in my side that they couldn't figure out. I went back again and he sent me to a specialist this time after I brought my "research" and lo and behold, I had some serious gall stones that just weren't detected the first time around. So, in two weeks I had surgery and was all better. If the internet had been around when my father got ill, I suspect I would have figured out what was wrong with him, or at least been able to point things in the right direction. :no:

 

[Pepipony]

Minisaremighty Sorry about your dad, that is just unacceptable in our day and age isnt it?

My father was dxed with 'alzheimers' back in the mid-80s, he was barely 60. Over the next few years every Dr he saw commented on how his 'Alzheimers' was unlike any they had ever seen. But since that was his diagnosis, no one ever looked further. He passed in '89. One decade later came my Lyme dx and the similaritiies of our symptoms and progression is shocking. We truly feel that he had Lyme. Just some antibiotics and he would probably have been saved.

Regret, just doesnt ever leave.

 

[minisaremighty]

Minisaremighty Sorry about your dad, that is just unacceptable in our day and age isnt it?

My father was dxed with 'alzheimers' back in the mid-80s, he was barely 60. Over the next few years every Dr he saw commented on how his 'Alzheimers' was unlike any they had ever seen. But since that was his diagnosis, no one ever looked further. He passed in '89. One decade later came my Lyme dx and the similaritiies of our symptoms and progression is shocking. We truly feel that he had Lyme. Just some antibiotics and he would probably have been saved.

Regret, just doesnt ever leave.

Oh wow. That must be really hard to live with. :no: My dad passed in 1990 at the age of 49. I thought about him a lot this last week as his 66th birthday would have been last Monday.

I'm just glad the internet is here now. I'm so sure it's saved more lives than we'll ever know about.

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[Happy Valley]

I met my husband on the internet! We lived near one another but never would have met without it, as our social circles used to be entirely different. He is a musician and I'm a Physics teacher. Pretty big, but ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE impact.

He's even liking the horses!

Stacye

 

[RedWagon]

I met my husband on the internet! We lived near one another but never would have met without it, as our social circles used to be entirely different. He is a musician and I'm a Physics teacher. Pretty big, but ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE impact.

He's even liking the horses!

Stacye

I met my husband on the internet, too! I am soooo glad that someone else has. Everyone around here acts like it's abnormal, but we just celebrated 6 years of marriage on Wednesday! The internet has DEFINITELY had a positive impact on my life!

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[ChrystalPaths]

I was never going to have a computer. Not risking letting my life out there on that internet, nope not me. :no: Well then I broke down and got one. Helped the kids with home schooling first. Then I kinda learned about email, then how to search. :lol: Then someone got me here and then a monster was born and I became pretty good.

: Then I met "people". I made friends. I loved it.

: I'm an old hermit lady in a pretty hollow. My cyber friends are my family..heck..more so as I can share with them stuff I can't or won't share with them.

: I created a place, a website for horses and my "stuff". I have a world now, a life outside the tiny hollow that defines me. Yes, it changed my life.

: I do what I do here and help thru this genre. Good question Kathy! :aktion033:

 

[Steph_D]

I am also a hermit and I don't have many friends in my small town. But I have some awesome friends online :aktion033: I've done medical research online, for people and animals. I got help from people here with my Faith and the rest of my horses. When my husband was sick with chemo and couldn't work, some wonderful people here donated items and raised money for us, for which I am eternally grateful.

 

[lilhorseladie]

I think that the internet helped me come out of my shell. Also with these horses there aren't any farms close to me to net work with, I get to net work with many.

I have also seen the negative impact with broken marriages and addiction. I stay away from chat rooms and most messaging except with people I know.

 

[backwoodsnanny]

Not only the internet but computers in general supported me for many years as it is what I earned my living with before becoming a retired nana who shovels poop. But seriously I doubt we would have what we do without computers and the internet. I have made some wonderful friends through this forum and recently took on a babysitting position I never would have even known about without the net. No not children, 7 Southdown babydoll sheep. Well there were 7 until last night now there are nine. I have made a wonderful friend whom I am sure I would never have met she is a pediatriician who was moving to Canada and couldnt take her babies with her at least not until the border opens for sheep so I have them and in the end will have a start for my own flock when all is said and done.

I have learned so much from this forum and other forums about things I might never have even looked into without the net. I do much of my Christmas shopping via the net and I play scrabble on a daily basis with people from all over the world. Of course before the net I did alot more housework but oh well the housework is still there when I get off the computer. It has greatly enriched my life.

 

[maplegum]

I also met my husband on the internet! That was just over 6 years ago.

We had a long distance relationship for 3 years then he finally made the move out to Australia from Canada to marry me! So, yes, the internet HAS changed my life. :aktion033:

This forum has also been an amazing learning tool for me. I've recently made a special friend through this forum too which is very exciting.

 

[minisaremighty]

Thanks for sharing! I just can't imagine life without the internet! It's definitely been a positive influence in my life. Sounds like it has been in many of yours too!!

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