Before being enrolled into this course, I had thought Internet was well, just Internet. Although I have been and will always be grateful for this marvelous invention, all these while I have never really paused to think about exactly how much it has influenced society and changed the world from the very birth of the Internet. The many COM 125 lessons allowed me to dig deeper into the origins of the Internet, the benefits and drawbacks that come along with it given the circumstances in our society today, as well as the Internet’s innumerable infiltrations into the different aspects of our lives. The module has thus given me much insight into the pervasiveness of the Internet and successfully taught me to relate its importance to our society as I look at the Internet with broadened perspectives now. I would say, the Internet possesses a power never before imagined (before the time of Tim Bernes Lee and the creation of the World Wide Web essentially), so much so that it has revolutionized the way we learn, function, live, and interact with one another today.
My greatest takeaways from COM 125 are perhaps how relevant the Internet is to communication as a whole (obviously), but more specifically, how it gave rise to the whole concept of social media, then social networking, and henceforth. The existence of social media and social networking would not be possible without the Internet, simply put. We have integrated new media into almost every part of our lives that this means of communication now lives in us. The convergence of the Internet with media (and thus social media, social networking, and the shift from traditional media to new media), E-Commerce, E-Learning, journalism, politics and so on are just examples of how indispensable and irreplaceable the Internet has become in our lives. I can safely say the Internet has become a way of life, at least for me (but I am sure for the millions of people out there as well). And to add on, this is also known as Web 2.0, which centers on the interaction of people worldwide. The key feature of it indubitably revolves around social media or more precisely, social networking i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.
To wrap it up, Internet is not merely another source of entertainment; it is not even a “great” source of entertainment. The benefits of it and what the Internet can do go far beyond the purpose of providing leisure and amusement in times of boredom. It is a remarkable for innumerable reasons; the Internet has not only increased efficiency in the way people obtain information and establish connections around the world, it has changed the way we live altogether. Countless jobs have become obsolete due to the birth of and hence expediency of the Internet, and thousands more are created for the same reason. Hardcover books and music CDs are declining in sales, online shopping has become the norm, social networking has replaced the need for face-to-face meetings on many occasions, similarly businesses communicate via social platforms and online technologies (as they no longer have to travel overseas that often for business transactions), and schools are becoming technologically dependent. All of which are merely the few changes that society is experiencing, and there are more to be expected. In a nutshell, the Internet is really an efficient means of facilitating learning and it provides many new and more convenient platforms for communication especially in this day and age.
I guess what I really appreciated most from this module, on top of the countless new concepts I have gained from the lessons about the Internet and the role it plays say in, education, media, journalism and many others, is the project work done on Internet Censorship with my group mates. Admittedly, it was time-consuming and tedious at first, having to plan the direction our group wants to take and how we go about making it intriguing. However, we gradually overcame this hurdle after the initial stages of planning everything finally starts to fall in place. It started becoming more enjoyable when we got together to discuss censorship issues around the world, and I realized how I started becoming genuinely interested in whatever I was researching on. Maybe it was the company, or maybe it was the content, or perhaps both, but the whole process (despite being challenging –really challenging-) gave me much satisfaction and from the new knowledge obtained, I find myself being able to understand real life situations on a more comprehensive level. :-)
