While I was researching to write articles on digital derailment and digital minimalism, my son asked me one time, “What are you doing, mom?” to which I said, “I’m watching the video, ‘Could you live without a smart phone?’ He replied, “You mean, you’re watching it on a smart phone, mom?”
Let me be honest, without the internet and without this blog, I won’t even have a voice that’s capable of reaching every corner of the world. We live in a world where there are 30 year olds who didn’t know of a life before the internet. So, its impractical for us to disconnect because we have our work, school and personal obligations that are happening online, all the time. And, how else are we supposed to get over a bad day if not for watching stupid people get hit in their groins on their misadventures.
So we are better off adopting and adapting to technology if we don’t want to go extinct.
- Social Capital: Thanks to technology, small businesses can now put themselves on a bigger map, network with potential clients and increase their reach to more than just word of mouth or traditional print advertising.
- Instant Communication: I cannot imagine not having the chance to call up my Grandmother who’s 10000 miles away and for her to see my house if she wants to on video calls. Now, you don’t have to miss seeing your children’s faces when you travel for work. Thanks to Whatsapp, I can connect to my school and college friends in over 100 countries.
- Change Agent: Social media carries with it a tremendous potential to act as a group and change agent, because people inherently believe in the general good of humanity. Spreading messages quickly and in a timely fashion for large impact is possible due to the lightning speed at which internet can create social movements.
- Digital Ecosystem: In 20 years we have managed to remove physical clutter from our world and put it somewhere in the cloud. No printers, no problem, use social media to distribute your “flyers”. No hard drives? No problem, there’s Dropbox.com. Can’t wait for traditional publishers to love your manuscript, no problem. Sign up for free on Medium.com and build your legacy online.
- Showcase Art: Make art and showcase it on a massive scale from the convenience of your living room. Artists have more visibility in our generation than any other generation before. Use Spotify as a mobile store front on the web, so customers can pay you for your product. Use Squarespace for a hosting platform of your portfolio.
- Go Fund Me: Doing good things has a viral effect. It brings out more goodness out of others. Lets just soak in it, and not worry about the hidden agenda of people who’re doing good. intelligent and helpful technology. Believe good things can happen with the connected world we live in.
- Modern Conveniences: We can now use Apple pay for paying for our lunch trays in 2 seconds. No setting up the tray aside, no taking out the credit card. Nothing. Literally pay on the go. We can now find out about travel advisories, school closings, weather updates with a click of a button. We can submit taxes online and write an email to a loved one in less than a few minutes. We can organize our lives around our family calendars on our phones.
Here’s how someone found a carpool ride from place A to B on Facebook.
Random fb request: anyone driving to Agra from Delhi this Saturday (18th)?
Response: Try blablacar.com or app!
Share your journey with BlaBlaCar – Trusted carpooling
BlaBlaCar is the world’s leading long distance carpooling service, connecting drivers with empty seats to people traveling the same way
BLABLACAR.COM.
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Theory of Evolution
The internet is a F*ing miracle. Its a F*ing miracle. The things that you could be doing with it, the fact that you can be laying F*ing naked in your bed at 2am in the morning and doing productive sh*t is F*ing crazy. Its crazy.
~ Gary Vaynerchuk