The Internet -- Our New God

The Internet is slowly but surely becoming the new God of today’s era. I must be quick to stress for the sake of world peace that God is ultimately the most powerful and undoubtedly most caring. The Internet has in the past decade fulfilled the needs of mankind -arguably this could qualify it as the new God.

For starters, one should just try and write the word ‘internet’ with a small ‘i’ in MS Word, this would be underlined as an error by the editor. Meaning the Internet has gained enough prominence and respect, therefore a small ‘i’ is not enough to qualify it. Just like the 'god' and 'God' mistake.

Light unto our path

The main virtue that amazes me the most is the amount of resources available on the Internet. This has made it a light unto our path, showing the ignorant where to step in their darkest hour. I was simply amazed when I got search results for “How to commit suicide” on YouTube.What even makes it more surprising was the fact that there were more than one successful result. I could count over a dozen. I read an article on the Internet which even mentioned how a man performed his midwifery duties by successfully helping his wife to deliver a baby at home!. Google and now Wofram Alpha are like oracles we consult to get answers to our questions. Today mankind is just a click away from getting information. Please dont try this at home!!!!!!

The Internet as a Fortress

I have half of my documents stored somewhere on the Internet. A few are in my mail others are secured on servers outside Ghana. Every time I access them, I find them just in the same state as I left them in my last visit. The Internet protects my property just as God has always done. There are many other places where one could keep his/her pictures and PowerPoint presentation slides for future references. Collaborative tools like rapidshare and limewire allow users to share and distribute interesting stuff online be it a video, picture, or pdf file. These documents are protected with passwords so I know for sure I am the only one with access to such documents.

The Omnipresence of the Internet

Don’t you get amazed when you see people access the Internet on their mobiles, televisions and laptops from almost everywhere? It is everywhere; this is even evident on this part of my world. More and more users of the Internet are beginning to get used to the GPRS services on their phones. Zain and MTN are competing to be the best provider in this area of business.

The Internet as our Daily Bread

In case you didn’t know there are thousands of people making money because of the existence of the Internet. Some are paid to blog about issues ranging from ‘types of frogs’ to ‘credit crunch in the West’. There are quite a handful of people who blog for the fun, sharing their first time experiences on Ghanaian Okada or telling their readers how they enjoy listening to African rhythms. Blogging is free (unless the individual wants a premium version), all one needs is time and an eye for hidden things. Google ad sense could be installed on blogs to get revenue from the visitors to such sites. There are others who trade in stock and bonds online for a living. 

The business which fascinates me the most however is the registration of domain names to be traded in the future. It’s a weird business I must confess but pays well if fortune smiles on the individual. For this business, all one needs to do is to read the market and register a domain name that will be needed by another body. Since the body in need would require the name for its business they will be forced to sign a fat cheque for this name. People make thousands of dollars from this. I must quickly add though that there are others who have registered domain names and are yet to earn a penny from the registration!!! I guess some luck is needed to get some suitors.

 

The Internet is the Breath of Life

For those with broadband in their homes, when they wake up from bed the Internet is one of three things they attend to first. Do you realize how you shiver and become frustrated when your Internet connection takes a nap in the middle of an important exercise? This is very common in my part of the world. continuous Internet connection down here in Africa is more of a dream than a right. One thing is clear for sure, people just can’t go without the Internet lest they die.

The Internet makes old creatures anew

The virtual world provided by the Internet is a platform that allows individuals to re-live their lives. I heard of a virtual farm last week and was just amazed to find out how it worked. In virtual environments people can do things that are impossible in the real world, like being watch on the news by the first back American president. I have a friend who got engaged to a Caribbean Princess; something he would have never been able to achieve in a real world. In this new world one could assume any personality or status. One day, I would love to be Bill Gate for a few hours just to have a feel of abnormal wealth.