What The Net Did

What is the main influence that the internet has had on your life?

I find it really hard to name just one thing, but I think the existence of my blog has changed my life the most out of everything. I write for a relatively small audience, just a few hundred a month, but I’ve been telling total strangers about the ins and outs of my life for four years now, and I know a private journal would have been very different.

Having an audience to keep entertained affects the way I write and I’m very grateful to my readers. Plus it means that, whenever anything bad happens to me – say I get dumped, or humiliated, or someone is sick on me on the tube – whereas I used to feel sorry for myself, now I just think, “That is going to make a fantastic blog entry.” So in that respect, the existence of the internet can put a positive spin on negative life events. Can’t ask for much more than that!

Has this influence been positive or negative?

Like everything in life, the answer’s a bit of both.

The positive bit has been that my life has become infinitely more broad.  Whatever interests me, I can find out about it and, in the case of hobbies, I can get involved right away.

Thanks to the internet, I’ve learned how to play the ukulele, I’ve discovered amazing hangouts in London and abroad, I’ve joined singing groups, I’ve caught up with old friends and made new ones, I’ve documented my own life in massive detail, I’ve travelled to Finland, I’ve met boyfriends, I’ve donated hundreds of pounds to charity, I’ve taken up photography, I’ve bought hundreds of books and tickets for gigs and movies…

Arguably I could have done all these things without the internet – but I don’t think
I would have. I might have done some, but not all. It makes doing new stuff so
much easier.

What about the negative aspects?

The internet makes everything so easy, I often feel like a lazy waster if I’m not out and
about on some madcap new adventure. I get tens of newsletters into my email inbox every single day – people telling me about a new political action group, a hot new restaurant, a dating website sending me pictures of nice guys ‘in my neighbourhood’ – and I feel like I need an excuse to do nothing.

Basically, the internet’s a bit like an amazingly cool and popular friend, and if you’re not using it to get out and about in your city, you’re a loser.

I’ve also had some negative experiences with on-line dating.  Of course, although the internet makes it really easy to meet guys when you’re single, it certainly doesn’t make it any easier to meet someone who’s interested in forming a relationship.

I’ve been on several dates with different guys who have seemed to really enjoy my company, phoned or texted afterwards, maybe even met me again, and then slowly vanished. Gradually I had to accept that it wasn’t that they hated me or that I was a definite ‘no’ - they just thought there was probably someone even better around the corner. And given that I was on a website with tens of thousands of other women, mostly my age or younger, who can blame them for refusing to settle down?

If I didn’t have a biological clock and the weight of several centuries’ history pushing down on me, telling me that unless I find a mate I am a reject, I probably wouldn’t want to either!

So would you say the Net’s influence has been more negative or positive?

The positives outweigh the negatives a million times over.

The extent of my love for the web is such that I was standing in the shower the other day and thought that, if I had to choose between the internet and my right arm (I’m left-handed), I’d probably choose to lose my arm.

A life without the internet would be inconvenient, slower, more expensive and far more narrow. And a life where everyone else had access to it and I didn’t – well, I’d rather never be able to cartwheel again. I told a friend that the other day and she looked at me like I was mad. The most she’d agree to was losing her little finger. Maybe I’ve got my perspectives wrong.

If the internet was a person and you met them in a pub, what would you say to
them?

“You’re the sexiest geek I’ve ever seen and you’ve changed my life. Thank you.”
N.B. in my head, the internet is definitely a man.

What The Net did is a photography project by Laura Babb.  www.laurababb.co.uk