Sunday, November 8, 2015

Gratitude Challenge - Day 4 (Two Days Late)

I'm posting my Day 4 Gratitude Post a day late. Fridays are busy!

The prompt for Day 4 piggybacks on Day 3 and goes for the opposite: What are you thankful for that is very big?


Perhaps my list will also be "very big":
  • my TV (I'm not bragging here. It's probably not big from most perspectives, but in the grand scheme of things, it's luxurious enough to be called big.) 
  • my car, Pearl
  • my apartment (I upgraded from 575 square feet to 835 square feet about a year ago. I'm in space heaven.) 
  • my living room window
  • the painting hanging in my living room that Dad and I painted together
  • emotions
  • The University of Texas
  • airplanes
  • the internet
  • grocery stores
  • Hulu Plus & Netflix (and their large database of endless entertainment)
  • the armed forces
  • movie theaters
  • my photo collection 
  • my collection of blogs on Feedly
It's getting increasingly harder to pick just one thing to write about, so I'm going to go with my first instinct here: the very intangible thing that's allowing me to share my thoughts with you, dear reader.

I'm abundantly grateful for the existence of the internet and the vastness of it. Unlike many of my students, I remember a time when the internet wasn't a part of my life. Yes, I had an AOL account in fifth grade, and instant messenger was my primary means of communication for most of my adolescence. But, the helpful facets of the internet weren't readily available at my finger tips until I was in college. 

I learned to drive with a Mapsco in my passenger seat, and I had to [gasp] read the map BEFORE I started going somewhere so that I wouldn't get lost. If I didn't know how to build, create, or fix something when I was a teenager, I had to ask an adult for help or [gasp] find a book that could help me. If I wanted to watch my favorite tv show, I had to actually be at home when it aired (or, if I was lucky I could claim rights to the VCR that night and make a VHS copy). 

Now, I hop in my car to  go somewhere, and not only can I find directions instantly, but they change throughout my drive based on traffic updates, and I can send my ETA to my friends in real time. If I don't know how to fix my vacuum or check the oil in my car, I can search a vast database of how-to videos, thus empowering myself to be more independent. When I'm feeling lonely or missing my friends, I can call them, text them, send them videos, or better yet, FaceTime with them. Sure beats the old days of paying long distance fees to call another state. I can do something to cheer myself up with the help of the ol' internet. 

Speaking of long distance, I can share my location with my close friends and family so that they always know where I am if they need me, or more importantly, if I need them. I have the ability to share my thoughts openly and publicly on a variety of platforms, such as this one, and I can read the thoughts and opinions of others, all from the comfort of my own home (or on my phone while in the grocery store line). 

All of those things are luxuries, though. They're advances in technology and innovative thinking that have made my life more enjoyable, meaningful (at times), and easier. 

However, the single most important thing about the internet, in my opinion, is that it puts information and knowledge at the fingertips of anyone with access to a wifi or cellular connection. Knowledge is power, and the internet provides that to educated and employed people such as myself, but also to other people who may not otherwise have access to the answers and solutions they desperately need to find. 

Are there downsides to that truth? Well of course. Knowledge is power, which as we all well know, can be used for both good and bad. I won't pretend as though that's not a threat that the internet provides. However, much like banned books and freedom of speech, I'd rather the opportunity for empowerment than to be fighting oppression from it. 

Of all the "very big" things on my list, I think the internet is the one thing that most affects and improves my life on a daily basis. That and the University of Texas of course. 


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