welcome to me. I suppose.

Isn't it fantastic? The internet has grown so big it begins to feel too small? Like anytime now I'll stumble into my seventh grade english teacher or why not mom or dad and we'll have an entire discussion by blogging.

When did this happen? Did Internet really replace the 'ordinary' world to some extent?

Remember in shows from the nineties where the kids would go out to cafés and sip cola. They would write for the school news paper and browse the library for that project. Today these things seem almost non-existent. At the most we stop by the movies or a hamburger place/fancy resturant occasionally to satisfy the momentary hunger and shock at being so far away from the refrigerator at home.

In the sanctuary of our rooms we sit in front of the computer screen and type, or browse, or marvel. Practically anything that needs to be found is out there, just a google (read yahoo) away. And it had not stopped growing, not nearly.

The people counter is out there too. Changing numbers faster than I can write them down. Some are born, some died, and the inhabitants of this planet just keep increasing.

Imagine running into them all out here, online. Well, that is still almost impossible but wait a few years. So much has changed in less than a decade, who is to say how the world will look like ten years from now?

Myspace and its' alikes are also out there. Millions of places where teens and young adults can post their innermost thoughts, and so forth (which is a good thing on its own) but also be taken advantage of, used, tricked, brainwashed, bullied... Like in the real world there are dangers, and as Internet grows the security must grow along with it.

Articles about how many young girls post nude pictures of themselves online to get attention from boys in their school (for example) that they know will find the pages (like somewhere similar to myspace) are beyond frightening, they are alarming.

But, like in the 'real' world, security does not always work, and it is impossible to protect and be protected everywhere. From hackers to stupid mistakes, we are on our own in this bright new world. A place where there are amazing resources for information, expression, communication, and so much more, but also traps and problems.

Maybe the world would have survived a little longer without internet, but I doubt it would have worked for long. If not this then somethign else would have come. Imagine six billion people crowding almost every corner without the ability to quickly communicate with others far away. The phone was only the start, but who knew that this amazing second place would explode by the 21st century. Let us just keep it clean, preferrably cleaner than the 'real' world, but let us not forget that one either.

To think that just because you are in the safety of home (or somewhere else that feels good) no one will reach you through the screen is bull shit these days, but there is also the opportunity to reach out and be/find/explore/express oneself to an audience that is always listening. Something that the kids from the early nineties shows where not able to do. I guess with every pro there is a con, but also the other way around.

Love,
Castitas

ps. be safe out there