Internet in Our Life

Computers and the Internet are more affordable today than in the past. Specialized computer skills are not needed to access the Internet for emailing, messaging, and even talking in chat rooms. People who cannot afford a personal computer or internet service provider are now able to access the Internet in libraries, community centers and other locations. Accessing personal computers is not restricted to people of higher economic social classes.


One of the primary uses of the internet is to open conversation with other people. Many of us would prefer to speak to the person sitting next to them in the office through computer rather than face to face. Persons with poor social skills are often uncomfortable with face to face experiences. Online enables people with poor social skills to avoid offline social interactions and discomfort. With time, this isolation from people and just communicating with computers might cause depression. On the other hand, other research shows that the communication and chatting using Internet are good ways to make new friends worldwide and break the barrier between different people. Therefore, people have become familiar with other counties and cultures, especially teenagers who sharpening important social skills online and avoiding being unsafe when they are out at parks1.


Most of people use Internet in everyday life. “Current estimates indicate that 149 million people are online worldwide, and that number is increasing at the rate of 12% a month.” This raises the question: Are we addicted to Internet? According to criteria that psychologists often use, we can see Internet use ranging from 6% to 80%. Some symptoms of this disorder are using the computer to relieve stress, feeling depressed when not using it, spending most of their money on computer products and neglecting work or school 2.


Generally, people are shifting from direct contacts to indirect contacts using Internet. From my experience when i was a teenager, I loved talking on the phone with my friends all the time. Perhaps just repeating stories over and over. When I became a secondary school student, I started using email, and by the end of the year most of my friends became good users of the Internet. And now as I get older, I feel that I don’t want to talk on the phone. I prefer to send messages or emails unless a person is my close friend. Now, we can see most people contacting each other using Facebook which has became more popular in Saudi Arabia. You can’t imagine that one of my friends invited us to her wedding using the face book and I can know everything about my friends wherever they are just through Facebook. However, sometimes I feel sorry about my relationship with my friends because it is lessening over times but still I can find excuses that all of us are busy to achieve our goals.

Sarah Bahammam