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The Net Is A Waste Of Time By William Gibson

Decent Essays

Futurist-The William Gibson
William Gibson, the writer of the essay, “The Net Is a Waste of Time” presents various views regarding the net. He has compared the net with the wooden box (television). Just like the television has evolved from the stage of showing nothing but “snow” to something more. He has predicted that the net will also evolve into something greater and bigger. He creates the idea in the reader’s mind that the net is in its early stages during 1990’s and will evolve into something bigger. Gibson claimed that the net was like a “city”, where we could find anything, even with the people we may not have spoken to in years. He argues that because of the internet, people have lost their leisure time, play time and they have become “busybodies.” He also argues that the net is a procrastinator’s dream. While most people assume of doing important tasks on the web, many of us are just procrastinating a lot of the time. In the end, he concludes that the net is a “waste of time”, claiming that “it offers us the opportunity to waste time, to wander aimlessly, to daydream about the countless other lives, the other people” (698). Gibson presents many valid points in his essay regarding the net, where he has positively predicts the evolution of it, which is one of the biggest inventions of our time. Whereas it is also true that people have become busybodies because of the internet.
The internet makes everybody an “expert.” Before the invention of the internet, people who are professional on the field can only write a book and give an advice to the people who is seeking information and advice. But in today’s context along with the internet, anyone can write and share on any fields and subjects. Either it is in fields of medical, financial, education, beauty whether they have a degree or certification of doctor, engineer, dermatologist, beauty expert, financial expert or not. Therefore, information and data available on the internet has become unreliable and inaccurate as compare to the information and data available before the invention of the internet. Everything that people have search on the internet is completely traceable to the person it belongs to, which compromises personal information. This

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