You know, the Internet has taken some of the fun out life.

[Rabrrrrrr]

Oh, yes, the Internet has made things way better in so many ways...

but I'm also thinking that, at least for me, something was lost with the advent of the Internet.

I remember as a teenager, my hometown didn't have a good record shop or a good gaming shop, and so every couple months my friends and I would go to a city that had both. And we'd get there, and I'd look at my money and it would be, maybe, $40 for the day (back in the 80s), because that's all I had from my job.

And so we'd walk around and shop and maybe some figurines or a book for AD&D would be $15, and then at the record shop I'd pick up a Zeppelin or Sabbath or Pink Floyd album to keep building my collection, and some lunch, and a trip to the comic book store to pick up one or two old comics to fill the holes in the collection, and then I'm out of money until we popped up there a few months later.

And over my high school and college years, I slowly built up my collection.

And if there was anything rare or hard to find back then, I really and actually had to go out and find it - hunt the flea markets, and the classifieds, and the collectors stores, and so on.

But now, with the Internet, if there's something rare or hard to find, I can just go to ebay and get it; or even do Amazon, and one of the sellers might have it.

And then I get it in a day or two.

It's just not as fun.

And also now that I'm older and earning more money, there also isn't that sense of anticipation and waiting, thinking "Oh, yeah, by next month I'll have enough money to by my fourth Zeppelin album, and then I'll only need three more!" and so on. With the Internet and the higher income, I can look at my collection and realize I'm missing three Zep albums and go to Amazon and click-click-click, they'll be here on Thursday. Or even download them digitally, and have them immediately.

If you ask me, we've lost something with the Internet. We've gained an amazing shitload of good - don't get me wrong - but we've lost something that was kind of special and fun and, well, human.

You know, the Internet has taken some of the fun out life.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I hear you, my dear Rabrrrrrr...

All I can say: If it hadn't been for the internet, and DU, I would not be writing poetry, much less getting it published, or going back to school for an MFA...

I'm just sayin'...

[Roon]

2. Gay.com killed our park downtown

Every warm week-end that park would be packed and hopping. It was a great way to catch up with your friends, find a date, and even sundbath nude!

Then gay.com/chat came along,now the park is deserted and the only people who go there are the closet cases who drive around in circles looking for a trick.

Sad....

[arcadian]

3. I liked it when porn wasn't so accessible

It was better.