Internet Footprint: A must in modern age

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

The other day one of my friend said “Buddy today if I type my name in Goolge and there is no relevant result, I don't exist”. I was stunned at his remark not because I agreed with him completely but because I could not disagree either. At home sitting alone in the dark I was continuously thinking about my friend's comment. Was he saying something which is completely an urban phenomena or his profession in the IT sector was compelling him to make such a statement.

Internet has indeed changed our live and internet footprints are considered as status symbol among the youth. Blogging has become an added qualification on your CV and having web albums a must in everyday life. It may sound illogical to many who still haven't typed a key in the keyboard but ask a teenager and he might have lost count of number of social networking sites he is a member in, or the numerous email ids that he has created.

I remember my first brush with the internet in the year 99 when I walked into a cyber cafe in Shillong to create an email id. Surfing at 24kbs speed was a norm then whereas 512 kbps is considered slow by many today. The next day with lot of pride I went to school and announced to my group of friends about the internet experience. It was an huge achievement for me, why not after all I was the proud owner of an email id.

Today its difficult to survive without internet. I start my day reading the local newspaper from my city from its website. One of the greatest advantage with internet is it is not bounded by geographical boundaries but rather technical boundaries and the later being easier to bridge. It is a medium which allows people to express their opinion to potentially every internet user in the world which was not possible with the earlier mediums of communication.

Its not just a fast growing medium but a fast changing medium too. There was a time when internet users were going gaga over Yahoo Messenger and other chat rooms. Now it is the time to socially network, blog and upload videos. Internet has empowered every user to be a broadcaster on his own terms. Statics have shown every three out of four individual under the age of 20 prefer internet over television.

Critics would argue on the ill effects of internet as a medium for communication citing things like pornography and violence. Even television was termed as the Idiot-Box but has merged into our daily lives. Same with internet it has just hit the tip of the ice berg especially in a country like India and its growth can only grow north. Honestly for any individual or organisation it is indeed necessary to be in Google or any other search engine to exist in the world today.