An Observation on the Internet and Our Dependence on Electronic Devices

The more technologically advanced we, as a society become, the more convenient and efficient things become. The more addicted we become to this convenience and efficiency, the more dependent we become on that technology. Through this addiction, we conversely become less efficient with our time as we get easily drawn into endless hours chatting, surfing, etc. And lastly, through this addiction, when your electronic device fails, crashes or is lost, panic of the highest degree sets in.  So, something that is really a convenience can quickly become one of the biggest sources of stress when things go wrong.   Believe me, I went through all the stages of grief when my netbook was infected with a virus last Thursday and was beyond the point of recovery.  Initially I was shocked when all the pop-ups and attempts to go to adult related sites started happening.  Then I was angry that I couldn't get the virus removed from the computer.  I quickly shifted to denial that the situation would only be able to rectified through a complete restore of factory settings.  And finally, I made peace and moved to acceptance that a complete restore was the only solution.  I decided it was better to restore the computer to factory settings at no cost, losing everything, but at least the computer would work again.  Believe me, I have learned not to let your anti-virus program lapse and I learned the importance of setting recovery points often and consistently.  Nonetheless, it proved to be a very stressful couple of days reinstalling everything and getting myself back to the point of complete dependence on this electronic device. Ironic, isn't it?