Eventually, the Internet Was Useful to Me

By Chris McGinty of AccordingToWhim.com

I was not an early adopter of the internet. I didn’t much like the internet when it first existed. This wasn’t me being old and crotchety. I was just 22. On an unrelated topic, I didn’t mind dying.

The problem was that when the internet started to become a thing that the general public was aware of, it was more of a study tool for colleges than a source of entertainment. Eventually, it improved a little bit when AOL allowed us to start chatting with people from all over the world who shared hobbies and interests. At least, I think so. If it was America Online, how was I talking to people in England? I feel like such a fool.

I don’t actually feel like a fool… unless England didn’t really have AOL, and I was actually onto something when I wrote that joke.

The night that I finally decided that the internet was “useful” was when I sat up listening to streaming Duran Duran b-sides, many of which I’d never heard, while reading short stories written and posted by unpublished authors. Two things: By “useful” I mean that it entertained me, and brought value to my life in some way & by “unpublished” I mean it as we thought of it back then, not being published by a publishing house.

Now, I don’t go a single day without using the internet. I could do it if I felt the need, and if I wasn’t working since I currently deliver Uber Eats which requires internet and GPS. The thing is that the internet has become way more “useful” in many more ways over the last twenty-four years, which makes me 36.

I’ve not used the internet much today, as I’ve been writing… except that I’ve read articles, I’ve researched information, and I’ve been listening to Spotify the whole time.

The thing that I find interesting, in my own mind at least, is that for everything that the internet has brought us, I think that one of my favourite things to do is still to listen to a wide variety of music (some self published) while reading self published writing. I mostly read nonfiction online, and read fiction offline, but that’s been more of a time constraint issue than anything. The two major differences in these preferences is I like to watch videos on You Tube, and I have since become one of those self publishers through the blog, the website, our You Tube channel, and the games Nathan and I have created (one by using Kickstarter to fund the publishing).

Chris McGinty is a blogger who is more than happy with the internet, because self publishing used to be considered a bad thing, and now it may be the most common form of publishing. Think about it.