Our class discussion on what the Internet is and what we thought it originally would be, got me thinking. I remember when I first heard it as a concept I was somewhat overwhelmed and confused. This was at a time when I remember having to type in codes to access games to play in “Dos” on my home computer. What a pain in the ass that was. I just remember thinking of how it was this vast ocean or “net” to connect us all over the world, yet I was perplexed to know how this could be done.
Yet what struck me most was the realization of what the Internet is like now, and what we had originally “intended” it as. One of my first introductions to the Internet was actually in Disney world, in Epcott, on the ride in the ball (which is the symbol of Epcott) as known as Spaceship Earth. It is one of the more boring rides, in that it is “educational.” A slow-moving cart takes you through the advancement of technology of communication through out the years. When I was young, the part of the ride that impressed me the most was where a child at one sides of the world was talking to their dad on the other side. Disney did a great job showing the blinking lights, which symbolized the information being send across the world and then showing the image of the child talking to their father on the other side. I was floored. I was not able to fully fathom what was going on. Yet in looking at the Internet now, one truly has to question is it about connections and making connections people to people, or is it people to businesses? The fact that I am bombarded by pop-ups, that I am constantly sent e-mails by that company I bought a t-shirt from 3 years ago, or every page I go to has blinking lights and dancing targets making false promises of ipods and phones, makes me think.
Last spring I went back to Disney. I wanted to go back on the rides that I went on as a child to “re-live the magic.” When we went back to Epcott I convinced my friends and my family to go back on Spaceship Earth. During the course of the ride, I was wondering how they would have updated it or changed it. When we got there, there was no line. Just the ramp of carts moving on and on with no riders, a pretty “happenin” place to be. Once we got on the ride, it proceeded to break down three or four times. At times I was even concerned with the safety of the ride, but considering there were no drops and that it moved less than one mile an hour, I didn’t get up. I sat there re-living what in my childhood had me in awe but now had me nostalgic and almost sad for the days when I could believe such things. While these animated moving manikins moved around, I thought about how this ride probably wouldn’t last much longer. Did Disney leave it up because it was a classic? Watching the child talk to their father on a “cyber camera” miles and miles away left me thinking of how that could happen now, but most people I know do not use the internet for that. It was an idealistic look at what it could be used for, but isn’t always. Just as the ride was breaking down, so is this idea of the Internet bringing people together. In our discussion I came to realize that just as the ride at Epcott was outdated and almost dilapidated, so was this notion of what the internet could be. No one was in line for this ride or this notion.