Why Does the Internet Suck?

Ha haa! We hear so much about the benefits of the web, SEO and internet marketing… its power to make money, to connect people with other people and with products, to give us more decision-making power and information … etc etc etc. People never stop extolling the virtues of the internet. Today I’m going to tell you why the internet completely, absolutely, sucks! And then, most likely, kiss and make up with it – “Let’s stop the fussin’ and the feudin’!”.

The internet is not impressed at our assessment

1. It’s a black hole for time

We all know exactly how much time the internet can waste. Entire weeks of your life are at stake. Information is fascinating … but not always useful in a broad context.

2. We depend on it … but it isn’t always dependable

Your connection to the internet arises out of a complex array of different factors. Your computer, software, hardware, the phone line, your ISP all collaborate to get you online. If one link breaks … all hell breaks loose!

3. It creates angry, mean people

This phenomenon, I’m sure, arises out of the same mechanism that makes us instantly angrier every time we get behind the tonne or so of metal, glass and plastic that is our car. When there is a keyboard, a screen, and in many cases entire continents between us and other people, human consideration is greatly lessened. Unfortunately.

4. You can’t always trust it

If I had a dollar for every time a Nigerian princess had contacted me, for every time a company had claimed to be able to either enlarge or shrink various parts of my body, and every time I had been told I could make over $40 per hour working at home, I would be a rich, rich lady.

5. Sometimes, we don’t need all that information

One very real effect of the internet on our collective psyche is the way it dispenses us to worry. We now the intimate details of people killed in natural disasters across the world, about exactly how many kidnappings occur every minute, and how often someone is diagnosed with cancer. But SHOULD we?

6. It’s permanent

If you’ve ever bookmarked an awesome link and gone back to find it a week later, only to be informed that the site hasn’t paid their hosting fees, you may dispute this point. But a very real fact is that if you have posted it on the internet, even if it has since been deleted, it may still exist in some form in somebody else’s internet history – or at least, the Google cache.

Our relationship with the internet is definitely more love than frustration … it’s like a marriage. It takes work to have a happy life together, but you know that leaving is not an option!