We all know too much of anything is good for nothing. The internet is no exception. If you use it wisely, it will positively change your life. If not, or if you get addicted, it can ruin you. Here I would like to share how it hugely impacted me. And what were the benefits I got from the internet?
- Books: I love to read books. Since I mostly don’t love to venture out often, I always wanted to have everything at my domicile. I could only get books during school and college days from a nearby library. Magazines were delivered to our doorstep. My dad sometimes buys me books when he goes on official trips. But once I got a broadband connection, I got a lot of pdfs. I even had access to rare books I had always wanted to read. A college goer found that very interesting. And then Kindle, Juggernaut, and Magzter let me choose from many books and magazines. If you are a newbie and need to read books for free, check out www.pdfdrive.com. Anybooks was a good app that let us read free ebooks. But I don’t see it now. It helped me read a lot of Buddhist literature and classics. But if you have money, please purchase books and pay the author for his/her hard work.
- Online Classes: Whenever I wanted to learn something, I often referred to books. But when we have proper teachers who share their expertise, it makes complex subjects easy. Being an IT student, the field keeps changing often, and I understand the importance of staying updated. Online classes help us stay with the trend. We have tutorials for everything under the earth. Meditation classes, exercises, yoga, poetry, cooking, English, etc., also help us spend time in a quality way. In the initial days, blogs and youtube gave me a lot of free tutorials, which were very helpful. Even now, I refer to them whenever I get into trouble.
- YouTube: It’s not just entertainment; we learn a lot from the videos on YouTube. I hope every girl there has referred to YouTube before cooking a tasty dish. I am not an exception. I look for tips and tricks on managing my home and seek its help whenever I need technical support. Motivational videos, speeches, songs, music, nature videos, documentaries, travel vlogs, and people’s experiences – we have a lot to explore here. Historical information and space-related news are something I love the most. The downside is we can easily fall for false information. So always cross-check and make sure you are watching reliable channels. If you are not a video person, you can look for podcasts that are as informative as the videos.
- Applications: Many apps have helped me organize my life. Brain games are something I love the most to keep my brain active. But recently, I get no time for them. Wish I could make some time for games that will activate my logical reasoning. Meditation apps are the next favorites. It helps me shut out the world’s noise and stay calm for some time. It helps me to connect with God and remain spiritual. Poetry apps and your quote help me write and read poems whenever I have free time. Calorie trackers and screen time control allow me to stay physically and mentally fit. The short bits of news we get from some apps also help me stay connected with the world.
- Entertainment: I love to have some kind of music whatever I am doing. I often never hear what the music is. But I need some background music for my daily routine to go smoothly. We have many options to get original music transferred straight to our devices. You will always see me with earphones plugged into my tiny ears. I don’t watch movies often, but I do sometimes when I feel I need a break from mundane life. I am a big fan of Korean and Chinese dramas. So if we need quality entertainment, we get a lot of it on the internet. We can watch movies from different parts of the world with the help of subtitles. Gaming apps are also part of the entertainment. If we choose our leisure activities wisely, they can also turn into learning moments.
- Social Media: As for me, social media has allowed me to connect with many great people. Social media lets us stay connected to old friends. It also helped me connect with clients who gave me freelance work and helped me grow. Each piece I did was a wonderful learning experience. I got inspired by great people that I met on the internet. Here we get to know about the lives of many people. It also helps me share my work with many people. The platform lets you connect with people who have similar hobbies or passions. Like-minded friends can change our lives significantly. I feel in this world, we are not doing anything alone. The environment, people around and what we feed to our senses all influence us to do different things. Social media is a crucial guy influencing and connecting people worldwide and slowly transforming the world.
- Charity And Working For A Cause: No man is complete without having charity as part of their life. Every soul is attached to some cause. We are all eager to help others, but we don’t know how to do the same. The internet is full of opportunities. If you search the internet about the cause you are so dear too, you will find many ways to work on it. The internet also lets you raise funds, donate and even plant trees on some remote parts of the land. You can volunteer and help people to solve their problems. You can help students you meet on social media or volunteer to help people through recognized organizations. Blood donors can quickly form a group and ensure the right person gets blood at the right time. During floods and covid, the use of the internet was impeccable.
- Selling My Writing: The internet helped me easily reach out to magazines and publishers. Selling and marketing my book was a cakewalk. You get paid for the hard work you put in. The only thing is you have to work consistently on the thing you are so passionate about. The internet allowed me to learn writing, write poetry, and take it to the right platform to showcase it. I could connect with readers, understand their reactions and improve myself. It also lets me do freelance content writing. Blogs and ads are an excellent way to have a passive income. But beyond money, writing is so dear to my heart. I wouldn’t have been happy doing any other job in the world.
These are just a few things on the internet that hugely influenced my life. Everyone will have different experiences. If you, too, have positive experiences on the internet, please share them in the comments section.
Shalini Samuel
