Aneta Zitkova
Would our life be better without the internet?
Writing and Research
11/25/2017
Many studies have shown that we spend an average of more than twenty hours a week on
the internet. Thirty percent of that time online is spent on social media. Daily usage of social
media worldwide is 135 minutes a day per user, over a lifetime that equals five years and four
months. That is almost five times more than we spend socializing face–to-face with other people.
Teens are able to find eleven hours a day to spend on social media apps like Facebook, Snapchat,
YouTube, and Instagram. These numbers are continuing to grow each year at an exorbitant rate.
When have we become hostages of the virtual reality?
The world existed without the internet for a long time. Before the internet people had
social interactions in person and played outside. In the last couple of decades everything
changed. The internet invaded all aspects of our life. My generation has quickly and permanently
become addicted to the digital world, which is used for everyday tasks in addition to social
media. Almost ninety percent of the world’s population have smartphones. Not many young
people can imagine a life without being “hooked up to the net.” We use it for ordering groceries,
booking a vacation, paying bills, watching movies, and even for finding love. What would
happen to our world if one day we woke up and there was no internet?
Both of my parents grew up without the access to the internet. My mum always tells me
what a great childhood she had without computers, smartphones, and color TVs (which was only
Aneta Zitkova
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a weekend matter). It is hard to believe but somehow my parents still had opportunities for fun,
even without being connected 24/7. Thirty years ago, people had to socialize with others in
person and be more creative with their free time. If you needed a book, you went to the library. If
you wanted to watch a new movie, you had to go to the cinema. It might have been more
complicated compared to the instant access to movies and books on devices that we have now,
but it forced people to leave their homes.
When I moved to my new apartment it took about four days for Optimum to come and
install my wireless internet and television. Initially I was helpless. I did not know what to do
with myself. Without access to constant internet I felt bored and alienated from rest of the world.
It took a day for me to realize how nice it was to have time alone with my boyfriend. We had the
