The internet is a grand thing. It gives us access to all the world’s knowledge, it has sped up all sorts of business interactions and transactions, and it connects us like nothing before. It may even be making us smarter. But like any world-changing technology, it gives with one hand and takes away with the other.
Below are 10 things the internet has killed.
Record stores
Record stores have been shutting left, right and centre, thanks to a fall in recorded music sales. Record sales have fallen by 40% since the turn of the millennium, largely because people now file share and stream music for free. Even high street staple HMV couldn’t survive the changing market, as it went into administration earlier in 2013. Some organisations are fighting back with events like Record Store Day, but nothing really seems to be turning the tide. The people have spoken, and they like their music digital and free.
Encyclopaedias
Do you remember having to scan through encyclopaedias whenever you started a report? You had to pull a giant tome off the shelf, flick through until you found the entry and hoped that the entry would be large enough to fill out the report. These days, children start off on Wikipedia, which they use to write the bulk of their reports before clicking through the links to find more academically acceptable sources. What they can’t find on Wikipedia, they can search for on Google.
Let’s be honest about this one: we miss having the impressive books on our shelves, but we would have loved to be able to type in a few words and get all the answers as kids.
Mix tapes
Today, teenagers don’t make mix tapes for each other. They make playlists. The concept is the same, but because the execution is so different, the effect is totally lost. In the days of cassette tapes, it took time to construct the perfect mix tape, tape the songs off the radio or other cassettes, get the timing just right and get the order perfect. Today, you can simply search and click to add. And the recipient can play the list in any order they like.
The lack of real effort and the inability to control how the music unfolds mean playlists are pale imitators of the utterly humble yet totally romantic mix tape.
Calculators
Calculators aren’t dead, exactly, but they are all tools on our many other digital devices. You have them on your computer, your phone and your tablet, and if you’re stuck trying to figure out a complex problem, you can search for the solution online.
For the general public, then, a separate calculator is just redundant.
Letters
Letters have been all but eradicated by emails, even though everyone agrees that nothing quite matches the feeling you get when you receive a hand-written letter in the post. Nonetheless, people around the world aren’t using their postal services anymore – except to deliver the things they bought online – and in some places, children aren’t even being taught joined-up writing anymore. Instead, they are taught typing, and everyone sends e-cards and emails.
Typing is a necessary life skill now and emails are convenient, but life is a little less magical when no one sends hand-written notes.
Waiting for trains in the terrible weather
This is one thing most of us are happy to see the back of. We no longer have to sit out in terrible weather, waiting for our trains to arrive. Instead of sitting in the rain and wind, we can check regularly updated train times and show up at the station with minutes to spare. In some large cities, we can even do the same with buses. Pretty soon, craning your neck to see if the next bus or train is nearly at the stop will be a thing we tell our grandchildren about.
Memorising phone numbers
Why would you memorise phone numbers when you can just type in a name and hit the call button. Of course, that leaves us in a sticky situation when our phone dies and we need to get in touch with someone.
Isolation (and ‘accidentally’ losing touch)
The internet makes it easier than ever for everyone to stay connected. Many studies and reports show that elderly people with access to the internet are less lonely than those without. Some offshore and shipping companies are fitting out their ships and platforms with WiFi, so their employees can stay in touch with family.
The dark side of this connection is that you can’t shake off school-age acquaintances, exes and people who give you the creeps. Sure, you can block them, but they can find you again if they really want to.
Generosity for its own sake
If your friends and family are generous, you will quickly find your social media feeds filling up with tweets during marathons, Movember photo updates and links to petitions to make the world a better place. These are all well-meaning, but it has all but killed off the principle of giving just for the sake of giving. Instead, when we urge others to give with us, we are also encouraging others to see and recognise our good deeds. It may not be intentional, but that is what happens.
Nigeria’s international reputation
Poor Nigeria. It used to be known as an oil-rich country with an emerging economy. It is now known as the home of email scams. Essentially, the scammer asks for help moving large amounts of money into a European bank account. Moving this amount of money incurs a “small administration fee”, which the recipient is asked to advance with the promise that once the money is transferred, the recipient will get a sizable cut of the cash. These familiar scams are named after the country, too: they are called 419 scams, which is a reference to the section of Nigerian law they break.
The internet has given us much, but it has taken away a lot as well. Which things are you happiest or saddest to see go, thanks to the internet?
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