Sometimes it's hard not to be tempted by all the interesting things you can find on the internet.
And it can be a lot of fun playing with them, but it can also seem like a big time wasting vortex.
One minute you're innocently looking at some kind of avatar maker, next thing you know twenty minutes have gone by. Is it any better than other (sitting down) things you could do, like watching movies, tv or even reading?
The librarian part of me wants to say that reading a book is the best possible thing you could be doing - and it is if that's the skill you want to practice.
When you're reading, you have to actively concentrate, use your imagination constantly, read between the lines to get the underlying meaning and analyse the text to a level which you may not even know you're doing. You also have the tactile things - holding a physical book, turning the pages, knowing where to look - skills which are second nature after years of doing them. Watch a small child with books and you'll really appreciate how much care you unknowingly put into the act of reading.
But, equally - when you're making an avatar or something creative on the internet, you have to concentrate, use your imagination and think about what you want to convey - within the limits of the site or whatever you're using. Unless you are a hacker or programmer. You've got to type, or use a mouse, or a track pad or touch screen, so you're still using your body.
And, more importantly, if you're looking (even passively) at websites, like it or not, you still have to read. Most websites have at least some words. Even though their language can be a little bit strange and may involve highly abbreviated and hybridised English, it's still reading.
This language seems to have started spilling over into real life - but needs to be used with care.
There seems to be an age when using internet language stops being adorable and starts being slightly out of place. Whatevs, LOL, hilare... they all sound a bit bizarre coming out of my mouth. But it could be just that I'm failing to adapt to the coming linguistic revolution.
Maybe looking at
Lolcats or
Icanhazcheezburger now is a little bit like how people thought about reading Enid Blyton books in the past. Lots of adults will tell you how their parents, teachers, librarians and plenty of other people were horrified with the prospect of them reading such junky books. In time we might have sort of 'internet classics' - websites and programmes that everyone will want to at least know about.
And what about the books? Will they still exist? Yes, of course. Well, at least I hope so.
I haven't read a lot of great fiction that is solely available as a webpage. And certainly nothing I'd call literature. Not to say that it isn't around.
See, here's my secret - I just can't bring myself to read on a Kindle or Ipad. Yeah, I know all the arguments. The convenience! The portability! But it's still not a physical book in the sense that I'm used to. And for some reason I just don't get it. I love that those things exist, and using them for other stuff (internet/dictionaries/YouTube...) but for some reason, they haven't found their way into my heart. Yet.
