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[foto: blogging? por Anonymous Account CC License]

How’s my life with the web?

I can honestly say that every single morning the first thing I do after opening my eyes and a good stretch, like many of us, is look at my phone. Now, I can probably open up a new tab, search a bit and come up with multiple studies explaining how doing the aforementioned is bad on many levels, but I won’t do that. Jokes, I will because it’s important to know these things so here’s the link. After a few good minutes of laying in bed with my phone looking at Instagram and my emails, I finally get up and life goes on with multiple checks throughout the day be it for entertainment or for research. Other than for Instagram and emails, when you’re a student like I am right now the web becomes a very important tool. Seeing as our lives are now so connected with the digital world it’s almost impossible not to be attached most of our time.

One thing I like and really appreciate about the web, is how we’re able to build bridges, relationships, connections with people we would otherwise not have crossed paths with. I think that’s a beautiful and powerful thing. On the other hand, having a look (so readily available) into what people present of their lives can be quite damaging on peoples mental health and how they view themselves, because comparison starts and no less with something as planned out and arranged as social media. Life on the web, although convenient, can become a crutch in many ways. I find the web a distraction too, from moments, from life, which sometimes can be a good thing if moderately used that way but damaging on ones personal life if not. It’s honestly up to each individual to decide if the web is a good thing or not.

How would my life be without it?

Before hurricane María I would’ve said my life would be impossible without access to the web. Now that I’ve lived through months without service I can say it’s not something I completely need to have all of the time. The only time I experienced any sort of anxiety because I couldn’t access it, was when I couldn’t use it to reach my loved ones or learn more about the situation we were in. During the aftermath of the hurricane I found my entertainment in books. I actually read, during that time, way more books than I did the whole of the past year. But if I’m being completely honest, the circumstances I’m in at the moment, and the kind of job I hope to one day have, are connected to life online so it becomes a lifeline. I grew up with readily available and unlimited access to the web I can’t imagine a whole life without it.