Confessions of an Internet Junkie

For some people the computer is an escape into a world of heroes. Digital games, whose
pace and content they can control themselves, allow them to run through steamy jungles,
explore nightmare cityscapes and do battle with faceless enemies of superhuman strength
and agility. I am not one of those, incidentally, perhaps because my fairly sturdy self-
image can’t be stretched quite enough to let me be a goddess who leaps waterfalls and
fends off ravaging hounds while hunting for treasure from ancient civilisations. I am
more akin to a little fat plumber than to a goddess.

Gentler souls find their computer provides a good way to keep in touch with friends and
family. Be they up the road or around the globe, Email is a faster and a more spontaneous
way to reach people than the now renamed Snail Mail. And it’s cheaper too. The only
down side is that the virtuous feeling you get after you’ve sent your news off to a friend
doesn’t last very long before it’s your turn to reply again.

I’m always the one who owes Email to everyone in my family, because I’m too busy
enjoying myself on-line to catch up with my mail. For me the Internet is like having a
huge personal library, which hundreds of strangers have filled up with everything they
have to offer in the way of entertainment and information. Or it’s like having millions of
people waiting outside your window ready to show you their wares, give you their
opinions, pass on to you their research, or just tell you what time the train goes to London
on Sundays after six o’clock. All you have to do is lean out and ask - someone
somewhere will know and will be glad to tell you.

And while you are reaching out to grasp that one bit of information your eye falls on
something else you’ve always wanted to know. That’s where the addiction comes in, if
you’re an information sponge like me. One page leads on to another then another, until
you find yourself sitting in front of the screen in a darkened house at two in the morning.
Worse, you’re on such a high, with your head so stuffed full of facts and (useless?)
information, it’s almost impossible to get off to sleep.

I have tried computer gaming, discussion groups and e-shopping but they just don’t
excite me as much as finding out tomorrow’s weather forecast for Fiji, the exchange rate
for the Bulgarian Lev or the cost of a bunk in a four bedded room in a New York Youth
Hostel (and what the guy on the reception desk is called). This might seem like simply an
extension of the passion some people have for Trivial Pursuit, if it weren’t for one fact - I
have actually had the pleasure of finding that bed waiting for me in New York. This feels
like a miracle of global communication equal only to NASA’s conversations with men on
the moon, especially for a person who has to go out into the garden and stand on a chair
to use her mobile phone.

And the thing that makes me even more delighted with my hobby is that I can do it when
I’m working. I don’t go for long wanders across cyberspace when I’m in the office, of
course, but I do look up the websites of every organisation I come across and I nearly
always leave those sites a little wiser.

There are some fascinating statistics to be found about how many people now have
Internet access. While only 2% of the world’s population overall enjoy access to that
huge collection of online information known as the World Wide Web, in the UK the
figure has recently reached over 50%. Almost unbelievable growth in personal computer
ownership means that a great many people who have never even typed now bash away,
albeit with two fingers, using word-processing software which is infinitely more
complicated than a standard typewriter.

The government has spent years getting as much information about its own activities as
possible on the Web, so practically anything you want to know is there for you.
Admittedly, you have to use a little guesswork sometimes, but if you are determined,
there is not much you can’t find.

There are also plenty of good sites for the various grant making bodies, too. Some of
these merely duplicate their printed matter but many others give you absolutely the whole
picture and more. Perhaps best of all are the wonderful websites put together in
someone’s back bedroom, on behalf of a community group in some distant village you’ve
never heard of. You’ll find yourself longing to go and see it, once you’ve read about it on
screen.

Below are some of the websites I’ve investigated lately, which I’d like to recommend to
anyone interested in rural development or wider issues. They are a good starting point
from which to explore and follow your own interests.

And if you are amongst the 40% of British people who have declared that they do not
want ever to use a computer, maybe it’s time you reconsidered. They say that keeping
abreast of news and events is good for slowing down the aging process, for a start. And
besides, you never know when you might want to chat to Glen, in the Youth Hostel in
New York. He’s a really nice guy!

Try these out next time you’re surfing….

www.statistics.gov.uk/neighbourhood
www.detr.gov.uk
www.countryside.gov.uk
www.quiet-roads.gov.uk

www.ruralnet.org.uk
www.raise-networks.org.uk
www.jrf.org.uk
www.charitynet.org.uk
www.crisp.org.uk
www.community-fund.org.uk
www.ukvillages.org.uk