ARE YOU AN ADDICT? (Internet Surfing)

Member Name: brianlfc

Product:	Internet Surfing
Date:	08/09/01 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Fun, Lots of uses

Disadvantages: Its so addcitive

Ah, Surfing the Internet, is it actually a hobby? Or is it more of an addiction? I know in my case, it is actually becoming, or might I say has become an addiction.

So, what can I write in an opinion about “Surfing the Internet?” Hmm, I know, I’ll give you an A to Z of my thoughts on “Surfing the Internet”, so here goes.

A is for ADDICTION, as I have already said, I and many other hundreds of thousands of people spend literally hours on the Internet, and it can honestly add up to a proper addiction, with proper symptom’s, i.e. lack of sleep, lack of eating, lack of daylight, lack of caring about anything else, lack of just about anything, and you’ll be surprised how quickly time flies whilst surfing the good old World Wide Wait.

B is for BROWSER’S, the piece of software you are looking at now, there are quite a few Browsers to choose from, the most popular being Internet Explorer and Netscape, they are widely available for free over the Internet, and always make sure you have the most up-to-date versions, as they usually have enhanced capabilities which make surfing easier and more fun.

C is for CHAT, there is a massive range of ways to chat to people across the world on the Internet, there’s the instant messenger way i.e. MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo, etc or there are the specialised Chat rooms that you’ll find on places like Mirc (Internet Relay Chat), I used to be addicted to Mirc, its probably the best way to get chatting to someone from just about anywhere in the world.

D is for DINNER, this is something you’ll miss more often than not, I mean I have lost count of the amount of times I have been literally starving, yet been to engrossed on a certain web page or a chat room to bother getting off my backside and actually cooking/eating something, so out come the Crisp’s and Biscuit’s.

E is for EXCITEMENT, the feeling you get when you fi
rst encounter the Internet, I remember when I first started (about 3 years ago), I was like a kid with a new toy, wanting to do everything at once.

F is for FUN, well, if its fun you want, well the Internet is the place for you, there are literally hundreds of thousands of various web sites on the Internet, that will give you a good old laugh, from the likes of Jokes and Funny Pictures, to the ultimate bizarre humour sites, I would name a few, but the list would be endless.

G is for GOOGLE, for anyone wanting to know the best search engine around, well look no further than Google, it has it all, ease of use, speed, I mean come on, you put in your search and it seems to be less than a second giving you a massive list of results, it is also the ultimate Dooyoo/Ciao cheat-busting site, just cut a few words of a suspected copy, paste it into Google and if the opinion is a copy, it will give you the destination of the original opinion.

H is for HOME PAGES, if you don’t already own one, get one, as there is nothing more pleasing to do with your time on the Internet, than building a web page, updating it and watching as people visit your own little space on the Internet, there are thousands of places to acquire one, your own ISP probably supply free web space, and if not, then try places like angelfire.com, etc.

I is for ISP (Internet Service Provider), these are the people that connect you to the Internet, if you don’t have one of these, you can’t do your surfing, I personally use Blue Yonder’s Surf-unlimited service, and despite early problems, have settled down into a superb value package, giving me 24/7 Internet access to feed my addiction, (see my opinion on them).

J is for JOB’S, yes the Internet is probably the best place to search for a job, try places like Fish4Jobs.co.uk, Jobsite.co.uk, etc, but the problem is, after being lured into Internet Addiction, will you actually want a job? Will y
ou have time for a job? I suppose you could look for a job that includes using the Internet.

K is for KNOWLEDGE, you couldn’t ask for a better collection of resources to help you gain Knowledge. OK, OK, I struggled for a word to do with K and this was alls I could think of.

L is for LOOKING-UP, with the enormous growth of the Internet, and the vast amount of useful resources available, the Internet has replaced the good old Library for finding out information, should you be studying or just wanting some information on your favourite hobby, you’ll find it on the Internet.

M is for MONEY, yes surfing the Internet can cost a few bob, the best way around this, is to use Dooyoo wisely, I mean I can easily earn the £9.99 a month I pay for my Internet connection here on Dooyoo, by just writing consistently, so what are you waiting for, get writing an opinion and stop reading this.

N is for NAPSTER, yes I know its now gone (or should I say not much use anymore), but this has got to have been the most used/talked about web site in the world, virtually everyone has used it to download your favourite MP3’s, but fear not, there are plenty of alternatives, try Morpheus or WinMX, they are just as good, if not better.

O is for OBESEITY, this is something you’ll have to get used to, if your going to be sitting on the Internet all day long, eating nothing but Crisp’s and Biscuit’s, you’ll put weight on, get out, get some exercise, your computer won’t run away from you, although you could always sit on an Exercise Bike whilst surfing the Internet.

P is for PERVERTS and PAEDOPHILES, this is the main down-side of the Internet, it gives these sick people the ability to trade their sick pictures or prowl the Chat rooms, looking for unsuspecting victims, if you have children that use the Internet, always be aware of what they are doing, and don’t allow them to use Chat rooms, unless
you are totally sure it is a safe on.

Q is for QUAKE, which was probably the first game to bring on-line gaming to us all, the amount of on-line gaming sites is rising by the day, and this gives you the ability to play your favourite games with people from the other side of the world.

R is for RACING, or should I say Horse racing, with the advent of the Internet, it has opened up the possibilities of gambling tax-free, from the safety of your computer, no need to sprint around to your local bookmakers to get your bet on, that is due to go off in a minute or so, just throw on your computer and go to your Internet Bookie.

S is for SAFETY, and I mean this, if you are new to the Internet, or just plain ignorant to the fact that the Internet can be a very hazardous place, I would like to give you a few tips.

Tip 1: Always use a firewall when connected to the Internet, a Fire-wall is a piece of software that stops anyone hacking into your computer whilst your online. I strongly recommend Zone Alarm as about the best out there.

Tip 2: Always have a Virus Checker and Cookie buster on hand, and regularly check your computer for any undesirable viruses or spy ware cookies that have been unceremoniously left on your computer. I myself use Norton AV 2001 and Ad-Aware 5.5.

Tip 3: Don’t give any details i.e. email address, name and address, bank details, etc unless you are sure the person receiving them are trustworthy, this may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised just how many people do this.

T is TROJANS, little files that hackers can download onto your computer, and basically gives them control over various things on it; they can steal info, download viruses, etc or even completely destroy your computer, once again, get a Fire-wall on your computer, you’ve been warned.

U is for USEFUL, surfing the Internet is not only useful for gaining knowledge, it is useful for keeping in contact wit
h friends and family, doing your shopping, it can also be an ideal stress and boredom reliever, if your ever feeling stressed or bored, get on to your Internet and forget about the real world, you’d be amazed how easily you forget your problems.

V is for VIRUSES, the biggest threat to anyone using the Internet, by Viruses, I don’t mean a bout of the Flu, I mean the programs that some sad people actually spend days to produce, and they have one intention, the intention to irritate you or even worse, destroy your hard drives and any data on them, always use protection (no I don’t mean Condom’s) I mean Virus checkers, Fire-walls, etc.

W is for WAITING, yes this is something you have to get used to whilst surfing the Internet, waiting (hence the nickname World Wide Wait), be it waiting for a web page to load or waiting for something to download, be patient and get used to it.

X is for XXX, the Internet is literally over-run with the good old XXX sites, you know the Pornography sites, whether you use these or not, always be careful, as you can always be led from a pretty innocent “Soft-Porn” site, into the dark, sick and deprived world of something less desirable, so be warned.

Y is for YAHOO, Yahoo originally started off as just a search engine, but has now expanded to and ultimate network of just about anything, you have the Yahoo Groups (see my opinion on them), Search Engine, Email, Games, etc.

Z is for Zzzz, in other words, its time to get off the Internet and get to bed, as you really should get some sleep, as that is the main drawback to the Internet, a severe lack of sleeping.

Oh well, these my little rant about things to do with surfing the Internet, I actually struggled to fulfil the A to Z, hence some of them being pretty meaningless, its surprising how hard these A to Z opinions are.

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