Teaching Your Grandmother To Suck Eggs? (Internet Surfing)

Member Name: blackjane

Product:	Internet Surfing
Date:	08/09/01 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Information, Information, Information

Disadvantages: Lack of organisation can make it difficult to find what you want at first

'Surfing' the 'net, as it is colloquially known, is a relatively sedate hobby, although in many ways it can be one of the most rewarding. Whilst I am aware that the vast majority of people that will read this opinion are already familiar with many of the facets of the Internet, it is such a vast resource that it is unlikely that anyone has really been able to use it to its full potential yet.

In some ways I am fortunate as the Internet has also become a integral part of my work as well, although this can also have its disadvantages with over reliance on my skills from colleagues. I also find that I sometimes lose the urge to use the Internet for leisure during my own time when I have been using it in work during the day.

As there are many people that will be aware of some of the content from this opinion already, I hope that there may be one or two interesting snippets for even the most experienced Interent surfers out there.
The Internet is by no means an easy beast to tame, and although I now consider myself to be relatively experienced, I believe that I am still learning.

It is difficult to easily categorise the Internet, as its main benefit is that it can be the home to just about anything and anyone. However, in my experience, which stretches now to about five or six years, I find that the following activities and uses take up the majority of my time. However, I appreciate that there are many many more uses as well.

• Reference

Due to my familiarity with the Internet I tend to be the person in work that is burdened with finding information on the Internet. I am glad to say that in about 98% of cases I am able to find what is required, and usually very quickly. As a starting point, I make use of Internet search engines, in particular Google and Wisenut. Searching is simply a case of carefully selecting a few words or phrases to bring back relevant pages. The use of quotues (" ") around
phrases and the use of a plus sign ( + ) before particular words or phrases are invaluable in generating more relevant results. The use of search engines is always a matter of trial and error, but continual use over time increases the likelihood of finding what you want, and also being able to do it much more quickly as well.

Some Useful Sites:
www.google.co.uk; www.wisenut.com

• News

The Internet has become an important medium for breaking news. Thankfully, as well as the obvious headline news that will usually break on TV and radio at the same time, the Internet is able to bring specialist news quicker than ever before. This can relate to just about anything, such as specific local news, news on sports, entertainment and finance - in fact just about anything you can think of.

Some Useful Sites:
www.bbc.co.uk; www.ananova.com; www.newsnow.co.uk

• Correspondence

The Internet is a great way to communicate with others. This communication can take many forms, and although e-mail is perhaps the most common, the use of bulletin boards, forums and chat rooms provide a cornucopia of different methods to keep in touch with others.

Some useful sites:
www.hotmail.com; www.yahoo.com; www.msn.com; www.habbohotel.com

• Shopping

These days, you don't need to leave your home to stock up on your groceries or anything else that you need for you or your home. More and more companies are enabling their customers to visit their web site to browse and shop, rather than having to jump in a car and fight your way to the shops. Many companies have an on-line presence in addition to a retail network, but there is a growing number of organisations that operate purely on-line now. The growth of auction sites such as Ebay and QXL mean that the choice of goods on offer is extensive. I shop mainly for CDs, DVDs and occasionally for other household purchases, although these days it
seems that you can buy just about anything on-line. Of course, you will need to have a credit or debit card to pay for your goods, so ensure that the sites you shop with are secure. Also beware of excessive delivery charges as these may make your purchases more expensive than you first thought.

Some Useful Sites:
www.amazon.co.uk; www.cd-wow.com; www.play247.com; www.ebay.com; www.qxl.com; www.fish4.co.uk; www.tesco.com

As well as these broad categories, the Internet has helped me to locate former school colleagues, speak with my relatives in Canada, pay my bills, find details of offers and freebies, book holidays and discover more about my destination, find obscure music, as well as a million and one other things that would make this opinion more than a little unwieldy. Finally, and perhaps most rewarding of all, I have been able to improve my writing skills by contributing to Dooyoo.

At the end of the day (if you'll excuse the footballing cliche) the Internet can be whatever you want it to be. It would be wrong of me to tell anyone what they should use the Internet for, as I believe that is something that you should develop for yourself. However, by highlighting some of the general areas that I find interesting and useful, I hope that I have been able to provide you with some some food for thought.

{An original Dooyoo opinion
© Blackjane 2001}

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