Salnave on SA

Staff Editorial

Editorial Cartoon

Xavier Trevino

"Welcome" is an all too familiar sound as you go online in search of test grades, class notes or pictures of Catherine Zeta Jones for your wallpaper.

It would seem, as the relatively new adage goes "the world is at our finger tips."

And rightly so. With the rate technology is expanding, who knows what cool new innovations will be at our disposal?

However, there are those among us who have delved so deep into the bowels of the Internet that it has seized us in its electric vice-grips with no intention of letting go.

Just the other day a buddy of mine wanted to go to the movies. So I made an attempt to pick up the phone and call for movie times.

Little did I know my friend possessed a cat-like prowess that allowed him to leap across a pile of dirty clothes, a chair, and Maxim magazines to slap the phone from my hand.

I was sent reeling back, and would have knocked my head on the bedpost were it not for a stuffed Pikachu in the way.

"Dude, don't use the phone," he cried. "I can look up the times on the Internet."

Not wanting to provoke another berserker attack, I agreed, and he set forth on his Internet crusade for movie times.

In the longest 15 minutes of my life he finally got the times.

When we arrived at the theater, we realized the times on the Net were wrong. 

One can imagine my displeasure.

This was not the first time I ran into an Internet missionary. It has happened before, and it can happen again.

It seems that despite all the marvels the Internet can provide it is still lacking in many areas.

I have yet to find a perfect substitute for the Yellow Pages, which next to the dictionary is perhaps the world's greatest reference tool.

Need to find someone to fix the toilet that your friend flushed your hamster down? Consult the Yellow Pages. Sure you can look on the Internet, but you'll end up with a plumber in Ohio ... hmm, online plumbing.

It happened so fast we hardly knew what hit us. Almost overnight, computers and the Internet became a cornerstone of our society.

The University has now placed computer stations around campus, so that friend of yours can check his e-mail between every class.

You know the friend who every time you call him is "checking his e-mail."

Even though you know no one calls him, save you, and no one would take the time to write him a letter.

But just how convenient are the tools we have created for ourselves? 

Honestly, we should have stopped at the car protection wonder tool: The Club. The Club can kill your dinner, defend your family and (with a few adjustments) act as a light source.

Our greatest achievement ... all hail The Club.

With the recent passing of Y2K, the computer and its practical uses are brought into even greater question.

Do not be fooled; despite all the wonders the computer has let us accomplish, it is far from perfect.

How many Web searches have you done for some project and the only thing you got was tons of porn links?

Be very careful when typing in the Web addresses as well. One wrong letter will take you to the wrong site, and you're branded for life.

So what do we make of our latest Frankenstein? 

I know some people who have gone so far as to treat their computers like pets. They speak to them, caress to them and even sing to them.

"No dude, seriously, my computer likes it when I sing to it," they say.

From different desktop themes to wallpapers and sounds, our computers reflect ourselves in them, because without us fully realizing until now, they have become a part of our eternal society and culture. A digital culture.