If you're like me (and if you're reading this blog, chances are I'm making a safe assumption) you are familiar with the internet. Whether it's your email, your favorite news sites or checking Facebook to see how your friends and family are doing, you are using the internet. This is for all intents and purposes an organism of data that co-exists like a global library more or less. A grand analogy of life.
I recently went on vacation to Canada and found the internet access to be limited. Forget the fact that it was shit speed everywhere we went, but some of the sites I tried to read wouldn't even allow me access b/c I was not in the US. Forget the 'vacation = no internet' non sense too b/c I'm not hearing it. The internet is my newspaper, my Time Magazine, my warm blanket. Because the older I get the more I want to consume information. And the internet is just a giant library in my pocket that is filled with horrible content and brilliant work; Sifting through it is an adventure.
This led me to think about net neutrality and how important open access to information is. I cannot fathom the reason I would be unable to read about research being done (US ran, foreign locale) from the neighboring country. Or why I couldn't watch a clip from a UFC fight that previous weekend. Whether it's a cooking blog or a thesis on Nuclear Fusion published in Germany, why is it not all available to everyone? It's on the internet for people to consume!
With that being said, net neutrality is a real concern these days and it doesn't seem like people are even worried. For those of you unfamiliar, the issue is that internet providers are fighting to gain the right to slow down or block content as they see fit. They argue on the principal that it's "their highway" of information, we're just using it. Forget their argument for a minute and consider what it would mean if they had the right to block and slow down content on the internet.........
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Ok. Ready for an easy analogy?
You know if you turn on Fox News you get one perspective, then you turn to CNN and get another perspective? You hear the same topic being discussed with vastly different narratives filled with 80% bullshit and fluff and it becomes clear that they've got an agenda... Now imagine that you can't change the channel. You have Fox News internet or you have CNN internet.
Is that the type of information you want available to you? Make no mistake that if the ISP's get control, big money will take over.
Now surprisingly, that's not what my main take away was, that was just a quick fyi for that ass. While thinking about all of this, I got to thinking about the content I do consume. A lot of it is social media; I'm a people watcher. I'm fascinated by people's interactions and lately I've noticed more (it's affected me more), how negative people are on the internet. Why they're that way, anyone can guess, but it's just an expectation to see 75% negative stuff and 25% positive while looking at people interacting on the internet.
Truthfully, recently the negativity was getting to me so much that I was considering dropping all social media all together. Then I realized I'm an adult and can manage life.
The approach is pretty obvious, don't buy into the hateful rhetoric and use your resources to find the good in the world, not the bad; It's a basic tenet of life. Then the internet sort of purifies itself to become that open source of data with the potential for growth of knowledge. Of course you'll find rocks, worms and root systems that screw with your garden of information, but again, sifting through it is the adventure.
Now in the face of all of this introspection on how you view the negativity on the internet, I realized I could be doing better at this in my daily life. We have a baby in brand new house and work is crazy and if you let yourself, you can be deterred by these obstacles. Of course severe windstorms could be coming, but when was the last time you got to sit with your family and play board games by candlelight? Of course you work your ass off and feel under appreciated, but you're not starving and you're moving forward, right?
Life is a series of decisions. You either choose to see the opportunity or you choose to see the obstacles. It's important to see the obstacle but only as your eye line looks beyond it to where you're going next. Besides, life without any obstacles is just going for a walk. Hashtag boring.
So yesterday we all got home from work and as usual we had a dozen things to do in order to get everyone fed, get homework done, get laundry done and the kids ready for bed before we could even sit down. But as I was making dinner in the kitchen, something happened that changed my night. We were both exhausted; I was cooking the pasta sauce and my wife was feeding my son. Soon my wife was singing to my son who couldn't have smiled bigger. Next thing I know my daughter came into the kitchen and was now singing an impressive duet with my wife. My son looked like my buddy Bain in the front row of a Van Halen show. It was the final scene of a Full House episode I'm sure of it.
This made me think about my dad for some reason.
He really enjoyed being with his family so I figured he'd get a kick out of that All-American moment. When I'm red-lining in life, I often wonder what he'd think about stuff and I know he'd tell me to ignore the haters (in 61 year old dad terms) and just find what makes me happy. So whether I'm learning to ignore the hateful politics on the internet or stopping to enjoy a one-night-only duet, I think he'd be proud of what we're building and I think he'd be even more proud that I stopped to enjoy it.
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