Small Rant

So I am taking an on-line class on Environmental Sustainability. The topics are really interesting, including topics on air, water and land. The course includes writings on how the developed world is effecting the developing world and what some of the issues are with our earth's resources. How conflict occurs over water, how land has been overtaken by agriculture, and how biotechnology is a potential way to help improve our situation. So as you can see there are some interesting topics, ones that are especially relevant to us today.

However, what I am disliking about this class is all of the reading that must be done on-line. I feel like this is a topic that should be discussed. I feel it requires more interaction. I think many would agree. Another interesting thing, is an article my mom sent me the other day about education in the UK and how emphasis on outside classroom work (mainly on-line) is potentially beneficial for students and their learning. However, from my experience so far with on-line classes I find I have less motivation to learn more than what is given to me on-line. I find myself being so bored with reading the on-line material, that no matter how interesting the topic, I lose interest.

I may be old-fashioned (interesting I know since I grew up in the technology generation), but I like contact with the outside world. I like to have interesting conversations with people about topics in order to improve my learning. I like to be hands on, to see the world, see what's going on for real versus reading it all on the web. I think the web is a good starting point, but it is not a means to an end. There is so much more out there to see and experience!

I was watching a show on the BBC the other day discussing my generations use of facebook and how it has actually created social problems for my generation. That people my age depend on it so much that they have lost the social skills of past generations. Some main factors for this are that people can change who they are on facebook for however they want to appear, their language changes (aka jk, lol, awk., most def., whatev...you see my point), and they speak more on-line than going out and practicing socializing face to face with another breathing human being.

I of course say this as I type on my on-line blog, and just got off facebook because I needed a break from my course work. But then, I am a prime example of what I feel is a problem with technology. I am a firm believer that our generation (and future generations) need to remember to get off-line more often. We need to use what the internet was created for in the first place, a place to find information/research and communicate. And I mean this in the most basic sense. I don't mean research as in only find your information from the web or communicate for 5 hours a day (you know what I mean, checking your e-mail every 5 minutes, talking on chat services, checking your facebook account all the time), I mean use the internet then GET OFF and go get a life!

I myself need to work on this. I find myself on-line when I'm bored all of the time. My friend Diana and I were talking about this the other day. We were discussing how we get so caught up with what is on-line that we missed out on what was a gorgeous day. We were lamenting that we hadn't gone for a long walk, a jog, sat outside and read a book or visited a nearby park. I don't know how to solve this dilemma and I am by no means suggesting that the internet is evil, in fact it is a very useful and potentially a salvation for some of our environmental problems of today. All I am saying is we all need to take a look as to how much we use it a day, and why in the world we aren't taking more advantage of the wide world we have in front of us!