Recently, net neutrality has become a hot topic among the online community, and for good reason. Many college students have grown up with the internet we know and love today, and like it or not, the world wide web is a lot more important to us than we think. In fact, I would go so far as to say the internet has made more of an impact on our generation's mentality than any other aspect of our lives.
Millennials may not be the first generation to have access to the internet, but we are the first to possess such a refined and readily available version of it. With such a vast array of information at our disposal, a lack of access feels infinitely worse for us than it would for other generations; the constant mental stimulation the internet provides can leave us feeling empty when it goes away.
This means we've got quite a knack for keeping ourselves busy and efficient. The internet has given us the capability to ask experts from around the world about any topic, collaborate with potentially dozens of people at the same time on one assignment, and confirm all our hard work and research with academic sources.
Millennials, more than most other generations, have grown up with a seemingly infinite amount of information at our fingertips and that has resulted in an overall more informed set of people.
However, as we all know this easy access is a double-edged sword for a lot of people, including me. Not only do we have unprecedented access to information, but we also have plenty of entertainment to keep us "busy."
With sites like YouTube, Netflix and Twitch pushing out traditional television, millennials can spend hours watching whatever we want without any commercial breaks, making procrastination all the more simple.
I also mentioned that as a generation, we're generally more informed, but when hundreds of millions of people are looking at the same information there's bound to be some conflicting viewpoints. If you've ever looked at a political Facebook video's comments (my condolences), you'll have seen a battlefield between an array of different perspectives.
The nature of internet comments tends to pit your side against every other side, polarizing strong opinions and drowning out those who are on the fence over some issues. This can then lead to very extreme outsider groups who refuse to listen to reason when they step out into the real world.
With so much information and enjoyment, one could theoretically spend their whole life behind the computer screen. However, I believe that most well-adjusted millennials have found a happy medium when it comes to online use.
Despite having everything we need tightly packed together, we still take the initiative to discover new things with our own eyes. Besides, if we never go out, how could we flex our exciting lives on social media?
