Yeah I'm back not quite the way i had wanted to but i am back nevertheless!!! I am not quite ready to write something personal coz i might spew loads of venom and piss off a lot of people therefore something on the ligter side to warm things up. Why 26 things??? Very simple coz i could think of only 26. Read on then...
1)
The art of polite disagreementThe internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".
2)
Fear that you are the only person unmoved by a celebrity's deathTwitter has become a clearing-house for jokes about dead famous people. Tasteless, but an antidote to the "fans in mourning" mawkishness that otherwise predominates.
3)
Listening to an album all the way throughThe single is one of the unlikely beneficiaries of the internet – a development which can be looked at in two ways. There's no longer any need to endure eight tracks of filler for a couple of decent tunes, but will "album albums" like Evanescence's Fallen get the widespread hearing they deserve?
4)
PunctualityBefore mobile phones, people actually had to keep their appointments and turn up to the meetings on time. Texting friends to warn them of your tardiness five minutes before you are due to meet has become one of throwaway rudenesses of the
connected age.
5)
Adolescent nerves at first porn purchaseThe ubiquity of free, hard-core pornography on the web has put an end to one of the most dreaded rites of passage for teenage boys – buying dirty magazines. Why tremble in the shop queue when you can download mountains of filth for free in your bedroom?
6)
Telephone directoriesWhen was the last time you used one????
7)
WatchesScrabbling around in your pocket to dig out a phone may not be as elegant as glancing at a watch, but...
8)
Music storesIn a world where people don't want to pay anything for music, charging them like 250 bucks for 12 songs in a flimsy plastic case is no business model.
9)
Letter writing/pen palsEmail is quicker, cheaper and more convenient; receiving a handwritten letter from a friend has become a rare, even nostalgic, pleasure. As a result, formal valedictions like "Yours faithfully" are being replaced by "Best" and "Thanks".
10)
MemoryWhen almost any fact, no matter how obscure, can be dug up within seconds through Google and Wikipedia, there is less value attached to the "mere" storage and retrieval of knowledge.
11)
Dead timeWhen was the last time you spent an hour mulling the world out a window, or re-reading a favourite book? The internet's draw on our attention is relentless and increasingly difficult to resist.
12)
Order forms in the back pages of booksAmazon's "Customers who bought this item also bought..." service seems the closest web equivalent.
13)
Delayed knowledge of sporting resultsWhen was the last time you bought a newspaper to find out who won the match, rather than for comment and analysis? There's no need to fall silent for Yashpal Sharma on the way home from the game when everyone in the car has an iPhone.
14)
Enforceable copyrightThe record companies, film studios and news agencies are fighting back, but can the floodgates ever be closed?
15)
Aren't they dead? Aren't they gay?Wikipedia allows us to confirm or disprove almost any celebrity rumour instantly. Only at places with no Wi-Fi signals can the gullible be tricked into believing that Salman Khan passed away.
16)
Knowing telephone numbers off by heartAfter typing the digits into your contacts book, you never need to look at them again.
17)
The mystery of foreign languagesSites like Babelfish offer instant, good-enough translations of dozens of languages – but kill their beauty and rhythm.
18)
Geographical knowledgeWith GPS systems spreading from cars to smartphones, knowing the way from A to B is a less prized skill. Just ask the Bangalore Auto drivers who spent years learning The Knowledge but are now undercut by cabs.
19)
Pencil cricketAn old-fashioned schoolboy diversion swept away by the Stick Cricket behemoth.
20)
ConcentrationWhat with tabbing between Twitter, Facebook and Orkut, it's a wonder anyone gets their work done.
21)
Personal reinventionHow can you forge a new identity at work when your Facebook is plastered with photos of the "old" you?
22)
Undiscovered artistsPosting paintings to deviantART and Flickr – or poems to writebuzz – could not be easier. So now the garret-dwellers have no excuses.
23)
The usefulness of reference pages at the front of diariesIf anyone still digs out their diaries to check what time zone London is in, or how many litres there are to a gallon, we don't know them.
24)
The nervous thrill of the reunionYou've spent the past four years tracking their weight-gain on Facebook, so meeting up with your first love doesn't pack the emotional punch it once did.
25)
SolitaireThe original computer timewaster has been superseded by the more alluring temptations of the web.
26)
Your lunchbreakDid you leave your desk today? Or gobble a sandwich while sending a few personal emails and checking the price of a week in Goa???
