First Impressions of the Internet

Sometime during early elementary school I talked my parents into ordering me a subscription to Girl’s Life magazine. Endorsed by the Girl Scouts of America, the wisdom contained in the magazine was undoubtedly crucial to my survival as a preteen female. Every month I would pore over the articles describing movies and fashion, as well as weightier pieces discussing what it meant to be a young woman in America. Everything written in the magazine seemed so practical and relevant to my life! I was hooked.

In the spring of 1997 Girl’s Life chose to create an online presence for itself. The letters from the editor that year continuously urged readers to set up accounts on the publication’s newly-created website, speaking warmly of the advice forums, interactive games, and e-mail client offered by the magazine. My membership on this site was quickly deemed a necessity.

I can’t really remember any interaction with the internet prior to this, although I’m positive that I used it from time to time. Having grown up with complete access to computers, I remember viewing the World Wide Web as completely unremarkable—just another program listed in the Start menu on the family’s computer. The video games I played on the computer seemed much more relevant to me; I simply hadn’t found a use for the internet at that point in my life. All this changed, however, upon the promise of a fledgling online community fostered by Girl’s Life.

My account with Girl’s Life afforded me access to e-mail for the first time ever. I pored over the interface and quickly added as contacts the only two people in the world whose information I knew: namely, my father and my second-grade teacher. Over the course of that summer, I bombarded each of them with brief messages; “What are you up to?,” “How is work today?,” and “Only 3 weeks ‘til the beach!” were all common refrains. I loved the increased ease of communication that e-mail provided, despite the fact that it often took whole HOURS for my reluctant pen-pals to respond.

In retrospect, I realize that the experience provided by the Girl’s Life website was anything but novel. The advice forums, of which the magazine had spoken so highly in its print publication, turned out to be mostly vacant. The lack of original material posted online led even myself—a dedicated reader—to spend very little time browsing the site. Exposure to the internet at a young age, however, fostered a degree of comfort with the technology as a whole.

In “Fire Worship,” Nathaniel Hawthorne describes his concern regarding the antiquation of the household fireplace, which he associates with conversation and inspiration. Hawthorne claims that “the inventions of mankind are fast blotting the picturesque, the poetic, and the beautiful out of human life.” The fire’s replacement by the plain wood-burning stove is a travesty in Hawthorne’s mind because it represents a shift in which the user values utility through technology over something that more subtly enhances one’s livelihood. Many view the internet as a similar sort of evil, complaining that it alienates its users from the Real World. The technology, its opponents argue, provides an unnecessary hindrance to a favorable lifestyle.

It is worth noting, however, that my early use of the World Wide Web enriched my life; I used it mainly to communicate with others. Furthermore, because of the nature of Girl’s Life magazine, the additional resources provided by the website were helpful in navigating pre-adolescence. In this sense, my experience was more similar to the vision outlined by Vannevar Bush for the Memex, which he describes as “an enlarged supplement to [the user’s] memory.” This position diametrically opposes Hawthorne’s in that it emphasizes the benefits of the new technology rather that its inadequacies.

Furthermore, I believe that my early use of the internet fostered a sense of comfort with technology; as a child, I never experienced the feeling that computers were too challenging a technology for me to master. Growing up, I viewed the internet as a tool that I could manipulate to more easily communicate and discover information. In short, I used the internet to increase my intelligence—how could that possibly be construed as negative?

“Fire Worship” is quite relevant to widespread beliefs about the use of technology in our current culture. Although Hawthorne would no doubt have perceived my degree of comfort with computers as a threat to a more fulfilled life, I disagree. His writing seems to encourage a fear of progress, which, while clearly not an absolutely positive element of our society, ultimately serves to enrich more than damaging our livelihood.