We have all seen the pictures, in our head and on television, of the typical Internet junkie: alone in the dark, he sits glued to the soft glow of the computer screen, hand on the mouse, eyes glaring into the screen.

His eyes flutter through the endless web pages and online chats, fingers gliding over the keyboard, seemingly pressing keys at random. There is a soda by his side, and potato chip crumbs strewn about. He occasionally has

glasses, sometimes caused by the endless hours spent focusing on the close monitor. A small, glowing reflection shines off each lens, two blocks of light where his eyes should be found. His glare is blank, no emotion, no feeling, just staring into a reality many enjoy, but few enjoy. He is a heavy-set person, usually due to the endless hours sitting relaxed, not moving, accumulating bulk over time. People like this are usually in their teens or twenties - the age premier of the Internet addiction - spending their golden years in a trance. He has withdrawn himself from society, settling into his little world consisting of a computer, modem, and the vast, sprawling network named "the Internet" which is everywhere, but nowhere. The world in which you

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unconquerable, it has shrunk to a measly little abstract thought based on pictures and sounds relayed to us a screen the size of lunch box. All this occurred in the time span of a couple of centuries, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the age of the earth.

of making a public stand, are often the ones who make the web sites which draw thousands of hits a day. It takes much less courage to take an anonymous stand with a web page than it does to get up in front of the camera and proclaim your opinions, forever running the risk of being chewed out by the ever criticizing press and public.

It is because of the anonymity, that everyone is equal. And because of this equality, those who

As it turns out, because of the advantages of the net, people are turning to it as the premier vocalization platform. It is easy to make a stand since no one will know exactly who it is. It is easier to continue your press toward your cause because the information is there all the time, waiting for someone to access it. And because it is waiting nicely, and not being piped into your house all the time, it has a greater potential for success. People of centuries past had the town meeting. The generation of the '60s had the freedom march. This generation has shied away from that, and chosen the Internet as the premier idea exchange location. All

The net has the same far- reaching appeal of television, but it also has a definite advantage over the tube. Ever flip through the channels and think, "There is nothing on. Only this guy, preaching his crap. And this stupid cartoon, and this: what the heck? What language is this, anyway?" Nothing is ever "just what you want." What television does is force something down your throat with you constantly trying to fight it. Sure, you can use the remote, but what good will that do if everything on is bad? It merely lets

You can go right on with your life, knowing that you did what you thought was right, and even though no one agreed with you, you still are the same person as before, in the eyes of the public. That is why pornography has proliferated on the net. No one is publicly proud of their collection of half of Hollywood in their birthday suits. On the net, however, a person is nothing more than a cryptic e-mail address, and thus, disappear into the endless numbers of people as just another name in the crowd of information.

In addition, while a television is limited to, at most, 100 channels, it still leaves your options severely limited. It puts control into the hands of the big producers who decide what is important and what is not. On the net, people like yourself deem things important, not executive sno

Some common words found in the essay are:
Houston Texas, CNN Internet, Active Generation, Information Superhighway, Internet Junkies, Graham Bell's, people's opinions, Ricky Martin, net people, net person, change world, internet world, web page, world changed, people believe,
Approximate Word count = 1843
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)