The Internet Versus Real Life?

I met a man when I was on holiday and when I told him I worked for a voucher codes website, he turned his nose up at me. He said that the reason for his snarl was that he completely disagreed with how much the internet is starting to take over our lives. He valued real interaction, supporting high street retailers and didn’t rate any of this internet shopping business. I didn’t disagree with his points entirely, I do think it’s a wrong to use the internet as the place we play out our entire lives, but I think this man had sadly missed all the amazing and valuable things that the internet has brought with it.  

For starters, I think social sites such as Facebook and Twitter that he held in such low regard certainly have their value. I argued that I found it a very useful way of keeping in touch with old friends who have moved away and I no longer visit due to many other commitments. I love to be able to continue to hear their news and be a part of their lives. In a world without the internet, I fear the letters would have become fewer and further between, until eventually we lost contact and I wouldn’t have experienced the joy that they continue to bring to my life through their occasional characteristic quips and photos of family days out. In addition, I think it is important that these websites have enabled shy people to finally have a voice in society, where in real life social situations they would spend their lives being the silent one in the background, afraid to speak. In fact, the internet allows everyone to have an outlet for their thoughts. With the many blogs, the facility provided by websites to allow people to comment on topics and add their own articles, opinions are voiced and reach a wider audience.  This allows them to share and connect with like minded people so a network can be formed.

Regarding internet shopping, I don’t want the high street to disappear. I love mooching round the shops – it’s one of my favourite pastimes – particularly as I work on the computer all day. I admit, I booked a Christmas shopping trip to Manchester with my sister and had a fabulous day wondering round the shops, restaurants and bars. I wouldn’t want that to become a thing of the past as the internet takes over. I think it’s important for us to support local and high street retailers, but we have to be realistic. These are times of austerity, to say the least. The overheads that shops incur as a result of being in town are phenomenal. The leasing and maintenance of premises, staff costs and utility bills make selling through shops a very expensive way of selling. This cost is of course passed on to the consumer in the price of the goods that are sold. For a treat, to have a trip around the shops on my day off is a luxury, but I can’t afford to spend money this way all of the time.

Shops have of course cottoned on to the fact that the costs for providing goods on the internet are no where near those incurred in physical premises. This means that they can pass on discounts to the happy internet customer. That’s where we come in with our UK voucher codes website, collating and advertising the discounts that stores are able to pass on. Plus with the ability to easily shop around and find the best deals, something that is not really as easy to do by going out to the shops, we can make our money go much further.

My final point to the man, who was by now starting to pay attention to my stance, was that the internet had been a godsend to people like my Gran. As she got older and began to have problems with her health, my Gran took to learning as much as she could about computers to enable her to keep contact with the outside world. She was particularly thrilled that she could continue to satisfy her clothes shopping urges by browsing her favourite stores online and getting things delivered to her door. She also found Tesco delivery invaluable and would have struggled to get her basic food if it hadn’t been for the ability to do this through the internet.

I concluded that while people should ensure they keep in touch with the world outside of the internet and not let it dominate their lives, the value of the internet is limitless. It has opened up so many opportunities and possibilities and continues to help so many people in so many ways. It is definitely a good thing in my opinion… and do you know, I think I changed his mind.

Guest Author Byline:  This post brought to you by guest blogger Linda Firth who works for Love My Vouchers, the home of UK voucher codes and deals and enjoys blogging about online services.