Communication+Internet =Materialism?

Karl Marx writes, “The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself.”

Naturally humans have the need to communicate and socialize, hence the reason we live in society. Communication has evolved from only being face-to-face to everything the web has to offer now. Once upon a time for two people living miles away from each other they communicated through letters, which could take up months before it got to its destination and an answer back. Then came the telegram which was much faster but still limited in the speed of feedback. Later came the telephone which was basically the same as being in the same room except for the fact that you couldn’t see each other. And still was the factor of being able to reach the person by the phone, the solution: cellphones. Finally came the World Wide Web. In a nut shell it brought together every old way of communication but made it faster, better, and with hundreds of different options. Think about it how many means of communication do you check when in your computer?

·         Email (multiple accounts: personal, work, school, etc.)

·         Instant Messaging (msn, aim, yahoo, Gmail, Skype etc.)

·         Social Networking (Facebook, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.)

·         Blogs

Personally I have 4 active email accounts. In terms of social network I use: Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn. Still I have accounts on MySpace, even Hi5 unless it deleted for no use in the past four years. I have one blog, so far.  Every once in a while I still get online on msn, I have aim but never really used it, there is Facebook chat now, and I have meebo and Skype. I have accounts in Kodak, YouTube, Flickr. Throughout the years I have probably gotten rid of a couple email accounts as well as accounts in other social networking sites.

Our need of faster and better communication has given rise to all these new media/mediums available to us. It has cause the creation and production of more materialistic stuff. Desktops, laptops, smartphones, ipads, ipods, tablets, netbooks and more. Not so many years ago people survive with only a computer, right now in 2011 is not impossible is just hard to believe. There is these constant need of being able to communicate through any possible method the internet has made available to society. It used to be a dial connection that took several minutes and even made your phone line busy unless you had two phone lines. It almost seemed like you were switching from one method of communication to another, you couldn’t have both. Then it became wireless you could access internet anywhere in your house without having to be chain down to a cord. Wireless internet evolved to being able in public places as long as you had the mediums to use it: laptops or ipods. Finally now thousands of people pay extra money each month to have internet available to them 24/7 in their phones. At least I now I do. Truth be told it has come very handy to have internet in my phone. In perspective it has probably save me several gallons of gas on giving me directions instead of me going in circles endlessly. At the same time I am aware of the material dependence it has become. Sure it’s fun to have my email or Facebook available to me at any time, but I am positive I can live without checking them just when I am in the computer. But the reality is that I could do it for a couple of days but soon I will start missing my phone. During the Christmas holidays when I was visiting back home for a couple weeks I couldn’t use my cell over there (I could but didn’t want to pay for roaming charges). So I had to settle with my old cell from which I could only text and talk. The first couple of days I really didn’t care, but as the days passed I did care. Literally felt like my phone was useless because I couldn’t access the internet. There was no life and death situation requiring my email, or school or work. The only reason I had to wanting to have access to the internet is to fool around on it basically.

It can’t be denied that the internet is a great invention and has satisfied our need of communication. I mean is just sounds foolish to say I couldn’t get a hold of you nowadays. Certainly helps in staying connected with important people in your life as the years pass by and life takes us on different paths. But sadly it has also increased our need for more and more materialistic stuff. Because even if you only own any of the mediums that give you access to the internet, is a constant want of upgrading them.

Natural needs have made us dependent to a materialistic life. Like everything it has its pros and cons, but the question will remain, when is it too much?