T’internet, that enticing temptress

Oh, Wikipedia. No matter what noble intentions I start out with (in this case, finding a date that wasn’t in my History book), I always end up reading about the differences between prescriptive and descriptive linguistics or the Pre-Raphaelite movement or Esperanto, which I’m now dying to learn. I’m thinking of making it my special interest topic, actually. My History teacher is rather a laid-back fellow when it comes to that kind of thing, so I’m still at the ‘hmmm, that might be interesting’ stage. This would worry me if I didn’t have Wikipedia to distract me.

The greater issue is having access to t’internet in general, I think. It’s like a puppy that’s forever entreating you to play a nerdy variety of fetch. It’s also more pernicious than television in that when you’re on the intra-ma-webz, you can fool yourself that you’re indirectly studying. For instance, my subconscious, never the sharpest tack in the box, is convinced that Hipster Hitler will be of great assistance in tackling Dictatorship and Democracy in History.

Then there’s our beloved Facebook. If the internet is a puppy, Facebook is that friend who’s on a gap year and can’t comprehend that you can’t go out with them every school night. It’s also your mother. “Remember to wish that randomer who went to your art camp last summer a happy birthday! It’s only polite!” I keep meaning to turn the emails off, but then I go on to Facebook to do so. Two hours later, having had my fill of wall posts and furtively going through people’s pictures, I’ve completely forgotten what I came for.

Not that I’m against Facebook in general. It shows you how people want the world to view them – their grammar, their use of language, the pictures they put up and the things they consider status update-worthy are all within their control and very revealing. Even more telling is what they choose to leave out. It’s all quite interesting, and would possibly be useful if I were a sociologist. Being a sullen, bespectacled 6th year, however, I’m just left wondering if it’s not a bit creepy and invasive to be analysing people I barely know. They put the information out there, but it still feels a bit like staring at someone’s outfit. The fact that they chose to wear it in public doesn’t give you gaping privileges.

All this is my long-winded way of saying that I’m having self-motivation difficulties. I’ve been sick in an on/off way all month, which doesn’t help. I write this curled up in a ball, sniffling and drinking soya milk, feeling like quite the valetudinarian for not being in school.

Anyway, I’m off to start a multilingual vocabulary copy. The plan is that whenever a word comes up in French, I’ll find out the Irish, Spanish and Japanese for it, write them all down and somehow memorise them. I won’t put the English on the assumption that out of four foreign languages, I’ll have remembered what it means in one. This will either be the making of me or drive me completely insane. Possibly both. Time will tell, I guess.

5 thoughts on “T’internet, that enticing temptress”

  1. im not being bad or anything
    but you more or less copied one of the blogs below (the dear facebook one)
    most of the content is the same
    can ya not think of an original blog to write
    🙁

    1. Repitition is boring but I think it’s just influence from the other writers. On another note; Where did all these new bloggers come from??

      Btw I like your blogs Naoise, they always capture a side of english that I have could never employ.
      – I’m just expressing this side of the debate.

  2. I’m sorry you feel that way. If you’re talking about “Dear facebook im sorry but its over, it’s not you or me, blame the leaving cert”, I can see that both posts discuss the diverting nature of Facebook, but it’s a theme that’s cropped up in several posts on this site, and is, arguably, something that almost every 6th year with internet access is going through. So yes, I would agree that the subject matter of part of this blog is the same as the subject matter of part of that one, but theme isn’t the same as content. Content would be if I’d just taken that post, paraphrased it and called it my own. I feel that I’ve done nothing more than give my thoughts on a concern that’s popped up for a fair few Leaving Cert students with internet access, one that Cian also covered from his perspective. If you think that I’ve plagiarised in any way, I’d be greatly obliged if you’d give examples of sentences that seem to have been lifted from the post, but I hope you’ll excuse me for thinking that “copied” is a bit dramatic. We’re all writing about doing the Leaving; of course the same considerations are going to pop up.

    1. Wow if you are/were on a debate team the other side must have been afraid so very afraid keep up the good blogs and to mark religion has come up a few times and other things have been repeated as well if one person then says that there is too much homework does that mean that they are the only people who are allowed to say that because they said it first! Now that doesn’t seem fair now does it

    2. Awww, thank you! Though in person, my tendency to mumble, shuffle and generally be awkward tends to detract from my argument, but what can you do. Anyway, thanks for making a good point!

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