I feel smarter and more knowledgeable. I've had access to the web in my house off and on since I was 11 (25 now) and even when things dragged along via dial-up

I feel smarter and more knowledgeable. I've had access to the web in my house off and on since I was 11 (25 now) and even when things dragged along via dial-up, I always felt like I had all kinds of info at my fingertips. I'd go to class in high school armed with all kinds of facts and background info on topics that the teachers (especially in history classes, for example) never would have/could have covered. My parents were always all for dropping me and my bro off at the library, but something about finding out about stuff by going from link to link is just more fluid than walking out with a ton of books (some of which may not even be all current). During college, I picked up Rails and all this open source stuff--the databases, servers, etc.--that I really wouldn't have gotten to in classes until my senior year. 'twas all made possible by going from link to link, blog to blog. Overall, I'm just happy that whatever I want to know is always going to just be right there as long as I have some kind of internet connection. It's always been an advantage in my book. Socially, I'm glad I can stay connected to whomever despite not physically being within a convenient distance of any of my really good friends. Despite Facebook and Twitter, iChat and Skype keep me connected and able to see friends from college who are allover the place. Seeing a friend react in real-time to some new shirt you bought, for example, really beats even just the telephone. It all makes the world smaller and a lot closer. Gotta love the internet...!