It’s amazing how the Internet has become so much a part of our lives in such a short period of time. I, like many people, once lived in a world when there was no Internet and sometimes actually remember when words like “web” and “on-line” were not part of my daily language. But lately – I’m starting to forget what life was like without the Internet.

As of late, I am seeing the Internet become more and more a part of everyday living then I ever have before. They say only eight percent of the world is on the World Wide Web – if that’s the case and the Internet is this much a part of our lives now – what about when the whole planet goes “on-line”?

Think about it, don’t you see the Internet everywhere lately? Take a look at the subway ads – I guarantee you there is a “dot com” in almost every one of them. Listen to the commercials on the radio – I’ll bet that at least two out of five are for an Internet website. Watch television – I’ll bet you can’t go through an hour of TV without seeing a web-based advertisement or a website advertised for the very show you are watching. And to top all of that – I bought a marble composition book yesterday, the same book I have bought all of my life when it was “Back To School” time – and the inside cover of the book had, instead of the usual multiplication charts that it had when I was a kid – a chart where you can list your e-mail address and your favorite websites. Like it or not – the web is everywhere.

So is this good or bad? In my opinion – it’s both. It’s good because it is bringing humanity together in a way that nothing else before it ever could – and that includes the telephone. People who have never met before can now communicate, and people who used to have to be together to work together could now do just that from different corners of the globe at the same time. Look at me – I wouldn’t be the Moderator of the South Park Booster Club if it wasn’t for the Internet – so Lord knows I’m pro-Web.

But besides being a good thing – it’s also bad. While the world is slowly pulling into the Information Superhighway – what about those people who don’t have computers? They are now segregated from a movement that is making its way across the planet faster then you can say Yahoo – and this segregation stretches across the age groups. When I was younger, I went to sleep away camp and when the summer was over, I gave all of my newly acquired friends my home address and hoped that they would write to me. When my nephew went to camp this year – all of the kids were asking for e-mail addresses rather then home addresses. After all – why use “snail mail” as it is now called when you can instantly send messages for free without waiting days to get them. But what about that one kid that does not have an e-mail address? Does that mean no one will write to him or her because he or she does not have an e-mail address? Unfortunately, I fear that may be the case.

So what are we supposed to do? Are we all supposed to “log on” to the World Wide Web whether we like it or not? Should we all add a “www” to the front of our names? Should we replace our cast iron mailboxes with electronic ones? Or should we sit back and watch the world and the world wide web www.passusby.com?

I guess we are all more “connected” then we thought. After all, without the web – you wouldn’t be reading this column.