What is really the significance of the social media to people’s lives nowadays? To what extent of their life they would sacrifice everything just for the sake of their social network accounts? What if we didn’t have this kind of generation today? How much time do we really spend a day just scrolling the timeline or checking our social network accounts? What if the internet didn’t exist, what would life be like? And so the questions won’t end.
Yes, I wonder how life would be today if internet did not exist. I won’t deny the fact that I, myself, is also active to some social networks but a matter of fact, there are times that the thought would still come across my mind. I am still curious about the life of today versus the life before, I mean with and without the internet. I have heard and kind of read some articles about how life would run if internet did and did not exist. Of course, there’s a huge difference and everyone knows that.
The internet today is quite a big help, somehow, but at the same time it’s a big distraction also to everyone’s lives. I do think that social network can messed up someone’s life, whether you agree or not but I do really think so. The internet makes a big impact to our lives now; faster way of communication, easy way to research, makes our technology life better and the list continue.
Now, going back to the question “what life would be like right now if the internet didn’t exist?”. Simple, more interactions with people we love and lesser eyes on the monitors or screens and there would be more verbal interactions than non-verbal interactions. But what if social network didn’t really have to exist and why does it really have to exist?
Are you familiar with the movie, “The Social Network”? Or have you seen the movie already? It’s actually amazes me how Mark came up with an idea of creating his own social network site by just using his creativity and intelligence. It amazes me how he pursue of making the social network site thru hacking some accounts. He can be nerd and weird at the same time but in just one snap, he became not just a millionaire but a billionaire. We don’t know how capable a person is and where would his abilities would bring him.
Who is Mark Zuckerberg, anyway?
Z U C K E R B E R G, M A R K
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, into a comfortable, well-educated family, and raised in the nearby village of Dobbs Ferry. His father, Edward Zuckerberg, ran a dental practice attached to the family’s home. His mother, Karen, worked as a psychiatrist before the birth of the couple’s four children—Mark, Randi, Donna and Arielle.
Zuckerberg developed an interest in computers at an early age; when he was about 12, he used Atari BASIC to create a messaging program he named “Zucknet.” His father used the program in his dental office, so that the receptionist could inform him of a new patient without yelling across the room. The family also used Zucknet to communicate within the house. Together with his friends, he also created computer games just for fun. “I had a bunch of friends who were artists,” he said. “They’d come over, draw stuff, and I’d build a game out of it.”
To keep up with Mark’s burgeoning interest in computers, his parents hired private computer tutor David Newman to come to the house once a week and work with Mark. Newman later told reporters that it was hard to stay ahead of the prodigy, who began taking graduate courses at nearby Mercy College around this same time.
Zuckerberg later studied at Phillips Exeter Academy, an exclusive preparatory school in New Hampshire. There he showed talent in fencing, becoming the captain of the school’s team. He also excelled in literature, earning a diploma in classics. Yet Zuckerberg remained fascinated by computers, and continued to work on developing new programs. While still in high school, he created an early version of the music software Pandora, which he called Synapse. Several companies—including AOL and Microsoft—expressed an interest in buying the software, and hiring the teenager before graduation. He declined the offers. (Bio.)
Life Lessons 101 from THE Mark Zuckerberg:
1. “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” | From an October 2011 interview at Y Combinator’s Startup School in Palo Alto, California.
2. “The question isn’t ‘What do we want to know about people?’ It’s, 'What do people want to tell about themselves?” | From a November 2011 interview with Charlie Rose.
3. “I literally coded Facebook in my dorm room and launched it from my dorm room. I rented a server for $85 a month, and I funded it by putting an ad on the site, and we’ve funded ever since by putting ads on the site.” | In the same Charlie Rose interview, Zuck spoke about the social media giant’s humble beginnings.
4. “A squirrel dying in your front yard may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.” | From a speech given to his colleagues at Facebook about relevance, as reported by The New York Times.
5. “Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.” | In an interview with Business Insider’s Henry Blodget, Zuck opened up about innovation, management, and more. Recently, however, he announced that Facebook would be changing this motto.
6. “This is a perverse thing, personally, but I would rather be in the cycle where people are underestimating us. It gives us the latitude to go out and make big bets that excite and amaze people.” | The entrepreneur offered his thoughts on dealing with skeptics, in an interview at TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF conference in September 2012, as reported by Forbes.
7. “People don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie–or even what you say, right? They care about what you build.” | From an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer in July 2010.
8. “In Silicon Valley, you get this feeling that you have to be out here. But it’s not the only place to be. If I were starting now, I would have stayed in Boston. [Silicon Valley] is a little short-term focused and that bothers me.” | Also from the October 2011 interview at Y Combinator’s Startup School in Palo Alto, California.
9. “The question I ask myself like almost every day is, 'Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?’ … Unless I feel like I’m working on the most important problem that I can help with, then I’m not going to feel good about how I’m spending my time.” | From Marcia Amidon Lusted’s biography Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Creator.
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Mark Zuckerberg is truly an amazing man and an inspiration. His determination and what drives him to do what he wants is inspiring in some aspects in everyone’s lives. He may be such a nerd and weird but this brought him a great life today; his experiences before, his challenges and conflicts in life and his patience that brought him to his “right time”. Just like what everyone said, “don’t be afraid to take the risk, you don’t know where and what would it give to you.” But I guess this kind of risk to Mark isn’t a bad risk but one great lucky risk, a twisted kind of risk in his life.
The movie gave something to be remember to those who have seen it, but I’m sure everyone has seen it already. I love how they brought a movie that is based on a true story into full pack of bringing lessons to viewers about determination, patience, importance of your own capabilities and abilities and most importantly recognizing what you can do in your own ways. It is truly a remarkable movie; it doesn’t just shows what Mark did but like I said it gave viewers some lessons that could be applicable to their own lives as well.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend and suggest you should go watch it now. It may be kind of dull and boring at first but it will be fun and interesting to watch it all along the movie. And I’m sure it’ll amaze you how he came up with an idea of creating such network site and how his motivation and determination pushed him all throughout. Can you still remember what they said,“Everything will be worth it in the end if you just learn to be patient.”? Well, it’s true. *wink
