While planning a New Year’s Eve outing for my family, I recalled a conversation I had with my brother-in-law nearly two decades ago and came to an interesting realization: websites have made our lives considerably easier. Sure, everyone under the age of 21 knows this on some level, but when you take a moment to think about it, the very existence of websites effectively takes much of the hassle out of information gathering.
I’ll never forget the day back in 1995 when my wife’s brother asked me when I’d be purchasing a home computer. My answer was a genuinely puzzled, “Why?” He replied, “The Internet is a great tool for looking things up.” I then informed him that between the dictionary, phonebook and my local library, I had all the info-gathering tools I needed. It wasn’t until purchasing my first PC in 1997 that I realized just how far ahead of the curve my brother-in-law truly was.
Case in point: last New Year’s Eve, I was able to look up the Pettit Ice Center’s hours of operation, peruse Milwaukee Ale House’s dinner menu and purchase tickets to a play at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in less than 20 minutes. Before the advent of the Internet, ascertaining all this information would require me to spend at least an hour on the phone, to say nothing of all the time I’d spend flipping through the Yellow Pages beforehand. I also had the option of forgoing the phonebook and instantly driving up my telephone bill with a few calls to 4-1-1. And just imagine how much time I’d have spent on hold if I was foolhardy enough to call such popular hotspots on the busiest night of the year!
Reflecting on the unrivaled convenience websites have brought into our lives makes me take pride in what we do here at Image Management. The sites our company builds from the ground up are aesthetically attractive, easy to navigate and provide visitors with a bevy of useful information. Although the Internet is in a constant state of evolution, its core purpose remains unaltered: to inform, educate and make people’s lives easier.
Published on January 1, 2012