Mouse Potato 101
During the 90’s, when the television was still the number one distraction for most of us, we held the remote and watched television for excessive number of hours. Sitting, lying or just plain slouching on the couch for long hours while watching the television, some wise-bearded-old-man christened us “couch potatoes”. A few years later, a device called the computer was introduced, promising to revolutionize our way of computing. Shortly after that, the internet was presented to us with all its possibilities to make better our communication with possibilities like streaming video and music, instant electronic mail, virtual gaming, real time online chat and other exciting features. With all those amenities, the internet is slowly becoming the next big thing after the television. Almost all the major labels and companies felt the need to grab a slice of the dot-com bubble pie. According to a survey that IBM – a IT company – conducted in New York city last 2008, results show that out of eleven respondents, only four chose the television over the internet giving the internet a much higher usage rating than the television. Nowadays, we can access almost anything in this new virtual environment with the convenience of a few mouse clicks. Inevitably, some of us are just too into the computer, that we just can’t limit the use of it. We humans because of our weird nature, spend more time using the computer, so excessive, that we were again labeled by this discontented-wise-beard-wearing AND updated old man as “mouse potatoes”. “Mouse potato”, now defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer”.
Now maybe some are now saying that they are not mouse potatoes. First, let’s see the stereotype of a mouse potato. People might describe a mouse potato as a fat unhygienic person that spends most of the day using the computer, and eats his meals in front of the computer; or a skinny geek that wears eyeglasses and braces, gasps on an inhaler and has no other social life other than his family and his fellow geeks. No! Mouse potatoes aren’t limited to those stereotypes anymore. A mouse potato can be everybody. Everybody that uses a computer for long periods of time –which is about two or more hours exceeding the amount of time that a person really needs to use a computer- in his own will, habitually. A mouse potato is anybody who is dependent on the computer and relies on it as long as the task is possible to do with the help of a computer. A mouse potato can be anybody. She can be the charming lady seated in front of you, those buff jocks playing basketball, or even your impossibly frigid teacher. A mouse potato can also have different attitudes in society which are also possibly affected or influenced by the usage of the computer and exposure to content; he can be socially inclined, confident and an extrovert, the sort that can be the star of any party and maintains the lively atmosphere with his charisma and appeal, or the high school prom queen adored by all the boys because of her charm and beauty, and envied by all the insecure and perhaps, mouse potato girls. In contrast, he could be the bashful introvert that doesn’t speak until spoken to or the childish attention freak that everybody finds annoying.
Let’s face it, a lot of us are now hooked into the computer, and are using it. Let’s classify ourselves into three major brands of mouse potatoes. First, there are the “noticeable kind” which are very vivid as mouse potatoes. They are the ones that are stereotyped as geeks, nerds or those who are least socially inclined. They are the ones who prioritize their social life with a low level of importance, although they are not necessarily antisocial. They usually utilize all the possible features of the computer and the internet that are not useful for the normal user. He or she might use features like blogging for some extra profit, time wasting – pointless survey sites and sites similar to peter-answers.com – a false tarot website that allows you to write your own prediction. Another type of mouse potato classification is the ones who you don’t expect as mouse potatoes. They are the more socially inclined people, they are the type that go clubbing, those who play a lot of physical sports and more masculine or feminine in his or her physique. They are the ones who utilize the computer practical and social networking purposes only. They usually spend excessive amounts of time fiddling with their Facebook, MySpace and other networking website accounts. They check their emails regularly, do most of their research on the internet, and sometimes watch videos for fun. The second classification although utilizes lesser features than the first, still uses computers for extensively long hours. The last classifications of mouse potatoes are those who seemingly combine the characteristics of both of the previous classes. They are those who balance the “geekiness” and the “coolness” of both parties. Sometimes they only utilize the useful aspect of a computer and sometimes, they also use it for leisure, entertainment, and for pointless and time wasting activities.
Being a mouse potato has effects, good, bad or even both. The effects of being a mouse potato is not limited to a person developing poor eyesight because of the over exposure of his eyes to the computer screen, or poor physique because of the lack of engagement in physical activities which is spent instead in front of the computer slouching, or even the under appreciation for social gatherings which can damage a mouse potato’s social life. The excessive computer usage can also take its toll on a mouse potato’s budget with costly electric bills. The computer can add up to five hundred to a thousand pesos for its electrical consumption alone. In addition to that, a postpaid internet connection will add about one to three thousand pesos for the total house bills. In addition to that, computer maintenance will force a mouse potato to shell out around five hundred to fifty thousand pesos annually or whenever he or she needs to upgrade or maintain the software or the hardware of the computer. On the flip side, the good effects of being a mouse potato include: having more friends and a larger network by becoming a celebrated member of the trendiest social networking sites or online games. A mouse potato can also be famous worldwide by expressing and exposing himself on the internet by means of streaming videos, music, and blogs. A mouse potato can also earn money by hosting advertisements on his webpage, acquiring knowledge from the available content on the worldwide side of news and other related material. There are certain effects that can be considered as good or bad depending on the mouse potato’s judgment, like saving money from illegal downloads of files, fast research, the spying possibilities of the internet, and the exposure to adult material.
To sum it all up, we can conclude that being a mouse potato isn’t a bad thing, nor is it a good thing. Nowadays, being a mouse potato is turning out to be a part of life because we are entering a new age of computers, an age when people will hold a mouse in their hand longer than any book they’ll read. It’s up to the mouse potato to decide his or her mouse potato fate Keep in mind that being a mouse potato is neither an insult nor a praise. It is a way of life.
During the 90’s, when the television was still the number one distraction for most of us, we held the remote and watched television for excessive number of hours. Sitting, lying or just plain slouching on the couch for long hours while watching the television, some wise-bearded-old-man christened us “couch potatoes”. A few years later, a device called the computer was introduced, promising to revolutionize our way of computing. Shortly after that, the internet was presented to us with all its possibilities to make better our communication with possibilities like streaming video and music, instant electronic mail, virtual gaming, real time online chat and other exciting features. With all those amenities, the internet is slowly becoming the next big thing after the television. Almost all the major labels and companies felt the need to grab a slice of the dot-com bubble pie. According to a survey that IBM – a IT company – conducted in New York city last 2008, results show that out of eleven respondents, only four chose the television over the internet giving the internet a much higher usage rating than the television. Nowadays, we can access almost anything in this new virtual environment with the convenience of a few mouse clicks. Inevitably, some of us are just too into the computer, that we just can’t limit the use of it. We humans because of our weird nature, spend more time using the computer, so excessive, that we were again labeled by this discontented-wise-beard-wearing AND updated old man as “mouse potatoes”. “Mouse potato”, now defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer”.
Now maybe some are now saying that they are not mouse potatoes. First, let’s see the stereotype of a mouse potato. People might describe a mouse potato as a fat unhygienic person that spends most of the day using the computer, and eats his meals in front of the computer; or a skinny geek that wears eyeglasses and braces, gasps on an inhaler and has no other social life other than his family and his fellow geeks. No! Mouse potatoes aren’t limited to those stereotypes anymore. A mouse potato can be everybody. Everybody that uses a computer for long periods of time –which is about two or more hours exceeding the amount of time that a person really needs to use a computer- in his own will, habitually. A mouse potato is anybody who is dependent on the computer and relies on it as long as the task is possible to do with the help of a computer. A mouse potato can be anybody. She can be the charming lady seated in front of you, those buff jocks playing basketball, or even your impossibly frigid teacher. A mouse potato can also have different attitudes in society which are also possibly affected or influenced by the usage of the computer and exposure to content; he can be socially inclined, confident and an extrovert, the sort that can be the star of any party and maintains the lively atmosphere with his charisma and appeal, or the high school prom queen adored by all the boys because of her charm and beauty, and envied by all the insecure and perhaps, mouse potato girls. In contrast, he could be the bashful introvert that doesn’t speak until spoken to or the childish attention freak that everybody finds annoying.
Let’s face it, a lot of us are now hooked into the computer, and are using it. Let’s classify ourselves into three major brands of mouse potatoes. First, there are the “noticeable kind” which are very vivid as mouse potatoes. They are the ones that are stereotyped as geeks, nerds or those who are least socially inclined. They are the ones who prioritize their social life with a low level of importance, although they are not necessarily antisocial. They usually utilize all the possible features of the computer and the internet that are not useful for the normal user. He or she might use features like blogging for some extra profit, time wasting – pointless survey sites and sites similar to peter-answers.com – a false tarot website that allows you to write your own prediction. Another type of mouse potato classification is the ones who you don’t expect as mouse potatoes. They are the more socially inclined people, they are the type that go clubbing, those who play a lot of physical sports and more masculine or feminine in his or her physique. They are the ones who utilize the computer practical and social networking purposes only. They usually spend excessive amounts of time fiddling with their Facebook, MySpace and other networking website accounts. They check their emails regularly, do most of their research on the internet, and sometimes watch videos for fun. The second classification although utilizes lesser features than the first, still uses computers for extensively long hours. The last classifications of mouse potatoes are those who seemingly combine the characteristics of both of the previous classes. They are those who balance the “geekiness” and the “coolness” of both parties. Sometimes they only utilize the useful aspect of a computer and sometimes, they also use it for leisure, entertainment, and for pointless and time wasting activities.
Being a mouse potato has effects, good, bad or even both. The effects of being a mouse potato is not limited to a person developing poor eyesight because of the over exposure of his eyes to the computer screen, or poor physique because of the lack of engagement in physical activities which is spent instead in front of the computer slouching, or even the under appreciation for social gatherings which can damage a mouse potato’s social life. The excessive computer usage can also take its toll on a mouse potato’s budget with costly electric bills. The computer can add up to five hundred to a thousand pesos for its electrical consumption alone. In addition to that, a postpaid internet connection will add about one to three thousand pesos for the total house bills. In addition to that, computer maintenance will force a mouse potato to shell out around five hundred to fifty thousand pesos annually or whenever he or she needs to upgrade or maintain the software or the hardware of the computer. On the flip side, the good effects of being a mouse potato include: having more friends and a larger network by becoming a celebrated member of the trendiest social networking sites or online games. A mouse potato can also be famous worldwide by expressing and exposing himself on the internet by means of streaming videos, music, and blogs. A mouse potato can also earn money by hosting advertisements on his webpage, acquiring knowledge from the available content on the worldwide side of news and other related material. There are certain effects that can be considered as good or bad depending on the mouse potato’s judgment, like saving money from illegal downloads of files, fast research, the spying possibilities of the internet, and the exposure to adult material.
To sum it all up, we can conclude that being a mouse potato isn’t a bad thing, nor is it a good thing. Nowadays, being a mouse potato is turning out to be a part of life because we are entering a new age of computers, an age when people will hold a mouse in their hand longer than any book they’ll read. It’s up to the mouse potato to decide his or her mouse potato fate Keep in mind that being a mouse potato is neither an insult nor a praise. It is a way of life.
nice pinost... cge basahin ko... paggising ko
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