Steve Jobs died, and I’m a little shattered.
He was part of a remarkable set: the pioneers of the internet created a world I love to live in. Jobs helped create a world where being introverted and intelligent doesn’t mean being lonely, where nerdiness is celebrated, where seeking knowledge is the default, and in which you can and should learn anything you’re interested in.
I’m am autodidact because of the internet. I know who I am because of the internet. I’m addicted to information, and I’d be an empty vessel without the kind of accessibility we take for granted all day, every day.
I remember a world without the internet. A world where the word “indoor kid” was an insult. Where I would have grown up to be a shell of a girl with fraction of the needless and wonderful knowledge I now have. I wouldn’t have my husband. The internet has made me a better thinker and a more satisfied human being. I can’t imagine my life today without it.
Without the internet I might be some woman, terminally alone, never understanding that there are millions of others like me
and that we have everything at our finger tips.
RIP, Steve Jobs. You made the world a smarter place. We are unquantifiably grateful.
