|
Being a novice of the Internet
and realms of technology in general, the idea of hanging
out in an Internet café scared me about as much as it
used to when I first sat in front a computer trying to
figure out how to turn the thing on. Pictures of
super-obese, nerdy, snotty-nosed tech-heads filled my head
as well as visions of stagnant, sterile rooms crammed with
blue screens flashing the latest comic heroes and teen
idols. Well, I just went on a trip to several countries
around the world and I ventured into this unknown sector,
as I wanted to keep in touch with people back home.
Although I admittedly didn’t visit many of these cafes
(I needed a break from the computer worlds of school and
work), the few I did see were quite different from what I
expected.
First stop was a café in
Prague, Czech Republic. This was hidden down an alley but
was next to restaurant so it seemed safe enough. I paid
the equivalent of just over $1.00 U.S. for a half hour on
the machine-not too bad eh? Now I don’t know if I was
attacked by an evil spirit or just had something with my
brain that day, but for some reason it took 25 minutes to
just get into my hotmail! First of all, the keyboard was
different, and in weird ways I tell you. If you hit the Y
key it came out as a Z and vice versa. I was surprised
later in London that their keyboard was also different
from the ones’ back home. I thought keyboards were
universally the same around the planet! I finally got into
my hotmail, sent a one sentence email and left. Looking
around me as I departed I saw that most of the people
using computers were so-called normal folks like myself,
mainly backpackers and tourists, but also businessmen etc.
If I had more patience that day it probably would have
been a nice atmosphere to be part of, I saw that they
served coffee and tea, but as I was in a beautiful foreign
place I needed to get out under the Sun amidst the real
action.
My other main experience in
the public Internet world was to be in the North of London
in a suburb called Neesdon or ‘Sneezdon’ as the Aussie
mates I met up with liked to call it. Here, the Café was
totally different from the previous one and I assume –I
don’t like to assume-that like people, each café is an
individual entity with both positive and negative traits
as well as bonuses and letdowns. This ‘café’ was in
the back of a mobile (cellular) phone shop and was just a
tiny room with a handful of computers that no one else
seemed to be interested in, everyone looked more focused
on phones, but I have a weird feeling they might have been
dealing something else ‘under the counter’ that was
sparking hot interest.
We paid 1 pound (approx.
$1.75U.S.) for an hour. Three of us walked in and we sat
down at two computers, I think this was probably
disallowed but again no one was paying any attention to
us. My friend said he had been to this particular café a
few times previously as he was living in the area for a
year, and had seen and experienced some undesirable
situations. One day he believes he saw a cannabis deal go
down, and on another occasion a drunken man came in and
told him he didn’t like the look of him and would he go
outside for a fight? The confrontation dissipated with the
use of calm communication but you can imagine that this
type of Internet café would be rated poorly on a world
standard. So, beware where you enter the virtual world my
friends, reality may just arrive to smash you in the face!
In the end, I think like
all things in life these Internet cafes need to be
approached with optimism and hope, as one never truly
knows what there is to offer in a new experience. I
imagine that there is a multitude of different types of
cafes-some you may even deem as cool places to gravitate.
If strange and twisted is what you look for, or a common
normality, I believe both can be found in the cafes of the
future.
|
About
The Author
Jesse
S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a weird and twisted
Internet writer who hopes to show others
that the Internet is becoming a daily
reality for many humans, so dive in! |
|
|
