Sterne and the Internet

Although I thought that Sterne’s article spoke a lot of truth, in the problems concerning cultural studies, I also found that Sterne never really offered any solutions to these problems. Instead, he basically pointed out and critiqued cultural studies as a whole. His analysis is correct though. I feel like the Internet is such a broad technological spectrum to be looked at. It’s hard to define the many different facets and areas that it touches our lives, because this is many times different for everyone. I liked the way he began the intro of the article with the example of the young college female. It is something that all of us can relate to and I for one can even more because I feel as though that is me at many times. I am connected to the Internet 24/7 and it has become such an important part of my life, yet at the same time I hardly know anything about it. It was hard enough for me to just figure out this blog, let alone any of the technology behind it or thus the Internet in general. Looking back 10 years from now you sometimes wonder what was my life like before the Internet, how were so many things possible.

Another aspect of the article that I liked was the discussion over the different characteristics that help define cultural studies; politics, context, articulation, and theory. The political section struck me the most because it posed the question, “Why study the Internet? Is it interesting just because it’s a trendy topic or because it points to something more significant than itself?” I felt like this is still a question that remains unanswered because there could be many different answers, depending on the person and situations, which makes it that much more interesting. And like many things in our lives, there is always a political agenda hidden somewhere in there.