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Internet Shopping Vs. Brick and Mortar

You can do almost anything from home now.  You can go to school online, you can make appointments from home and you can shop from home.  You can buy nearly everything online.  You can get the shopping experience from your desk chair.  Shopping from home can even be a competitive activity.  Choosing where to shop and how to save money can become quite addictive.

You may need to purchase a new pillow, but you want a specific pillow.  You were able to check customer ratings online and decide that the top rated pillow is the one you want.  Now it is time to hunt.  You can become a detective.  You can search out the best prices and quality by researching thoroughly.  Then when you find your target, you pounce.  Your “target” being the deal and pounce meaning to “purchase”.  Shopping online can be turned into an activity that you enjoy more than shopping in brick and mortar stores.

There is no substitute for shopping in a store and trying things out before you buy them.  The best part about shopping in stores is that you get to take your purchases home the same day, whereas purchases made online, take days and sometimes even weeks to make its way to your home.

Grocery shopping can be done online too.  The items that you purchase on a regular basis, can be purchased and delivered to your home because of the advances in technology.  You do not have to get up or dressed, you can shop fro groceries in bed if that is what you want to do.

Shopping for goods using internet technology has made our lives a little easier and a little more entertaining, but you can only get a real shopping experience when you get out of that bed, put on your clothes and drive to the store.  This will help give you a little more fresh air and vitamin D.  Shopping online is fun but should be utilized with caution, do not turn into a hermit.  You need fresh air.

 

Filed Under: Businesses, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Programming Your Website to Ask Visitors Survey Questions

Businesses and website owners like to know a lot about the people that visit their websites. They want to know about their experience and any feedback that their website visitors might have. While you could always put a contact up link up there many visitors will not take the time to email you and let you know about their experience. Luckily, websites have a feature that allows you to get feedback in a quick, effective way that doesn’t take too much time.

Almost all websites have the ability to utilize survey tools to create a survey that will appear on your website. The way that these tools work is that the website or webmaster creates a survey with two to five questions on them. The tools will program the survey to pop up when the visitor visits a page on the website. This allows you to get customized feedback for the specific pages that the person is visiting.

Common questions that are asked in website surveys include any products that the visitors would like to see on the website, how customer service is and even a fill in the blank section where customers can leave a sentence or two about their experience on the website.

The best part about the survey tools that come with the website is that the webmaster and business owner do not have to allocate a large amount of their business budget to purchasing surveys or seeking out their website visitors via email. The survey goes directly to the website visitors, only has two questions on it and the customers can complete the survey in a short span of time.

With online surveys for your website there is no reason you should still be in the dark regarding issues that surround your customers and website visitors. Take a few minutes to use the research tools that are available and get a customized view of your website visitors.

Filed Under: Businesses, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Goodbye Snail Mail

The USPS system is afraid, very afraid.  They are worried that the now outdated “Letter” will be replaced by email.  This is already the case.  Nobody sends letters anymore.  They send email.  You will still get correspondences from businesses via snail mail, but family and friend will use the internet to send their messages’.  The internet has allowed us to stay in closer contact with friends and family and should be appreciated for doing so; however there is still something to be said for a hand written letter that was mailed the old fashioned way.

Hand written letters are far more personal than email.  Even greeting cards are being done online now.  This is great because it saves us time and money, but it separates us from the person we want to send the letter or card too.  That personal touch is missing.  The scent of the paper after we take it out of the envelope that reminds of the person who sends it is missing.  You cannot smell an email, no matter how hard you try.

Are we at risk of losing our humanity?  Maybe, but we as a species are meant to evolve.  Evolution is scary, but it is the way of the world.  You still need to write letters.  You still need to let certain people know that they mean more to you than a few click on the keyboard.  If our humanity is important to us, than we can still make sure that we retain a bit of it, by allowing for time to write an actual letter to those you love and care for.  Teach your children how to write a letter, you never know when it will come in handy, the world of technology can end tomorrow and we need to know how to do things the old fashioned way.  In the process of teaching your child to write a letter you can make someone’s day after they check their mailbox and find something other than a bill.

Filed Under: Internet, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Benefits and Dangers of Computers and the Internet:

The technology advances in recent years have made it possible to work from home more, save memories and allowed us to maintain constant communication with friends and family.  There are many downsides to the advancement but the benefits outweigh the risk in the grand scheme of things.

The Benefits:

Because of the technological advancements in the last twenty years we can do so many things that we would otherwise not be able to do.  We can retain records of our family history.  Pictures can be saved in digital form and save space.  We can use webcams to see our family that may reside too far away to visit.  Any and all information needed for anything is but a mouse click away.  If you need to know about signs of an addict, you can find the information online as fast as brushing your teeth.  You can educate your children at home.  This is particularly handy if you do not live near a decent school district.  Educating your children has never been easier.

The Down Side:

There are several down sides to this technology, but with a little work, these reasons do not have to be downsides.  One major complaint is the fact that parents are worried that children will forget why books are so important.  While it is true that we are coming to an age where paper books are not the preferred method of reading, we can still utilize this method for bedtime stories to help retain this tradition which unfortunately for some will be an “old fashioned” tradition.  It is important that we keep reading the old fashioned books and continue to print old fashioned books.  While the advancement in technology is wonderful for man-kind, it can also be our demise.  If we rely so heavily on technology, we lose our ability to function without it.  This would not be beneficial if something was to happen to our electricity source.  Without electricity, all of this technology will not be worth the weight of, well anything.

We can maintain the use of technology and utilize its benefits, but we must still be able to function without it.  We may have no other option than to survive without it one day, so if that day comes we need to know how to live without technology.  We need to know how to live outside the box and inside the box.

 

Filed Under: General, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Computer and Internet Addiction

Addictions come in many forms, while being addicted to computers is not really a recognized addiction; it is another kind of addiction that can ruin your life.   A lot of people use the internet to “escape”.  The real world no longer feels real, the world of the internet is what is real for these people.  They push their real families away for families that they make online.  There are even some games online that are all about making a living and a life online.  These games are not conducive to a healthy mental state of those addicted to the computer and internet.

The most important things that were once upheld in someone addicted to the computer no longer apply.  They only care about their virtual lives and the basics utilized to maintain human life.  They stop surfing long enough to eat and rid themselves of waste.  They do not consider things like showering to be essential in maintaining their virtual lives.  This is the worst case of addiction to computers and the internet.  Some cases are not so awful, but still have devastating effects on their lives.

Many people establish other marriages online and other children online.  Making their real life families seem as though they are extra baggage.  So this is the catalyst for divorce and worse.  They can get addicted so badly that even when they are at work they are using the computer designated for work in order to satisfy their addiction.  This can lead to loss of a job.

The worst case of computer addiction can truly be the end of the addicted persons real life and mental state.  If they are not rehabilitated they will live in their fantasy world for the rest of their lives, with or without the computer.  Should they only have a mild addiction, it is possible to stop them before they ruin their families and their source of income.

Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Teens and the Internet

With all of the benefits that come with computers and the internet, you can find a down side.  The internet has opened a window for dangers that were not a concern just fifteen years ago.  Now we have to be ever watchful of our teens and their computer usage.  They are at a sensitive age.  They are easily manipulated and really bad things can happen.  Things like being bullied online are the least of the internet worries for teens.  The worst case is child predators and possible murder.

Yes, these are things to worry about, these things happen all too often.  Without proper oversight and education, we cannot be sure what our teens are up too.  They need to know that there are dangers out there that can hurt them and it is you job to educate them before allowing them to surf the internet.

Along with educating them on the dangers of the internet, you also have to be a little underhanded.  You can purchase software that will go unnoticed but will keep you informed of your teenager’s comings and goings online.  While this may be considered a violation of privacy, it is more important to protect your child than to care about privacy morals.

It is still important that you allow them some privacy, do not question them about everything you download from the software.  Give them room to be teenagers, but beware of suspicious activities. Keep yourself up to date on the latest sources that child predators and on likewise utilize to manipulate children online.

While we cannot be with our children every waking moment of their lives, it is still our responsibility to keep them safe. This means stepping on some moral independent values at times, but it is worth the risk of upsetting your teen if it ends up keeping them safe.  You need to find software that is completely hidden, you do not want them to know that they are being watch online, they will find other ways to rebel.

Filed Under: General, Internet Tagged With: , ,
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