Stan Peck (The Beacon)
By Stan Peck, Guest Commentary
The phone you have in your pocket is more powerful than the computer used to send the first crew of humans out into space and onto the moon. At this point, it can most likely connect to the internet so that you can update your Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, check your email, move your homework from computer to computer, take pictures, upload them, send them, and do a million and a half other things that are all geared towards one thing; connectivity. We live in an age when being connected to the world around us isn't a privelege, but a right. Spending a weekend out in the wilderness without cell service is a nightmare for most people. What if the world just keeps going on without us? What if I miss who got voted off on the latest episode of "So You Think You Can Dance?" We need to know what's going on. Everywhere. All at once. If we don't then we're 'out of the loop'.
Thing is, though, not everyone cares about the same things. One person wants to know how the game went last weekend, and another wants to hear the latest music from local bands. Someone's interested in recent advanced in technology, and another wants to do nothing but look at pictures of cats all day. Where on earth could they go to get everything they want? Nay, everything they need?
Coming from the connectivity that we've built for ourselves coupled with our very human need to get together with others who are interested in similar things, reddit was born. A short explanation: reddit.com is the website. Within it, there are nearly limitless subreddits, each with their own focus and direction. Any member of reddit can create their own subreddit, and every subreddit develops its own very personal personality, style, and frequenting members. This is part of the reddit machine; there is a place for most things, and if there isn't already a place for it, you are welcome to make your own. While it was not always the case, reddit has grown into a website for those interested in anything from philosophy to music to bodybuilding to LGBT rights to Nicholas Cage (all of those are real subreddits).
It's a place that has everything. Other redditors can help you with your homework, share your love of a certain group of animated ponies, show you pictures of things happening across the world, and discuss things as broad or oddly specific as your heart desires. It's everything you could have ever wanted from the internet. And then some.
Point is, when someone asks you "When doth the Narwhal bacon?", after some time on reddit, you may very well know the right answer. Be forewarned, though. Reddit will consume you. There are things that cannot be unseen, and there are subreddits that cannot be unsubscribed to. If you are brave enough to look, you will be changed... and possibly trapped. Welcome to the Internet.
Stan Peck is a junior computer science major. He can be reached at peck14@up.edu
