Shoppers Beware Essay -- Internet Shopping E-commerce Web Papers

Shoppers Beware Today the Internet provides a vast number of services to people all around the world, and is a way to make life easier. People can purchase everything from groceries to drugs (legal and illegal), skateboards to automobiles, land and houses, not to mention all the items that people auction off at places like ebay.com and ubid.com. There was even a high school girl, freshly turned 18, who decided to auction off her virginity. But that creates an entirely different discussion topic. Right now people all over the world use online shopping instead of actually traveling to the store. Shopping online is a way of conveniently purchasing things from the comfort of your own home. People no longer have to get dressed, comb their hair, or put on makeup. Despite all the conveniences of shopping online, the growing dependency on the Internet as a medium of communication will slowly begin to adversely affect society as we know it. As I was browsing through the L.A. Times, I came across an interesting article, written by Christine Frey, entitled You Can Rest in Peace After Choosing Your Burial Option. The article informs readers of the growing trend in Internet funeral services. It appears that the Internet houses dozens of shops ready to sell you the latest in burial options, from pet caskets to mausoleums (1). Possibly one of the largest Internet funeral services, Webcaskets, offers a huge selection of caskets. With prices ranging from as little as $50 for a cardboard cremation casket to as much as $11,000 for a solid walnut casket with velvet interior and a range of burial options. Webcaskets also carries special art caskets as well as a variety of urns, which start at under $100. In addition to a huge selection, Webca... ...ym to the word lazy. Be warned, Forster agrees that the Internet can be a dangerous tool when abused by society. Who is to say that 50 or 100 years from now things wont be exactly as Forster foretold? Living as a swaddled lump of flesh (Forster 187) in a small room, something resembling a bee cell (Forster 187), with only a chair and a reading desk is not the way to live. Unless we realize the dangers of the Internet and machine dependency Forsters future, could become ours. Works Cited Frey, Christine. You Can Rest in Peace After Choosing Your Burial Option. January 31, 2002. L. A. Times. 28 February 2002. Forster, E. M. The Air-Ship. Composing Cyberspace. Ed. Richard Holeton. San Francisco: McGraw-Hill, 1998, 187-195. Holeton, Richard. Composing Cyberspace. San Francisco: McGraw-Hill, 1998.