Fetalvero: Web insights
WHILE vacationing in a resort in Alcoy, Cebu, my grandson was fascinated with the elaborate geometrical pattern of a spider web. This prompted me to do some brief research on the internet about this interesting insect that gets rid of ever-annoying flies.
“Instead of boards, spiders produce silk threads to build their webs. The silk is produced in silk glands with the help of a spider’s spinnerets. Spinnerets are special organs that allow the spider to decide what type of thread it needs for the web,” stated an online article.
In addition, “silk threads can be thick or thin, dry or sticky, beaded or smooth. The thread a spider uses to construct its web begins as liquid but it dries quickly in the air. Making elaborate webs is instinctive for spiders which means nobody has to teach them how to do it. It takes about an hour for the average spider to construct an elaborate web of silk thread. They are born knowing how. The main reason spiders spin webs is to catch their dinner. In other words, for survival. Wolf spiders live up to 54 days of starvation. Other spiders, 30 days.”
Unlike a spider, we needed to learn how to use a website when internet connectivity was introduced. Like spiders, there are those among us who use or browse a website in order to survive. These are able to offer opportunities for online businesses. Our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) survive loneliness abroad through some websites or social media applications to get in touch with loved ones here.
Financial institutions built websites with which our OFWs are able to do “online banking” for their remittances. Bookings for travel and accommodation are now made possible. These websites have opened millions of opportunities to improve means of communication and ways to earn a living. The World Wide Web was intended to make our lives more productive with the vast information available, and more importantly, to establish not only a neighborhood but a brotherhood of men around the world.
However, we are confronted with a problem should this innovation is spun by the wrong hands. Fake news, bashing, cyber warfare, Cybersex and online scams have made the web an ugly site. Had the spider been capable of talking to us, it would probably tell us, “Shame on you, who borrowed my ‘web.’ You ruined my legacy.”
The spider does not attack. It simply waits patiently. It is the lack of patience that prompts us to be overly aggressive to earn a fast buck. Count to 100, before sending that email aimed at hurting the recipient.