I recently read an article in Wired News that discussed at length our increasingly online culture. The article focused mostly upon how technology has affected dating and other interpersonal relationships, but what I (of course) immediately began thinking about was how the Internet has affected shopping.

I have an almost sickeningly stereotypical storyline. I'm that girl who always loved clothes, had a limited clothing allowance while growing up, went to college with an "emergency" credit card, and singlehandedly bankrolled Arden B and Nordstrom's shoe department for a couple of years. Thankfully, the evil credit card companies have some ethical standards federal regulations and don't can't give astronomical credit limits to 18 year olds, or I would still be paying off those bills.

However, I cannot imagine the damage I could have done had I been given the kind of unlimited access to the information superhighway available to today's consumers. Upon typing "credit card for students" into Google, I get 7,520,000 results in 0.14 seconds. A search for "designer brand online shopping" yields 3,570,000 pages.

Yikes.

In the same way that we can lose intimacy with our real life friends and family if we log too many hours in chat-rooms and on message boards, we can lose track of healthy spending habits with all-online shopping. There's just something about cuddling up with a significant other to watch old movies that can never be replaced with an Instant Messenger screen; the feeling of walking home with two heavy shopping bags under each arm serves as a much better reminder of our bank account status than a virtual shopping cart ever will.

So while I have absolutely nothing against online shopping (trust me on this one), I think it's good advice to close the laptop every once in a while and embark on a real-life quest to find your latest must-have item. Plus, typing "100% silk sheath flattering to the figure" into Google isn't NEARLY as satisfying as finding the perfect kimono dress yourself in the 11th hour of an all-day shopping excursion.