In the blink of an eye, the World Wide Web has become such a part of our lives that, good or bad, it has become a powerful tool in shaping society.
As a source of information, it is winning hands down over other media platforms in recent years mainly because it can easily be accessed. Touch your mobile phone and in an instant you are connected.
As an en entertainment portal, PEP.ph asks a few showbiz stars and known personalities how in their busy lives do they find the time to go online and is it worth it.
Gelli de Belen. “A lot, oh my gosh!” TV5 actress Gelli de Belen says exclaims when asked how much time does she spend on the Internet daily.
She continues: “A lot of my free time when I’m on the set is spent usually downstreaming or surfing the net."
Apart from visiting news sites, she says she frequently updates her Facebook and Instagram accounts.
As a Korean novela fan, Gelli gets updates and K-Pop news from koalasplayground.com, dramabeans.com, and allkpop.com.
She also visits dessertcomesfirst.com for everything about desserts and food.
For international features, she browses Buzzfeed and Huffington Post.
For videos, she goes to Youtube.
Ogie Alcasid. Confessions of a Torpe lead star Ogie Alcasid says he does not spend too much time on the Internet.
“In the morning, I just check my Bible app, I check the tabloids and then I check my email.
"And then I go to my favourite websites,” which are sports sites, particularly on basketball and golf.
For news on entertainment, the singer-songwriter says he scrolls PEP.ph.
He reads the online sites of local newspapers “because I need to know what’s happening,” Ogie offers.
He admits making time for Twitter and Facebook to get in the zone, “but I don’t stay long.”
Yasmien Kurdi. Kapuso actress Yasmien Kurdi confesses to PEP that she and husband Rey Soldevilla Jr. have had arguments over the amount of time she spends online.
“Grabe, yun ang laging pinag-aawayan naming ng asawa ko,” she relates.
“Siguro halos buong araw kong hawak yung phone ko.
"Kahit nagwo-work ako, nasa loob ng bag ko ang cellphone ko.
“Siguro in a day, sabihin natin mga 15 hours.”
Apart from checking and interacting on her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, she also pours over the websites on games, movies, and pictures.
For entertainment news, “Mahilig ako sa PEP, nagbabasa ako ng PEP.
“Lagi akong nakatutok at nagbabasa ng PEP kasi minsan natatawa ako sa mga nagko-comment.
"Minsan wala na sa lugar yung pag-bash.
"Minsan natatawa ka, minsan naiinis ka, marami kang makikita na balita sa PEP.”
Alice Dixson. “At least mga four [hours],” she answers when asked about the number of hours she spends online in a day.
Apart from checking her social networking sites, Alice Dixson reads her email and surfs the Net for anything she needs to research on.
“If I need to research something, I always Google if I don’t know an answer to something.”
She adds, “I check the Twitter feed and anything news, like CNN, NBC, Canadian news, Reuters."
KC Montero. There are also those among the celebs who view the Internet as an essential business tool.
Popular radio and events host KC Montero is one of those, “I sleep mga three hours so mga 21 hours nasa gadget ako, mostly to answer emails, social media."
He explains, “Most of my businesses are done via phone calls, even on my laptop.
"But since I’m not at home all the time, I use the cellphone."
The host is so glued to his gadget that he says, “If you can wear out a phone, I might do that.”
Mark Neumann. TV5 young actor Mark Neumann, on the other hand, is an occasional bandwidth user.
He goes online mostly to check his social network accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
“Pag may oras, I check my tweets for my fans.
"Post something like where I am, if I’m going to gym, mga ganyan.”
Anton del Rosario. Unsurprisingly, it's the online sports pages for Azkals football team member Anton del Rosario.
He avers he goes online a lot just for the sports pages.
But being a father to a three-year-old boy, the celebrity athlete says they regularly watch kiddie videos together on Youtube.
“I’m on [the Net] about 40 minutes a day, watching Play Doh videos.
"But then all the social media stuff is all on my thumb, so easy and so accessible."
Anton, in fact, has gone beyond merely using the Internet.
He announces, “I’m actually in the process of creating an application.
"So we’ll be looking at a soft launch next month and the main launch in June.”
He did not elaborate though on the nature of the application he is creating.