I’m not even sure most people realize the sheer size of Earth. This place is massive. I heard somewhere that you can fit the entire human population of around 7.5 billion into the state of Texas. We seem to ignore how big the Earth is because technology constantly seems to shrink it.
Technology has made an impact on humanities’ perspective of how big the Earth is. Time comes into play here. It takes someone on horseback 2 days to ride 100 miles while it’s only an hour for a car. It took around 6 weeks to cross the Atlantic in the age of sail, 6 days in the age of steam, and is currently only 7 hours in the era of air travel.
Now, we can just go on the internet if we want to see a different place. Social media allows people to see each other live from thousands of miles away. In our minds, the Earth has grown smaller because humans judge distance by what they see and how long it takes to do so. Physically though, the Earth is the same size. Please brush up on your Geography before you go anywhere.
There are horror stories of Europeans going to America not realizing the sheer size of it and spending their whole-time driving. Berlin to Paris is a 12-hour drive. New York to Los Angeles is a 42-hour drive. Travel in sections or risk being lost in the gigantic planet we call Earth (or just fly).
The Earth is huge, and you are not. The internet makes you believe it is not. Go outside and see for yourself. Try walking to the next town over. It will make you respect our planet’s magnitude a bit more.
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