Internet: The Good vs. The Bad

[Shadowhunter]

It's a 24/7 encyclopedia.

Digicel webtext.

Free endless recipes and tutorials without ever leaving your home.

Youtube, oh the glories of youtube!

You can still be "in the know" without buying newspapers or magazines or watching news on TV at any time convenient to you.

Dr. Google is always open.

Forums like this for friendly, fun, stress-relieving, and informative discussions.

You can get a second, third, fourth, etc opinion on any topic without having to pick up your phone or drive/travel anywhere.

It's so easy to get information on important issues within seconds instead of spending weeks going to physical locations to look up outdated information.

Easy to instantly communicate with others no matter what time zone they're in or however many miles apart you are.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Why the Internet is Bad

Lack of privacy.

Encourages people to hole up inside instead of going outside and interacting with others in person.

Too much time online can lead to eye strain, poor posture (including carpal tunnel syndrome), and sleep deprivation.

Cyber bullying.

Viruses.

Internet addiction is a real thing.

Can be used to spread racism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry.

Makes adult content easily available for children.

Internet shaming.

Internet rage is a real thing.

 

[nirtime]

Why the Internet is Bad

People bury themselves in their cell phone now when they go out with others and forget they are with someone.

Allows trolls and unhappiness to manifest.

Contains a lot of inaccurate information which seems official so often times people feel they know something from reading but actually know the wrong thing.

Feeds addiction. Some people are glued to online games which are mmo.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Re: Why the Internet is Good

Easier to spread awareness of important issues and events.

Opens up more importing and exporting options to different countries, which benefits economies and individuals.

Makes assisting countries in need more possible by bringing more attention to their plight, making donations easier from greater distances, updating interested parties more frequently and easier, and recruiting more volunteers from more locations in a shorter period of time.

Allows you to increase your knowledge in your area of expertise and get information in areas you're more skeptical about.

Free downloads.

Streaming of live events.

Makes contacting manufacturers/companies/businesses much easier.

 

[nirtime]

Re: Why the Internet is Good

Why the Internet is bad:

24/7 Texting by all people obsessed with it.
Lot of false information in existence.
Easy to spy on unsuspecting users

 

[Shadowhunter]

Re: Why the Internet is Good

The Bad:

Easy distribution of revenge/hate porn

Easy for criminals eg. sex offenders, pedophiles, stalkers etc to find and keep tabs on their prey.

The increasing lack of privacy makes it very difficult for crime victims to have privacy/security/protection from their attackers or those who encourage or enable attackers.

Anyone can get your information and use it as they please. I know someone who found a fake profile in their name on a website that used their DOB, address, etc and a picture of their child.

Anyone can track your activity online or hire someone to do it and find you no matter where you live. Many companies are also encouraging their employees to represent them online as well, and many organizations use social media as the main means of getting their information out. This makes it very hard for people to be "off the grid" and be in the know at the same time.




The Good:

Many laws have been put in place to protect internet users eg. Facebook allows you to file legal reports against people (with your legit information) right on the site itself.

Many websites are enforcing stricter rules to discourage and not allow children to join and use their services. Some enable parents to monitor their children's usage and specify allowed interactions and with whom. This cuts down on potential predators greatly while giving children the ability to seek information and age appropriate entertainment safely.

Gone are the days when you need to spend $$$ on accumulating entire encyclopedia collections and various dictionaries and thesauruses etc. All of that information can be easily found online. Homework can be done anywhere, at anytime.

There are many educational online services provided for free. For example, children lagging in their schoolwork can be tutored for free, by qualified teachers online, or even get extra help from their own teachers online as well. This is extremely convenient for families that lack the resources to achieve this otherwise.

Information about crimes and criminals can be spread quite easily online. Sex offenders are also supposed to be legally required to enlist their information so the public can find registered predators in their neighborhood. In "the old days" many predators would simply move to another area, undetected, and free to strike again.

 

[nirtime]

You win lol, I'm out of ideas on why the internet is bad.

 

[grimreaper009]

the internet good in my book yes....it helps alot with school work with the vast amount of info here and lol it cures me of my boredom lmao...the bad well it will be so no matter what they do..it was designed by humans lol

 

[nirtime]

the internet good in my book yes....it helps alot with school work with the vast amount of info here and lol it cures me of my boredom lmao...the bad well it will be so no matter what they do..it was designed by humans lol

I say its good too, without the internet I really cannot imagine what we would have. Probably something more advanced or different lol.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Hahahaha I see the good and the bad, but honestly I think the good outweighs the bad. We are progressively moving towards a heavily internet-dependent future which in some ways is good, others bad.

The lack of privacy etc can be truly frustrating and though you can now take legal action to protect yourself online, this is done after the offender strikes. The reason why offenders can strike in the first place is because preventative measures are easy to slip by.

However the easily accessable information is a big plus. For me, at least, the internet has been life-changing and I continue to use it because despite the risks, the benefits are indisputably worth having.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Another plus: free facebook calling! Though I haven't tried it myself lol

 

[nirtime]

I really wonder how much of a plus those things are... I still prefer a traditional phone call when possible as I simply find with our flaky internet service providers a lot of VOIP services cut out/break up/ sync issues... Whatsapp Calling needs a lot of help also, its riddled with bugs.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I can't vouch for it yet as I haven't tried it, but Facetime calling worked well when it was an option for me. The problem is just having a steady enough internet connection as you said, to make it worth it.

 

[LadyDeath]

i use facebook calling all the time. One thing i dont like is that u require a very steady connection for the face calling. However it is reliable most of the times.


One thing happened lately that have proven the internet to be a bad place is the spread of this charlie charlie game that is making its way around countries. Internet media is the fastest medium to get news across, sorry some people use it for the worst possible things