I'm wondering whether the internet is a net gain or a net loss for society

I'm wondering whether the internet is a net gain or a net loss for society

We all use the internet and, presumably, find it to be worthwhile and we enjoy it and/or find it a positive thing.

But, like most things, there are some negatives to the internet which make me question whether it is a net gain or a net loss for society to have this technological advancement.

Please list what you find to be negative about the internet.

I was watching a WWII documentary and I compared America then with America now and wondered what the difference was between the generations.

I began to think it might be the internet.

What do you think are the bad things about the internet?

 

I don't think there is anything bad about the Internet and it is a net gain. It's not even close.

 

The difference between pre WWII and post WWII was the rise of consumerism and the worldwide acceptance of the calorie (joule) as a unit of measurement in 1948.

The internet was not responsible for changing anything other than ease of access in regards to consumerism but the bad things we can list are plenty.

Less person to person communication, fraud, more sexual deviance, easier access to children by adults, bullying, reliance on easy access to information....the list is almost endless but so are the benefits which far outweigh the negatives.

 

I think it's bad for our psychology in many ways and instances, actually. It's distracting, it overwhelms people with stimulation and information, it encourages shallow knowledge and a reliance on something external to store and process information.

It's also been pretty bad for journalism... We've seen good journalism replaced with click-baiting, hard work replaced with churning something out to bring in readership and subscription/ad revenues. We've also seen horrible effects on our language as the written word has been cheapened. So long, artful prose! Farewell, shame and pride in writing! Hello utilitarian drivel, txtspk and common basic spelling and grammatical errors!

Socially, I suspect it's also removing important hierarchies between young and old. It brings adults and children to a level field, where unschooled youth become too defiant and full of themselves. The anonymous net also gives the immature a tool by which they can cause serious harm to others, often emotional but also at times more real.

 

You can't blame the Internet for human nature.

 

Assuming you are of legal age, have you ever lived without the internet since you've been an adult?

If not, do you feel you can speak intelligently on this matter?

 

[video=youtube;IxAKFlpdcfc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxAKFlpdcfc&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

Great post.

- - - Updated - - -

He's not blaming the internet for human nature.

He is pointing out the negative aspects of it, as the OP invited.

 

There are pros/cons to anything. It all depends upon what people choose to extract from it.

 

the benefits which far outweigh the negatives.

Hmmm, maybe. Maybe not.

Aside from the obvious advantages I guess I'm asking you to do something some of us/you are going to find difficult/impossible to do.

And that is to try to see the way things are going.

Starting from WWII (an arbitrary starting point, but chosen because we have so much video documentation of conditions and attitudes of that significant time in our history) and moving not just to present day but to the future beyond 2015 to see how things are going and where things are going and making some value judgments based on that ENTIRE timeline's conditions.

Bottom line, I wonder if we might OVER value the technological advances and ignore (at our peril) the less tangible results of the internet.

Here is the video documentary which prompted this thread.

[video=youtube;mWmtPMnpp_E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWmtPMnpp_E&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

- - - Updated - - -

Wow. Such profundity!

 

I sometimes/ actually many times miss the simplicity of life prior to cell phones and the internet...but it's all about progress (I guess).

 

This quote just came to mind.

With ALL of the internet's advantages, how good can it be if it results in the deterioration or even the downfall of our entire society?

 

I don't mean to. It's more a matter of human nature making the net a bad thing due to the interaction of the two.

 

The internet enables much better communcation. Sadly, that means that fools can now communicate with each other much better. The internet is both a curse and a blessing.

 

I can't recall EVER having done this before.

Twice in a row, in the same thread, for two different posts by the same poster.

[video=youtube;IxAKFlpdcfc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpag e&v=IxAKFlpdcfc[/video]

GREAT POST!

 

Every new technology has been welcomed with the same worries and none of them have ever turned out to be true.

Steamships, the automobile, electricity (a big fear) all had people asking if it was good for society and it turned out it was. I believe you are more concerned with computer technology than the internet per se and I suppose that would be a legitimate fear because as we march forward it is inevitable that we, as humans, will begin to incorporate that into our bodies for any number of reasons.

Soldiers are already wearing the exoskeletons and it is only a matter of time until that technology becomes part of us. Many scientists believe that the next evolutionary stage of the human race will not be natural but will result from a combination of human cells and computer chips.

 

agree... and don't forget the if God wanted man to fly he would of gave him wings crowd....

.

 

I'm concerned that the community of man is sliding toward an unhealthy state and one which could possibly result in societal collapse or dystopia.

And I'm concerned that the slide toward dystopia is being lubricated, paved and pushed along by/with our technological advancements.

 

And as I stated before, new technology always brings fear. Here are just a couple.

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/07/11/women-and-children-first-technology-and-moral-panic/

 

No one would say that manned flight has brought about a worsening or a coarsening of society.

Can you say the same for the internet?

One of the negative things that occurs to me that has come about as a result of the internet is that young people (like yourself?) place less value on information.

I remember when many households actually invested in encyclopedias for their home libraries (and how many of you actually have one of those?) to augment the information one had to physically traipse to the local branch or town library to
gain.

I actually trudged through the snow to make it to the library, where I studied and read for hours after school or on weekends to get the information I hungered for or wanted or needed for school.

Information was PRECIOUS.

Now, to many young people, it isn't even seen as important.

Why?

I wonder if it is because it is so available on the internet.

When you have things made too easy, too available, it takes on less importance.

Your posts, I believe, demonstrate this.

 

The examples you cite are from those who feared technological change without having tried it.

We have all tried the internet and we all recognize it's many advantages.

What I guess you are incapable of grasping is that there IS a downside to having the internet.

And I wonder if your inability to grasp this might be because you have never had to actually live life, as a young adult or older, WITHOUT the internet.

 

I completely disagree.

With the internet, kids can instantly google something they are interested in and get the information whereas in the past it is doubtful they would go and take the time to search through an encyclopedia for that same question. They would simply go without knowing.

On top of that, forum chat puts out tons of information as do social media sites. There is absolutely no doubt that kids today, or anyone, is far more informed than kids of the past.

 

You said that you chose WWII as an arbitrary starting point, but I feel that you likewise chose the advent of the internet as an arbitrary point where "things went wrong". Those of us old enough to remember the 80s clearly realize that many of the social ills being attributed to the internet were already in full swing prior to its inception.

 

I agree, but we did have 911, many failed flights, crash's, people died...... but things happen regardless of the technology, overall, I think we are better for the internet, we just have to be careful

an example I see as a potential risk is other countries trying to influence our people via anonymous message boards, trying to turn citizens against citizens

.

 

If you're trying to compare societal effects of the internet you better roll your timeline forward to about 1990 when general public access started to become available.

 

In any case, you don't need to be a sage or genius to see the pros and cons.