Is the internet good or bad? There is currently a lot of debate surrounding the topic of the internet. On one hand, many people feel that the internet is having a negative impact on our society. Their reasons include topics such as cyber safety or more specifically; pornographic sites, piracy, fraud and other nasty stuff. Many of these people feel that the use of the internet should be highly restricted in order to ensure the safety of the general public. Others argue that how and why the public uses the internet should be left up to the individual in question to decide.
Research is the most common way that the internet is used and it has become one of the biggest sources for research. Students from all different grades of schooling are among the top people who are using the internet for research. In fact, nowadays, it is almost required that students use the Internet for school research. The Internet is so commonly used for research because of its limitless information. It is amazing how much information one has right at their fingertips. On the flip side, the accessibility to so much information can have disadvantages. Students using the Internet can easily be lured into dangerous activities such as pornography. Whether surfing the web, reading newsgroups or using e-mail youth are at risk of being exposed to extremely inappropriate material.
Another way the internet is being used is through online business (e-commerce and e-banking) transactions. One example of e-business is online shopping. This makes life easy for the individual as he or she does not have to leave and can pretty much purchase what ever they want right from their own home. Online shopping has also brought many companies a lot of money as millions of dollars are spent every year by consumers who are shopping online. For financial institutions it has made the transfer of money easier, convenient, faster and safer. The negative effect of online transactions and business activities is that the information attached to these transactions can fall into the hands of the wrong people. Issues of theft and privacy are important to consider when thinking about doing any type of online activity that requests personal information. This is one of the privacy violations that can take place and it definitely has many potentially devastating financial consequences.
Entertainment is one of the most popular reasons to surf the net. Downloading games, music, visiting chat rooms, reading the news and finding out about current sport’s scores are some of the common uses. Chat rooms are popular because users can easily meet new and interesting people. The Internet has actually been used by people to find life long partners! Although there are a lot of positive relationships and discussion groups developed through the internet there are also a lot of issues related to privacy. Electronic messages sent over the net can be easily snooped and tracked, revealing who is talking to whom and what they are talking about. It is very easy for strangers to gather information about you so it is imperative that you are careful and aware at all times.
When downloading on the net, viruses might be downloaded with as well. Though viruses can be received through other means like the use of floppy, a major source is the internet. Today computers are getting viruses that can destroy the computer’s entire hard drive. A lot of people are not properly educated about such viruses and what actions they can take in order to be proactive against them.
All of the issues that I have discussed can be researched in order to decrease, if not eradicate, the dangers of using the internet. The more aware we are of all the risks we face by using the internet the more we can make sure that we are taking all the necessary cautions. Preventive measures in relation to the internet need to be more fully researched and acted upon by teachers, parents and by the youth using the internet. Better monitoring and supervision by adults needs to be implicated. Providing individuals with the necessary counsel needs to start happening. Things like the fact that when giving personal information over the internet people should make sure the web site is protected with a recognizable security symbol. Then again it is also important that one understands that they are never fully protected because anyone may obtain a user’s information if they know enough about computers.
Whether the internet is bad or good or whether it should be used or not should be determined by the individual in question. It is important that we bear in mind that the ongoing globalization will not be possible without the internet. The internet has essentially made the world a global village.
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