As the Internet evolves and evolves
it is important for people to know the gravity its use. For most people the Internet has become part
of their daily lives so understanding the Internet is now absolutely critical. Understanding that its can be both good and
bad is what is important. This post will
look at some of the good, and also, some of the bad, to create a base idea of
what people need to be aware of while using the Internet.
The Good:
·
Information
Readily Available:
The days of running to the library to do your research
are long gone as people have access to much of the same information much
quicker right on their computer. This
not only affects students writing essays and research papers but people who
just want to learn. Anyone at anytime can
search something and learn all they want on almost any subject they can think
of.
·
The News:
Instead of waiting for your local news channel to come
on at night, people have access to the news at any time of the day. It is much easier to find out the newest
developments now, and people also have a larger influence on what news they
get. People can get the news from more
sources than ever allowing them to see more sides of the story, which allows
them to come to their own thoughts and conclusions about what is
happening. This has also lead to a
movement called citizen journalism. Which by the website, Howstuffworks.com’s definition is, “…any type of news gathering and reporting -- writing and
publishing articles about a newsworthy topic, or posting photographs or video
of a newsworthy event -- that is done by members of the general public rather
than the professional news agencies commonly referred to as ‘mainstream
media.’”
·
A Variety
of Opinions:
There certainly are a lot of blog websites and message boards
on the Internet. Now everyone has the
ability to state their own opinion to a larger amount of people than ever and
in turn people can have a larger understanding of the others around them.
The Bad:
·
A Waste
of Time:
A lot of people can get a little “lost” in the
Internet. It is easy to get caught in
the ads or the side links during your time of research and often it is easy to
loose your track of time. It is worse
for some people than for others but it does happen a lot and can cause people
to be less productive in their daily activities.
·
The Wrong
Information:
With so much information available it can be hard to
tell which information is really correct.
Websites like Wikipedia allow
all users to edit the content and in turn this can cause a lot of inaccuracies. Those sites should only serve as a base for
someone’s research so that then the user can know where to look further for
more credible information.
·
It’s a
Distraction
The Internet and
the combination of a smartphone can really impact a person’s life. With the Internet now in your pocket it can
be easy to turn away from what you are really doing and get lost in your Twitter feed.
The
Internet has definitely changed our lives but it is really what you make of
it. It’s the human error that creates
the negatives. Understanding that and
what the negatives are can help you use the Internet effectively to get the
fullest out of its many capabilities.
