First, a little background. The Internet’s precursor, ARPANET, was decommissioned in 1990. The Internet became a commercial entity in 1995 and, thus, became open to the public in the mid 90’s. Though the Internet “opened” in 1995, back then, it was still a realm mostly populated by tech geeks and people who had a “way” with computers. So, when did the Internet actually become popular?
According to this chart pulled from Wikipedia, 16% of the world’s 6.5 billion populated was using the Internet in 2005. That’s 1.04 billion people. I think its safe to say that the Internet was in popular use before 2005. Well, it seems clear that the popularization of the Internet coincided with the “worsening” of society, as claimed by random people on the Internet. But, the question remains. Did the Internet help or harm society? This is a complex question and there isn’t an overall “yes” or “no” answer. In fact, I believe the Internet has both helped and harmed society. As to whether the Internet has done more harm than good, as I mentioned, is a complex issue that will depend largely on the value judgments of the observer. Additionally, the Internet is still a young tool and we have not yet seen the full effects of its implementation and use, and we may never will. To keep things simple, I’ll just list my observations about the positive and negative effects of the Internet, up to this point in time. First the positives.
Positives
Boon to Commerce and Business
The Internet has had, as few other technologies has had, an incredible and far-reaching effect on the markets of the world. Entire businesses were either crushed or elevated by the advent of the Internet. The Internet even spawned entire industries, namely with the entertainment sector, while severely damaging other industries, like the music industry. Social networking, a near non-existent industry before the Internet, is one of the largest industries currently in existence. Thanks to the Internet, people can be all the more inspired to go commercial, market their products, advertise their services, fulfill customer needs, keep financial records, sell there products, make arrangements, plan, design, communicate, meet, etc. Yes, most of this was possible before the Internet, but the Internet made it all so much easier. But, you may say, not all of this is good. What about those companies that flood the Internet with their obnoxious advertising? How can that be a positive? Don’t worry, I’ll get back to this.
Spread of Ideas and Information
When I meet with new people, to break the ice, I often claim that I have a portal to infinite knowledge and wisdom located in my house. After they stare at me for a bit, they attempt to guess just what the portal might be. Is it my personal library? Nope. Is it my television? Nope. Okay, they say, what is it? It’s my computer. At this, they usually laugh and tend to agree with me. But is my claim wrong? Does the Internet have infinite knowledge and wisdom? No, but does seem like it, at times. The Internet is huge and it’s used by just about everyone to spread information and ideas. Most people tend to cloister themselves off and only focus on a few sources of information, but the option is always there for them if they want to venture out and encounter new information and ideas that may or may not contradict their own information and ideas. There’s plenty of opportunity for mass learning and enlightenment.
Just consider the number of articles, posts, blogs, news outlets, forums, websites, etc. there are on the Internet. And just about anyone can go onto a website or forum and express their ideas to the world. Of course, a lot of the information on the Internet is false. That’s all in the nature of the beast. Still, there’s a lot of true information, often mixed in with the false. You just got to know how to separate the diamonds from the dirt. After awhile, you gain a sense of what makes sense and what doesn’t. You get your very own bullshit detector!
Personal Convenience
Do you shop, pay your bills, check your banking information, or research topics of interest online? Once upon a time, if you wanted to know more about something you would need to visit your local library, talk to friends, or silently contemplate the subject. With the Internet, you no longer need to dust off an old book in order to get the knowledge you desire (with the added bonus that the knowledge will likely be up-to-date). With the Internet, you no longer need to venture out into unknown territory in order to get what you want, just use Amazon.com! The Internet has saved people a lot of time, which should make up for how much time people waste on the Internet.
Negatives
Remember when I said that the Internet offers the opportunity for enlightenment? Well, this is absolutely true. In fact, this was a very common belief when the Internet first went public. Most people believed the Internet would bring about a golden age of learning and self-improvement. And most people were absolutely disappointed. The mass learning, improvement, and enlightenment just didn’t happen or, rather, it didn’t happen at nearly the expected scale. Many folks then began, and still do, to lament the consequences of the Internet, the failure to achieve mass enlightenment and the baggage the Internet brought along with it. It’s time to talk about the negatives of the Internet.
Apathetic and Desensitized
How many webpages do you think you visit per day? How much information do you think you are exposed to? I reckon a lot. And I mean A LOT. The human brain simply can’t take all that information and make it meaningful, so we have to filter a lot of it out. Even though we have some great information filters in effect, our brains are still bombarded by a great amount of stimuli. This isn’t exactly healthy and its natural (and healthy) for your brain to just shutdown after too much exposure. Fortunately, apathy and desensitivity may be greatly reduced by simply taking a break from the Internet or by limiting how many times you “jump” from webpage to webpage. Speaking of “jumping” from webpage to webpage, that brings us to our next negative.
The 5-Second Attention Span
Here’s a common complaint you hear from old folks and me: “You kids today can’t pay attention for longer than 5 seconds!” Well, it may be a bit of an exaggeration, but its no secret that most of the youth today have the attention span of a grape. Don’t worry, old folks’ attentions spans are nothing to be proud of either. The Internet is doing your attention span any favors. And, to be fair, the Internet isn’t directly killing your attention span. What really kills your attention span is not exercising it! When you “jump” from webpage to webpage, you don’t get the change to focus your attention and, thus, your ability to concentrate weakens from disuse. To be fair, again, the Internet can help you increase your attention span by offering you the chance to read really long posts, like this one.
The Scourge of Social Media
Now, before I begin, let me just say that I can appreciate the benefits of sociability and social media. However, when social media becomes the all-consuming, mindless beast that it is today, that’s when I draw the line. A few paragraphs above, I suggested that I thought the rise of social networking was a good thing. I do think it’s a good thing, but like any good thing, it can quickly become a bad thing when it turns into a lumbering beast filled with mindless celebrity musings. That may sound very elitist, but just look at the stuff celebrities post and tell me, with a straight-face, that it isn’t bullshit. And mindless bullshit at that. We have to draw the line somewhere.
Final Analysis
The Internet is an enormous, wonderful, varied place. In terms of positives and negatives, it’s a completely mixed bag full of both positives and negatives with no general positive or negative tone. We can list the endlessly good and bad things about the Internet, but these lists ultimately depend upon our own value judgments which may or may not have a sound logical basis. Social media may be good for one person and bad for another person. Additionally, remember when I mentioned those obnoxious advertisements? You may not value them, but, astonishingly enough, there are people who do value them. It all depends on what we value. Though, it may be generally agreed that some things about the Internet are universally good or bad, there still will be some people who would disagree with this. And so the debate will continue.
And most importantly of all…
It should be noted that asking whether the Internet is bad for us is like asking whether a hammer is bad for us. Whether it is bad for us depends entirely on how it is used. The Internet should come with a warning label reading “The Internet, if improperly used, could lead to anxiety, insomnia, health complications, procrastination, identity theft, and financial ruin. Enjoy your stay.” The Internet is a tool and, like all tools, has been used to amplify humanity’s best and worst characteristics.
But, if you want my final opinion on whether the Internet is generally good or bad, I’ll say the Internet is generally good, based upon my values and experience up to this time.
If there is one certainty about this “Internet: good or bad?” debate, it’s that the debate will go on indefinitely with no clear end in sight. The debate is as varied and as endless as its subject, The Internet. And I’ll drink to both the debate and the Internet.
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