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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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Writer
Profile Osaretin
I
am a lover of science and Information technology.
Reading, surfing the net and singing are my hobbies.
Born out of my inquisitive mind to know more about
science and IT, I surfed the web to discover
takingITglobal. I like it and I know I have to belong to
have information to feed my curious mind which is always
asking a question. |
Comments
ajima
mark .o. | Oct 15th, 2005 the internat is good n bad . the net is
good in the sence that links us up with people , events
taking place round da world ,its also can be used 4
research . again it depends on the king of people we get
get to meet, we cant trust every body we get to met
online ,cos most people lie in there ,u may be chating
with a school drop out who may pretend to be da owner of
a company or a drug dealer who pretends to be someone
hes not, .so i feel we should be care full with the
people we get to met online n they they informetion we
give about our selfs ,if we must then it should be slim
or we must be sure of who we are dealing
with
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