I don’t think so! Some argue that the Internet has made people more antisocial and more connected with an electronic box which they devote a significant amount of time to. With the aid of the Internet and the useful applications that go a long with it such as email, teleconferencing, and information gathering for example, some may argue that we are becoming more anti-social.
I disagree with the 90 plus year old Nobel Laureate, Dorris Lessing, that the Internet phenomenon has been a step back for society. It just changes the way we do things. Hard-working people tend to spend hours gathering information or doing their job by reading books or other written material and processing and transferring information to hard copy documents. With the aid of the computer, however, many of these activities can be done in one terminal, processed, stored and disseminated. It makes us more efficient as many things can be done through a single medium. Such activities tend be anti-social anyway, regardless of whether your using a computer or not.
There are several disadvantages for being so connected, as the syndrome of always wanting to check your email, can cause people to be more paranoid and restless. It becomes difficult to take a vacation without having Internet access. Sometimes you have to discipline yourself, and restrict accessing the Internet to a certain time and for a certain period. Checking your email multiple times a day, while on holiday can be excessive, but it tends to be a habit.
I believe the Internet has made our lives easier, and made us smarter by being able to access more knowledge. People who are resistant to change tend to favor things being done the old way. However, if they use the system they can slowly learn the benefits of it and appreciate different ways of doing things. This is one thing that I learned from living in different countries and having to adapt to different ways of doing things and the logic behind it.
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2 comments:
I agree that the internet makes you more connected to the world. However, if we look at the internet from another perspective, I can see a negative with the internet.
I'm sure everyone has noticed the lack of face to face communication; who wouldn't? I think this is the biggest downfall to the internet. Again I remember when you wanted to speak to a friend, you had to go to their house and do whatever it is that you do. Now you can e-mail, instant message, text, call, page, etc... Can you even remember what the person looks like?!
It used to be meeting up at a restaurant, bar, mall, the movies and now it's a quick call and thats it? My question is where what is communication going to be like in the future with the change in technology?
I completely agree with you. Can you even imagine a world without technology or even the internet? I certainly cannot, nor can I recall the last time I had to walk over to a friends house to talk. This technological revolution we are currently experiencing is only the beginning. So many different innovations come out that we cannot even keep up. From the tape player to cd player to mp3 player to ipod to ipod nano to iphone. What people like Doris Lessing don't understand is that technology is for our own good. Why wouldn't you want to have connections to millions of different sites instead of having to actually go to the store? Although, there may be some detrimental aspects to the internet specifically or technology in general, the main point is that we would not be where we are now if it wasn't for the technological revolution and its contributions.
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