No Right Answer: Is the Internet a Bad Thing?

[Something Amyss]

"I wanna talk about the internet."

No! No good can come from this!

I actually more or less agree with the idea that overall, the internet probably does more harm than good. I don't agree with the idea that you can't tell real from fake, though--most of the time it comes down to looking at primary sources. The fact that people repost Onion articles as though it was serious news points to the real glitch in the Matrix. People. We don't want to think critically or do research, and one of the internet's flaws is that it enables us to completely sidestep it.

And, I mean, there are political revolutions happening because of Twitter and other social media (finally, it has a use!), but that same media is being used to spread disinformation, misinformation, etc.

But at the end of the day, the internet is a tool. When we get down to the nitty-gritty, it isn't in itself a good or a bad thing. Yes, people tend to suck, as you guys put it. Can we divorce the tool from the uses, though?

 

[RandV80]

Are we talking about the internet here or computers in general? Computers came before the internet and can do many great things without it, but it seems like some people are bringing in the 'computer' side of things and calling it the 'internet'.

It's not a bad thing in general, but can certainly cause some pet peeves and aggravation! Most of that comes from the Internets ability to give any idiot an anonymous soapbox to stand on.

 

[rotkiv]

Arguing that the internet is a bad thing as about as valid as arguing that the printing press was a bad thing.
Yes you can use it to spread lies and so on, but it helps people to share ides, and that as through out human history proven to be a very good thing. To share ides and thoughts is probably the number one reason that humans is more advanced than any other animals, this is what make us great!

 

[thisbymaster]

People sucked long before the internet, now it is just in front of everyone to see. Human nature doesn't change even when technology does.

 

[captain_dalan]

KUDOS for the topic, from all the episodes i watched so far, this one is the most deserving of the title "No Right Answer". It can and has been applied to all human advances. Fire, currency, industrialization, nuclear power..... and is in all those things, the answer really depends on how you actually use it. It is after all us, humans that are douche bags, we always have been and we will probably continue to be for quite some time. New technology just allows us to find new ways of being douche bags, which by no account means it is the tech that is bad..... it's just us

 

[xrogaan]

A common misconception is to think of the internet as a humongous "thing" where you can find stuff. It's not. The internet is a mere medium through which you can access content stored somewhere - not on the internet, but another computer. Therefore the internet can't be either good or bad, it simply doesn't care.

What is good or bad is the content put there by fellow humans. What you can define good or bad, are some people. You know the saying: don't hurt the messenger.

All the time I see politicians or other people arguing about policing the internet, regulating it. But what they should talk about is about regulating the people that goes there. Not through shackles on the medium, but through consequences.

More over, you can think of the internet as a giant mirror of state the humanity. If you don't like what you're seeing, then maybe you should try to accept who we really are.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I do agree that the Internet is a powerful tool I don't think we are mature enough for - as a species, as a society, as our conglomerate of various cultures - and so using it so much highlights the areas in which we fall short of what we could - what we ought to - be.

I'm not sure it's made us worse, but it certainly makes our flaws more glaring and possibly wider-reaching in their effect on everyone "around" us - as "around us" has expanded in number significantly, of course.

There would be less of the issues against the Internet that were highlighted in this episode if we were simply better people all around. It's not the Internet's fault that misinformation or skewed information is everywhere - that's on us, that's on the people who use the tool, not the tool itself.

The tool gives us lots of advantages and is itself a good thing when it's used for good, and a terrible thing when it's used for making shit worse. It's all in who is using it and how we have developed before this point of having it - and we could be using it to improve ourselves more than we do, and I hope someday we will tip the scale on that. Like all the technologies we've discovered, it's on us what is done with it.

 

[NicolasKnight]

I read the title and I actually had one of those brain freeze moments where the sheer stupidity of what you said overwhelmed me.

I can't even being to argue with all the self defeating points you made but the conclusion is pretty much exactly it. The internet is a tool. It has made people better, happier and has increased human interactions, just not face to face interactions.

Every single thing you said against it was against human being being human beings without the internet, it just so happens that you have the internet to learn about all those things (See what I did there?).

I grew up before the internet. People did the exact same things, the exact same way. They had worse preconceived ideas because they didn't HAVE the internet to have more then the school of "My father said" with post graduate learning at "Some bloke in the pub told me".

P.S.: Do you really work at Nintendo? Can you say Hi to Mr Awesome for me?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

The Internet isn't a bad thing, people are a bad thing.

 

[verdant monkai]

It has bad stuff and good stuff so its sort of like a person.

But it does have porn and endless free entertainment so therefore it is an awesome person.

 

[verdant monkai]

"That doesn't mean that Americans are obsessed with blow-up sheep"

Of course not, that's the Welsh!


People have always scoffed at farmers.

Why avocados? Is avocado poisoning a thing?

Come at me m8 I'm Welsh and currently on the wrong side of the severn bridge, I'll throw a fucking wool coated welsh cake in your eye.

There is also nothing wrong with farmers they are beautiful people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zoZe-ZATs

 

[kailus13]

"That doesn't mean that Americans are obsessed with blow-up sheep"

Of course not, that's the Welsh!


People have always scoffed at farmers.

Why avocados? Is avocado poisoning a thing?

Come at me m8 I'm Welsh and currently on the wrong side of the severn bridge, I'll throw a fucking wool coated welsh cake in your eye.

There is also nothing wrong with farmers they are beautiful people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zoZe-ZATs

U wot m8 I'll bash your fookin head in I swear on me mum.

Some of my family are farmers. Wouldn't say they're the prettiest of people though.

That video is a thing of beauty, class, and sudden dubstep.

 

[Strazdas]

well maybe you dont have the ability to tell lies from truth on the internet. the rest of us know what "source checking" is.

also congratulations on realizing that "people kinda suck"

 

[leviadragon99]

You can't blame technology and advancements in human achievement for it being misused.

Just because one asshole decides to be a real-life mad-scientist with his biology knowledge, doesn't mean we should have never created the field of medicine, I don't see this debate as being any different, you teach people to use the internet better and apply basic fact-checking and critical thought rather than relying exclusively on it to tell you the truth.

And as to relying on the internet for basic services... I think you're exaggerating with the "I want it now!" thing, since shipping times are still a thing, not to mention that for certain products, the internet is the only option other than visiting another country purely to buy that item, which I think you'll agree would be a waste of time and money.

And I think the anti-regulation reaction was more because the efforts to regulate in the past have been draconian and have favoured corporate interests in their efforts to carve up the internet into controllable chunks, corporations that themselves often seem to go largely unregulated, because that's a fair double-standard.

At the end of the day, I think the internet is still growing up, somewhere in its awkward teens maybe, and depending on how it's nurtured, it could become something better.

 

[verdant monkai]

U wot m8 I'll bash your fookin head in I swear on me mum.

Some of my family are farmers. Wouldn't say they're the prettiest of people though.

That video is a thing of beauty, class, and sudden dubstep.

I'll get me mam ta poisen yer withh water from the taff!

Only Afro is a glorious channel if you like Dark Souls humour.

 

[Vareoth]

The Internet isn't a bad thing, people are a bad thing.

/thread

Blaming a medium for the malice or incompetence of other is a bit short sighted. I, and I hope a lot of other people, know how to differentiate between fact and fiction by fact checking things I read. Critical thinking is a learnable skill. Just because some people can't be bothered doesn't make the internet a bad thing. If we start blaming technology for its misuse by people we might as well drop everything that we're doing and go back to living in caves. And even then some people will find a way misuse rocks and moss. Humans will find a way to be stupid and cruel to one another regardless of technology.

It's up to each and everyone of us to use the things we have in a responsible way.

 

[jdarksun]

"Actual human interaction has gone down."

I am a human.

Presumably, everyone else on this message board is, too.

We are interacting.

Actual humans. Interacting.

The problem with a lot of Chris' arguments is that they've been presented before... every time a new communication method is introduced. Some people wrung their hands over the idea of discourse decaying due the being able to cheaply send letters, or the dying art of writing when the telephone was introduced.

 

[KissingSunlight]

First, let's get rid of the semantics. They were not talking about the internet itself being good or bad. They were asking if the internet has been a positive innovation for humanity. I would say no. I'm basing this on how people act in real life after internet use have been mainstreamed.

1. Instant gratification doesn't happen fast enough for people. You can't go anywhere without somebody getting huffy about having to wait.

2. Arrogance and Narcissism is everywhere. Everyday I have people coming up to me at work thinking a sign posted there is meant for everyone else except for them. Then they get very insulted when I inform them that it also meant for them as well.

3. Face to face human interaction is disappearing. In fact, any human interaction with the present surrounding has become a challenge to most people.

4. People rather film something tragic happening than to help out.

5. People are more blatant about being stupid and ignorant. People will argue their selective facts until they are blue in the face. Constantly refusing any information that will expand their knowledge on the topic.

6. People have stop living life. Seriously, how much time do you spend online? Turn the ************ off and live.

I would list more things, but I need to take my last advice and take off.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I thought of some more things to add.

7. Hackers. We always have a tendency to tear down or deface anything that's get built. The internet is no exception.

8. No more boundaries. You used to be able to tell your friends and family things like: "I hate my boss" and tell politically incorrect jokes without getting fired. You can't do that online with your social media "Friends".

9. Devaluing the word "Friend". People in real life and online think that just because they see you demand to be treated like you are their best friend.

10. Destruction of retail businesses in favor of catalog shopping. Yes, that what shopping online really is. Catalog shopping. You see something you like, order it, then wait 7 to 10 days for it. Just what your grandparents did with the Sears catalog. Yeah Progress!

 

[Extragorey]

I just wanted to say I enjoyed this episode of No Right Answer (and I can't always say that). Some good points were raised, and I felt it was worth sharing the video on Facebook. Keep up the good discussion, guys.

I thought of some more things to add.

I respect that you returned at the same time the next day to post - having a scheduled time for goofing around on the Internet is exactly what most people lack.