No Right Answer: Is the Internet a Bad Thing?

[Korolev]

We do sort of use the internet as a crutch, but that's all technology. All technology was invented as useful crutches to make life easier.

As for the internet alienating us... that's somewhat true. No doubt I would interact with actual people I meet in real life if I didn't have the internet. But you know what? All technology has its downsides. Everything, in fact, has a downside if you think about it long enough. But that doesn't mean it's bad.

The internet has its flaws and does create some problems. But so does everything else. We can't point to the flaws and say "It's not worth it!" because if we did that we'd never get anything done at all.

 

[Crazie_Guy]

The answer is no.


You're welcome.

 

[Duncan Van Ooyen]

Some good quotes here. I liked the quote of the week, but I also think that the quote of the week COULD have been "People have sucked LONG before the internet existed!"

I do agree with this discussion. The internet is a wonderful thing that is too often used incorrectly. The internet is by far the greatest and most important invention in history, and while that sounds like every exaggerated statement you've ever heard, in this case it's actually not. I just feel like it was introduced at a point where humanity just wasn't quite ready for it, and was introduced so quickly and with so little care that we've just taken advantage of it to the point of it now being a dystopian version of the world we know.

 

[katsabas]

Good topic. There are a great deal of things that the internet has helped us with. I have learned about history, the english language, how to make a carbonara sauce, projects, games, movies, stay in touch with my friends and potential girlfriends cause I am studying abroad and lots more. But I can't help but shake, like Yahtzee would say, the doubt off the back of my head.

I know me. I know me well enough to know that I don't abuse the net as much as I could. But there are A LOT of people out there that are bent on making me think that the internet needs something to filter out the stupid. Lincoln said that if you wanna really wanna test someone, you should give him power and the power that the internet grants people with is anonymity. And while on the net, more often than not, I see examples of people that perfectly fill the following niche:

From outrageous declarations like 'eating meat makes you impotent' to stuff like online conmen and conwomen, anonymity is something that should not be taken away but rather monitored. I don't know how but it should.