The Positive and Negative Social Aspects of the Internet
The internet is a magnificent tool that we use in many aspects of our society. It has been very helpful in regards to business, education, socialization, recreation and so much more. The internet has also been very harmful in regards to all those things as well, even communication. We are discussing the social aspects of the internet and their positive and negative effects.
There has been a large debate on whether internet use is positively influencing social relationships and community life or whether it is negatively influencing them. With many new things introduced there are always the good and the bad sides of them. Many good things have come from the internet, and socially it is very helpful to us. If you move away from a very close friend now you can stay in touch with e-mail and instant messaging. Communication which once took time to write on a piece of paper is now reduced to a couple key strokes and the click of a mouse. You can meet all kinds of different new people in chat rooms with common interests as you. In fact some people have formed many lasting relationships with others they meet online. If communication dominates the majority of internet use there is a good reason to expect that it will have a positive social effect on society. Communication, meaning contact with neighbors, family, friends, and participation in social groups affects a person’s level of social support, and in turn fosters one’s purpose in life and their psychological well-being.
In Donald Tapscott’s book Growing Up Digital(1998), he is a well known author of many internet books and articles, he talks about the boost of self-esteem that can be obtained from the internet in making friendships not based on physical qualities. There is a story of a seven year old girl who had facial malformations and was unaccepted in society. She found a chat room to interact with other children, and was able to make friends without being persecuted for her facial malformations. She felt like she was accepted and she belonged. This is another positive advantage of the internet because we are a society that is ruled by physical appearance, and the people who are not blessed with “ good looks” have a difficult time being accepted. Some are criticized and want to escape the in person contact that would leave them open to feelings ...
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...o other outlet and become depressed. There is no official psychological diagnosis of a computer addication as yet, but more research is being done on the topic.
As with all advances in our life time there are good things and there are bad things that come along with it. The internet is both good and bad, positive and negative. The key here is to watch how we spend our time on it, what we do on the internet, how we act when we are on it, and how we act when we are not on it. We must closely monitor our children and make sure what they are ingesting is beneficial to them and is not harmful to them. We must also limit ours and our childrens time on the internet and the computer. Closely look at and evaluate how our social lives are progressing and how our family lives relationships are. Maintain good and stable relationships with our friends and family members and always try to remember that they are what we care about. A computer is a machine and should not be taken as anything stronger than that. All the information that is at our fingertips should be used in a way that is useful to society. The internet should be a tool of knowledge and not a tool of escape and avoidance.
2. Previous Research: There is a debate as to whether Internet use has a positive or negative impact in our social lives. One study found that for 40% of the college students in their sample, the Internet had been instrumental in the formation of new friendships. Moreover, 7% of their sample had used the Internet to find a romantic partner. The participants in the study claimed that one of the main benefits of communicating through the Internet was reduced social anxiety and shyness (Knox, 2001). In another study, there was evidence that lonely individuals were more likely to use email and the Internet in order to stay connected with others—in theory, giving them a healthier social life—however, evidence showed that heavy use had a negative social impact (Morahan-Martin, 2003). Finally, another study found that individuals comfortable or regularly involved in social gatherings reported more positive effects from Internet use than shy individuals less involved in their community (Kraut, 2002).
The ability for people to surround themselves with the familiarity of their comfort place by using their technology is appealing because it rarely provides the user with something unexpected or unfamiliar. By constantly being cut off from personal interactions and new experiences because of a technological device. A generation with substandard social abilities is being groomed. If we do not have to face reality by experiencing new things, making personal relationships, and problem solving, then we will never be able to function as Humans. Technology hinders personal communication, which negatively impacts our lives. Although “our culture heralds the Internet as a technological wonder, there are suggestions that Internet use has a negative influence on individuals and their social skills,” (article 1) Data shows that those who use the Internet frequently spend over 100 minutes less time with...
Various electronics are frequently used to go on pointless websites, such as Twitter and Facebook, which ruin society’s social abilities. More and more people use social media on the internet as a communication source. This does not apply merely to kids and teens, but adults as well. Using these sorts of websites as a way of communicating causes many individuals’ social skills to decrease. A plethora of children and teens would rather stay inside and interact with their friends through the internet than go hang out with them. Before technology people were not afraid to go up to a random person and talk to them. Now many friendships form through the internet and these friendships are not genuine. When these “friends” meet in person, they find nothing to talk about. For example, I remember after watching Perks of being a Wallflower, a movie taking place in the early nineties, my friends and I discussed how all the characters communicated in person and during hanging out they played games and talked. Now...
Robert Kraut et al. presented the no side of this issue. Kraut focused on two major themes, Internet for entertainment, information and commerce, similar to the television, meaning it could reinforce social bonds or reduce social involvement, and interpersonal communication, similar to the telephone rather than the television.
Technology has advance so much since the old days. We see technology everywhere but one major thing that has change since back then into now has been the internet usage. Believe it or not internet is being used everywhere. First, it was used in desktops now is on laptops, cellphones, and tablets and even on TV and Video games. Internet, is very bad for society but three major reasons why is bad is due to many deaths, creating health issues, and bullying.
Internet is bad for our culture and society because we use internet all the time without knowing that we are addicted. It is a drug and it reacts as a drug on us once we start we cant stop. We would have to make it a huge deal because many people don’t know that it is a problem and they all are affected by it.
Although, it is unfair to blame technology because of the content people put on it. Greenfield, Patricia, and Zheng Yan put it best when they say, “Just as we cannot ask whether a knife is inherently good or bad, we cannot ask whether the Internet is good or bad; we can simply document how it is used.” So, as much as some may blame the Internet for its problems, the real war is against the substance within the Internet (Greenfield, Patricia, and Zheng Yan 390-93). And thus comes the main argument against the Internet, is the composition of the Internet harmful to children?
Over the last century, information technology, such as the Internet, has brought our society forward and helps us get through life more efficiently and conveniently. In addition, it helps making global communication easier and faster as compared to hand-written mails that may take days if not weeks to reach its intended recipient. However, with such luxury and convenience, there is a debate whether the way we currently interact with fellow human beings with the help of technology is good or bad to our personal relationships. The Internet has increased the amount of communication globally, yet ironically the very technology that helps us increase our communication hinders our ability to socialize effectively in real life and create a healthy interpersonal relationship.
There are many problems related to the internet but I will focus on one that is very important which is relationships on social media. Social media might cause many people to feel lonely and make that the people break up or cause damages in any relationships because those people are not able to socialize or interact with people around them. Social media is harmful tool the we have to use with caution because sometimes it helps you, but sometimes it goes against you, especially Facebook and Twitter. Information sharing and relationships on social media are problems that need to be addressed for many reasons. Some of these reasons are the people who are active on social media, interact and socialize with
As defined by Baron and Branscombe (2011), self-esteem refers to an individuals overall attitude toward themselves, or sense of self worth. A major influencer of self-esteem is social connectedness, or an individual’s sense of belongingness to his or her social environments and networks (Lee & Robbins, 1998). For example, being excluded or ignored by ones peers is said to be psychologically painful, therefore causing reduction in self-esteem (Baron & Branscombe, 2011). Thus, social connectedness and self-esteem can be considered to be positively associated. With this in mind, there has been on going debate since the end of the 20th century on the role that the Internet is playing in effecting the quality of social relationships among individuals, and, in turn, influencing their levels of self-esteem and psychological well-being. This has come to be known as the Internet Paradox, and the issue continues to be relatively conflicting, with opponents of the Internet criticizing that its use contributes to a decrease in social connectivity (Nie, Hillygus, & Erbring, 2002), loneliness (Moody, 2001), and depression (Morgan & Cotton, 2003), known as the social reduction hypothesis, and proponents finding results that support the idea that Internet use and social network interaction facilitates psychological well being by enhancing social connectedness (Grieve, Indian, Witteveen, Tolan, & Marrington, 2013) and the positive outcomes associated with it, referred to as social capital.
Even though people have different opinions on whether social media has a positive or negative impact on society, it can be said that social media has a positive effect on society as a whole because it lets people communicate with each other easily, it has been said to improve education among children, and has helped improve the economy in the world. One of the main reasons why social media has positively affected our society is because of how it has made communicating with people much easier. “Today, four out of five active internet users maintain at least one social media profile” (Moe, 3). Using these websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and etc., people talk about everything with anyone from what they are planning to do, to what they are eating and much more (Moe, 24). We can also send private messages to other users of these websites about personal matters that you just want to discuss with them.
But can having this kind of power be a bad thing. I believe that in some cases it is and the internet can be highly dangerous if it is abused or used in the wrong hands. This is because the internet as much of a benefit it may be does have the potential to put other people at risk for anything from physical to psychological harm. People can use the internet to perform illegal activities such as:
Internet is a network that virtually connects computers around the world. It has an address network which makes communication possible between the computers. It is an open phone line and an open television channel to millions of people around the world who can communicate anonymously (Palmer, 2006). People use it to exchange files and e-mails, to surf the World Wide Web, to download songs or other types of files, to take part of discussion boards, and to send instant messages. It can be beneficial when it comes to freedom of press, and less disintermediation between people (Palmer, 2006). It can also be of assistance when it comes to doing some kind of research, finding some specific information about any topic, or even getting an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree when it comes to busy people who want to expand their horizons. However, internet has many risks in contrast to its benefits and it should not be used by children without adult supervision and parental control.
One consequence of overuse of internet could be failure to think critically. Some students use the internet to research for their school assignments and papers. They use it to improve their grades in schools and colleges. This could have a negative effect on their brain, they can lose their ability to think wisely and critically which would result in lack of knowledge and understanding. Second, Internet addicted people hardly talk to their families because most of the time they are either on the phone or on the computer. These people avoid going out for dinner or party with family or friends. They often neglect their personal relationships and love to spend time living alone. This can cause damage to their personal and social lives. Some people can lose their jobs because of the unprofessionalism. Excessive use may result in loss of sense of time, organization and poor performance at work. Major life events such as break ups and divorce could happen. In addition, internet addiction can cause physical health problems. Because they sit most of the time on computers, they might develop weak eyes, back pain and sleep disturbance. They become lazy and avoid exercises which lead to disorders such as obesity. At last, psychological health problems such as anxiety and depression may occur when a person is separated from his/her computer or when the internet speed is low and the computer gets
The new age of technology was born late last century in the form of the silicone chip. Since this early invention computers have progressed in leaps and bounds from the very basic early models to the now very complicated and very powerful computers of today. In between this growth the Internet developed into a mega market where billions of dollars are traded daily. It is a place where you can pretty much buy and sell anything you can think of. But with the development of such a powerful tool there are always going to be problems such as pornography, hackers, dodgy chat rooms and authenticity of information. But like with any argument you have to weigh up the good with the bad, the internet provides you with a wealth of information so that you can find out much on many different products, allows businesses to function so much more efficiently, there is also the availability of online learning.