Does the Internet brings more harm than good?

[krul_prodigy10]

just want to discuss about this topic :

"the internet brings more harm than good.

what do you think?:P

[youngyew]

In my opinion, the Internet brings more good than harm. It opens up the mind, allows instantaneous propagation of information (and misinformation too admittedly), and fosters the integration of human race as a whole.

[alter_ego]

i think it depends on how one use it.
can be good.can be harm.

[vseehua]

Internet is a tool. A tool can be used to bring harm, and good...

[BattleBoyz]

I guess everyone's answer will be the same: it brings both harm and good. Whether it brings harm or good depends on how you perceive and also how you use it. IMO, internet still brings more good than harm.

:offtopic This was one of the title of my english essays (last year). Wonder if you're finding points for your essay. Hahaha :laugh

[youngyew]

I think the same question and answer can be applied to almost any scientific advancement in the history. Throughout the history, innumerable advancement have been questioned or even actively impeded due to the fear of its potential harms.

Does fire bring more harm or good? Try asking a lost jungle trekker who just started a fire as well as a bushfire victim, and you will get different answers.

Does in-vitro vertilisation bring more harm or good? An infertile couple and a fundamentalist believer would give you different responses.

Does automobile vehicles bring more harm than good? Ask an accident victim, then ask the people who escaped bushfire on a car.

Does the Internet bring more harm or good? Ask a scientific researcher and a BN politician, I am pretty sure you get different answers too.

Every new invention poses a challenge to the old ways of living, and the Internet is not an exception. The history of human civilisation is a history of scientific progress, we progressed from the discovery of fire, the discovery of electricity, the discovery of destructive atomic forces, and the discovery of basic building blocks of life. All these discoveries come with a potential destructive power, but inevitably all of them became the very building block of our modern civilisation. They are what we are. So instead of looking at the Internet superficially in the context of what they do to a kid who is addicted to Facebook, try to look at the impact of connectedness and the fostering of immense collaboration on a global scale. We will then realise the "harm" of the Internet is not really that significant after all.

[cycycy]

just want to discuss about this topic :

"the internet brings more harm than good.

what do you think?:P

Haha! This was the topic for our moral final paper! My answer was yes back then. I think that for an individual, it's hard to determine whether it brings more harm or not, because it depends on how you use it =)
For the society, nation, I think it brings more harm. You see the internet is polluted by internet crime, plagiarism, porn, hacking, etc. . .

[lady_antebellum]

Its time again for my opinion. Well, yeah I cant say yes or no for this topic. The topic is too subjective for people like us. As what we know, there are lots of people out there working as doctors, students, engineers and lots more. And sometimes Internet plays the significant roles for people and sometimes it seems harm and useless. The main point that I wanna spit out here is its all back over to the application of the Internet. :)

[Restl3ss]

In my opinion, the bad part of the internet is, it creates a virtual world that everyone is so attached to, that people eventually begin to neglect the reality world.

[nickvl]

In my opinion, the bad part of the internet is, it creates a virtual world that everyone is so attached to, that people eventually begin to neglect the reality world.

I agree. Like Facebook...

[Restl3ss]

Or Recom. :laugh

But it's not only that. People can gain access to tons of movies or series easily, and spend lots of time watching it with the internet. Thus, time wasted again.

Besides, I think it's an irony that people get addicted to the social network, facebook easily, commenting here and there, but get more and more distant between people in the real world. For example, when was the last time you talked to your neighbours? :P

[Glassylicious]

Or Recom. :laugh

But it's not only that. People can gain access to tons of movies or series easily, and spend lots of time watching it with the internet. Thus, time wasted again.

Besides, I think it's an irony that people get addicted to the social network, facebook easily, commenting here and there, but get more and more distant between people in the real world. For example, when was the last time you talked to your neighbours? :P

Funnily enough, the people I interact with on Facebook the most are the people I see on an almost daily basis.

[frankchong]

Get real, technology in itself is neutral. It is how you make use of the technology that makes the difference. If one were to limit the use of technology just because of the fear that people may use it in the wrong way, then where is the limit. Ban all cars because of the number of deaths on road accidents? Ban rice, sugar ... because people would over eat leading to metabolic diseases like diabetes etc???
What is harmful or not depends a lot on your criteria. Almost every one would agree that improve living conditions and saving lives is good, but the action is also getting the world over populated, resource depleted to the point that it is pushing the earths' limit to support human population, if it is allowed to grow unchecked. So, tell me what is good? It is easy to react on the gut (emotional level or animal instinct) level, but if you think critically, it is not as simple as most people think.
The internet, with increasing bandwidth at lower cost would give us the ability to create virtual presence, reducing the need for expensive and resource intensive travel to meet people.
The future is what we want to make it to be, the internet is a tool to achieve those goals. It is societies that can exploit technologies successfully that brings advancement to human kind. Societies that lack the skills and understanding live in fear, look into the past that no longer exist. If Malaysia wants to be a high income society, it has no choice but to master these skills. (Note: there are politicians talking about high income society, but not nurturing critical human resources. With no improvement in productivity, you can get high income by print more money, but you would not buy more goods with more money this way).

regards,
Frank

[kaze]

In my opinion, the bad part of the internet is, it creates a virtual world that everyone is so attached to, that people eventually begin to neglect the reality world.

I had one class in which we discussed about "virtual world". Of course what is "real" and what is "virtual" is another topic by itself, but for the sake of argument, let's just say social networking sites, chat-rooms and the likes are "virtual" and our physical interaction with other people, without the Internet is "real". There is one article about this woman, who fell in love with the person she met online, and "virtually" married to this guy. Her "real-world" husband divorced her when he found out, and this woman decided to meet with her "virtual" husband, only to realized that this person in real world had no similarity to the one she married to online. :notrust

From that story, we know that the guy she married in the "virtual" world chose to portray himself differently than the "real" him. Why? Maybe because he thought that his appearance / traits in "real" life is undesirable to woman, and maybe by 'disguising' himself, he got some sort of self-satisfaction. Perhaps.

But there are also another interesting story about "virtual" world. Have you guys heard of Second Life? It's a virtual world created by Linden Lab, and it's like the Sims + RPG + facebook. In Second Life, you can walk, you can dance, and you can fly! Seriously, you can fly. And there are disabled people who enjoy playing Second Life because it gives them this sense of freedom, being able to do what they cannot do in "real" world due to their disability.

[youngyew]

With regards to the impact of virtual communication on human relationship, I actually did a whole research and wrote a "review" on it when I was in AUSMAT six years ago. You can view it online here:

Does Electronic Messaging Bring Us Closer to One Another? (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8h2NnNqW699NzgxOTI1ZGYtMGJkYi00MDY5LTg1YmEtZWM5NGFkMWY3NjMw&hl=en_GB)

The main points of my research are as follows:

The Nature of EM Environment
a) Reduced Discernible Personal Characteristics
b) Text-Only Communication
c) Unconventional Style of Writing
d) Absence of Physical Interaction
e) Anonymous and Easily Fabricated
f) Alternative Tempo of Communication
g) Ephemeral Nature of Connection

The Benefits of EM on Human Relationships
a) EM is Cheap, Fast and Easily Accessible
b) EM Reduces Prejudice in Communication
c) EM Removes Social Inhibition
d) EM Allows Better Expression in Communication

The Drawbacks of EM on Human Relationships
a) Relationships Fostered via EM are largely superficial
b) EM Users Have Less Trust in Online Relationships
c) EM Correspondences can be Trivial and Less Emotive
d) EM Potentially Deteriorates Real-Life Human Relationships
e) Heavy EM Users become Inapt in Real-Life Communication

[manglish_lysia]

Say from an online addict, internet is the best way to kill time when your bored, meet crazy people, go crazy, do something that you like and ....

Be yourself.

I have met someone whom I am really close to and my friend told that internet to him/her, is like a baton to life. Being just ordinary people reading extraordinary people's succes, anyone bound to have the urge be something or someone. Sometimes, internet is just like an outlet. When he/she play an online game, he/she felt that he/she is able to control her life. Holding the mousem hammering the keyboard for a character that resemble he/her in real life. For that moment, he/she felt the statisfied feeling of being able to grab hold of him/her-self again. I must say that he/she is a very well-known figure in one of the online game.

( he/she is to protect the gender)

Bad or good, depends how one sees it. =)

[Restl3ss]

Funnily enough, the people I interact with on Facebook the most are the people I see on an almost daily basis.
For some, yes. But for some it's really I have thousands of facebook friends and two facebook accounts because the previous one had already reached its limit.

I'm not denying that the internet brings us good too. I'm just stressing the one bad point about internet that I'm worried about.

Yes technology is neutral and yes, only we can fully utilize it. But I think it's true to some sense that not all can really discipline themselves and resist the temptation of the internet.

If you can hide beneath a mask in the internet, and everyone loves you there, in contrast with you real-life that most of your friends think you are quite gloomy, why stress so much with the real-life while you are happy and contented here?

This really just applies for some. While for the good and bad effects of this virtual world, youngyew nearly had it all. :wink

Say from an online addict, internet is the best way to kill time when your bored, meet crazy people, go crazy, do something that you like and ....

Be yourself.

I have met someone whom I am really close to and my friend told that internet to him/her, is like a baton to life. Being just ordinary people reading extraordinary people's succes, anyone bound to have the urge be something or someone. Sometimes, internet is just like an outlet. When he/she play an online game, he/she felt that he/she is able to control her life. Holding the mousem hammering the keyboard for a character that resemble he/her in real life. For that moment, he/she felt the statisfied feeling of being able to grab hold of him/her-self again. I must say that he/she is a very well-known figure in one of the online game.

( he/she is to protect the gender)

Bad or good, depends how one sees it. =)

Yes, that's why. It's good to have some place being loved at. And a place to vent everything out. But we just shouldn't go over-attached to it. :)

[yhu1]

In my opinion, the bad part of the internet is, it creates a virtual world that everyone is so attached to, that people eventually begin to neglect the reality world.


I agree too....
But after all, i think that Internet really bring us more good than harm.
Before we connect to the internet, please be alert towards its disadvantages!:amuse:amuse

[vampiric_guy_01]

internet bring harm or good is all depends on the user itself.... if you're a good user and used it in a right way and stay alert.. then its good =)