Pros and Cons of
the Net
The
internet has been improving the lives of people, both at home and at work,
since its creation in the 1950’s. Even
though it has come a long way since then, the net still has quite a few kinks
to work out before it becomes as close to perfect as possible. Don’t get me wrong: I personally think that
the pros of the internet vastly outweigh the cons. Some of the cons include not knowing whether
the source of an internet article is legitimate; the possibility of identity
theft; and social isolation. However,
the benefits of the internet such as fast communication; entertainment; and
informational resources make a huge difference in the lives of people who use
the internet.
One
of the bad points of the internet is that people are not really sure about
whether or not the information that one may get from a website is
accurate. For example, in doing research
for this blog, I stumbled upon the website “Buzzle” which appears to be an
encyclopedia of news articles. However,
upon further analysis, I wondered who had actually written the article and/or
whether that author was an expert on the subject. Another negative aspect of the internet is
the possibility of identity theft. According
to that Buzzle website, using the internet for activities like banking, social
networking, or shopping may result in our personal information being vulnerable
to theft. Social isolation is another
major problem with not just the internet but with using computers in
general. It is so easy to get hooked on
surfing the web that one might lose interest in life outside the four walls surrounding
you and the computer.
While
I do admit that these negatives about the internet may seem intimidating, there
are plenty of advantages to using the internet instead of other forms of media. Faster communication is one of these
advantages. Thanks to programs such as
Skype, Twitter, and Facebook, people can have real-time conversations with
others on the other side of the planet.
This can be handy if you are working with someone else to produce a
YouTube video. Another positive aspect
of the net is entertainment. There are
literally trillions of videos, movies, TV shows, games and pictures on sites
like YouTube, Deviantart, Netflix and Hulu-plus. The internet is also home to a large amount
of informational resources. But, as I
mentioned before, one must be careful about the accuracy of the information and
the legitimacy of the source.
As
you can see, there are many negative and positive aspects to using the internet. The negatives are legitimacy of a source;
possibility of ID theft; and social isolation; on the other hand, the positives
are communication; entertainment; and an information library. I believe that as long as people are aware of
what the negatives are and take precautions to avoid them, they can get all the
benefits of the internet without worrying about any trouble.
