It seems that face-to-face conversations are becoming scarce and being replaced by text messages and Facebook. But what about the positives that the Internet brings? Being able to access to volumes of information with the click of a mouse, or by touching a few keys on your phone is simply amazing. Ask Google anything, and you will get pages of results and be able to find that elusive answer without having to search through endless books.
There are advantages and disadvantages that come with the Internet, hate it or love it the Internet is not going nywhere soon, so there are some out there that will have to adjust and adapt to It.With Facebook users forecasted to reach one billion users by this August, it is safe to say that the Internet has a firm grasp on humanity (Wasserman). Face-to-face conversations locally may have become scarcer; however, face-to-face conversations across the world via Skype have now become available. Media has become more accessible than ever before. DVD players, Blu-ray players, and TVs themselves being able to connect to the likes of Netflix and Hulu make TV shows and Movies available ith the touch of a button.
New cars are now able to stream Pandora while driving down the road. Fifteen years ago to access the Internet, you used a dial-up modem with all the whirring. clicking. and buzzing. Now, connecting Vla wireless Is the norm.
Who knows... maybe next we will have internet credit and debit cards with touch screens that will accept a thumb print to show you your balance and transaction Information. Adam Gopniks article, "The Information," mentions the three different views that people have towards the Internet.Better-nevers believe that life would be better if he Internet never existed; ever-wasers believe that there are two sides to everything, and the never-betters believe that with every new technology there are amazing possibilities.
When it comes to the Internet, all three of these ideals have valid arguments. Although the better-nevers believe that the Internet has negative effects on society (which may be true), the way things are trending, the Internet is not going anywhere any time soon. As the Internet becomes more and more useful, more and more people will be accessing It.In Nicholas Cares, "The Shallows," Carr states that the Internet is a medium based on interruption ” and it's changing the way people read and process information. " In the same article he says "there's not much wisdom to be found online. " In my personal experience, I have found everything that I have needed for research with a Google search or using an online database.
Maybe Carr is not allowing for deep thought processing. People learn to adapt, as humanity has since its beginning. With the invention of the Internet, people have learned to browse and skim and search for information with ease.Being able to find information at ightning speed means that people are learning to absorb this information Just as fast. Let's compare the technological advancements that the Internet has had to other information technological advancements that have happened in the recent past. In the past sixty years, the 'computer' has evolved from a basic punch card reader to an advanced program application applicator.
While the computer has advanced, networks between computers carrying information have evolved exponentially.All information technologies (not involving computers) combined for the last fifty years o not even compare to the advances that have been made in the computer world in the last fifteen years, and with new advances in nanotechnology, who knows what the future holds for us. With all of this information floating around the Internet, security concerns will arise. Social security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers floating across wireless media make a lot of people hesitant to make purchases, file taxes, or even apply for loans over the Internet.
People are worried about sensitive information getting into the wrong people's hands. Security is immensely important or the Internet. Companies are responsible for their Internet security on their websites, and if it fails, they are liable to get sued and cover any ensuing costs. With that liability, each company is going to ensure that it is covered to its max potential.
The user must have some trust in conducting activity with said company, and should probably read into the company's reputation prior to conducting business to have some sort of reassurance.Being able to make purchases over the Internet is simply amazing though, if you can wait the week or so for the shipping. Nicholas Carr entioned the distraction that the internet is enabling in his article "Is Google Making Us Stupid. " But is he not noticing the everyday distractions that are all around? Cell phones chiming to call and text and Facebook status updates. Maybe a child that needs some attention, or a TV show that you really want to watch, but you know there's homework to be done.
That book that you are reading that keeps calling you back to it. The puppy that wants to be petted or walked.That persistent cat vying for your attention. The noisy neighbor on one side blaring annoying music, or the hild knocking at the door wanting to mow your yard for money or trying to sell cookies.
There is always something to distract your thoughts, why does everyone expect the Internet to be any different. It may add more of a distraction to your life with pop-ups (that can be blocked) or advertising (like TVs with commercials) or links that keep making you click in order to find that elusive bit of information that you are searching for, but does that make the Internet a horrible invention?Parul Sehgal wrote an article called "Here Comes Clay Shirky," in which he nterviews the notorious never-better Clay Shirky. At one point Shirky mentions that he had been arguing for the Internet for over twenty years and kept wondering why a lot of people kept thinking that the Internet was no big deal and that "Paul Krugman once said the effect of the Internet was going to be no bigger than that of the fax thought the Internet was going to be a really big deal and people who thought it wasn't, and for me that was a bit like being on the Harlem Globetrotters.You had opposition, but not really. " Because as the Internet became more popular and more eople came to use it on a regular basis, it proved that in time the Internet had become a big deal.
Shirkys argument had become true and after a while he did not even need to argue that the Internet was going to become something great, because it already had. While the better-nevers argue that it is changing the way that people think and absorb information, and that it takes away in-person conversation, there is nothing that they can do about the Internet or the way technology is heading.Almost every new technology is an improvement on something prior. People at first did not like the television because it took attention away from the radio (for some reason the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" Just popped into my head).
It seems that although cell phones became main-stream before the Internet, and that cell phones and the Internet seem to feed off of each other, technology-wise. The cell phone had text messaging which led to instant messaging, and now with the Internet integrated into current cell phones, it seems pointless to have a cell phone without the goodies that the Internet provides.In conclusion, society is becoming more dependent on the Internet, and there is nothing that the better-nevers can do about it except learn to cope with it. The Internet is becoming more prominent with more mediums to access it, resulting in more users than ever before. People are constantly checking their Facebook and e- mail, usually several times a day.
The Internet has become a way for people to keep in touch and interact with others in ways that were impossible before. It has also become a powerful research and reference tool that anyone can use from their own home.
