The Internet

[Nightshade]

So I have been wondering, aside from the fact that we are all obviously fairly heavy Internet social-networking users . How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?

A couple of thoughts or rather view points ( not mine as such but as conversation starters):

Is it worth the hassle?
Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
Second Life anyone?
The bastardisation of written language.
Brings people together a la 'global village'

Anyone??
:crash: :D

[Emil Miller]

So I have been wondering, aside from the fact that we are all obviously fairly heavy Internet social-networking users . How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?

A couple of thoughts or rather view points ( not mine as such but as conversation starters):

Is it worth the hassle?
Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
Second Life anyone?
The bastardisation of written language.
Brings people together a la 'global village'

Anyone??
:crash: :D
These are very pertinent questions for users of this or any other internet forum.
In my view the internet, like any othe medium, can be a force for good or evil depending on your view of what constitutes those opposing entities.
On th one hand we have the ability to communicate instantly with any other computer user in the world, on the other we are not communicating with our nearest and dearest as we did formerly because of it.
We may find a second life through use of the internet but, as mentioned above, at the expense of the first.
Yes, the bastardisation of the written language is well underweigh through use of the internet and it is ironic that the person responsible for this thread is also one whose mispelling is a noticeable features of her posts.
There can be no doubt that the internet has created a "global village" in which we gladly participate. The problem arises when, as seems inevitable, th e village becomes the world community, with the inevitable reaction from those who wish to retain their individuality and not subscribe to an admixture of national, political, religious and racial differences.

[Virgil]

So I have been wondering, aside from the fact that we are all obviously fairly heavy Internet social-networking users . How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?

A couple of thoughts or rather view points ( not mine as such but as conversation starters):

Is it worth the hassle?
Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
Second Life anyone?
The bastardisation of written language.
Brings people together a la 'global village'

Anyone??
:crash: :D

Besides taking up all my free time and besides having to listen to my wife nagging that I'm on too much, I love it. :D I haven't seen the lack of privacy and violence issues. I guess someone can track you down by some of the information one lets out, but I don't think that's a major problem. I love the people I have met. Actually I have not even really met since this is all virtual. And it has given me a larger perspective on the various people in the world. I do not think the english language is any further bastardized by the internet than any other slang that occurs every day every where. Great thread and I enjoy this place and one other place I frequent. And what makes it great are the people. You guys oout there. You are all special. I've always considered every human being special. The internet has proven it to me.

[Scheherazade]

This reminds me...

I spent my student life writing essays on pros and cons of watching television (especially when I was learning English) so much so that by the time I graduated from the university, I could write one by heart without even having to think over it much.

Now, it is the game consoles and the internet... And 20 years later, no doubt, it will be something else!

:D

[Nightshade]

These are very pertinent questions for users of this or any other Internet forum.
In my view the Internet, like any other medium, can be a force for good or evil depending on your view of what constitutes those opposing entities.

:nod:


On the one hand we have the ability to communicate instantly with any other computer user in the world, on the other we are not communicating with our nearest and dearest as we did formerly because of it.
We may find a second life through use of the Internet but, as mentioned above, at the expense of the first.
Well actually I was thinking more along the lines of at one point I was thinking in terms of smilies so even when I wanted to talk to people in RL I wanted to add smilies on the end of things.
On the other hand before the litnet I did not interact with people in RL, at all really unless I absolutely had to. Oh I could talk the hind legs off a donkey if you asked me a question and I Knew the answer. sort of a bit like this ramble really. Information spouting Ive always been good at. But conversation, eh not so much. I'm not really that good at it yet. But the litnet definitely got me started and then I was able to think of things to say at work, and then interacting with all those people made good practise.
Not as good as the litnet though, I can now hold my own in the most bizarre conversations and follow the most random tangents ( other than my own which I have always been able to follow because of course to me they are logical) which I never could have done before.

Yes, the bastardisation of the written language is well under weigh through use of the Internet and it is ironic that the person responsible for this thread is also one whose mispelling is a noticeable features of her posts.
I plead dyslexia-dyspracia on that one, in RL my handwriting is completely indecipherable even to me. And for the most part spell checkers throw up there hands in horror and refuse to give choices for correct spelling.
*sigh* and sadly my super dylexia spell checker was on my other computer which has been *sobs* written off by PC world, following 18 months of reformats and dying and mysterious demon possesion. ( but Ive tried doubly hard for this post and its taken me almost an hour to get out. apopreciate it it doesn't happen often!


There can be no doubt that the Internet has created a "global village" in which we gladly participate. The problem arises when, as seems inevitable, the village becomes the world community, with the inevitable reaction from those who wish to retain their individuality and not subscribe to an admixture of national, political, religious and racial differences.
Which gives rise to a question, should the Internet be treated as a whole different domain? have its own separate laws and regulations and regulatory bodies, not tied to one country or another but rather of the nation that is the Internet, so that we are not tied to one countries laws or another?

Besides taking up all my free time and besides having to listen to my wife nagging that I'm on too much, I love it. :D I haven't seen the lack of privacy and violence issues.

The privacy issue, is that nothing NOTHING you do on the Internet is not recorded you always leave a trail. The other day my flat mate was exclaiming over some pictures that were on the news about some people who were in court, but whose names couldn't be released. The pictures are also available on the Internet and basically who they were was uncovered by journalists through my-space and image searching. they had a picture of the dead person and looked for other pictures of the same person online and hey-presto they find all the people involved through linking.

As to violence, the argument is that the Internet affords people the possibility of exercising violet tendencies or rather harbouring them and they go unnoticed till BOOM they do something big RL.


I guess someone can track you down by some of the information one lets out, but I don't think that's a major problem.
Its not really for most people but it can be. For instance ( and I'm talking in long ago premoderdom days, so no powers of any sort and I hadn't been to uni to study this stuff yet so was fairly naive. I payed attention to someone who I talked to a lot, and I manged to narrow down where they lived to a 4 block radius, figured out there class at university and a LARGE number of other details, and the poor person hadn't realised they had told me anything about themselves. In fact they were horrified when as a challenge I wrote a down all the things I knew about them. Now if I had been a nutso stalker I could have gone off and killed that person, but I am not and they are still very much alive and have come to no harm from me.


I love the people I have met. Actually I have not even really met since this is all virtual. And it has given me a larger perspective on the various people in the world. I do not think the English language is any further bastardized by the Internet than any other slang that occurs every day every where. Great thread and I enjoy this place and one other place I frequent. And what makes it great are the people. You guys out there. You are all special. I've always considered every human being special. The Internet has proven it to me.

See sometimes I think I forget everyone else is real, and not purely invented to entertain me. I am remind quickly enough ( at one point I had a post-it note above my screen that read "They are not inside your Head") :rolleyes:


This reminds me...

I spent my student life writing essays on pros and cons of watching television (especially when I was learning English) so much so that by the time I graduated from the university, I could write one by heart without even having to think over it much.

Now, it is the game consoles and the Internet... And 20 years later, no doubt, it will be something else!

:D

Are you suggesting that I am *gasps* trying to get people to write essays because I am terminally bored. :goof: :brows:

In all seriousness though, yes we do seem to blame the new media for all life's problems don't we?

[backline]

Except for the porn, I have no use for the internet.

And I'm tired of porn.

[NikolaiI]

It's a good thing. It makes vast amount of knowledge available for free. It connects us across the whole globe.

[JBI]

The internet is good - most people on it aren't - sort of like the real world, only the trolling is intensified as trolls seem to move in packs, and use cowardly anonymous screen names. People essentially can do and say anything they want on the internet, since nobody can really trace them down, unless they are a government or a site owner (and if the person is any good on the internet, even those traces will be complicated and delayed).

This site is particularly good - but just notice the amount of trash that floats around here by spammers before the threads are removed - that is a minor annoyance, but the problem is essentially everywhere - the whole design of connection essentially feeds the worst in people. Either way though, the internet is good as a connection to reality, not an alternative reality - that's the difference. That World of Warcraft game offers an alternative reality, whereas my linking up to a primary source which is available in e-text merely points toward a virtual rendition of a real item, with very little altered beyond the inconvenience of medium.

[Lokasenna]

The internet is a useful tool, but a tool nonetheless - I can't just surf idly on it. As a repository of knowledge, it is unparalleled in scope and usefulness - that said, there is a lot of rubbish you have to wade through to find what you want. As a scholar of Old Norse, I know that when I'm trying to find texts online, I often have to dispense with dozens of awful websites set up by neo-pagan nitwits, all of whom have, without exception, no bloody idea. I think part of the internet's problem is that it is rapidly becoming mired in mindless gumph - we even see it here, in those interminable bots that create accounts and then make 30 odd posts advertising penis extensions or something equally banal.

The internet's accessibility is its strongest selling point, but unfortunately means that it will always lack an aspect of quality-control.

[Nightshade]

No time to answer most people but as it is in my mind now

I think part of the internet's problem is that it is rapidly becoming mired in mindless gumph - we even see it here, in those interminable bots that create accounts and then make 30 odd posts advertising penis extensions or something equally banal.

The internet's accessibility is its strongest selling point, but unfortunately means that it will always lack an aspect of quality-control.

I got to hear a talk by Tara Brabazon a couple of years back, she said that web 2.0 ( so basically forums blogs and the like) were the destruction of the Internet. Well she also ranted about google a bit.
Her stuff is very interesting. Even though she absolutely LOATHES blogs and such, because it overloads the Internet with incorrect information and stupidity.
Her words not mine.
She is actually a really iuntrestiung speaker she jumps around and swings her arms and it was fascinating just to watch her.

[Niamh]

Although i do see the dangers of the internet... many aspects of it have become part of my day to day life. over two and a half years ago i was hardly on the internet at all. then i was sick and had nothing better to do and all the wonders and horrors appeared. truth be told the wonders won out, and i think it is a wonderful creation.
Forums, "global villages" are such welcoming communities... most of the time. Some of my greatest and dearest are people i have met online. :) It is a huge part of my life now, especially here.

[Taliesin]

My philosophy teacher used to say that to see the coming of the Internet when you're growing up would be something similar to growing up at Gutenbergs times - seeing how much faster information exchange became. He had a point there, I think.
And it is very useful, not to mention entertaining.
And one day it might just sprout consciousness (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227062.100-unknown-internet-2-could-the-net-become-selfaware.html). That would be quite something.

[1n50mn14]

I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet.

On a personal level, I love it because it's an incredibly useful tool. I find my music, guitar tabs and piano tabs, random information about subjects I am interested in, software downloads, online ordering/shipping for things like camera parts that I need, I can keep in touch with friends who live far away for far cheaper than it would cost me to use a telephone, and far more convenient than 'snail-mail'.

I hate it because it limits my social contact in the day-to-day world. Too many people are unwilling to meet me face-to-face or pick up the telephone and call me to make plans. People seem more concerned with how many friends they have on Facebook than they do in real life. The internet is a dangerous thing for personalities... it's too easy for people to masquerade behind a confidence that they don't really have, to easily express an opinion that they wouldn't normally in a face-to-face conversation, to bully, flame and insult others. My rule is, if you don't have the balls to say it in reality, don't say it on the 'net.

I've never been able to properly interact with people face-to-face, so I don't blame the net, haha... I even get shy online, so...

I've met so many amazing people on the Internet, found my job overseas, maintained long distance friendships, etc. I don't blame the 'net for the decline in language: that was happening already, and was just exacerbated by the advent of the Internet and widespread usage. But the Internet is a tool, and must be viewed as such. It's there for both good and evil. Time wasting and time maximization, pornography or Lit-Net. It's all up to the user.

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=Virgil;727133] I enjoy this place and one other place I frequent./QUOTE]

The same goes for me Virg, my other place is Witherspoon's bar at Victoria Station, what's yours? I do hope it's not Ms. Fifi la Rue's massage parlour on 57th Street which, Iv'e been given to understand, caters for worn out internet males.:lol::lol:

[librarius_qui]

How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?


Is it worth the hassle?
it depends.


Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
not that I know. (never suffered any of these things.)


what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
no way!


Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
actually, I'm to the opinion that internet exercises my ability of making arguments ...


Second Life anyone?
almost. but it didn't work out when I met her personally.


The bastardisation of written language.
not at all, in MY case.


Brings people together a la 'global village'
sometimes I get scared to have friends in Scotland, in the Caribbean Islands, in the Philippines, in Australia, in ... you name it. (Greece!, how to forget that! ... Portugal, Argentina. Sampaulo (Brasil), whom I never new. New York .. (Newyorkers, though, are a bit like the Cariocas, they're a bit too superficial ..).~

[Virgil]

[QUOTE=Virgil;727133] I enjoy this place and one other place I frequent./QUOTE]

The same goes for me Virg, my other place is Witherspoon's bar at Victoria Station, what's yours? I do hope it's not Ms. Fifi la Rue's massage parlour on 57th Street which, Iv'e been given to understand, caters for worn out internet males.:lol::lol:

:lol: I'm just seeing this now. No. :lol: :lol:

[librarius_qui]

Its not really for most people but it can be. For instance ( and I'm talking in long ago premoderdom days, so no powers of any sort and I hadn't been to uni to study this stuff yet so was fairly naive. I payed attention to someone who I talked to a lot, and I manged to narrow down where they lived to a 4 block radius, figured out there class at university and a LARGE number of other details, and the poor person hadn't realised they had told me anything about themselves. In fact they were horrified when as a challenge I wrote a down all the things I knew about them. Now if I had been a nutso stalker I could have gone off and killed that person, but I am not and they are still very much alive and have come to no harm from me.


Hahahahaha!!!! ... For some reason, this makes me remember Ricky Blaine talking with Major Strasse:

Nazi:
"What do you think of us invading New York?"

Blaine:
"There are certain parts of New York I'd recommend not to invade ..."

Same in Rio!
I'm much more afraid of people outside at the streets of this crazy town than people spying me in the internet!

But this really made laugh inside, and now I'm lol ... :D

lq~
:crash:

[Jozanny]

I agree with Nightshade about the danger: When I first came online I virtually became addicted to cyber sex, and IRC chat applications were indeed responsible for my happy and hot real mid-30's sex life that followed, but I could have gotten killed, and got very lucky to have gotten out from under some questionable would be friends with benefits.

I had to break my chat habits, and my last attempted cyber date ended in disaster in about 2002. I am not sure. I met my ex around then and did my love/hate thing there, and now I am tired.

OTOH, I am disabled, and online technology is a godsend. I get food delivered to my door. I can nearly buy anything online, including my medical supplies, and when I do actually write, I realize, as an author, that one day Google will probably govern the world, and I actually believe that--but the net is also changing, becoming less and less hardware dependent.

[librarius_qui]

Forums, "global villages" are such welcoming communities... most of the time. Some of my greatest and dearest are people i have met online. :) It is a huge part of my life now, especially here.

This one here's a good place. I'm sad that there isn't a good place in American Portuguese. (I've been banned from the only appearently existing one. Except for orkut, which is a fever in Brasil, and I DON'T use ... -- 'Hate fevers!)



My philosophy teacher used to say that to see the coming of the Internet when you're growing up would be something similar to growing up at Gutenbergs times - seeing how much faster information exchange became. He had a point there, I think.

Clever indeed!

The only thing that never worked out for me in the internet was role-playing ..





The internet is a dangerous thing for personalities... it's too easy for people to masquerade behind a confidence that they don't really have, to easily express an opinion that they wouldn't normally in a face-to-face conversation, to bully, flame and insult others. My rule is, if you don't have the balls to say it in reality, don't say it on the 'net.


:thumbs_up :thumbs_up :thumbs_up :thumbs_up :thumbs_up EXCELLENT principle!~

[Lokasenna]

The internet is a dangerous thing for personalities... it's too easy for people to masquerade behind a confidence that they don't really have, to easily express an opinion that they wouldn't normally in a face-to-face conversation, to bully, flame and insult others. My rule is, if you don't have the balls to say it in reality, don't say it on the 'net.

I've never been able to properly interact with people face-to-face, so I don't blame the net, haha... I even get shy online, so...


Well said. I also think that sometimes your emotions can come over a lot more negatively in type. Occasionally I look back at something I've typed in complete sincerity, and realise that it can easily be misinterpreted and possibly offensive. Words are only 7% of communication - the rest is body language and intonation.

[Nightshade]

I've never been able to properly interact with people face-to-face, so I don't blame the net, haha... I even get shy online, so...

Just noticed this bit, I cat interact properly with people face-to- face, what can I say for years people freaked me out.
I like the interwebs because I do get the chance to try out personalities, as it were. The old sit up straight and stop being so flaming silly instinct that was hammered into me for years. I'd like to be able to have the fun silly conversations I have had on here in RL, but I can't. :(



Well said. I also think that sometimes your emotions can come over a lot more negatively in type. Occasionally I look back at something I've typed in complete sincerity, and realise that it can easily be misinterpreted and possibly offensive. Words are only 7% of communication - the rest is body language and intonation.

True, actually very true, I think more than half the arguments and disagreements that occur online are caused by misconstruction of what other people are saying, which were probably why smilies were invented.
:nod: :D
Correct use of them can be very helpful, although of course get them wrong and well things can go beyond bad.
Its like this guy I was stuck in Prague with last year, who thought it was funny to have a really really nasty go at me, with smile on his face so that it would come across as a joke. small minded racist redneck bigot,I ended up having yell insults in 3 languages just to stop myself from slapping his stupid face silly. But, anyway to get to the point of that diversion- what was it anyway? Oh yes, Smilies, so if you use smilies right and aren't deliberately insulting people all is good. But trying to cover up offensive comments by littering a post with smilies is not only stupid , it just makes it all the more insulting . and gets me well and truly annoyed. :D :nod:


I agree with Nightshade about the danger: When I first came online I virtually became addicted to cyber sex, and IRC chat applications were indeed responsible for my happy and hot real mid-30's sex life that followed, but I could have gotten killed, and got very lucky to have gotten out from under some questionable would be friends with benefits.

I had to break my chat habits, and my last attempted cyber date ended in disaster in about 2002. I am not sure. I met my ex around then and did my love/hate thing there, and now I am tired.

OTOH, I am disabled, and online technology is a godsend. I get food delivered to my door. I can nearly buy anything online, including my medical supplies, and when I do actually write, I realize, as an author, that one day Google will probably govern the world, and I actually believe that--but the net is also changing, becoming less and less hardware dependent.

First off OTOH? :confused: Here I was thinking I was finally coming to grips with all the lingo and you throw something at me I dont know. *sigh* :p

As to chat rooms, when my mum let me on the Internet when I was 11 ( she found the Young Readers etext library, that is hosted by the University of Virginia) I had to swear that I would never ever ever use chat, until I was 18 and had left her house for good. The rules have since been relaxed with the younger siblings, but when I joined here at 16 I still had to ask permission, and as I don't like breaking promised I've only ever used chat the one time.
Didn't like it mind too chaotic and didn't feel safe the way forums do.

One of the classes on my course had to use Second life, I wasn't enrolled on that class, but people knew I am " speak to people on the computer that you've never met" friendly so i was asked to help. I spent half the time trying to get people to stop talking to me, and the rest trying to kill off the second life charter, did you know you can't commit suicide in Second Life?

I do love assistive software and access technology. Now if I could get my voice recogniton, screen reader and super amazing dysleixc spellchecker software to behave itself, there be no stopping me.I could take over the internet, but sadly it takes too lng . :(

:banana:

[Jozanny]

Night,

OTOH means on the other hand. There are now people, at least in the States, studying the rise and fall of cyber sex online, and I agree with one researcher about its positive aspects, but I had gotten really sucked into a role entirely out of sync with my physical reality, and knew if I did not cut that cord my stability would be in jeopardy. The only time I use chat systems now is for technical support or big ticket purchases.

I would have to do some upgrading to install Second Life, but I am wary of it for the reasons stated above, and there have been actual FBI investigations into SL gambling and simulated rape, so forth.

[Nightshade]

Night,

OTOH means on the other hand. There are now people, at least in the States, studying the rise and fall of cyber sex online, and I agree with one researcher about its positive aspects, but I had gotten really sucked into a role entirely out of sync with my physical reality, and knew if I did not cut that cord my stability would be in jeopardy. The only time I use chat systems now is for technical support or big ticket purchases.

I would have to do some upgrading to install Second Life, but I am wary of it for the reasons stated above, and there have been actual FBI investigations into SL gambling and simulated rape, so forth.

:nod:Which actuially reminds me of an artiucle I read last year, during one of my 'obsession periods' when my obsession was about the internet and human interactionvia the internet (whihc is a boring way of saying I was intrested in social newtroking and how people behave on forums and chat enviroments, Secondlife myspace and facebook. Anbyway there was this articl e in one of the 'qquality' sunday papers supliment, about this man who had made his fortune on Second life. And something to do with some kind of secondlife-real life what are they called not a brothel , sex club thats it! in Amsterdam.
And how he was designing some kind of techno9lo0gy that would allow people more physical interaction with the internet. some kind of suit thing that you wear and not only like those computer game suits they used to design cgi films, but thast would go two way so you could feel anything that happene dto you in second life.
Anyway he was after cybersex applications for the technology, but all I could think was cool. So in future when you say *hugs* to some one on the internet they will actually feel a hug! Neato. And the vuirtual cups of tea that we hand arund well you wont beable to actually drink it, but it could feel like you were actually holding a cup of tea in your hands.

Be a long long while before it gets round to my type of application though.

[The Atheist]

So I have been wondering, aside from the fact that we are all obviously fairly heavy Internet social-networking users . How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?

I think this (http://douglasadams.com/dna/19990901-00-a.html) is about right.

[sprinks]

This reminds me of my media exam today. One of the questions required me to answer about whether the media has a 'dumbing down' effect on our cultural lives, and my general argument was that with the expansion of the mass media and cross platforming, the different forms of media are easier to access and therefore give the appearance of society being lazy, as we do not have to work to find information (to some extent). However, some programs and media forms actually aim to encourage and promote our cultural lives, however it can have a 'dumbing down' effect on our social lives.
One of the other questions was about if the convergence of different media forms can help popular culture target subculture groups as well as the mainstream audience. That was fun.

Anywho, my own thoughts on the internet specifically. I don't like the dangers of it. It is useful though, and I spend waaay too much time using it.

[jekan blazer]

Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?


i totally disagree with this statement...

my brother constantly chats with his friends online...
he has great social skills...

[Maximilianus]

Although i do see the dangers of the internet... many aspects of it have become part of my day to day life. over two and a half years ago i was hardly on the internet at all.
Same here.


then i was sick and had nothing better to do...
I hope you're feeling better now.


...and all the wonders and horrors appeared. truth be told the wonders won out, and i think it is a wonderful creation.
I agree


Forums, "global villages" are such welcoming communities... most of the time. Some of my greatest and dearest are people i have met online. :) It is a huge part of my life now, especially here.
Totally agreed!
Do you plan to be wrong sometime soon? ;)


Is it worth the hassle?
Yep, Yup, and Yes.


Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
Hmmm... true, but remember that there are many ways to keep the doors locked, or relatively locked.


what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
Hmmm... that would be to give it too much credit, but on the other hand...


Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
We can do both if we really want


Second Life anyone?
Only one life I have and it's part of it. That's how I would put it.


The bastardisation of written language.
Language is bastardized by people whether they write on a keyboard or on paper


Brings people together a la 'global village'

True, as long as they want to be together.


The internet is good - most people on it aren't - sort of like the real world, only the trolling is intensified as trolls seem to move in packs, and use cowardly anonymous screen names...

True! People have been being people since long before the Internet. Actually, people have been being people since people ARE people.

[Mathor]

I don't worry about it too much. I use the internet (outside of litnet), but try not to obsess over it (like the rest of my friends do)

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/craighrabal)

[PeterL]

So I have been wondering, aside from the fact that we are all obviously fairly heavy Internet social-networking users . How do you really stand on the issue that is the Internet?

A couple of thoughts or rather view points ( not mine as such but as conversation starters):

Is it worth the hassle?

The internet is not a hassle. You should have tried it in 1994; it was a hassle then.


It's dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?

There is no significant danger from the internet, except to people, governments that want to restrict access to information and restrict communications.


Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
Second Life anyone?

The internet does not cause anyone to lose face to face interactions with others, but it allows people to interact with people that they would not otherwise encounter.


The bastardisation of written language.

The internet is much less guilty of encouraging the degradation of written language than is text messaging, which I have never seen any point in. In some cases the internet has excouraged people to improve their written language, because they see it directly adjacent to well written material, so they can see how bad it is.


Brings people together a la 'global village'


Yes, it does allow people to interact with people that they would never meet in person. I have given computer advice to people in Malaysia and China, insulted people in India and China, and made friends in some other places. Sometimes I even interact with people in the U.S.A.

[Maximilianus]

The internet is much less guilty of encouraging the degradation of written language than is text messaging, which I have never seen any point in. In some cases the internet has excouraged people to improve their written language, because they see it directly adjacent to well written material, so they can see how bad it is.
I'd like to add that this is something I consider very personal. Since I am some kind of orthography fanatic myself, I always write with all my language add-ons activated. I use Firefox and its language add-ons like spell checkers and in-line translators just in case I may make a mistake while typing. Of course language tools are far from being perfect but they are helpful when you are writing fast, and we have always the choice to check dictionaries like Merriam-Webster on-line in case we have a serious doubt. What I mean is that we can always write correct language if we really want, be it on Lit Net or on a piece of paper. We can always use a good dictionary if we want to be good writers of any language, be it a traditional one or one on-line. People who write badly do it just because they want, and they've been doing it much before the creation of Internet.

As for text messages, in my country they cost quite cheaper than normal calls. That's my point to use them in some occasions, to lower costs, and if you rape the language when writing text messages... well... that's another personal choice as well.

Finally, if the Internet didn't exist I would have never made contact with people from other parts of the world, and I wouldn't be improving my English by interacting with native speakers. For me, THE INTERNET MUST EXIST.

[PeterL]

[QUOTE]As for text messages, in my country they cost quite cheaper than normal calls. That's my point to use them in some occasions, to lower costs, and if you rape the language when writing text messages... well... that's another personal choice as well.

While the pricing of text messages is much lower than voice, I don't think that text messages can not transfer the same amount of information in the same amount of time. Effectively the price is about the same.


Finally, if the Internet didn't exist I would have never made contact with people from other parts of the world, and I wouldn't be improving my English by interacting with native speakers. For me, THE INTERNET MUST EXIST.

If the internet didn't exist, then you wouldn't miss the people that you never would have encountered.

[Maximilianus]

While the pricing of text messages is much lower than voice, I don't think that text messages can not transfer the same amount of information in the same amount of time. Effectively the price is about the same.

True. If you need to communicate a big quantity of information in short time you'd be better off with a regular voice call.
On the other hand, if you need to communicate a tiny piece of information, like warning someone at home that you forgot the milk on the hotplate, then typing and sending "warning: milk on hotplate" is by far cheaper than saying it in a voice call. Get my point?


If the internet didn't exist, then you wouldn't miss the people that you never would have encountered.
True, if we consider that we can't miss what we don't know. On the other hand, I prefer the alternative of knowing, because by knowing my horizons get bigger and I don't really have much use for short horizons, so I want them long, if you get what I mean.
Besides, if somehow you got to be close to someone even in the distance that Internet implicates, this would sound very similar to saying "My problem is not that I miss you. My problem is that I found you". Are you really sure you'd say this to a friend? Or something similar: "I don't want a dog at home because I'll feel bad when it dies".
Or even worse: "Why don't we just pretend that we never met, so that when one of us dies the other won't have to mourn".
Let's forget about the Internet for a lil while. Would you really prefer not to know anyone so you don't have anyone to miss?

[laidbackperson]

Besides being an incomparable tool for information exchange all over the world, I recall an article which listed the following advantage with internet:
It is very easy to lie in an internet, but it is also very easy to tell the truth via internet.

With your identity concealed, it is easy to tell what you really are, or your bad habits. It helps others to corelate with your experiences and thus helps in lessening their own guilt or burden.

[Maximilianus]

Besides being an incomparable tool for information exchange all over the world, I recall an article which listed the following advantage with internet:
It is very easy to lie in an internet, but it is also very easy to tell the truth via internet.

With your identity concealed, it is easy to tell what you really are, or your bad habits. It helps others to corelate with your experiences and thus helps in lessening their own guilt or burden.

There's much truth in this. Many people make confessions on-line that they would seldom make, if ever, in face-to-face conversations. The web gives some people a sense of protection.

[LadyW]

Is it worth the hassle?
Its dangerous on many levels ( piracy, lack of privacy, violence??, opens the door to all sorts of nastiness)
what are you talking about the Internet saved my life?
Loss of the ability to interface correctly with other humans, in face to face environment?
Second Life anyone?
The bastardisation of written language.
Brings people together a la 'global village'
Anyone??
:crash: :D

Like all things, I think the internet certainly has it's pros and cons; alot of it of course depends on who is using it and how they are using it (and even, how often.)

There are the obvious dangers... paedophilia rings, 'cyber-bullying', identity theft, thinspiration sites, coursework plagiarism and so on.
Although now (after the continous press coverage and safety talks dished out in schools) I personally think any teenage girl (or boy) falling prey to the old chat-room predator, by handing out their personal information... is simply stupid.

Recently, it has come to my attention that the social networking site that is Facebook has caused a bit of trouble amongst adults members especially. I have heard several stories of people coming into contact with old friends/ exes, stirring up alot of bother with their present partners.

I must admit, I spend... probably an unhealthy amount of time on the internet. I still have a life, but I do think I'd go a little bit mad without my laptop. I do know a very small number of people who are beyond obsessed - it's a little scary really.

However, I embrace the internet as a wonderful source of knowledge and entertainment at my fingertips. But most of all, I am thankful for the fact it enables me to get into contact with all sorts of interesting people from all over the world. In my circle of friends, I'm pretty much the only one who takes advantage of this. I love 'meeting' new people, learning about their lives, and telling them about mine... it's quite comforting. I've told some of my deepest thoughts to online companions, things that I found I just couldn't tell my closest friends or family... like I'm distributing little secrets across the globe.
:)

[Maximilianus]

Like all things, I think the internet certainly has it's pros and cons; alot of it of course depends on who is using it and how they are using it (and even, how often.)

There are the obvious dangers... paedophilia rings, 'cyber-bullying', identity theft, thinspiration sites, coursework plagiarism and so on.
Although now (after the continous press coverage and safety talks dished out in schools) I personally think any teenage girl (or boy) falling prey to the old chat-room predator, by handing out their personal information... is simply stupid.

Recently, it has come to my attention that the social networking site that is Facebook has caused a bit of trouble amongst adults members especially. I have heard several stories of people coming into contact with old friends/ exes, stirring up alot of bother with their present partners.

I must admit, I spend... probably an unhealthy amount of time on the internet. I still have a life, but I do think I'd go a little bit mad without my laptop. I do know a very small number of people who are beyond obsessed - it's a little scary really.

However, I embrace the internet as a wonderful source of knowledge and entertainment at my fingertips. But most of all, I am thankful for the fact it enables me to get into contact with all sorts of interesting people from all over the world. In my circle of friends, I'm pretty much the only one who takes advantage of this. I love 'meeting' new people, learning about their lives, and telling them about mine... it's quite comforting. I've told some of my deepest thoughts to online companions, things that I found I just couldn't tell my closest friends or family... like I'm distributing little secrets across the globe.
:)
:thumbs_up THAT'S MY FRIEND TALKING!!!! :thumbs_up

I agree with all of this :nod:

[LMK]

I think the www feature of the Internet is fabulous and allows us access to so much information. However, one must be careful not to believe everything that one reads on the internet.

It is unfortunate that dangers exist, but they always have and they always will, there were hackers before the Internet was open to the public. And who remembers bulletin boards????

I think it is a great tool, but a double edged one for social interaction. We have access to more people, but we loose the human factor and that is a shame.

My two cents,

~L

[Maximilianus]

... and let's have a bit of logic:

The Internet was built by people.
People are either good or bad according to their will.
Therefore, the Internet is either good or bad according to people's will.

[ktm5124]

I think it's interesting that very few of my real-life friends go on forums like these to interact with people worldwide. They use it for information, fantasy sports, music, etc., but not to, say, talk about a book with a person from Poland, something they would rarely be able to do in real life.

The best uses of the internet are too much of a well-kept secret.

[Maximilianus]

I think it's interesting that very few of my real-life friends go on forums like these to interact with people worldwide. They use it for information, fantasy sports, music, etc., but not to, say, talk about a book with a person from Poland, something they would rarely be able to do in real life.

The best uses of the internet are too much of a well-kept secret.

I have seen this too, where I live. People cannot do on the Internet what they cannot do in their everyday routine, even having access to this evolutionary means of improving oneself that gives us access to information we could rarely get somewhere else, so they end up doing on-line the same they do off-line, that is, respond to their very own nature.