The Internet - its negative repurcussions

Monday, March 9, 2009

There is no doubt about how invaluable the Internet is; there's no denying how it has changed our lives and how convenient and easy it is to use.

The litany would be long and exhaustive, we know what the advantages of the Internet are, don't we? Yet, the advent of the world wide web has also introduced modern day problems.

1. Computer vision syndrome - the result of spending long hours staring at the computer screen. To relieve this, what my eye doctor told me was to blink more often!

2. Web Addiction - many people would not deny it. It's becoming one of the most popular forms of addiction. When it interferes with your priorities or when your work never gets done because you spend most of your time browsing the web idly, it's time to lie-low and reconsider the habit.

3. Gaming - some reports suggest that if children play more video/internet games than actual sports, then can become sickly become of the lack of exercise. What's more? It's also possible that they'll lose interest in studies and hence possibly hinder the mental development of these children.

Gaming addiction is not just young children's problem. Many professionals and parents are actually also addicted to games like Warcraft, SecondLife, etc. Although these games are just means of recreation, when you spend more time playing games online than with your family, friends, or partner, then you have become its slave.

4. Information overload - there just too much information and sometimes we cannot distinguish which are reliable and which are not.

5. Invasion of privacy - anybody can just take your pictures and post them over the internet within seconds for the whole world to see, even without you knowing. Sometimes, people blog about people they loathe, love, or admire. People are dragged into discussions and talked about in forums and they may not know it.

6. Malwares, worms, trojans, viruses and other forms of malicious codes - some are harmless, some are destructive, some people create malicious codes to show ability or just do them for fun. Like in wars, the casualties are the unarmed users.

7. Spams and other unwanted emails - they're not threats but they can be annoying (some are funny, though)

8. Theft/fraud - this is of course as old as time but some people do have online modus operanti to deceive and rob others.

9. Are people really becoming social hermits? Do people limit their social interactions in just Facebook and other social networking sites and never reaching out to their real-world classmates or coworkers?

Well, what else do I have to mention? Can you think of anything more to add?

10 comment(s):

Ron Centeno said...

Hi pchi,

All I can say is that the internet is definitely addicting. Sometimes families break up because of this.

Thanks for that you have to blink often info. :-)

Clay Oswald said...

jejeje something good is always addicting,,,,,jejeje

Hi PCHi!

Regard kay gagay!

:)

Anonymous said...

Indeed! The coin always has two sides therefore it's important to keep up some balance between the offline and online life.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pchi ^^

Anything excessive is indeed dangerous as they say, and the use (or misuse) of the internet is certainly one.

IMO, the most important benefits of the internet is also its worst side-effect: your item #4 -Information.

Information that used to be restricted, inaccessible, and expensive is now available and FREE. This is the crowning achievement of the internet. However, with this amount of information have also caused most internet users to shrink from the traditional way of creative thinking.

On blogging for example, whenever we want to post something, instead of spending time to reflect or create the piece, we google first, and thus the tendency to just copy the others 'thoughts' (sometimes verbatim). This also through with students' papers. I have recommended suspension (a couple, for expulsion) from the institution where I teach because of plagiarism. These students assumed that their prof will not take the time to google a well written paper.

My 2 cents.

Great blog here! Kudos!

iceah said...

Hi Pchi miss commenting here c:

This is a good post eye opening ito daming disadvantages din nga ang internet c: thanx for this post c:

oy! kasama ka doon sa Mindanao on line friends ko ha so you are tagged of the "Pink heart" tag c:

Nanaybelen said...

hi pchi. passing by. oo nga nakakaadict ang internet. Dami ko na nang nararamdaman dahil dito

Nyl said...

agree!:)

Anonymous said...

Haha! Again the addiction is mentioned here.

It could help if one would set the monitor to more than 60Hz resolution. That's my personal secret and that's how I am able to work for hours on a computer terminal. Mine is at 75Hz.

Information overload - true I am a victim of this. Even doing a little blog hopping and social networking leaves my mind tired.

Even if the internet made our work easier, there will always be some disadvantages associated with it.... ouch my left hand hurts... :-(

Kigwa said...

@Gem, thanks for the info about the monitor, I'll try it. I face the monitor almost 16 hours a day and I know that my eyes are now suffering.

@Pchi I am a certified addict, the computer is so much of a temptation. As to gaming I am not so much into it, 30 minutes of gaming is good enough for me for two or three days. Invasion of privacy is not an issue to me because I make sure that the images or information I let into the internet are for public consumption. Malwares are part of our daily lives, I am alway ready for it. Spams are there to be ignored.

You did not mention p0rn, he he he, is it a repercussion or a balm?

Anonymous said...

@Pastilan
Pron! LOL, it's true for any sane guy!

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