The internet - good or bad?

[scottish]

Do you believe the internet brings more harm then good, or more good than harm?

On the positive side of the internet there's:
- Some of best information retrival systems (such as google), can basically find any information.
- Most effective means of communication such as IM, Email, etc
- Business and companies benefit massively from a national client base, as well as automatic services such as payment methods

On the negative side of the internet there's:
- Illegal/inappropriate materials are a lot easier to come by
- Negative impact on some industries such as music and film due to copyrighted materials
- Addiction (especially to social networks) can cause issues with a persons way of life (and even professional life)
- Criminals attempting to maliciously gain information (such as credit card, and bank details)
- Increased threat to privacy


There's plenty more points for each side but I could spend all day sitting here posting about it.

How do you feel the internet has impacted yourself personally, do you feel it has caused more harm than good in your life, or vice versa?

How do you feel the internet has impacted the world as a whole, more harm than good, or vice versa?

[buttons]

personally; more harm than good. internet didn't give me issues but it exacerbated it e.g people online pointing out your flaws and also the anonymity gives you free reign to be an ******* without any repercussions which didn't do anything to make me feel good about myself.
depends on the person really, a depressed person can go online and seek out similar people to reinforce their negative beliefs whilst on the other hand, it could give the a support network to improve their life.

just speaking from the mental side of things. even though its given us information and networks it can still be addictive. like u get information for your essays but you spend hours online doing nothing anyway...

[The Don]

The internet is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Never before has it been so easy to access such a huge wealth of knowledge that it has literally changed the way we live our lives. There are too many benefits to count.

• Allows for greater transparency between the public and state
• Instant communication nonstop around the world
• Helped increase social mobility by providing greater opportunity for small and independent businesses with websites such as bigcartel and etsy providing opportunities for people who would not be able to afford the traditional startup costs of a brick and mortar business. Not to mention giving businesses and retailers access to a much bigger and international audience.
• Access to live coverage of events from a greater medium whereas before you were limited to the mainstream news channels we now have a huge number of independent news sites and millions of blogs.
• Shared knowledge providing room for faster technological advancement