The internet. Friend or Foe

[Chroelle]

Since the internet has started the world has gone into a frenzy of development. A lot of time has gone from gathering information, and being with family to surfing the internet, looking for casual fun.

The internet started out as a small military communications network, and was build up to be a global communications network for civilians, by PORN.

If there had been no porn on the internet, the internet would still be a small network. The porn industry hit the nail on the head there, as they put the male sexual drive right up to run their business. Of course millions of men had to see what this por...sorry internet thing was... And hence got the internet at home. The wifes didn't use it, and did not fully understand why it was so important for men to have internet...
Then we got the wifes online, which was a weird thing, since now people had the problem that they could no longer assume that the person they were talking to about porn on a webpage was a man. Now it could be a woman, even your own wife, mother or daughter....

MEn decided that maybe there was something more to the internet, and decided to move in on different areas, like online shopping, which left people spending more money than before, and being frauded alot more.
The also started playing more online, which took out the remainder of time that the man had to divide with his family.
At the same time, the woman decided that her husband was a bore, and decided to go manhunting on the internet. Hence began a large dating culture. Divided into two section: The very touchy feely and emotional "talk to me before even seing a picture of me, and then we can date" where women outnumber men 2:1, and the other variant "I'm just looking for sex" where men outnumber women 1000:1 (There is of course also the "I'm looking for dirty sex" where men think they outnumber women" 1:3, but really most of the women are men looking for really dirty sex.

There is no question that should the internet be cleaned up and all references to sex and porn removed, there would only be one homepage after a while saying:

WHERE DID ALL THE PORN GO

The internet has been swindling us, destroying our families, pushed our boundries, and stressed us up into a frenzy where we need to check our mail every 5 minutes. (How often have you gone around in your apartement, lifting the hook of the phone every 5 minutes to say hello? just in case somebody just called in that instance...)

Is it our friend or our foe?

What good and bad has come of the internet according to you...

[Pitkin]

The internet has been swindling us, destroying our families, pushed our boundries, and stressed us up into a frenzy where we need to check our mail every 5 minutes. (How often have you gone around in your apartement, lifting the hook of the phone every 5 minutes to say hello? just in case somebody just called in that instance...)

I hate talking on the phone; I hate calling anyone (it's like one quarter of a phobia) and don't like being called too much either. Email is a brilliant medium of communication, and doesn't give me any more stress than scribbling obscenities on a piece of paper does. Instant messaging is even better; you can 'talk' to anyone around the world in 'real time' without actually speaking aloud anything else but the same weirdnesses you talk to the walls when alone at home.

Anyway, I'm one of the sad people who consider internet having given them so much that they find it almost impossible to even criticise the thing for its obvious faults. Back in 2002 my former 'best friend' broke into our house; for the first week after the crime no one knew anything else about the burglar except that he was bound to be one of my 'friends'. During that week of uncertainty I cliché-like lost my trust in every person I had known up till then, and pretty much closed myself up. Instead I ended up registering myself in a couple of online communities, and whoa: the people around me weren't in least bit interested in where I lived, if I had a credit card, etc. I bumped into people who were only keen on finding others to talk to and not be any deeper friends than that (so I thought), so it fit me pretty well at that moment.

Eventually, against my primary plans, I ended up befriending multiple people online, some so thoroughly that I can pretty honestly call them friends instead of, say, 'mates'. At the same time, I got to regain my faith in the few real life friends I had almost brushed aside thanks to one of them metaphorically stabbing me in my heart. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the online communities are to thank at least partially for the fact I still have my real life friends and haven't shut myself away from the society completely.

Internet offers people who feel threatened (with or without basis) safe havens from which to find similar people and support. For example, for a closeted homosexual person, becoming part of an online gay/lesbian community has a far lower threshold than walking into such meetings in one's own local town. Online, no one will be taunting this person within such a haven, while in front of the 'local office' there might always be some nutcase bigoters shouting and throwing rocks.

Also, internet is a wonderful medium to get one's 'creative works' published. I've personally never wanted to try and get anything I write published 'in real life', but online I can post my writings or drawings into a blog, forum, etc.

Every one of these pros I present have their respective cons as well, of course: freedom to publish anything indeed allows one to publish anything, legal or illegal. When shopping online, frauds are always a risk, and even though there's always work being done towards safer shopping experience, the risk of being ripped off will never reach 0%. For those who consider homosexuals a threat to the society, the 'safe havens' are naturally bad news, as they allow the 'threat' to get together and plan their world domination.

The topic 'Porn and internet' is too complicated for myself.

I think my post turned out pretty messy and inconsistent... this is exactly why I try not to post in these 'deeper' forums.

[mistergreen77]

Interesting thoughts. I guess my view is that any technology by itself is neutral. It becomes good or bad depending on how we judge the uses it is put to. Now to contradict myself I think it is a good thing because am optimistic that more secure forms of internet communication will significantly reduce spam which I see as the bane of the internet. I don't mind that sites get paid for advertising but I object to sites trying to take control of my computer. It is one thing to post something on a site or billboard, but another thing to be constantly phoned or emailed. And the other thing I don't like about it is that it should be about freedom of information exchange but instead you can get sued for what you write or make available on your site. I think I will have more to say on this subject.

[JKSM]

The Internet is neither good nor bad. It is how people use the internet that determines whether it is bad or good. This follows the same logic as television and books. They are not good or bad. It is the content that people read or watch that makes it good or bad. However, the internet has enable people to search and access a wider source of information than that previous possible by physical means. If we use the internet for learning, we are able to find information about how to learn for example a programming language or various information about plants or other research material that you need. We can also use it for entertainment like playing games or chatting etc. Those are beneficial to people. However, when people use it for bad purposes like publishing porn and advocating things like terrorism etc, it becomes unpleasant. Removing all porn is impossible just the logic of banning smoking or taking drugs. It is possible to regulate the content on the internet but it is not possible to completely ban porn. At most regulation will porn too prevalent and prevalent those young ones (6 to 12 years) who are in their formative impressionable age to fall prey to these influences. There is also an age when people can be expose to things when they are strong enough to understand and resist influences and temptations. There is no doubt things like child-lock or programs to prevention of porn from being found when certain words are typed in a search engine. This does not solve it all as porn has always a way of appearing. I still remember a few years ago, when I was searching for a car - a totally unrelated subject to porn. The link tricked into going to a porn page and worst of all there were pop-ups that you couldn't close through the X and could press the back page. It had to be ended by closing everything.

For many undesirable influences, it is not a good idea to ban it as it would lead to an underground market or other underground distribution. This in turn makes it more attractive to others since it is more difficult to obtain. The best way is still to educate people on goods and bad about more. No doubt, it would give some people enjoyment / excitement. However, they should not indulge in these fantasies too much and turn these fantasies into bad purposes like becoming rapists or pedophiles.

As for the internet taking away social life. Again that is up to a person to learn to manage his time and regulate his own use of the internet such that it does not affect other aspects of his life. It is not only the internet that people can overindulge themselves. People can also overdulge themselves in food, drinks, TV, sleep, gambling etc. It is a matter of managing one's own life.

My conclusion is yes there can be some regulation but it is more effective through education. People should be taught what is wrong and right and learn to decide for themselves what they want to choose.

[mistergreen77]

Well one thing for sure is that the Internet has accelerated the progress of technology because of the rapid exchange of information it allows. For sinister minds that must be a good thing

The amount of porn on the internet suggests to me that people are not getting enough sex. In that case it is rather unfulfilling and only makes you more frustrated. Otherwise, apart from psychological problems, what is its appeal? It is boring, and I would rather read New Scientist or posts in the symposium. I think porn is an unhealthy because it makes people who are already unsatisfied with their lives even more so. But I don't think it should be regulated either: there is already too much regulation and criminal organsations have too much interest already in the industry without us forcing it further underground.

[Eric]

An escape from reality? I recall reading a post somewhere in which the author described their life as pathetic and an 'online' existance was better. Pathetic is the word alright. What's really sad is that this individual:

1. Felt that way about their life.
2. Shared it on a public forum.
3. Thought I gave a fat rats ass.

The 'net is artifical and no replacement for human contact.

And despite appearances, there isn't that much porn on the 'net. The last estimate is around 10% - now, you might consider it interesting that in the entire vista of human knowledge, 10% of it is smut (as some would consider it) but it's not really. Of course I wonder if it's true that 80% of internet traffic is porn related.....

JKSM is right - there is no good and bad. The 'net is an electronic reflection of society - and a very accurate one too I think. But I don't believe in regulation nor education... this is simply the typical story of the lowest common denominator defining what we (I) can or can't do/see/listen to. People are supposed to be taught values and ethics by their parents - and if they can't do that then they shouldn't be having kids.

The sooner they bring in some sort of either 'license to procreate' (which includes minimal standards) or they genetically scan people prior to conception to weed of the oxygen thieves, the better off we'll all be.


Cheers,

Eric