Blog Prompt Assignment #1

The internet: A combination of millions of computer networks sending and receiving data from all over the world, with competing interest joined by a common purpose, but with no common owner. No common owner which means no one in charge, which means no rules. Freedom to do whatever you want, that could be really fun, and really dangerous. I am extremely grateful for the internet and I think it has improved society greatly, but I also think that it has done much harm on society.

Think about how many times you use the internet in one day. For me, I never stop using the internet when it comes to social media, homework, shopping, and even just listening to music. The internet has definitely improved society for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is email. Email was by far the most reported use of the Internet by both sighted and visually impaired users. Some experts have estimated the number of e-mail messages that were sent in the year 2000 as 6.9 trillion. (Bermant, Charles. "Net Becomes Everyday Tool." PC World, March 2, 2000) Only 15% of American adults do not use the Internet or email nowadays. Using email is one of the easiest ways to get a hold of someone around the world. Another way that the internet improved society is the use of search engines, and the most famous one Google. Google was created by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and the name wasn’t originally google, it was Backrub. Which is kind of funny to think about now, imagine everyone calling Google, Backrub. Googles mission was to organize an infinite amount of web info, which it did. I would have no idea where I would be without Google today. I use it every day, for music, pictures, and even looking up the definition of words. Google is an amazing thing that came out of the Internet. Another great thing that came out of the internet is Social Media. For example Facebook, which is one of the most popular out there. Facebook has helped people with a lot of things. One of those things being helping people land a job. Facebook can be used for employers by using it to determine who the best candidates are. Also it helped people get a degree, a study found that students who were active on Facebook were less likely to drop out of school. Social Media and the internet has been a great improvement for society.

A lot of great things did come out of the internet, but there has also been some not so great things that came out of it too, which has done much harm on society. The internet has made it much easier for people to be bullied on social media. People can harass and/or gang up on one person even easier than they could in a school environment. Things like Facebook, Myspace, twitter and Instagram, has made it easy for bullies to hide behind their computer and bully kids, hiding their identities. Another thing that has harmed our society is how easy it is for someone to steal your identity on the internet. Any information you put out on the internet can make it extremely easy for someone to steal, even just stating your date of birth and where you were born. It’s amazing how the littlest information you put out on the internet can affect you. The internet is an amazing thing but can be very harmful, it’s something that everyone has to be careful on, especially with personal information.

Work Cited

"How the Internet is Changing Everyday Tasks." How the Internet is Changing Everyday Tasks. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. <http://www10.org/program/society/stephens/stephens.html>.