Is the internet harming society?

Recently on FB a 14 year old girl has been posting pictures and videos of herself masterbauting and stripping. She has since gone viral and is extremely happy and proud of this fact. Christopher Dorner left a 20 page manifesto on FB before going on a murderous rampage in LA. Directly after all the recent shootings both in Aurora and Newtown, Facebook fan pages were created supporting the actions of the shooters!!!

Is the internet polluting the minds of our generation? What do you think?

what it gives to us is less than it takes .it is a crazy world.

The internet is neither good nor bad. It's a tool. It is the people who use it for "good/bad" purposes.

ModerateGOP said:

Recently on FB a 14 year old girl has been posting pictures and videos of herself masterbauting and stripping. She has since gone viral and is extremely happy and proud of this fact. Christopher Dorner left a 20 page manifesto on FB before going on a murderous rampage in LA. Directly after all the recent shootings both in Aurora and Newtown, Facebook fan pages were created supporting the actions of the shooters!!!

Is the internet polluting the minds of our generation? What do you think?

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Doubled edged. The Internet has improved communications and provided a database of information that is or can become knowledge with the correct human interactions. It's truly marvelous from that viewpoint, but! I'm old enough that I remember TV coming into homes. Again, like the Internet, marvelous. On the down side, people, families, etc. would go visit friends for entertainment before TV. Like, "Let's go over to Don's and have a few beers cause he always makes an ass of himself." "Let's go visit Aunt Mabel cause she always lets a tit fall out when she's hammered." "Let's go over to Uncle Ed's and watch him stumble around, it's payday and he'll have a real jag on by now." "He's lostsa fun when he's had a snootful, but who's gonna clean the chair after he pisses in it." Ya know, ain't none o' that on TV, although a little on the Internet. My point being TV stopped people from being entertaining and the Internet is even worse because it's mostly one on one, so even less communication. Enough about the ol' days.

Wake said:

The internet is neither good nor bad. It's a tool. It is the people who use it for "good/bad" purposes.

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Yes, you are correct. It is a tool....and can be a potentially harmful one. So, just as with any harmful "tool" there needs to be some "rules" or "guidelines" about how it should be used.

I'm not sure if these "guidelines" should come from government or parents or both.........but it's obvious that what we have now is not working so well. There are virtually no limits (or at least very few) on how the internet can be used. There are even fewer ways/methods of monitoring /enforcing such limitations........and obviously there are way too many kids who are online with very little guidance or supervision from responsible adults. It's certainly a dilemma.:shrug:

I don't think it's specifically the internet, but mass media and cell phones in general. There are good and bad effects. Good in that we are provided with information so easily. Imo, the downside is that it seems to be producing an entire subset of people who are insecure and can't relate well to actual humans, in a face-to-face setting.

What Wake said! It isn't the internet.

The internet is bad argument is tantamount to asking for national prohibition because one has a problem with alcohol. The actions of little girl in the OP are not an internet problem, but rather a parenting problem.

We are full tilt into the Age of Information and sadly one hell of a lot of people are not bright enough to comprehend the power and significance the internet and of broadcast media. Unfortunately, far too many of those people are parents, often bad and uninvolved parents.

DaveFagan said:

Doubled edged. The Internet has improved communications and provided a database of information that is or can become knowledge with the correct human interactions. It's truly marvelous from that viewpoint, but! I'm old enough that I remember TV coming into homes. Again, like the Internet, marvelous. On the down side, people, families, etc. would go visit friends for entertainment before TV. Like, "Let's go over to Don's and have a few beers cause he always makes an ass of himself." "Let's go visit Aunt Mabel cause she always lets a tit fall out when she's hammered." "Let's go over to Uncle Ed's and watch him stumble around, it's payday and he'll have a real jag on by now." "He's lostsa fun when he's had a snootful, but who's gonna clean the chair after he pisses in it." Ya know, ain't none o' that on TV, although a little on the Internet. My point being TV stopped people from being entertaining and the Internet is even worse because it's mostly one on one, so even less communication. Enough about the ol' days.

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Facebook has shown that people are pretty damn boring. So I have to disagree with you.

BTW in the heyday of television people got together to watch TV when they probably wouldnt have gotten together at all.

Oh and if drunk people were your normal entertainment perhaps the world is better off with the internet. Because drunks get real boring after a while.

FluffyNinja said:

Yes, you are correct. It is a tool....and can be a potentially harmful one. So, just as with any harmful "tool" there needs to be some "rules" or "guidelines" about how it should be used.

I'm not sure if these "guidelines" should come from government or parents or both.........but it's obvious that what we have now is not working so well. There are virtually no limits (or at least very few) on how the internet can be used. There are even fewer ways/methods of monitoring /enforcing such limitations........and obviously there are way too many kids who are online with very little guidance or supervision from responsible adults. It's certainly a dilemma.:shrug:

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I think you are right. There is literally a section on the internet for everyone!!! Satanists, kiddie porn, terrorists, drug runners etc... I think it's bad that people want to get as many "likes" as possible on facebook. I use facebook as a tool to spread news articles about things I am interested in. People always appreciate what I post and actually tell it to me in person later the next day. I don't interact with others that I don't know on facebook. There are too many crazy trolls and bots out there that are trying to get you to buy something or to trip you up into believing some conspiracy or something that simply isn't true!

I don't know how to fix the problem of internet openness however, as I mentioned above internet openness can be a good thing, because then you discover that you are not alone! As in the case with Adam Lanza and Jared Loughner both belonged to questionable internet communities. This no doubt helped fuel their demise. It's obviously a tricky issue, especially with so many passionate users agains things like PIPA and SOPA. But I don't think those legislations were right. Even the UN and my old college is having difficulty with the issue of hackers and internet openness.

Voted wrongly in the poll since your thread title did not match the poll question.

No the internet is not harming the world, in fact I think it has been one of the better things to happen to the world, and probably the most important invention of man kind. The easy access to knowledge is a great equalizer, and will only improve society.

Your Star said:

Voted wrongly in the poll since your thread title did not match the poll question.

No the internet is not harming the world, in fact I think it has been one of the better things to happen to the world, and probably the most important invention of man kind. The easy access to knowledge is a great equalizer, and will only improve society.

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So how do the examples I posted above improve society??

ModerateGOP said:

Recently on FB a 14 year old girl has been posting pictures and videos of herself masterbauting and stripping. She has since gone viral and is extremely happy and proud of this fact. Christopher Dorner left a 20 page manifesto on FB before going on a murderous rampage in LA. Directly after all the recent shootings both in Aurora and Newtown, Facebook fan pages were created supporting the actions of the shooters!!!

Is the internet polluting the minds of our generation? What do you think?

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First, the internet is good. Not only good, but GREAT.

Second, parents who let their kids use the internet unsupervised are complete, total mindless idiots. There is no excuse. There is no reason. There is nothing but empty-headed ignorance. If you are a parent who allows their child/ren to have a computer in their room with internet access, you are a bumbling fool. In the family room. In the kitchen. Check what your kid's doing. Check their Facebook page. Check those of their friends. There are a whole new set of rules, folks. Better learn 'em quick.

I see trouble in the western sky, however. Many brick-and-mortar stores are going to go away. Retail is going to change big-time due to the ease of internet shopping, comparison shopping, on-line reviews by discerning customers, convenience, etc. With that change is going to come less consumerism, in my opinion. If we aren't herded through the stores like cattle? We are going to be impervious to positioning, end displays, muzak, perfumed air, extra oxygen, etc., etc., all those things that encourage us to spend-spend-spend. Change is a'comin'.

MaggieD said:

First, the internet is good. Not only good, but GREAT.

Second, parents who let their kids use the internet unsupervised are complete, total mindless idiots. There is no excuse. There is no reason. There is nothing but empty-headed ignorance. If you are a parent who allows their child/ren to have a computer in their room with internet access, you are a bumbling fool. In the family room. In the kitchen. Check what your kid's doing. Check their Facebook page. Check those of their friends. There are a whole new set of rules, folks. Better learn 'em quick.

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I think you're right obviously, but a lot of parents don't even know what Facebook is or how to use it. My mom doesn't know what Netflix is, and my Dad just discovered YouTube!

ModerateGOP said:

So how do the examples I posted above improve society??

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I didn't say that.