The Best and Worst Things About the Internet
This morning I was watching a video on YouTube in which a girl was showing her parents her best and worst YouTube comments. Both her parents had some thought-provoking things to say about the nature of internet feedback and just the World Wide Web in general. And as it provoked a good deal of thought in me today, writing on the subject seemed just the thing to do to get it out of my head.
Best: You can be seen by a lot of people.
It takes work to get a lot of exposure, but whatever you post can be seen by lots of people, which is a wonderful and powerful thing. But like a lot of powerful things, the internet is neither good nor bad, which means it can be used to either a very good end or a very bad end.
Worst: This exposure seems to attract horrible people like moths to a flame.
Posting YouTube comments that try to uplift whoever sees them ('you are beautiful', 'it's going to be ok') is using this power to a good end. Putting up endless rants on why you hate another human being is using it to a bad end. I just wish more people would see that and stop saying such terrible things so publicly. It's hurtful to other people, and to themselves, and I don't think enough people understand that.
Best: You can always find people who get it.
Whatever you're into, you can always count on there being a community somewhere online that is into it too: gaming, knitting, card playing, a certain fandom, what have you. Even if the fandom only has a really, really small online community, at least you can count on it being there. There's always someone that has the same sense of humor, draws in the same style, likes the same fan theories(pixar theory people, where you at?), and that's a great thing.
Worst: People confuse online friendships with real-life friendships.
The great misfortune of the internet is that while you can meet and interact with new people constantly, none of those relationships can even come close to what real friendship is. You can vent into the void of two hundred and eighty characters all the live-long day, but it's nothing like a heart-to-heart with a close friend. I'm not saying that people on the internet are not real people, especially since I'm a real person on the internet talking to you right now, but the relationship is not the same. And talking to them is not nearly as satisfying. In fact, venting into the internet can oftentimes make things much worse within you.
Best: You can keep in contact with loved ones who live far away.
This is one of the best things to me, even out of this whole list of best things. Especially since some of my family members live far away or my friends have moved too far to drive to. Being able to still keep in contact with them and talk to them regularly is such a blessing, and I am constantly struck by how great it is that I live in an age where I can talk to them across the miles. :)
Worst: There is too much news.
There's news on Facebook. There's news on Twitter. If I swipe to the left on my phone, I get a news page customized just for me. It's too much. There is too much news. And since the companies that organize all this output of news only focuses on the negative news and not anything positive, it's easy to be completely discouraged by the state of this world. I feel like people need to take more time out of their day to focus on the little, important, happy things. Maybe then the internet would be a less depressing place some days.
The internet has its pros and its cons alike. With all the learning and advice that can be found on the internet, confusion is lurking around every corner. But maybe all this conflicting advice and controversy is making it easier for this generation to form their own opinions, learn to take things with a pinch of salt, wait and see how things turn out for themselves.
The internet isn't all bad, it can't be. It's neither good nor evil. But whether we see it yet or not, it's providing the people of today with resources and opportunities they never had before. All we can do now is wait and see how it all plays out.
Best: You can be seen by a lot of people.
It takes work to get a lot of exposure, but whatever you post can be seen by lots of people, which is a wonderful and powerful thing. But like a lot of powerful things, the internet is neither good nor bad, which means it can be used to either a very good end or a very bad end.
Worst: This exposure seems to attract horrible people like moths to a flame.
Posting YouTube comments that try to uplift whoever sees them ('you are beautiful', 'it's going to be ok') is using this power to a good end. Putting up endless rants on why you hate another human being is using it to a bad end. I just wish more people would see that and stop saying such terrible things so publicly. It's hurtful to other people, and to themselves, and I don't think enough people understand that.
Best: You can always find people who get it.
Whatever you're into, you can always count on there being a community somewhere online that is into it too: gaming, knitting, card playing, a certain fandom, what have you. Even if the fandom only has a really, really small online community, at least you can count on it being there. There's always someone that has the same sense of humor, draws in the same style, likes the same fan theories(pixar theory people, where you at?), and that's a great thing.
Worst: People confuse online friendships with real-life friendships.
The great misfortune of the internet is that while you can meet and interact with new people constantly, none of those relationships can even come close to what real friendship is. You can vent into the void of two hundred and eighty characters all the live-long day, but it's nothing like a heart-to-heart with a close friend. I'm not saying that people on the internet are not real people, especially since I'm a real person on the internet talking to you right now, but the relationship is not the same. And talking to them is not nearly as satisfying. In fact, venting into the internet can oftentimes make things much worse within you.
Best: You can keep in contact with loved ones who live far away.
This is one of the best things to me, even out of this whole list of best things. Especially since some of my family members live far away or my friends have moved too far to drive to. Being able to still keep in contact with them and talk to them regularly is such a blessing, and I am constantly struck by how great it is that I live in an age where I can talk to them across the miles. :)
Worst: There is too much news.
There's news on Facebook. There's news on Twitter. If I swipe to the left on my phone, I get a news page customized just for me. It's too much. There is too much news. And since the companies that organize all this output of news only focuses on the negative news and not anything positive, it's easy to be completely discouraged by the state of this world. I feel like people need to take more time out of their day to focus on the little, important, happy things. Maybe then the internet would be a less depressing place some days.
The internet has its pros and its cons alike. With all the learning and advice that can be found on the internet, confusion is lurking around every corner. But maybe all this conflicting advice and controversy is making it easier for this generation to form their own opinions, learn to take things with a pinch of salt, wait and see how things turn out for themselves.
The internet isn't all bad, it can't be. It's neither good nor evil. But whether we see it yet or not, it's providing the people of today with resources and opportunities they never had before. All we can do now is wait and see how it all plays out.
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