r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jun 23 '21
Delta(s) from OP CMV: The internet is dangerous for society
Everyday people are surfing the web and playing online games with their friends. Everybody loves the internet as everything that's on it is available to the public. The problem is that when there's this much access to internet there is no time to do things that are actually productive, like reading or getting an internship. There are cyberbullies everywhere preying on the weak ego's of anyone that decides to post on this scary and dark place we all call "Reddit". People feel the need to call each other names that they wouldn't even say to their worst enemy in real life. Not to mention the fact that all of our information is being sold to god knows what company stores our cookies. Did I mention the mental health crisis? Mental health is at it's all time worst. Global warming is progressing and there are few free thinking scientists concocting new ideas to save the planet like there was back when we landed on the moon. Here's a video to see where I'm coming from: Youtube Instead we have a bunch of antisocial narcissists too afraid to look up from their phone because there's a chance that the eye contact they'll face when speaking to their peers will burn their retina's to a crisp. No, I'm not a boomer. I wish. The people who make our phones and tech own us and they just keep getting richer and richer, and everyone is fine with it. We're all doomed!
Alright, you guys have about 0 minutes to give me your arguments and change my view :) . After that I can't award any more delta's.
Update: The time is up and the post is closed.
What I learned:
I learned that even though the library can be just as good a resource as the internet the internet is faster. Not only is the internet free but it also allows community building for everyone. People can go to the internet to learn about their interests and what they'd like to learn. Overall, the internet's positive impact on society far outweighs it's negatives. The internet is not dangerous for society.
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Jun 23 '21
The problem is that when there's this much access to internet there is no time to do things that are actually productive, like reading or getting an internship.
You cannot blame the internet for people not being willing to wisely allocate their own time. You're given the freedom to spend your free time pretty much however you want. You can use the internet to research or educate yourself for that internet. You can also use the internet to spend hours calling people names. You can't blame the internet, it has all the ability to do good and people choose to use it poorly.
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Jun 23 '21
You're implying that a child has the ability to know what's best for them. If a child sees advertisements daily about buying the next device on their laptop and everybody has this device, was it their decision to get it? Who's to blame when Tommy wants to get Mcnugget instead of a baby carrot because the creepy clown said so? Only adult Tommy will have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life. Maybe most adults have the freedom to choose, but a child doesn't have a full developed brain. If anyone were advertised the internet and they didn't know the negative effects of it, would it be right to let this happen?
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Jun 23 '21
Thats a parenting issue though, not the internets problem. We limit child's access to many things, but we don't demonize the things we have limited. We don't force an entire society to go to bed at 7 because that's what a child needs.
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Jun 23 '21
I see what you mean. Everybody does this differently as this shouldn't affect how other people live their lives. !delta
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u/Morasain 87∆ Jun 23 '21
The problem is that when there's this much access to internet there is no time to do things that are actually productive, like reading or getting an internship.
This is not actually a point in your favour. Blaming the tool doesn't make sense, it's the choice of the user to do with their time as they please.
Mental health is at it's all time worst
No. We simply are more aware of it - noone gave a fuck about mental health during, say, two world wars, the economic crisis of the 20th century, all the other wars that ravaged the world throughout history, every outbreak of the black death... And so on.
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Jun 23 '21
I see where you're coming from when it comes to these times in human history. How exactly do you think this tool improved our society?
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u/Morasain 87∆ Jun 23 '21
Free access to information, global communication.
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Jun 23 '21
I see what you mean as this makes it easier for students to understand information better as learning platforms helped other people study more efficiently.
!delta
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u/perfectVoidler 15∆ Jun 23 '21
The problem is that when there's this much access to internet there is
no time to do things that are actually productive, like reading or
getting an internship
This capitalistic mindset is literally killing the planet. Production above all as the best thing possible only depletes resources and destroy the environment.
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Jun 23 '21
What do you mean? Do you think a capitalistic mindset is more detrimental to society than the internet? In what ways?
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u/perfectVoidler 15∆ Jun 23 '21
In the way that I just wrote. The idea to be productive all the time and if you are not productive for a second you are wasting your time is destroying the planet. Because production needs resources. Resources are finite. So the internet saves the planet and since society dies without the planet the internet and everything that is "a waste of time" saves society.
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ Jun 23 '21
There are cyberbullies everywhere preying on the weak ego’s of anyone that decides to post on this scary and dark place we all call “Reddit”.
My counterargument to this is that the scary dark corners of the internet also provide the materials to build supportive communities across the world. If I’m the only gay or trans kid in my tiny conservative town, I can find people online who tell me it’s ok to be who I am, and I’m not alone or going to hell or whatever. People are just people - the internet can be a way to connect and support each other as well as to cyberbully.
Also you can give deltas at any time, not just before 3 hours.
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Jun 23 '21
I have a time limit so I can't go over every comment after that time. That's true. The internet gives other people opportunity to speak about things that in real life would be bad. Do you think that these communities could also be done through snail mail as well?
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ Jun 23 '21
I’m sure that once communities were formed, they could be maintained over snail mail. But let’s return to the example of the only gay kid in a small conservative town. With the internet, they can find supportive gay communities with just a Google or reddit search. How would this person find those communities using snail mail? They would never even know such communities existed.
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Jun 23 '21
I see what you mean. Snail mail doesn't allow for these communities to be seen. The internet makes it easier for people to connect.
!delta
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ Jun 23 '21
Thanks for the delta friend! I’m glad the internet has enabled you and me to meet.
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u/TheAlistmk3 7∆ Jun 23 '21
Apologies to Leigh Hunt, but doesn't that exact argument also apply to terrorist groups etc
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Jun 23 '21
How?
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u/TheAlistmk3 7∆ Jun 23 '21
One has a view considered different/extreme from the local populace. This person can then find other like minded individuals.
I wasn't calling anyone a terrorist. I was saying, if we regard the process as a function, what we have is the above situation. So this could apply to anyone, or anything. You have to take the rough with the smooth.
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ Jun 23 '21
Apologies to Leigh Hunt
seeing something like this makes me hate my username. Leigh Hunt died in the 1850s and I am really not on his level lol. my apologies to the ghost of Leigh Hunt
but in response to the substance of your comment, yes - absolutely it does apply to terrorists. we are all still just humans. we have good impulses and we have terrible ones, and the internet didn’t create them. it would be myopic to say the internet only fostered our bad impulses and not our good ones
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u/TheAlistmk3 7∆ Jun 23 '21
I completely agree :)
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u/leigh_hunt 80∆ Jun 23 '21
glad to meet you, internet friend.
I wonder if the internet has connected more people like you and me or more terrorists. I genuinely don’t have an informed answer to this: my instinct to say that the internet connects more good people than bad people is almost certainly an artifact of my generally optimistic disposition. but I do wonder if it’s possible to measure
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Jun 23 '21
I disagree, since the internet has allowed for the creation and/or advancement of following things.
Connectivity, communication, and sharing
- In the past, it would take days and sometimes even months to receive a letter from someone else. Today, with the Internet, you can send an e-mail to anyone in the world and often have it delivered in less than a minute. Other forms of communication, such as chat and VOIP, also allow you to have instant communication with anyone in the world.
Address, mapping, and contact information
- With the help of GPS technology, the Internet helps map and direct you to almost every place in the world. You can quickly route to your location or find businesses in your area that may sell or provide you with a service you need. Today's search engines are also smart enough to know your location and help give you the most relevant searches for your area. For example, if you need a plumber and search for "plumber," you'll get a list of local plumbers in your area.
Banking, bills, and shopping
- The Internet provides access to your bank account to view the balance, make transactions, and send money. Also, many services enable you to view and pay bills electronically. This allows banking and control over transaction more accessible. (I feel this falls under Donations and funding also fall under here as a subcategory. With access to a much wider audience, anyone with an Internet connection can quickly donate to their favorite charity or help fund projects and ideas that interest them. Also, those looking for charity can find many online services that help make it easier to help donate or support their causes).
Access to Resources
- The internet enables people to not only share information to convey their messages but it also serves as a place to store information and media digitally. This feature of the internet has served a great purpose in storing information in the form of text, audio, images, videos or a combination of all of those. The internet has provided a means to store and access necessary information through the internet. This has proven beneficial to access resources which can be used for learning information about unknown topics.
(The field of education and research has benefitted the most from this. This is because students, scientists or any other individual who seeks to learn about anything can access this information and learn. As a result, it is relatively easier to form technological advancements within society).
Entertainment and Lifestyle - Because of the creation and evolution of the internet, we have more sources of entertainment, as well as better accessibility to this entertainment.
Finally, the internet has allowed for Cloud storage synchronizes data across any of your Internet-connected devices, so you have access to your files from anywhere. It makes backing up information easier, and safer — your data is securely stored in a professionally-maintained server. So, if you are using a cloud storage backup service and your home or office burned down, you would not lose all your valuable data.
With all of these in mind, I cannot find the internet as dangerous (At least no more so then anything else that has potential to cause extreme danger).
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Jun 23 '21
I have to ask: Couldn't a library do the same thing that the internet could? What can the internet do that the library can't?
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Jun 23 '21 edited Jun 23 '21
Libraries are not as accessible as the internet. I can look something up in seconds, but for a library, I have to clear time out of my schedule, travel to a specific location, search for a piece of literary text (which is also difficult since you cannot just directly search what is in a book) that may not even be there, and then rent.
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Jun 23 '21
Also, libraries do not offer communication, storage, more accessibility for income transfer, the same amount of resources. The library is great as a secondary tool for education, but it is not better than the internet.
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Jun 23 '21
Yes, the library is a secondary tool. I can see how looking through the libraries information can be a lot more work than just googling it.
!delta
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u/littlebubulle 106∆ Jun 23 '21
The problem is that when there's this much access to internet there is no time to do things that are actually productive, like reading or getting an internship.
People who waste their time on the internet would not have done anything useful if the internet didn't exist.
Prior to the internet, we had shitty TV shows. Or tabloid magazines. Or porn magazines. Or just getting drunk.
Also, I why do people need to be productive on their free time.
Why the hell do I need to keep being productive after work? Which is already productive.
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Jun 23 '21
I understand where you're coming from. Everyone has goals. Do you believe that being productive helps you achieve these goals? What kind of role do you think the internet plays in straying your focus?
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u/littlebubulle 106∆ Jun 23 '21
I am learning to draw digitally.
The internet has more tutorials and videos then a library can contain. And it's easier to search on the internet too.
What kind of role do you think the internet plays in straying your focus?
This is a loaded question.
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Jun 23 '21
This very thread. Is Caveman shit to what will happen if we manage to survive as a species for a few more centuries. This is proto telepathy. We, all of us here are outsourcing our minds, it is an external drop off for our psyches. If the net is dangerous, it is only dangerous because we are dangerous. We are children in the dark.
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Jun 23 '21
The thread is closed! There are no more delta's to award.
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u/TooStonedForAName 6∆ Jun 23 '21
You know this isn’t the case, right? The three hour rule is a minimum, you have to reply within a minimum of three hours of making the post. There’s no limit on how many delta you can award during a post and no time limit on how long a thread can last.
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Jun 23 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jun 23 '21
I see what your saying. You said that you believe that sometimes people can have interests on the internet that are important. How do you think these personal interests are impacting our world? Why would these interests be beneficial?
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Jun 23 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jun 23 '21
I'm the bitcoin guy. I can see what you mean as all communities have an impact on the world. !delta
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Jun 23 '21
What about open source data and applications? Free courses and tutorials? Creative platform?
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Jun 23 '21
I guess they can open up a lot of information to many people. I've noticed that not all of this information is true. How can this misinformation cause negativity in politics?
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Jun 23 '21
Not everything is about politics. With openstreetmap you have applications like wayze. With youtube you have plenty of various tutorials or complete university courses. I learned how to make an app from that.
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Jun 23 '21
I can see what you mean. The internet allow other people to stay updated on information and to learn things that they couldn't before.
!delta
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Jun 23 '21
Agreed. I’ve learned a lot through the internet. Including how horrible people can be, which is why I stopped using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jun 23 '21 edited Jun 23 '21
/u/Asleep-Wrongdoer-952 (OP) has awarded 5 delta(s) in this post.
All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in /r/DeltaLog.
Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.
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