Has the internet hurt us rather than helped us?

[Yukaphile]

I know all the entertainment and research benefits it has, but... at the same time, it's interconnected the world in such a way, you see just how many cruel and horrible people are out there, and it can wear on you for a while.

[Beelzquill]

¿Porque no los dos?
I mean it has helped and hurt us as a society.

[CharlesPhipps]

The internet has one very positive effect in my region in that it has seriously crippled Confederate apologia.

You can't give the "States Rights" excuse anymore because you can pull up the Constitution of the Confederacy and its statement they are establishing their government for the glory of white supremacy.

[Beelzquill]

well, if "states rights to have slaves" counts as states right, maybe? I seriously hate the "lost cause" proponents, they are ridiculously bullheaded about this stupid, evil, cause that hurt the country and cost half a million lives.

[Admiral X]

Only social media has really hurt us.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

No. Access to information has made me and a lot of people smarter. Us? All the problems with the internet are not really directed at any people specific without due action. Of course it gets exploited more for devious affairs. However proliferation of information and communication is a positive weight against its problems which are considerably anecdotal each.

[Karha of Honor]

Only social media has really hurt us.

Agreed.

No. Access to information has made me and a lot of people smarter. Us? All the problems with the internet are not really directed at any people specific without due action. Of course it gets exploited more for devious affairs. However proliferation of information and communication is a positive weight against its problems which are considerably anecdotal each.

Anecdotal? There are no real studies?

[Yukaphile]

Because I do feel as if in many ways the internet is holding us back. Or maybe it's just revealing how many despicable people exist out there.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Only social media has really hurt us.

Agreed.

No. Access to information has made me and a lot of people smarter. Us? All the problems with the internet are not really directed at any people specific without due action. Of course it gets exploited more for devious affairs. However proliferation of information and communication is a positive weight against its problems which are considerably anecdotal each.

Anecdotal? There are no real studies?

I'm talking considerably loosely a bit. They are problems, but nothing to make the internet some pariah of developments. You put yourself on it. I got into it in the mid 90's and you heard plenty about how to act accordingly on it with discretion of personal information. It's a more hardwired exposure to the rest of the world. When I was 11 my mind was blown that I could be talking to someone anywhere around the US or something when looking for people to talk to on AOL keyword channels. Good stuff.

[Nealithi]

Because I do feel as if in many ways the internet is holding us back. Or maybe it's just revealing how many despicable people exist out there.

I think you are seeing it backward. When I was a child before the internet exploded. Institutionalized bullying was unheard of. Not it did not happen. But because you did not hear of it in other places, the victims would not be believed. And many of those institutions would step behind threats to parents if they did fight back. Including that no evidence could be brought as proof in a court of law. Today between mobile phones and the internet, they cannot hide. I think the internet is forcing things that had been stagnant to move forward into the light.