It seems that almost everyone agrees that the internet has had a huge effect on communication. There have been many good things and some bad things about this effect. I have summarized what many of us agreed upon.
Speed and ease-of-use is what most of us picked as the most important contribution of the internet to communication. We can now write and talk to each other instantaneously through chat, video conferencing, and in some cases, through email. The internet is also easy to use due to advanced computing technologies that allow us to point and click at highly intuitive graphics.
The internet has also brought down the cost of communication while increasing the scope and scale of content. Most services are available at no cost to the user. For example, Skype has a free service for video conferencing, and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are available at no cost for basic services. And most web email services like Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail are also available at no cost for basic services.
Most of us seem to agree that the internet has also brought us closer together by bridging the geographical gap that existed before the highly interconnected world we live in today. We can now talk, video conference, or chat with friends, relatives and even strangers thousands of miles away.
As for the not-so-good stuff, most us complained that the internet has “cheapened” relationships by creating virtual realities. For instance, you can have a few thousand “friends” or “followers” on Facebook and Twitter. That actually creates many impersonal relationships and therefore, meaningless.
Privacy issues were also raised by some - where companies are actively mining personal data for marketing or electioneering purposes. We also tend to give up a lot of our private data rather willingly; sometimes we have no knowledge that a computer program, malware/virus or social engineers are stealing this information.
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