is internet surfing good for us essay

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The Impact of the Internet on Society: A Global Perspective

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The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, and with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century, we can say that humankind is now almost entirely connected, albeit with great levels of inequality in bandwidth, efficiency, and price.

People, companies, and institutions feel the depth of this technological change, but the speed and scope of the transformation has triggered all manner of utopian and dystopian perceptions that, when examined closely through methodologically rigorous empirical research, turn out not to be accurate. For instance, media often report that intense use of the Internet increases the risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society, but available evidence shows that the Internet neither isolates people nor reduces their sociability; it actually increases sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures.

Our current “network society” is a product of the digital revolution and some major sociocultural changes. One of these is the rise of the “Me-centered society,” marked by an increased focus on individual growth and a decline in community understood in terms of space, work, family, and ascription in general. But individuation does not mean isolation, or the end of community. Instead, social relationships are being reconstructed on the basis of individual interests, values, and projects. Community is formed through individuals’ quests for like-minded people in a process that combines online interaction with offline interaction, cyberspace, and the local space.

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Globally, time spent on social networking sites surpassed time spent on e-mail in November 2007, and the number of social networking users surpassed the number of e-mail users in July 2009. Today, social networking sites are the preferred platforms for all kinds of activities, both business and personal, and sociability has dramatically increased — but it is a different kind of sociability. Most Facebook users visit the site daily, and they connect on multiple dimensions, but only on the dimensions they choose. The virtual life is becoming more social than the physical life, but it is less a virtual reality than a real virtuality, facilitating real-life work and urban living.

Because people are increasingly at ease in the Web’s multidimensionality, marketers, government, and civil society are migrating massively to the networks people construct by themselves and for themselves. At root, social-networking entrepreneurs are really selling spaces in which people can freely and autonomously construct their lives. Sites that attempt to impede free communication are soon abandoned by many users in favor of friendlier and less restricted spaces.

Perhaps the most telling expression of this new freedom is the Internet’s transformation of sociopolitical practices. Messages no longer flow solely from the few to the many, with little interactivity. Now, messages also flow from the many to the many, multimodally and interactively. By disintermediating government and corporate control of communication, horizontal communication networks have created a new landscape of social and political change.

Networked social movements have been particularly active since 2010, notably in the Arab revolutions against dictatorships and the protests against the management of the financial crisis. Online and particularly wireless communication has helped social movements pose more of a challenge to state power.

The Internet and the Web constitute the technological infrastructure of the global network society, and the understanding of their logic is a key field of research. It is only scholarly research that will enable us to cut through the myths surrounding this digital communication technology that is already a second skin for young people, yet continues to feed the fears and the fantasies of those who are still in charge of a society that they barely understand.

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A for and against essay about the internet.

Look at the essay and do the exercises to improve your writing skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise first. Then read the text and do the other exercises.

Preparation

Exam question.

Your English class have been discussing the topic of young people using the internet. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay answering the following question:

Is the internet bad for young people?

It is now easier than ever to access the internet, whether you are using a computer, phone or tablet. There is no doubt that many young people are spending more and more time online, with both positive and negative consequences.

One advantage of the internet is that young people can do research for their schoolwork and homework. This often helps teenagers to widen their knowledge and improve their grades. Another positive aspect of the internet is that people can practise foreign languages by chatting to friends in other countries. This is also a good way of keeping in touch with friends and family around the world.

On the other hand, there are also negative consequences. Some young people become addicted to online gaming and this can mean that they waste too much time playing these games. This can have a negative effect on their schoolwork, the amount of exercise they get and their social lives. In addition, excessive internet use can mean that some young people hardly talk to their families because they are always on the computer.

To sum up, spending time on the internet can have a negative impact on young people, but it also has many advantages. Personally, I think the internet is an incredible tool and the benefits of internet access outweigh the dangers. However, we should be careful not to use the internet excessively.

Top Tips for writing

• Start by saying what the current situation is or introducing the debate.
• In the second paragraph talk about the advantages or reasons in favour. Use expressions like One advantage of X is … and Another advantage of X is …
• In the third paragraph give the disadvantages or reasons against. You can start this contrasting paragraph with On the other hand, …
• Finally, sum up the main arguments using To sum up, ... or To conclude, ... Give your opinion too, using expressions like Personally, … or In my opinion, …

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• Home Internet

The Internet Might Actually Be Good for Us After All

People who used the internet reported higher scores for outcomes like community well-being and life satisfaction.

Scrolling your phone sounds like the opposite of self-care, but new research suggests that internet use and access actually boost one’s happiness. 

In a massive new study published in the journal Technology, Mind, and Behavior , researchers examined what kind of effect the internet has on psychological well-being. They found that people who had access to the internet scored 8% higher on well-being measures than those who lacked web access. The effect was similar to the benefit associated with taking a walk in nature. 

The study looked at eight well-being outcomes: life satisfaction; daily negative and positive experiences; two measures of social well-being; physical well-being; community well-being; and experiences of purpose.

Locating local internet providers

They then used a series of multiverse analyses to determine how these measures differed between individuals who had access to and used the internet regularly and those who didn't. The data spanned 15 years, from 2006 to 2021 and included more than 2.4 million people in 168 countries. The authors intentionally sought out a more global perspective on internet use than previous research had offered.

“While the Internet is global, the study of it is not,” said Andrew Przybylski, one of the study’s authors, in a press briefing on May 9. “More than 90% of data sets come from a handful of English-speaking countries” that are mostly in the global north, he said.

How can the internet possibly be good for us?

The study doesn’t provide specific answers about why going online could make us happier, but other research has found that the internet can be a source of social support and community for people living with physical disabilities, create a sense of belonging among adolescents and spur a reduction in depression among older adults .  

The internet is increasingly linked with health when it comes to treatment, too -- particularly for mental health . One study published by the American Medical Association found that 88% of mental health treatment facilities offered telehealth services in September 2022 compared with 39.4% of facilities in April 2019.

Because the internet touches so many parts of our lives, organizations like the Federal Communications Commission and SAMHSA have even called broadband a "super-determinant" of health because of its influence on education, employment and health care access.

"The delivery of clinical services only contributes 20% to health outcomes. 40% is what we call socioeconomic status," Carole Myers, a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who studies health care access and disparities, told CNET. "It's things like your income level, your education level and the resources that are available in your community." 

"Broadband access is really important for telehealth," Myers said, "but it's important for economic development, for attracting businesses -- it's important for education. And in turn those things drive health." 

Another recent study , from the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that a 10% increase in the proportion of county residents with access to broadband internet leads to a 1.01% reduction in the number of suicides in a county, “as well as improvements in self-reported mental and physical health.”

There are still reasons to be cautious about internet use

Even though this new study found that the internet makes most of us happier, there was one notable exception. Among women between the ages of 15 and 24, there was a negative association between internet use and reports of community well-being. 

The authors noted that this is "consistent with previous reports of increased cyberbullying and more negative associations between social media use and depressive symptoms among young women.” 

A report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 57% of teen girls reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless in 2021. Another study found that “selfie posting on social media is harmful in terms of young women’s mood and self-image.”

Tips for a healthier life online

There are several steps you can take to minimize these harmful sides of internet life, including unplugging from social media periodically. Research has found that digital detoxes can improve symptoms of depression , among other mental health benefits. Another study conducted on college students who underwent social media detoxes between one to seven days found that most students reported positive changes in mood, better productivity, improved sleep and reduced anxiety.

It doesn’t have to be as severe as a weeklong detox, either. Taking periodic breaks from your phone throughout the day can add up to bigger changes, like improved sleep quality . CNET writer Jessica Fierro also suggests taking advantage of the Focus modes on your iPhone or Android phone .

The internet has become vital to our work, health and social lives, and, shockingly, it even makes us happier. But like most things in life, it’s still best when done in moderation. 

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14 Ways the Internet Improves Our Lives

• March 1, 2022
• Advocacy , General

The internet is a near ubiquitous aspect of modern life — making it easy to take for granted all the skills, tools, opportunities, and benefits that it provides. In celebration of CTN’s 14 years of digital inclusion work, we’ve compiled 14 ways that internet access and digital skills can improve someone’s quality of life and h ow the internet helps us in our daily life.

Table of Contents

14 Benefits of the Internet and How the Internet Has Made Society Better:

Providing better access to health information and options..

Telemedicine can offer convenient, flexible, and more affordable care options to millions of Americans — especially those who lack accessible and quality healthcare in their region or need to stay at home due to health concerns or disabilities. While the benefits of this online tool are clear, they often go underutilized by the people who need it most due to lack of internet access.

Making it easier to communicate with friends and family.

From video call platforms to social media outlets, friends and family can connect more easily than ever before. For people who are not physically located near their community or have family members in other countries, the internet provides a bridge of connection.

Offering a wealth of online activities and experiences to enjoy remotely.

For older adults or people who might have difficulty leaving the house, the digital world is a gateway to exploration and enjoyment. One of CTN’s learners, Brenda Joyce , uses her tablet and digital skills to join virtual events, like collaging classes and the Frick Museum’s Cocktails with a Curator.

Promoting workforce development skills.

A report by Burning Glass Technologies found that more than 8 in 10 middle-skill jobs require digital skills. With access to the internet and the knowledge to use it, people can work towards higher-paying jobs, develop new skills, and better participate in a digital workforce.

Increasing access to social services and benefits.

There are a lot of helpful resources available that people might not know about or access if they’re not online. Benefits and social services — like the Affordable Connectivity Program — typically have portals, streamlined applications, and qualification info online.

Decreasing isolation and loneliness.

According to our partner Metta Fund , 7% of older adults spend one hour or less socializing with friends or family in one week. This is especially troubling when loneliness is linked to serious mental and physical health conditions.

Empowering people with a sense of agency.

For Luis , one of CTN’s Home Connect learners, the internet prompted a shift in his daily life. He uses his device to listen to music, audiobooks, and religious services. He was able to update his resume and apply for jobs. He even assisted others in getting registered online for vaccine appointments! With the tools of technology, older adults like Luis can independently pursue opportunities and interests online.

Improving education and learning opportunities.

The pandemic revealed just how essential internet access is for k-12 students, and its importance will not fade in the coming years. In a 2019 Gallup survey, an overwhelming majority of teachers (85%), principals (96%), and administrators (96%) favored increased use of digital learning tools.

Participating in democracy and civic duties.

According to the Center for American Progress , those who register to vote online are more likely to participate in elections. Not only does the internet make it easier and more accessible to register to vote, but it also helps provide thorough information on candidates and upcoming elections.

Searching and applying for jobs.

The internet is now essential for finding new job opportunities, writing resumes, and submitting applications. Before getting connected to our Sunnyvale program, Laurie Rehaney was struggling to get back on her feet. When she received a Chromebook and training, she was able to find a full-time position working in home care! 

Maintaining curiosity, finding new interests, and pursuing hobbies.

The highly connected nature of the web lends itself to discovery. One of our Texas-based learners, Patricia Blaine , uses her tablet to take virtual piano lessons. She was excited to discover how easy it is to record and upload videos to YouTube and is hoping to share her music with others. 

Improving the economy for everyone.

A Deloitte study found that a 10% increase in broadband access in 2014 would have resulted in more than 875,000 additional U.S. jobs and $186 billion more in economic output in 2019. Not only is access to the internet helpful for individuals’ economic well-being, but it is also essential for growing our digital economy.

Strengthening communities and social ties.

The internet helps people organize, collaborate, and share information with large numbers of people. For our partner Calle 24 — the leading nonprofit of San Francisco’s Latino Cultural District — lacking the internet puts older businesses at a disadvantage when competing with new, trendy spots. With social media and emails, the Latino Cultural District can distribute information about upcoming events to a wider audience while better engaging with the established community.

Creating a better world.

While the benefits of the internet and technology are clear, accessing them is still a challenge for millions of Americans. This means we must work to build an equitable and inclusive internet that improves the lives of all people — regardless of their age, income level, or primary language. Want to help us expand digital equity and inclusion? Check out our volunteer and partner opportunities to get involved!

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• Experts Optimistic About the Next 50 Years of Digital Life
• 4. The internet will continue to make life better

Table of Contents

• 1. Themes about the next 50 years of life online
• 2. Internet pioneers imagine the next 50 years
• 3. Humanity is at a precipice; its future is at stake
• 5. Leading concerns about the future of digital life
• About this canvassing of experts
• Acknowledgments

A large share of respondents predict enormous potential for improved quality of life over the next 50 years for most individuals thanks to internet connectivity, although many said the benefits of a wired world are not likely to be evenly distributed.

Andrew Tutt , an expert in law and author of “An FDA for Algorithms,” said, “We are still only about to enter the era of complex automation. It will revolutionize the world and lead to groundbreaking changes in transportation, industry, communication, education, energy, health care, communication, entertainment, government, warfare and even basic research. Self-driving cars, trains, semi-trucks, ships and airplanes will mean that goods and people can be transported farther, faster and with less energy and with massively fewer vehicles. Automated mining and manufacturing will further reduce the need for human workers to engage in rote work. Machine language translation will finally close the language barrier, while digital tutors, teachers and personal assistants with human qualities will make everything from learning new subjects to booking salon appointments faster and easier. For businesses, automated secretaries, salespeople, waiters, waitress, baristas and customer support personnel will lead to cost savings, efficiency gains and improved customer experiences. Socially, individuals will be able to find AI pets, friends and even therapists who can provide the love and emotional support that many people so desperately want. Entertainment will become far more interactive, as immersive AI experiences come to supplement traditional passive forms of media. Energy generation and health care will vastly improve with the addition of powerful AI tools that can take a systems-level view of operations and locate opportunities to gain efficiencies in design and operation. AI-driven robotics (e.g., drones) will revolutionize warfare. Finally, intelligent AI will contribute immensely to basic research and likely begin to create scientific discoveries of its own.”

Arthur Bushkin , an IT pioneer who worked with the precursors to ARPANET and Verizon, wrote, “Of course, the impact of the internet has been dramatic and largely positive. The devil is in the details and the distribution of the benefits.”

Mícheál Ó Foghlú , engineering director and DevOps Code Pillar at Google, Munich, said, “Despite the negatives I firmly believe that the main benefits have been positive, allowing economies and people to move up the value chain, ideally to more rewarding levels of endeavor.”

Perry Hewitt , a marketing, content and technology executive, wrote, “On an individual basis, we will think about our digital assets as much as our physical ones. Ideally, we will have more transparent control over our data, and the ability to understand where it resides and exchange it for value – negotiating with the platform companies that are now in a winner-take-all position. Some children born today are named with search engine-optimization in mind; we’ll be thinking more comprehensively about a set of rights and responsibilities of personal data that children are born with. Governments will have a higher level of regulation and protection of individual data. On an individual level, there will be greater integration of technology with our physical selves. For example, I can see devices that augment hearing and vision, and that enable greater access to data through our physical selves. Hard for me to picture what that looks like, but 50 years is a lot of time to figure it out. On a societal level, AI will have affected many jobs. Not only the truck drivers and the factory workers, but professions that have been largely unassailable – law, medicine – will have gone through a painful transformation. Overall I am bullish in our ingenuity to find a higher and better use for those humans, but it seems inevitable that we’ll struggle through a murky dip before we get there. By 2069, we’ll likely be out the other end. My biggest concern about the world 50 years out is the physical condition of the planet. It seems entirely reasonable that a great deal of our digital lives will be focused on habitable environments: identifying them, improving them, expanding them.”

David Cake , an active leader with Electronic Frontiers Australia and vice chair of the ICANN GNSO Council, wrote, “Significant, often highly communication and computation technologically driven, advances in day-to-day areas like health care, safety and human services, will continue to have a significant measurable improvement in many lives, often ‘invisible’ as an unnoticed reduction in bad outcomes, will continue to reduce the incidence of human-scale disasters. Advances in opportunities for self-actualisation through education, community and creative work will continue (though monetisation will continue to be problematic).”

Eugene H. Spafford , internet pioneer and professor of computing sciences at Purdue University, founder and executive director emeritus of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, commented, “New uses, information sources and paradigms will improve the lives of many. However, the abuses, dilution of privacy and crime will also make things worse.”

Jeff Jarvis, director of the Tow-Knight Center at City University of New York’s Craig Newmark School of Journalism, commented, “One need be fairly cynical about one’s fellow humans and somewhat hubristic about one’s own exceptional abilities to argue that most people will act against their own self-interest to adopt technologies that will be harmful to them. This is why I am driven nuts by the contentions that we have all become addicted to our devices against our will, that the internet has made us stupid in spite of our education, that social media has made us uncivil no matter our parenting, as if these technologies could, in a mere matter of a few years, change our very nature as human beings. Bull. This dystopian worldview gives people no credit for their agency, their good will, their common sense, their intelligence and their willingness to explore and experiment. We will figure out how to adopt technologies of benefit and reject technologies that harm. Of course, there will be exceptions to that rule – witness America’s inability to come to terms with an invention made a millennium ago: gunpowder. But much of the rest of the civilized world has figured that one out.”

Andrew Odlyzko , professor at the University of Minnesota and former head of its Digital Technology Center and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, said, “Assuming we avoid giant disasters, such as runaway climate change or huge pandemics, we should be able to overcome many of the problems that plague humanity, in health and freedom from physical wants, and from backbreaking or utterly boring jobs. This will bring in other problems, of course.”

Pedro U. Lima , an associate professor of computer science at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal, said, “Most of the focus on technology and particularly AI and machine learning developments these days is limited to virtual systems (e.g., apps for travel booking, social networks, search engines, games). I expect this to move, in the next 50 years, into networking people with machines, remotely operating in a myriad of environments, such as homes, hospitals, factories, sport arenas and so on. This will change work as we know it today, as it will change medicine (increasing remote surgery), travel (autonomous and remotely-guided cars, trains, planes), entertainment (games where real robots, instead of virtual agents, evolve in real scenarios). These are just a few ideas/scenarios. Many more, difficult to anticipate today, will appear. They will bring further challenges on privacy, security and safety, which everyone should be closely watching and monitoring. Beyond current discussions on privacy problems concerning ‘virtual world’ apps, we need to consider that ‘real world’ apps may enhance many of those problems, as they interact physically and/or in proximity with humans.”

Timothy Leffel , research scientist, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, predicted, “Future historians will observe that, in many ways, the rise of the internet over the next few decades will have improved the world, but it hasn’t been without its costs that were sometimes severe and disruptive to entire industries and nations.”

Dave Gusto , co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University, commented, “Fifty years is a terrifically long time for forecasting. A lot might be riding on, for example, what happens with the current conflict around net neutrality and the way that public or private interests get to shape the net from now forward. But within either pathway – public-interest dominated or private-interest dominated – the ability of some actors to enjoy the highest-end benefits and many actors to use what they can access or can manage to learn is a likely contour to the overall system. I think that a vast diversity of uses will characterize the future system, focusing on experience, entertainment and education, enhanced by AR and VR.”

A representative for a Middle Eastern telecommunication directorate wrote that online life will continue to be a plus in most individuals’ lives, adding, “As far as technological history is concerned, there has been no single case that the advance of technology and innovation has worsened the lives of individuals. This is similarly valid for AI.”

Living longer and better lives is the shining promise of the digital age

Many respondents to this canvassing agreed that internet advancement is likely to lead to better human-health outcomes, although perhaps not for everyone. As the following comments show, experts foresee new cures for chronic illnesses, rapid advancement in biotechnology and expanded access to care thanks to the development of better telehealth systems.

Steve Crocker , CEO and co-founder of Shinkuro Inc., internet pioneer and Internet Hall of Fame member, responded, “Life will improve in multiple ways. One in particular I think worth mentioning will be improvements in health care in three distinct ways. One is significantly better medical technology related to cancer and other major diseases. The second is significantly reduced cost of health care. The third is much higher and broader availability of high-quality health care, thereby reducing the differences in outcomes between wealthy and poor citizens.”

Susan Etlinger , an industry analyst for Altimeter Group expert in data, analytics and digital strategy, commented, “Many of the technologies we see commercialized today began in government and university research labs. Fifty years ago, computers were the size of walk-in closets, and the notion of personal computers was laughable to most people. Today we’re facing another shift, from personal and mobile to ambient computing. We’re also seeing a huge amount of research in the areas of prosthetics, neuroscience and other technologies intended to translate brain activity into physical form. All discussion of transhumanism aside, there are very real current and future applications for technology ‘implants’ and prosthetics that will be able to aid mobility, memory, even intelligence, and other physical and neurological functions. And, as nearly always happens, the technology is far ahead of our understanding of the human implications. Will these technologies be available to all, or just to a privileged class? What happens to the data? Will it be protected during a person’s lifespan? What happens to it after death? Will it be ‘willed’ as a digital legacy to future generations? What are the ethical (and for some, religious and spiritual) implications of changing the human body with technology? In many ways, these are not new questions. We’ve used technology to augment the physical form since the first caveman picked up a walking stick. But the key here will be to focus as much (or more) on the way we use these technologies as we do on inventing them.”

Bernie Hogan , senior research fellow at Oxford Internet Institute, wrote, “Tech will make life better for individuals but not for societies. Life-saving drugs, genetic medicine, effective talk therapy, better recommender systems will all serve individuals in a satisfying way. I am concerned, however, that these will create increased dependency and passivity. We already have trends toward better-behaved, less-experimental and less-sexually-active youth. The increased sense that one’s entire life is marked from cradle to grave will create a safer and more productive life, but perhaps one that is a little less low-risk and constrained.”

Kenneth Grady , futurist and founding author of The Algorithmic Society blog, responded, “Fifty years from now today’s notions of privacy will feel as out of date as horse and buggy transportation feels to us. Our homes, transportation, appliances, communication devices and even our clothes will be constantly communicating as part of a digital network. We have enough pieces of this today that we can somewhat imagine what it will be like. Through our clothes, doctors can monitor in real time our vital signs, metabolic condition and markers relevant to specific diseases. Parents will have real-time information about young children. The difference in the future will be the constant sharing of information, data updates and responses of all these interconnected devices. The things we create will interact with us to protect us. Our notions of privacy and even liability will be redefined. Lowering the cost and increasing the effectiveness of health care will require sharing information about how our bodies are functioning. Those who opt out may have to accept palliative hospice care over active treatment. Not keeping track of children real-time may be considered a form of child neglect. Digital will do more than connect our things to each other – it will invade our bodies. Advances in prosthetics, replacement organs and implants will turn our bodies into digital devices. This will create a host of new issues, including defining ‘human’ and where the line exists between that human and the digital universe – if people are always connected, always on are humans now part of the internet?”

Martin Geddes , a consultant specializing in telecommunications strategies, said, “I am optimistic that we will find a new harmony with technology, having been in dissonance for a long time. This will not be due to newfound wisdom or virtue, but due to the collapse of longstanding cultures and structures that are psychopathic in nature, including today’s central banking systems and mass-surveillance systems. The digital and nano/biotech renaissance is only just beginning, and it will in particular transform health care. Our ‘satnav for live’ will help us navigate all daily choices that impact well-being.”

Danil Mikhailov , head of data and innovation for Wellcome Trust, responded, “My view is that the internet and related digital tech such as AI 50 years from now will have mostly positive effects, but only if we manage its development wisely. In health, the pervasiveness of powerful algorithms embedded in mobile tech doing things like monitoring our vitals and cross-referencing with our genetic information, will mean longer and healthier lives and the disappearance of many diseases. Similarly, AI embedded in devices or wearables can be applied to predict and ameliorate many mental health illnesses. However, there is potential for there to be huge inequalities in our societies in the ability of individuals to access such technologies, causing both social disruption and new causes for mental health diseases, such as depression and anxiety. On balance, I am an optimist about the ability of human beings to adjust and develop new ethical norms for dealing with such issues.”

Dan Robitzski , a reporter covering science and technology for Futurism.com, commented, “The powers that be are not the powers that should be. Surveillance technology, especially that powered by AI algorithms, is becoming more powerful and all-present than ever before. But to look at that and say that technology won’t help people is absurd. Medical technology, technology to help people with disabilities, technology that will increase our comfort and abilities as humans will continue to appear and develop.”

Emanuele Torti , a research professor in the computer science department at the University of Pavia, Italy, responded, “The digital revolution will bring benefits in particular for health, providing personalized monitoring through Internet of Things and wearable devices. The AI will analyze those data in order to provide personalized medicine solutions.”

João Pedro Taveira , embedded systems researcher and smart grids architect for INOV INESC Inovação, Portugal, wrote, “The most noticeable change for better in the next 50 years will be in health and average life expectancy. At this pace, and, taking into account the developments in digital technologies, I hope that several discoveries will reduce the risk of death, such as cancer or even death by road accident. New drugs could be developed, increasing the active work age and possibility maintaining the sustainability of countries’ social health care and retirement funds.”

José Estabil , director of entrepreneurship and innovation at MIT’s Skoltech Initiative, commented, “AI, like the electric engine, will affect society in ways that are not linearly forecastable. (For example, the unification of villages through electric engines in subways has created what we know as Paris, London, Moscow and Manhattan). Another area AI can have impact is in creating the framework within genomics, epigenomics and metabolomics can be used to keep people healthy and to intervene when we start to deviate from health. Indeed, with AI we may be able to hack the brain and other secreting cells so that we can auto-generate lifesaving medicines, block unwanted biological processes (e.g., cancer), and coupled to understanding the brain, be able to hack at neurological disorders.”

Jay Sanders , president and CEO of the Global Telemedicine Group, responded, “Haptics will afford the ability to touch/feel at a distance so that in the medical space a physician at one location will literally be able to examine a patient at a distance.”

A director of marketing for a major technology platform company commented, “I was an early user of ARPANET at Carnegie Mellon University, and even then we were able to utilize internet technology to solve human health problems to make citizens’ lives better and improve their access to care and services to improve their health outcomes. The benefits of the internet in the health care industry have continued to improve access to care and services, particularly for elderly, disabled or rural citizens. Digital tools will continue to be integrated into daily life to help the most vulnerable and isolated who need services, care and support. With laws supporting these groups, benefits in these areas will continue and expand to include behavioral health and resources for this group and for others. In the area of behavioral health in particular, digital tools will provide far-reaching benefits to citizens who need services but do not access them directly in person. Access to behavioral health will increase significantly in the next 50 years as a result of more enhanced and widely available digital tools made available to practitioners for delivering care to vulnerable populations, and by minimizing the stigma of accessing this type of care in person. It is a more affordable, personalized and continuous way of providing this type of care that is also more likely to attain adherence.”

The cyborg generation: Humans will partner more directly with technology

Many experts foresaw a future where the integration of technology and the human body would lead to a hybridization of humanity and technology.

Barry Chudakov , founder and principal of Sertain Research and author of “Metalifestream,” commented, “In 50 years the internet will not be a place to access through a device; it will be the all-surrounding ether of actions and intentions as machine intelligence and learning merge with human intelligence. This will be a natural evolution of adopting the logic of our tools and adjusting our lives accordingly. Pathways to digital life will be neural pathways inside our bodies and brains. We will eat our technology. What is now external mediated through devices will become neural, mediated through neural triggers along neural pathways. Having gone (and living) inside us, the merger with our tools and devices will continue to accelerate due to advances in machine learning. Human identity will morph into an open question, an ongoing discussion.”

Sam Lehman-Wilzig , associate professor and former chair of the School of Communication, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, wrote, “Given the huge (and completely unpredicted) changes of the ‘internet’ over the past 50 years, this question demands out-of-the-box thinking, which I will do here. Literally. In my estimation, within the next 50 years the internet will mainly become the platform for brain-to-brain communication, i.e., no keyboard, no voice, no screen, no text or pictures – merely ‘neuronic’ communication (thought transmission) at the speed of light, with internet speeds reaching terabytes per second, if not more than that. This also means that the main ‘content’ will be various forms of full-experience VR, fed directly to our brains by professional content providers – and perhaps (a bit science-fictiony at this stage) from our brains to other brains as well. The consequences of such a ‘hive mind’ communication are difficult (if not impossible) to predict, but certainly it will constitute a radical break with past human society.”

Joaquin Vanschoren , assistant professor of machine learning at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, responded, “We will be able to interact with each other and the world’s information more directly, without going through web interfaces, maybe using a brain-internet interface. A lot more content will be generated automatically, by AI systems that help us fill in the holes in our knowledge and make it more easily accessible.”

Frank Kaufmann , president of Filial Projects and founder and director of the Values in Knowledge Foundation, said, “Virtually nothing from today’s internet will be recognizable 50 years from now. Connectivity will become ever more ethereal and divorced from devices. Speeds will have exceeded what can any longer be sensed by the human organism. Storage will seem limitless, as it will exceed all possible need. Most connectivity will be integrated into the biological organism.… Tech will enable creative people to create more. It will enable good people to do more good. It will enable lazy people to be more lazy. It will enable bad people to do more bad. It will enable family and social people to be closer and more loving. It will enable lonely and isolated people to become more isolated. It will enable radical advances in all things people do – sports, arts, medicine, science, literature, nature exploration, etc.”

Karen Oates , director of workforce development for La Casea de Esperanza, commented, “At the rate at which technology is evolving, the internet as we currently know it and interact with it will have morphed into something very different. I can see people allowing implants in their bodies so they can connect to whatever the internet becomes – leveraging it as an auxiliary brain. This also, however, opens the door for manipulation and potential control of people. Like anything, technology can be used for good or evil. Much will be dependent on to what extent an individual is willing to sacrifice independence for comfort, security, etc.”

Several other respondents voiced concerns about this future. A law professor based at a U.S. university said, “The book ‘Re-Engineering Humanity’ provides a reasonable description of the slippery, sloped path we’re on and where we seem likely to be heading. The authors’ big concern is that humans will outsource so much of what matters about being human to supposedly smart technical systems that the humans will be little more than satiated automatons.”

David J. Krieger , co-director of the Institute for Communication & Leadership in Lucerne, Switzerland, wrote, “Everything will be ‘personalized’ but not individualized. The European Western paradigm of the free and autonomous individual will no longer be a major cultural force. Network collectivism will be the form in which human existence, now no longer ‘humanist’ will play itself out. There will be no other life than digital life and no one will really have the opportunity to live offline. And if so, then there will probably be a three-class society consisting of the cyborgs, the hybrids and the naturals. This will of course generate new forms of social inequality and conflict.”

Despite the likely drawbacks many respondents see the hybrid future as a strong possibility.

Mike Meyer , a futurist and administrator at Honolulu Community College, commented, “The world in 50 years is likely to be very difficult to imagine or understand in today’s language. The options available will be contingent on many layers of both technology and human adaption that will occur over the next 50 years. This will be true as the steady acceleration of the rate of change continues based loosely on Moore’s Law leading to true quantum computing. Genetic engineering combined with nano components that may also be bioelectronic in nature will allow planetary network communication with implants or, perhaps, full neural lace. The primary distinction will be between those people with full communication plus memory and sensor augmentation versus those who choose not to use artificial components in their bodies. Everyone will use a planetwide network for all communication and process activity whether through augmentation or very small headbands or other options that are not implanted.”

Ray Schroeder , an associate vice chancellor at the University of Illinois, Springfield, wrote, “Connected technologies and applications will become much more seamlessly integrated into people’s lives. Technologies are emerging, such as MIT’s AlterEgo, that point to practical telepathy in which human thought will directly connect with supercomputers – and through those computers with other people. This kind of thought-based communication will become ubiquitous through always-on, omnipresent networks. Personal devices will fade away as direct connectivity becomes ubiquitous. These advances will enable instant virtual ‘learning’ of new ideas and the whole range of literature. One will be able to ‘recall’ a novel or a treatise as if one had studied it for years. Such will be the state of augmented memory. There will be attempts to apply new rules/laws, but technological capability will most often trump artificial restrictions. This will further empower people, by the power of their purchases and choice-to-use to set standards of acceptability and preference.”

David Klann , consultant and software developer at Broadcast Tool & Die, responded, “Further integration of humans and machines is inevitable. More devices will be implanted in us, and more of our minds will be ‘implanted’ in devices. The inevitable ‘Singularity’ will result in changes to humans and will increase the rate of our evolution toward hybrid ‘machines.’ I also believe that new and modified materials will become ‘smart.’ For instance, new materials will be ‘self-aware’ and will be able to communicate problems in order to avoid failure. Ultimately, these materials will become ‘self-healing’ and will be able to harness raw materials to manufacture replacement parts in situ. All these materials, and the things built with them will participate in the connected world. We will see continued blurring of the line between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ life.”

Anonymous respondents predicted:

• “Artificial general intelligence and quantum computing available in a future version of the cloud connected to individual brain augmentation could make us augmented geniuses, inventing our daily lives in a self-actualization economy as the conscious-technology civilization evolves.”
• “There is a probability of technological singularity. So far all the trends lead to it; it is hard to imagine a future in which this does not happen.”
• “Connective symbiosis – human-human, machine-human, human-machine – will continue to thicken.”
• “Implants in humans that continuously connect them to the web will lead to a loss of privacy and the potential for thought control, decline in autonomy.”

Everyone agrees that the world will be putting AI to work

The technology visionaries surveyed described a much different work environment from the current one. They say remote work arrangements are likely to be the rule, rather than the exception, and virtual assistants will handle many of the mundane and unpleasant tasks currently performed by humans.

Ed Lyell , longtime internet strategist and professor at Adams State University, wrote, “If we can change the governance of technology to focus on common good growth and not a division of winner/loser then we can see people having more control over their lives. Imagine that the tough, hard work, dangerous jobs are done by machines guided by computers and AI. We can see the prototype of these in how the U.S. is now fighting wars. The shooting is done by a drone guided by a smart guy/gal working a 9-to-5 job in an air-conditioned office in a nice town. Garbage could be picked up, sorted, recycled, all by robots with AI. Tedious surgery completed by robots and teaching via YouTube would leave the humans to the interesting and exciting cases, not the redoing of same lessons to yet more patients/students. Humans could live well on a 20-hour work week with many weeks of paid vacation. Having a job/career could become a positive, not just a necessity. With 24/7 learning and just-in-time capacity, people could change areas or careers many times with ease whenever they become bored. This positive outcome is possible if we collectively manage the creation and distribution of the tools and access to the use of new emerging tools.”

Jim Spohrer , director of the Cognitive OpenTech Group at IBM Research-Almaden, commented, “Everyone will have hundreds of digital workers working for them. Our cognitive mediators will know us in some ways better than we know ourselves. Better episodic memories and large numbers of digital workers will allow expanded entrepreneurship, lifelong learning and focus on transformation.”

Kyle Rose , principal architect, Akamai Technologies, wrote, “As telepresence and VR become more than research projects or toys, the already small world will shrink further as remote collaboration becomes the norm, resulting in major social changes, among them allowing the recent concentration of expertise in major cities to relax and reducing the relevance of national borders. Furthermore, deep learning and AI-assisted technologies for software development and verification, combined with more abstract primitives for executing software in the cloud, will enable even those not trained as software engineers to precisely describe and solve complex problems. I strongly suspect there will be other, unpredictable disruptive social changes analogous to the freer movement of capital enabled by cryptocurrencies in the last decade.”

David Schlangen , a professor of applied computational linguistics at Bielefeld University, Germany, said, “Physical presence will matter less, as high-bandwidth transmissions will make telepresence (in medicine, in the workplace, in in-person interactions) more viable.”

Ken Goldberg , distinguished chair in engineering, director of AUTOLAB and CITRIS at the University of California, Berkeley, said, “I believe the question we’re facing is not ‘When will machines surpass human intelligence?’ but instead ‘How can humans work together with machines in new ways?’ Rather than worrying about an impending Singularity, I propose the concept of Multiplicity: where diverse combinations of people and machines work together to solve problems and innovate. In analogy with the 1910 High School Movement that was spurred by advances in farm automation, I propose a ‘Multiplicity Movement’ to evolve the way we learn to emphasize the uniquely human skills that AI and robots cannot replicate: creativity, curiosity, imagination, empathy, human communication, diversity and innovation. AI systems can provide universal access to sophisticated adaptive testing and exercises to discover the unique strengths of each student and to help each student amplify his or her strengths. AI systems could support continuous learning for students of all ages and abilities. Rather than discouraging the human workers of the world with threats of an impending Singularity, let’s focus on Multiplicity where advances in AI and robots can inspire us to think deeply about the kind of work we really want to do, how we can change the way we learn and how we might embrace diversity to create myriad new partnerships.”

Kristin Jenkins , executive director of BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium, said, “Access to information is enormously powerful, and the internet has provided access to people in a way we have never before experienced. This means that people can learn new skills (how to patch your roof or make bread), assess situations and make informed decisions (learn about a political candidate’s voting record, plan a trip), and teach themselves whatever they want to know from knowledgeable sources. Information that was once accessed through print materials that were not available to everyone and often out of date is now much more readily available to many more people. Ensuring access is another huge issue with internet 2.0/AI. Access to these tools is not guaranteed even within the U.S. – presumably one of the best places in the world to be wired. In many cases, access to current technology in developing areas of the world allows populations to skip expensive intermediate steps and use tools in a way that improves their quality of life.  Ensuring that people all over the world have access to tools that can improve their lives is an important social justice issue.”

Rich Ling , a professor of media technology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, responded, “In the next 50 years there will be significant changes in the way that we work. The disruption of that will play through to the way people identify themselves and can also be turned into political movements. AI is on the point of eliminating a wide variety of jobs and professions (taxi driver, accountant, law clerk, etc.). At the same time a large portion of our identity often comes from an idealized sense of our work. Witness the notion of being a cowboy. This is a real job for a small number of people, but it is an identity for many. In the same way, there is an identity in being a truck driver, an insurance adjuster, etc. It often does not have the same panache as the idealized version of being a cowboy, but it’s nonetheless an identity. If that is taken away from people it can, in the worst case, lead to populist political movements. I answered that the general trend will be positive, but I expect that it is not a simple path to better lives through the application of IT. There are many social and eventually political issues that will be played out.”

Divina Frau-Meigs , professor of media sociology at Sorbonne Nouvelle University, France, and UNESCO chair for sustainable digital development, responded, “The most important trend to follow is the way game/play will become the new work. Convergence of virtual reality and immersive devices will modify the rules determining how we interact with each other and with knowledge and information in the future. These ‘alternative’ realities will enable more simulations of situations in real life and will be necessary in decision-making every step of our daily lives. We will need to be conscious of the distinction between game and play, to allow for leisure time away from rule-bound game-as-the-new-work. This will be particularly necessary for environmental issues to be solved creatively.”

Estee Beck , assistant professor at the University of Texas and author of “A Theory of Persuasive Computer Algorithms for Rhetorical Code Studies,” responded, “Society will shift toward educating the public on reading and writing code at an accelerated rate. Coding literacy will become part of K-12 curricula to prepare citizens for both STEM-related careers and consumer-oriented DIY solutions of tech problems. On the latter, because of the mass coding literacy spread in primary and secondary schooling, the ‘handyman’ will evolve into a tech tinkerer or handyman 2.0. Already acquainted with basic and intermediate home maintenance of basic lighting, plumbing and painting, the handyman 2.0 will fix code in home appliances, run software updates to modify and personalize processes in the home. The handyman 2.0 might run their own server and develop a self-contained smartphone and security system to protect against internet-related attacks. For those unable or uninterested in being a handyman 2.0, they can hire general and specialized contractors from a new industry of handymen 2.0. This industry – with public and private certifications – will employ hundreds of thousands of laborers and enjoy revenues in the billions.”

Hume Winzar , associate professor and director of the business analytics undergraduate program at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, wrote, “Working and study at a distance will be normalized, so lifestyle options will be wider. We won’t need to live/work/study in a major city to enjoy the best of what is available. Done right, it will expand opportunity for many, too.”

Barrack Otieno , general manager at the Africa Top-Level Internet Domains Organization, wrote, “I expect technology to enhance the work environment. The internet will mostly be used to enhance communication, coordination and collaboration.”

Benjamin Kuipers , a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan, wrote, “In the post-World War II era, many people believed that American society was essentially benevolent, providing opportunities for political, economic and social advancement for individuals and families over decades and generations. This was somewhat true for the majority, but dramatically untrue for many minorities. We may have the opportunity to provide this societal benevolence for everyone in our society. The technological, often digital, tools we are creating have the promise of greatly increasing the resources available in society. While it may be possible to automate some current jobs, people have an intrinsic need for meaningful work. If we can use these new resources to support them, many jobs can be created to provide meaningful work for many people, and to improve the environment for everyone in society. Some examples of such jobs are child and elder care, and creation and maintenance of green spaces ranging from urban parks to rural farms to wilderness environments and many others. A national service requirement for young people gets certain kinds of work done, but also provides training in practical skills and practical responsibility, and also exposes individuals to the diversity of our society. Technological change produces resources that allow new things to be done and reduces certain constraints on what can be done. But we need to learn which goals we should pursue.”

Lane Jennings , a recent retiree who served as managing editor for the World Future Review from 2009 to 2015, wrote, “Entire classes of humans (drivers, construction workers, editors, medical technicians, etc.) are likely to be replaced by AI systems within the next 50 years. Whether individual members of such groups feel their lives have been improved or made worse will vary depending on many factors. Suffice it to say that public support of some kind to give displaced workers the means to live in relative security and comfort is essential. Moreover, this support must be provided in a way that preserves self-respect and promotes optimism and ambition. A world of former workers who perceive themselves as having been prematurely retired while machines provide the goods and services they once supplied seems to me highly unstable. To be happy, or at least contented, people need a purpose beyond simply amusing themselves and passing time pleasantly. One of the major functions of the internet in 2069 may be to facilitate contact between people with skills who want to work and jobs that still need doing in spite of high-tech robots and ubiquitous AI.”

Mark Crowley , an assistant professor expert in machine learning and core member of the Institute for Complexity and Innovation at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, wrote, “Technology affects people asymmetrically. Diseases will be cured with machine learning, profits will rise with automation and artists, engineers and scientists will be able to do more with less time and resources than ever before. However, many people will lose the only jobs they’ve ever known, and many others will feel alienated and left behind. Will society take steps to adapt its social standards? Will education adapt to prepare each generation for the reality ahead rather than focusing on the past? Will we allow people to live, with dignity, their own life, even if rapid technological changes leave them without a job that we would traditionally call ‘useful’ or productive? That depends on politics.”

Josh Calder , a partner at the Foresight Alliance, commented, “Changes will be for the better if the wealth generated by automation is spread equitably, and this will likely require significant changes to economic systems. If wealth concentration is accelerated by automation, the average person could be worse off.”

In 2069 the ‘new normal’ will be …

If the future is to change as dramatically and rapidly as many of the survey respondents believe, the world will see seismic shifts in norms and in what might be considered “normal” life.

Cliff Lynch , director of the Coalition for Networked Information, responded, “Over the next 20 to 30 years I expect to see enormous renegotiation of the social, cultural and political norms involving the digital environment.”

Alistair Nolan a senior policy analyst in the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, wrote, “I speculate that individuals’ interaction with digital technologies will become much more pervasive and intimate than it is already. Digital technology will be used to counter some of the stresses created by economic development and a digital culture. Digital avatars, for example, might provide intelligent company for the old and lonely, coaching those subject to psychological disorders, encouraging and guiding the sedentary to adopt healthier lifestyles, and so on. But changes and societal stresses brought by digital technologies may require a fundamental overhaul of the social contract. A new digital social contract will likely be needed, the specifics of which we cannot be sure now, but the contours of which we see suggested today in proposals ranging from universal basic income to institutionally mandated time free from digital distraction. The hope is that political processes allow our social arrangements to adjust at a pace commensurate with broader technological change, and that dysfunction in political processes is not aggravated by digital technologies. It has been commented that when humankind attempts to take astronauts to Mars the primary challenge will not be technological. Instead, it will be social: namely, the ability of unrelated individuals to live in close confinement for long periods of time. At the level of entire polities, in a similar way, our primary challenge may be living together in civil ways, attending to the full range of human needs, while the technology brings opportunities to carry us forward, or carry us off course.”

Betsy Williams , a researcher at the Center for Digital Society and Data Studies at the University of Arizona, wrote, “Free internet-connected devices will be available to the poor in exchange for carrying around a sensor that records traffic speed, environmental quality, detailed usage logs, and video and audio recordings (depending on state law). There will be secure vote-by-internet capabilities, through credit card or passport verification, with other secure kiosks available at public facilities (police stations, libraries, fire stations and post offices, should those continue to exist in their current form). There will be a movement online to require real-name verification to comment on more reputable sites; however, this will skew participation tremendously toward men, and the requirements will be reversed after a woman is assaulted or killed based on what she typed in a public-interest discussion.”

Pamela Rutledge , director of the Media Psychology Center, responded, “Starting with Generation Z and going forward, internet and 24/7 real-time connectivity will no longer be viewed as a ‘thing’ independent from daily life, but integral, like electricity. This has profound psychological implications about what people assume as normal and establishes baseline expectations for access, response times and personalization of functions and information. Contrary to many concerns, as technology becomes more sophisticated, it will ultimately support the primary human drives of social connectedness and agency. As we have seen with social media, first adoption is noncritical – it is a shiny penny for exploration. Then people start making judgments about the value-add based on their own goals and technology companies adapt by designing for more value to the user – we see that now in privacy settings and the concerns about information quality…. Technology is going to change whether we like it or not – expecting it to be worse for individuals means that we look for what’s wrong. Expecting it to be better means we look for the strengths and what works and work toward that goal. Technology gives individuals more control – a fundamental human need and a prerequisite to participatory citizenship and collective agency. The danger is that we are so distracted by technology that we forget that digital life is an extension of the offline world and demands the same critical, moral and ethical thinking.”

Geoff Livingston , author and futurist, commented, “Technology will become a seamless experience for most people. Only the very poor who cannot afford technology and the very rich who can choose to separate themselves from it will be free from connectedness. When I consider the current AI conversation, I often think the real evolution of sentient beings will be a hybrid connectedness between human and machine. Our very existence and day-to-day experience will be through an augmented experience that features faster thinking and more ethereal pleasures. This brings a question of what is human? Since most of us will be living in a machine-enhanced world, the perspective of human reality will always be in doubt. Most will simply move through their existence without a thought, able to change and alter it with new software packages and algorithms, accepting their reality as the new normal. Indeed, perception will become reality. There will be those who decry the movement forward and wish for yesteryear’s unplugged mind. The counter movement against the internet of 2070 will be significant, and yet much like today’s Luddite, it will find itself in the deep minority. For though the cultural implications will be significant, the internet of 2070 offers the world a much more prosperous and easier life. Most will choose comfort over independence from devices.”

Meryl Alper , an assistant professor of communication at Northeastern University and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, wrote, “Parents will be inundated by non-intuitive, AI-sourced information about their children (e.g., their moods, their behaviors) through the data collected about them in their everyday lives. Parents will face a choice about knowing too much about every single aspect of what their child does and says (be it with them or without them) or not knowing all the details – while being aware that someone else (teachers, doctors, law enforcement) is compiling this information for later determinations of some kind about their child. Parents will ultimately be encouraged to automate this data-intensive parenting, but this itself will create more work for parents (and thus more work for parents to outsource).”

Uta Russmann , professor in the Department of Communication at FHWien der WKW University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication, warned, “In 50 years every aspect of our life will be connected, organized and hence, partly controlled, as technology platform and applications businesses will take this opportunity. A few global players will dominate the business; smaller companies (startups) will mostly have a chance in the development sector. Many institutions, such as libraries, will disappear – there might be one or two libraries that function as museums to show how it used to be. People who experienced today’s world will definitely value the benefits and amenities they have through technology (human-machine/AI collaboration). If technology becomes part of every aspect of our lives we will have to give up some power and control. People thinking in today’s terms will lose a certain amount of freedom, independency and control over their lives. People born after 2030 will probably just think these technologies produced changes that are mostly for the better. It has always been like this – people have always thought/said ‘in the old days everything was better.’”

Danny Gillane , a netizen from Lafayette, Louisiana, commented, “The content owners will become the platform companies (Disney, Time Warner, etc.), and the platform companies will become the content owners (Comcast, Netflix, etc.). In the U.S., we will give up more privacy to gain more convenience. We will have to choose between paying with our wallets or paying with our personal information in order to keep up with the Joneses. Collaboration and communication will become less personal as more of it will be done through virtual reality and through our devices. The promise of worldwide connection will lessen as Europe places restrictions on tech companies to protect its citizens’ rights, but the U.S. will pass laws to protect shareholders even at the expense of its citizens’ rights. Unless the focus of technology innovation moves away from consumer entertainment and communication products (such as social networks) and more toward medical and scientific advances, we will see fewer people truly benefiting from the internet. The money that fuels America’s politics already fuels its legislative efforts, or lack of, with regard to technology. So, I actually don’t think we’ll see any actual change, unless one considers for-profit companies having an even larger presence in more parts of our lives more often and in more ways.”

Justin Reich , executive director of MIT Teaching Systems Lab and research scientist in the MIT Office of Digital Learning, responded, “The trends toward centralization and monopolization will persist. The free, open internet that represented a set of decentralized connections between idiosyncratic actors will be recognized as an aberration in the history of the internet. Today’s internet giants will probably be the internet giants of 50 years from now. In recent years, they’ve made substantial progress in curtailing innovation through acquisitions and copying. As the industry matures, they will add regulatory capture to their skill sets. For many people around the world, the internet will be a set of narrow portals where they exchange their data for a curtailed set of communication, information and consumer services.”

Michael R. Nelson , a technology policy expert for a leading network services provider who worked as a technology policy aide in the Clinton administration, commented, “We will see more change and disruption in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 20. If governments and incumbents allow it, we could see twice as much. All we know about 2069 is that data storage, network capacity and tools to turn data into knowledge will be basically unlimited and cost almost nothing. But, we also know that the wisdom needed to use the power of technology will not be available to everyone. And we also know that political forces will try to create scarcity and favor some groups over others. Let us hope that the engineers innovate so fast that consumers have the tools and choices they need to overcome such constraints.”

Guy Levi , chief innovation officer for the Center for Educational Technology, based in Israel, wrote, “Digital tools will be part of our body inside and remotely, and will assist us in decision- making constantly, so it will become second nature. Nonetheless, physical feelings will still be exclusively ‘physical,’ i.e., there will be a significant difference between the ‘sensor-based feelings’ and real body feelings, so human beings will still have some advantages over technology. This, I believe, will last forever. Considering this, physical encounters among people will become more and more important and thus relationships, especially between couples, will prosper. It will be the return of LOVE.”

No need to give it orders – your digital assistant already knows what you want

Many of these experts expect that – despite some people’s worries over privacy issues – digital experiences will be far more personalized in 2069. One likely trend: Instead of having to directly communicate requests to a device, AI-enabled, database-fed digital technologies will anticipate individuals’ needs and provide customized solutions.

Michael Wollowski , associate professor of computer science and software engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, expert in the Internet of Things, diagrammatic systems and artificial intelligence, wrote, “Much of our lives will be automated. Better yet, we will be in control of the degree of automation. Technology will assume the role of a polite personal assistant who will seamlessly bow in and out. Technology based on learned patterns of behavior will arrange many things in our lives and suggest additional options.”

Peter Reiner , professor and co-founder of the National Core for Neuroethics at the University of British Columbia, Canada, commented, “The internet will remain a conduit for information about us as well as a tool for us to access information about the world. Whilst many commentators rightly worry about the degree to which apps can know about us today, we are only at the early stages of corporate and governmental surveillance of our inner lives. In 50 years’ time, apps will be remarkably more sophisticated in terms of their knowledge about us as agents – our wants and desires, our objectives and goals. Using that information, they will be able make decisions that align with our personal goals much better than they can do today, and as this happens they will become bona fide extensions of our minds – digital (or as seems likely, quantum-based) information-processing interfaces that are always available and seamlessly integrate with the human cognitive toolkit. These cognitive prostheses will be so much a part of our everyday lives that we will barely notice their existence. Our reliance upon them will be both a strength and a weakness. Our cognitive prowess will substantially expand, but we will feel diminished in their absence.”

David Zubrow , associate director of empirical research at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, said, “Networked devices, data collection and information on demand will become even more ubiquitous. I would hope that better curation of information along with its provenance occurs. The trend of digital assistants that learn your preferences and habits from all the devices that you interact with will become integrated with each other and take on a persona. They may even act on your behalf with a degree of independence in the digital and physical worlds. As AI advances and becomes more independent and the internet becomes the world in which people live and work, laws for responsibility and accountability of the actions of AI will need to be made.”

Daniel Siewiorek , a professor with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, predicted, “We will all have virtual coaches that learn and grow with us. They will be in communication with the virtual coaches of others, allowing us to learn from the experience of others. For example, my grandfather could teach me how to swing a baseball bat through his virtual coach even though my grandfather passed away before I was born.”

Gary Kreps , distinguished professor of communication and director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, wrote, “Future computing systems will be fully integrated into everyday life, easy to access and use, and adaptable to meeting individual preferences and needs. These devices will serve as integrated personal assistants that can intuitively provide users with relevant information and support. There will be no need for typing in requests, since systems will be voice- and perhaps even thought-activated. These systems will adapt to user communication styles and competencies, using familiar and easy to understand messages to users. These messages will be presented both verbally and visually, with the ability to incorporate vivid examples and relevant interesting stories for users. Information content will build upon user preferences, experiences and needs. These personal computing systems will learn about users and adapt to changing user needs, assisting users in accomplishing important tasks and making important decisions. These systems will also automatically network users to relevant personal and professional contacts to facilitate communication as desired by users. The systems will also help users control other forms of technology, such as transportation, communication, health care, educational, occupational, financial, recreational and commercial applications. Care must be taken to program these systems to be responsive to user preferences and needs, easy to use, adaptive to changing conditions and easy for users to control.”

Ian Rumbles , a quality-assurance specialist at North Carolina State University, said, “Fifty years from now the internet will be available to us through us thinking, versus using a keyboard or speaking. The display of data will be visible only to the user and how that display is shown will be totally customized for that user. The ability to obtain answers to questions and look up information in a format that is defined by the user will greatly improve the lives of people.”

More leisure time expected in ‘real life’ and virtual worlds

Could it be true that technology will finally create more free time? Some respondents in this study expect that the evolution of digital technologies will allow for more leisure activities and less “work.” Some predict people may choose to live most of their lives in a virtual reality that lacks the messy authenticity of real life. They also predict that in the widening global media marketplace of the future individuals will have access to a wider range of entertainment options than ever before.

Dan Schultz , senior creative technologist at the Internet Archive, said, “The world is about to have a LOT more time on its hands, a culture-redefining level of newfound time. Governments will need to figure out how to ensure people are compensated for that time in ways that don’t correlate to capitalistic value, and people are going to need creative outlets for their free time. We’re going to need better mental health services; we’re going to need to finally redefine the public education system to shift away from the 19th century factory model. It will either be a golden age for invention, leisure, entertainment and civic involvement, or it will be a dystopia of boredom and unemployment.”

James Gannon , global head of e-compliance for emerging technology, cloud and cybersecurity at Novartis, responded, “In 50 years machine-to-machine communication will have reduced a lot of menial decision-making for the average person. Smart-home technology manages the basic functions of the household, negating the need for many manual labor roles such as cleaners and gardeners. Many services are now delivered remotely such as telehealth and digital therapeutics…. Technology and the internet have already dramatically increased the standard of living for billions of people; this trend will not cease.”

Chao-Lin Liu , a professor at National Chengchi University, Taiwan, commented, “If we can handle the income and work problems, lives will be easier for most due to automation.”

Paola Perez , vice president of the Internet Society chapter in Venezuela and chair of the LACNIC Public Policy Forum, responded, “Technology will make everything in our lives. We won’t drive, we won’t cook. Apps are going to be adapted to all our needs. From the moment we wake up we are going to have technology that cooks for us, drives for us, works for us and suggests ideas for our work. Problems are going to be solved. But all our data is going to be known by everybody, so we won’t have private lives.”

Alex Smith , partner relationship manager at Monster Worldwide, said, “Everything will be centered around saving us time – giving us back more time in our days.”

A professor of communications said, “Simple, mundane tasks will be taken care of by AI, allowing more time for creative thinking, arts, music and literature.”

David Wells , the chief financial officer at Netflix at the time of this canvassing, has an idea for how to fill all of that free time. He predicted, “Continued global connectedness with our entertainment, music and news will mean global popularity of some media with a backdrop of local flavor that may be regional and/or hyper local. 3D visual (virtual) rendering will evolve and become integrated into user interfaces, discovery interfaces along with AI assistants, and will heavily define learning and entertainment.”

Gabor Melli , senior director of engineering for AI and machine learning for Sony PlayStation, responded, “By 2070, most people will willingly spend most of their lives in an augmented virtual reality. The internet and digital life will be extraordinary and partially extraplanetary. Innovations that will dramatically amplify this trajectory are unsupervised machine learning, fusion power and the wildcard of quantum computing.”

Valarie Bell , a computational social scientist at the University of North Texas, commented, “While the gadgets and tools we may have in the future may result in more conveniences, like when ovens turned into microwaves, we find with technology that we trade quality and uniqueness for convenience and uniformity. What tastes better and provides a better experience? The homemade chocolate cake Grandma made from scratch with attention to great ingredients and to baking the cake until it’s perfectly moist OR the microwaved chocolate-cake-for-one? The microwave cake takes less than 10 minutes and you simply add water, but Grandma’s cake is not over-processed, and you taste the real butter, real vanilla, real chocolate instead of powdered butter flavoring and powdered chocolate substitute. Technology will bring us things faster, perhaps even cheaper, but not necessarily better.”

Michel Grossetti , a sociologist expert in systems and director of research at CNRS, the French national science research center, wrote, “The boundaries between private life and work or public life will continue to blur.”

Social connections, community and collaboration will be improved

Some experts expect that digital advances will lead to better communication among disparate groups, resulting in stronger interpersonal relationships and positive community development. A number of respondents said that physical barriers to communication and community building will mostly disappear over the next half century. They are hopeful that greater connectivity will lead to better collaboration in response to major world problems, more equitable distributions of wealth and power and easier access to information and resources.

Tomas Ohlin , longtime professor at Linköping and Stockholm universities in Sweden, predicted, “AI will exist everywhere. The internet will, after a few decades, be replaced by a more value-added surface on top of our present system. Its governing will be truly decentralized, with participation from many. Cultural differences will exist on this surface, with borders that will differ from the present. However, there will not be as many borders as today; this new information society is a society with flexible borders. Human beings are friendly, and the world we create reflects this. Communication and contact between everybody is a fundamental and positive resource that will lead to fewer conflicts.”

Bryan Alexander , futurist and president of Bryan Anderson Consulting, responded, “I’m convinced we’ll see individuals learn how to use technologies more effectively, and that collectively we’ll learn how to reduce harm.”

Charles Zheng , a researcher into machine learning and AI with the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, commented, “Life will not qualitatively change much for people in the middle and upper classes of society. The biggest impact will be to the lower classes, and will mostly be positive. The increase in information gathering in all levels of society will also improve the efficiency of social welfare programs. Access to information becomes democratized as cities start offering free, basic Wi-Fi and the government hosts AI educational programs which can teach young people how to find jobs and access public resources. The increase in networking also makes … social nonprofits more effective at helping the disadvantaged. Government accountability is also improved now that people at all levels of society can leave reviews about government services online.”

Craig Mathias , principal at Farpoint Group, an advisory firm specializing in wireless networking and mobile computing, commented, “Civilization itself centers on and thus depends upon communication of all forms. The more we communicate, the better the opportunities for peace and prosperity on a global basis. It would be difficult to imagine communications without the internet, now and especially in the future.”

Gene Crick , director of the Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network and longtime U.S. community telecommunications expert, wrote, “Genuine universal technology access has become a vital issue for every community. AI/IT can make powerful tools, resources and opportunities available to anyone interested. To help rhetoric become reality, we could adopt and insist on a few fundamental principles, including standards for openness and accountability. How? Just a notion but perhaps a modernized version of the National Science Foundation internet administration transfer two decades ago.  Though the outcome was far from pretty, those who participated felt we got the job done. Today’s improved communications tools could make possible a much simpler, more widespread ‘grassroots’ discussion and decision process.”

Liz Rykert , president at Meta Strategies, a consultancy that works with technology and complex organizational change, responded, “We will see more and more integration of tools that support accountability. An early example of this is the use of body cams by police. The internet will let us both monitor and share data and images about what is happening, whether it is a devastating impact of climate change or an eventful incident of racism. Continued access to tools of accountability and access to knowledge and collaborative opportunities will support people to be both bold and collaborative as they seek new solutions. The internet will be the base to support these efforts as well as the platform that will continue to serve as the means for how we will work together to respond to problems either urgent (like a flood or fire) or longer-term like solving problems like affordable housing.”

Matt Belge , founder and president of Vision & Logic, said, “Humanity has always strived to be connected to other humans, and writing, publishing, art and education were all efforts to serve this desire. This desire is so deeply seated, this desire for connection, that it will drive everything we do. Privacy will become less of a concern and transparency will become more of the norm in the next 50 years. Therefore, I expect technology to enable deeper and more personal connections with fewer secrets and greater openness. Specifically, AI will help people with like interests work together, form deeper relationships and collaborate on advancing our entire species. I believe humans are always striving for more and more connection with other humans and technology is evolving in ways to facilitated this.”

Sam Ladner , a former UX researcher for Amazon and Microsoft, now an adjunct professor at Ontario College of Art & Design, wrote, “We will continue to see a melding of digital and analog ‘selves,’ in which humans will now consider their digital experiences less and less divorced from their face-to-face experiences. Face-to-face social connections will become ever more precious, and ever more elusive. Having an ‘in real life’ relationship will be a commodity to be exploited and a challenge to keep. Physical experiences will increasingly be infused with digital ‘backchannel’ experiences, such as an ongoing digital conversation either in text, images or VR, while the physical event carries on. Likewise, IRL (in real-life) events will become even more exclusive, expensive and a source of cultural capital. Isolated people will fail to see their isolation before it reaches a desperate point, because collectively, we will fail to see physical connections as a key ingredient to ward off loneliness. Loneliness will take on a new meaning; digital friends will assist some isolated people, but loneliness will focus more on lack of human touch, and face-to-face eye contact. New medical disorders will emerge, based on this social withdrawal, and given the aging demographic, a public policy crisis will overwhelm nation-states’ budgets and capabilities. Lonely, aging, physically infirm people may find relief in online forums of all sorts, but we will be surprised to learn what a total absence of IRL interaction will yield.”

Peggy Lahammer , director of health/life sciences at Robins Kaplan LLP and legal market analyst, commented, “Historically access to natural resources, with limited intelligence on how to best use those resources, provided the means to survive and prosper. As we continue to become more specialized in our expertise and less skilled in many tasks required to survive, we are more dependent on others with specialized talents. I believe the internet and a connected world have fueled this transformation and will continue to do so in the next 50 years. The internet will continue to connect people around the globe and cause instability in areas where people have limited resources, information or specialized skills necessary to thrive.”

Bert Huang , an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech focused on machine learning, wrote, “I believe the internet can meet the promise of helping people connect to all of humanity. The main concern I see with the internet is that it plays counter to human intuitions about scale. When humans see thousands of like-minded individuals on the internet, it is too easy to believe that those thousands of people represent all of humanity. One promise of the internet is that it would allow people to interact with, and learn from, individuals with widely different backgrounds, unifying the human species in way that was previously impossible. Unfortunately, the more recent effect has apparently been that people are further entrenched in their own narrow views because they are surrounded on the internet with inconceivably large numbers of people sharing their own views. These large numbers make it difficult for people to fathom that other valid views exist. I believe technology can and will help alleviate this problem.”

A technical information science professional commented, “The daily living ‘operations’ will change drastically from today – how we work, how we take care of family, how we ‘commute’ from place to place, how we entertain and so on. However, the fundamental of living, creating and maintaining meaningful relationships with others will be more dominant focus of our lives, and those concerns and efforts will not change.”

Several of the expert respondents who said they believe humanity will be better off in the future thanks to digital life said that in 50 years individuals will have greater autonomy and more control over their personal data.

Eileen Donahoe , executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University, commented, “I envision a dramatic change in terms of how we think about people’s ownership and control of their own data. People’s data will be seen as a valuable commodity and platforms will arise to facilitate data sovereignty for individuals. If we move toward development and deployment of platforms and systems that allow individuals autonomy to choose when and where they exchange their data for goods and services, this will constitute an important positive step toward wider distribution of the benefits of a data-driven society.”

Greg Lloyd , president and co-founder at Traction Software, responded, “The next 50 years will see performance of hardware, storage and bandwidth increase and cost decrease at a rate no less than the past 50 years. This means that the resources available to any person – at the cost of a current smartphone and network subscription – will be close to the resources supporting a Google regional center. This will turn the advertising supported and privacy invasive economic model of the current internet on its head, making it possible for anyone to afford dedicated, private and secure resources to support a Prospero and Ariel-like world of certified and secure services. That people agreed to grant access to their most private resources and actions to platform companies in order to support use of subsidized internet services will become as oddly amusing as the fact that people once earned their living as flagpole sitters. Your smartphone and its personal AI services will be exactly that: your property, which you pay for and use with confidence. When you use certified agents or services, you’ll have choices ranging from free (routine commerce, public library or government services) to fabulously expensive (the best legal minds, most famous pop stars, bespoke design and manufacturing of any artifacts, membership in the most exclusive ‘places’). In all cases your personal smartphone (or whatever it turns into) will help you negotiate enforceable contracts for these services, monitor performance and provide evidence any case of dispute. Think Apple with a smart lawyer, accountant, friend and adviser in your smartphone, not Facebook becoming Silicon Valley’s version of Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil.’”

James Scofield O’Rourke , a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame specializing in reputation management, commented, “I foresee two large applications of digital connections such as the internet over the next half century. First, I see access to information, processes and expertise that would either be delayed or inaccessible today. Second, I see a much larger degree of autonomy for the individual. This could mean everything from driverless trucks, automobiles and other vehicles to individual control over our immediate environment, our assets and possessions, and our ability to choose. In exchange, of course, the notion of privacy will virtually disappear.”

R “Ray” Wang , founder and principal analyst at Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research, said, “The new internet can also be a place where we decentralize human rights, enabling an individual to protect their data privacy and stay free. Keep in mind privacy is not dead. It’s up to us as a society to enforce these human rights.”

Susan Aaronson , a research professor of international affairs and cross-disciplinary fellow at George Washington University, responded, “I admit to being a techno optimist. I believe that true entrepreneurs ‘see’ areas/functions that need improvements and will utilize technologies in ways that make it easier for, as an example, the blind to see.”

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• Advantages And Disadvantages Of Internet Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Essay

500+ words advantages and disadvantages of internet essay.

The internet plays a significant role in the lives of people today. It is a valuable source of information that helps people share information and communicate with anyone sitting in any corner of the country with an internet connection. But, with many advantages, there are also disadvantages to the internet. With the help of ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet’ essay, we will throw light on both these aspects. We have also compiled a list of CBSE Essays for students to boost their essay-writing skills. It contains sample essays on several topics, which will give ideas to students and help them write effective essays.

Advantages of the Internet

The role of the internet in the modern world cannot be understated. Nowadays, every person uses the internet to do their daily tasks. People in different fields like offices, schools, colleges, hospitals etc., use their electronic devices like laptops, computers, tablets, cell phones etc., to make their work simple and fast. The internet has also made access to information easier. We can learn about the whole universe with just a single click by using the internet. We can easily communicate and share information with other people around the world with the help of email, instant messaging, video calls etc.

The internet delivers a wide variety of advantages. It not only enables people to share information but also serves as a place to store information and media digitally. This feature has benefitted the fields of education and research the most. We have seen a boom in the e-commerce business as they have used the internet and provided a seamless experience of buying and selling products online. It has created a large market for online retailers and integrated different business fields. Due to this facility, people can now purchase almost everything they need and get it delivered right to their doorstep in a few days. Many services are now provided on the internet, such as online booking, banking, hotel reservations etc.

The internet has made everything a lot more accessible and quick. Most organisations around the world advertise their vacancies on the internet. So, people can search for different types of jobs around the world. The internet provides different types of entertainment to people; be it music, movies, theatre, entertainment, live matches, or live broadcasts. It also helps students to continue their learning through online education.

It is difficult to name all of the benefits and advantages of the internet. This is because the internet has become so entangled and integrated into our daily lives that it has an influence on everything we experience around us.

Disadvantages of the Internet

Although the internet has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages. In the next section of the advantages and disadvantages of the internet essay, let us discuss the disadvantages and the possible risks associated with the modern-day applications of the internet.

While the internet provides us with all tools, products and services we need right at our doorstep, at the same time, it isolates us from the world outside. As we get more accustomed to ordering everything online, be it clothes, food, drinks, grocery, commodities, or even paying bills, getting out of the house has become less frequent. This has caused health issues and various mental health issues such as social anxiety, insomnia and even depression. Teenagers and kids are the most influenced by the internet as they are the generation which has seen the immense use of the internet. They are moulded to a life dependent on the internet. This hinders their learning capabilities and real-life problem-solving skills because they are accustomed to using their mobile for every task.

Today, the internet is the most popular source of viruses in electronic gadgets. As we perform various activities on the internet, we are exposing ourselves to various threats such as malicious software and viruses. Due to these viruses, confidential data may be accessed by unauthorised people or hackers. Some websites contain immoral materials in the form of text, pictures or movies. These websites damage the character of the new generation, especially kids and teenagers. A lot of time is wasted collecting information on the internet. Many people become addicted to spending time on the internet, like chatting with friends or playing games. A lot of information about a particular topic is stored on websites. Some information may be incorrect or not authentic. So, it becomes difficult to select the correct information.

From the information covered in this advantages and disadvantages essay, it can be said that the benefits of the internet outweigh the disadvantages and threats it brings. The responsibility to be safe falls on the users themselves. One needs to stay vigilant and perform regular security checks on their network and computing devices to ensure they are secure from any online attacks. Provided that all government regulations for safe internet browsing are followed and appropriate measures are taken.

Students must have found the ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet’ essay useful for improving their essay writing skills. Visit BYJU’S website to get the latest updates and study materials for CBSE/ICSE/State Board/Competitive Exams.

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The internet might be good for us.

One study suggests that, on a global scale, it’s associated with greater happiness.

• By Charles Digges
• June 7, 2024

I f we heeded most of the advice we hear about the internet, we might never go online again. We’re told digital spaces make us depressed and anxious—maybe even a little dumb. They keep us siloed off in self-reinforcing tribes that heighten our biases and make us angry at one another. The constant glow of our phone screens interrupts our sleep patterns and hypnotizes us during daylight with a constant barrage of push notifications and endless possibilities for distraction—most of it making us feel much worse about ourselves. Our children, in particular, risk mental illness and a new form of addiction. An entire genre of literature has emerged around these warnings, urging us to save ourselves and unplug.

But is this just a giant moral panic, whose effects have been largely overblown? 

We might look for clues in a new global study from Oxford University that spanned 16 years and surveyed 2.4 million people 15 and older in 168 countries. The findings suggest that, on average, across countries and demographics—in the study group—internet access and use may actually be positively associated with key measures of health and happiness, including sense of purpose, life satisfaction, and social well-being. Published last month in Technology, Mind, and Behavior, the study offers something of a counterpoint in the raging discourse around the negative impacts of digital media.

“I was surprised to find how consistent the finding—that those with internet access report greater well-being than those without—was across the thousands of different ways in which we analyzed the data,” says Matti Vuorre, a psychology researcher at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, where his focus is digital technologies and online environments. Vuorre, who responded to questions over email, co-authored the study with Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist at the University of Oxford who studies the impacts of online social media and video games on mental health. The researchers emphasize that their findings don’t point to the internet  causing  people to have greater well-being, just that the two seem to be, on average, loosely linked.

Like running water or electricity, the internet ensures our general sense of security.

To conduct their study, Vuorre and Przybylski mined Gallup World Poll data collected between 2006 and 2022 on individuals’ access to the internet, whether they had used the internet over the previous week, and eight measures of self-reported well-being: life satisfaction, daily negative and positive experiences, two indices of social well-being, physical well-being, community well-being, and experiences of purpose. Of course those with internet access might be expected to already have more resources, freedoms, and social supports that would likely increase happiness and well-being—internet or no. But to try to shore up their findings, the researchers controlled for  numerous factors that might affect internet use and welfare, such as income level, employment status, education level, and health problems, also collected from Gallup data.

They found that people who had access to the internet or reported using it over the past seven days on average scored modestly higher on measures of life satisfaction, positive experiences, and contentment with their social life, compared to people who lacked internet. Internet users also reported lower scores in physical pain, worry, sadness, stress, or anger than individuals who did not have access. The researchers ran the data through countless models to see if they could find hidden factors that would alter the relationship between the internet and well-being, and found that the overwhelming majority of these models showed positive associations.

Vuorre says the global scope, vast data set, and 16-year time frame for the study afforded himself and Przybylski a more zoomed-out perspective than previous studies, where researchers have tended to focus primarily on young people living in the U.S. and Europe. Such studies, Vuorre argues, disregard the global reach of the internet and the impacts it might have on groups that are just beginning to adopt it, as well as on adult populations.

The one notable place the researchers identified a negative relationship between internet use and well-being was among young women aged 15 to 24, and these associations were specific to community well-being. Young women who reported using the internet within the previous week were, on average, less happy with the places they lived, compared to those who hadn’t used the internet .

It’s possible, of course, that those who are less happy with where they live may seek to spend more time online—the feelings of being ill at ease preceding the engagement with the internet, rather than the other way around, says Vuorre. But he urges other researchers to take up the question.

For social psychologist Jonathan Haidt—whose recent bestseller The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness argues for adolescents to unplug—the panoramic view the study provides is its main, though perhaps limited—contribution to the discussion of how the internet makes us feel. In a post on X responding to the study’s publication, Haidt wrote that the internet, like running water or electricity, has become, for a great many of us, a part of the infrastructure that ensures our general sense of security. You’re bound to feel a little better knowing that you have access.

But it’s the intensity of internet use—not access—that can become problematic, says Haidt’s lead researcher, Zach Rausch, and that’s one variable the Oxford study overlooked. “There are a host of risks and harms that come from spending five-plus hours a day on smartphones and social media platforms that are unrelated to simply having access to the internet,” says Rausch in an interview. “The problem is not access to the internet. The problem is giving children and adolescents unfettered access to a few social media platforms that are designed with advertisers—and not their users’—well-being in mind.”

A recent story in The New York Times that describes a remote village in the Amazon that was just connected to the internet through SpaceX’s StarLink seems to underscore this point. “When it arrived everyone was happy,” one elderly woman from the village says, “but now things have gotten worse.” Some people in the village soon began to spend all their time on their phones, to the detriment of responsibilities like hunting, fishing, or planting food. Village leaders decided to limit the hours that the internet was connected to early mornings, evenings, and Sundays. But still, the positive effects were balanced by negative ones. Connection to the internet meant quicker help in emergencies and tools to educate children. It also meant many kids were spending hours playing violent video games and watching pornography—with a subsequent adoption of more sexually aggressive behavior among some young men—as well as the breakdown of in-person conversation.

Tobias Dienlin, a professor at the University of Vienna who studies how social media affects well-being, told me that the Oxford study wasn’t really designed to measure how things like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other social media sites affect our mental health. “The study cannot contribute to the recent debate on whether or not social media use is harmful, or whether or not smartphones should be banned at schools,” he told me. “Different channels and uses of the internet have vastly different effects on well-being outcomes.”

Nonetheless, Dienlin cautiously lauded the research as one effort that “can help inform policy work in that increasing internet accessibility could perhaps increase well-being and might not cause mental health problems” in every eventuality—a result he says is consistent with numerous other scholarly studies on how the internet impacts well-being. “As a media scholar, I’m not that much surprised, as the empirical literature often rather finds small to non-existent effects [on well-being], contrary to what is discussed in the public discourse and/or popular scientific literature,” he told me.

In fact, a report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, released last year, concluded that links between social media and poor mental health are weak in the existing literature and that this is likely because, on balance, it promotes experiences that are both good and bad.

Lead image: Paper Trident / Shutterstock

Charles Digges

Posted on June 7, 2024

Charles Digges is an environmental journalist and researcher who edits Bellona.org, the website of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.

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Is the internet good for you?

An internet cafe manager uses a computer in an internet cafe in the Hodan area of Mogadishu. Image:  Reuters/Feisal Omar

.chakra .wef-spn4bz{transition-property:var(--chakra-transition-property-common);transition-duration:var(--chakra-transition-duration-fast);transition-timing-function:var(--chakra-transition-easing-ease-out);cursor:pointer;text-decoration:none;outline:2px solid transparent;outline-offset:2px;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-spn4bz:hover,.chakra .wef-spn4bz[data-hover]{text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-spn4bz:focus-visible,.chakra .wef-spn4bz[data-focus-visible]{box-shadow:var(--chakra-shadows-outline);} Arwen Armbrecht

How has the internet affected education, politics and personal relationships? These were some of the questions asked recently across 32 emerging and developing nations.

The results, published by Pew Research , show that, worldwide, people see the internet as an enabler of education and a way to improve personal relationships. However, many were less enthusiastic about the internet's influence on politics and "morality".

Across the spectrum, a median of 64%, which included those not yet connected, said that the internet had a good influence on education. They also agreed that the internet exerted a positive effect on personal relationships.

In the past year, 83% of those surveyed said they had used social networking sites to stay in touch. In every nation surveyed, a majority of those online said they used social networking sites, ranging from 93% in the Philippines to 58% in China.

There was substantially less enthusiasm for the internet's influence on "morality". Only 35% of those connected online said that they felt the internet had a positive impact in this area. The study did not, however, define "morality", which would have significantly different meanings across 32 nations accounting for a wide variety of cultures and social norms.

New tools for a new generation

Younger generations in developed and emerging economies were the most ambitious about getting online. Those aged 18 to 34 were more likely to be connected. In Vietnam, for example, 70% of those under the age of 35 reported that they used the internet, while only 21% of those 35 or older did so.

Much like their counterparts in developed nations, young people used the internet to stay connected to friends and family and get information about politics, healthcare and government.

Despite this progress, less than half of the total population in those countries surveyed had access to the internet. While connections are improving thanks to smartphones and other devices, computer ownership can vary from as low as 3% in Uganda to 78% in Russia.

Not surprisingly, the potential access to online resources was seen to be directly linked to the average per capita income of a nation. The countries with the lowest per capita income, such as Tanzania and Uganda, were also the locations with the least internet access. Russia, Poland and Chile, all with notably stronger economies, were far more connected online.

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Surfing the Internet

Favorite Quote: "I am who I am and people can think what they think"- Hilary Duff

The media is revolutionary. In less than a century, it conquered our Planet successfully, never reaching a peak, always improving for the better, making the rise of its “empire” a scandal. The internet is a medium that has changed our lives ever since it was invented. Just like its predecessors, it wasn’t warmly welcomed by everyone despite its ever-growing base but this little 40-year-old media “reinvention” will never stop shocking us so what are really the advantages and disadvantages of surfing the Internet? To browse the internet, all you need is a computer, an affordable machine that is now in almost every single house, and some money to subscribe monthly for the connection’s service; also affordable. It would be really unfair and simply wrong to describe what the internet offers but the words “everything” and “anything” might be enough as the net’s content is more than diverse so if you need to know anything about something, just “google” it! "Google" is a verb now; it means “search it on Google”, a domain motor that offers you help when you’re looking for something on the web. Internet is perfect for research; when a student is asked to prepare an assignment, a project, etc., it’s very helpful but parents need to be aware of that and not everything written on a website can be 100% true. Also, the internet can be fun thanks to websites such as YouTube, Flickr, etc., you can tune in to watch any videos or view any photo! Plus, social media is what made a star out of the net because it helps people connect wherever they are! However, social media like Facebook and Twitter kill the person’s privacy and a lot of people can have access on what they are doing but then again, wasn’t it their decision in the first place, to get on Facebook or start Twitter-ing? Therefore, parents need to limit their children’s surfing time and censure some rated R websites because Internet can become an addiction and offer inappropriate stuff. Already 40 but still a teenager, the internet, rebellious, shocking, not so typical and ever-changing, offers you everything you need even if inappropriate at times so it’s your choice to have access to it or not.

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• 12 May 2024

Is the Internet bad for you? Huge study reveals surprise effect on well-being

• Carissa Wong

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

A global, 16-year study 1 of 2.4 million people has found that Internet use might boost measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose — challenging the commonly held idea that Internet use has negative effects on people’s welfare.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01410-z

Vuorre, M. & Przybylski, A. K. Technol. Mind Behav . https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000127 (2024).

Article   Google Scholar  

Heffer, T. et al. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 7 , 462–470 (2018).

Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L. & Booth, M. Comput. Hum. Behav . 104 , 106160 (2020).

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23 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet

The Internet is one of the few technologies that doesn’t have a single inventor. It is a series of processes that evolved over time through the efforts of many people. The United States first started using an early version of this connectivity during the Cold War, using it to keep scientists and researchers collaborating with each other.

Now, much of the developed world is fully connected to the Internet, with home usage rates exceeding 90% in some areas. We use this technology for almost anything, and an entire generation can’t imagine life without it because they’ve been using it for all of their lives. Altogether, about one-third of the population uses this resource regularly.

The Internet really began to take off in 1992 when a group of researchers and students at the University of Illinois developed a usable browser. That was the same year that Congress passed laws allowing for this technology to be used for commercial purposes. Now we stay connected with each other through social networking websites, email, direct messaging, and more.

The advantages and disadvantages of the Internet are numerous and individualized. These are some of the critical ideas to review.

List of the Advantages of the Internet

1. The Internet gives us access to knowledge, information, and learning opportunities. The Internet provides us with an endless supply of information that continuously updates. This resource allows us to access knowledge in ways that were never possible in the past. That means we have more learning opportunities that can help us to grow as individuals, professionals, and families than ever before.

When you use a search engine, such as Google or Bing, you can ask almost any question. Then you can be instantly taken to a webpage with relevant answers and data about your query. We can watch millions of videos on a site like YouTube to learn something new, or even take college classes with this resource.

2. It connects us to other people in ways that weren’t possible in the past. If you wanted to communicate with someone without a landline before the Internet, your only option was to write that personal letter. It could take days, and sometimes even months, to receive mail from someone else. Items could get lost during this process, which means your words might never reach the person you were trying to encourage or inform. Because of the technology that is available on the Internet, you can send an email to anyone in the world with delivery in under 60 seconds.

Other forms of communication are also possible because of the Internet, including VoIP services, chat rooms, and direct messaging so that you can have an instant conversation with anyone else who has a connection.

3. Supportive communities develop online because of the Internet. Online forums are one of the best innovations that the Internet provides us to use. These places are a spot where people who share common interests can connect with one another. They can talk about what they enjoy doing, ask questions or offer advice, and take advantage of learning opportunities from experts in their chosen field.

It isn’t a task-orientated benefit either. Forums exist that provide support for health issues, childhood trauma, and domestic violence so that we can all work together to make the world a better place.

4. The Internet helps us to find where we need to go. The Internet works with GPS technology to help map and direct us to almost every destination in the world today. You can go online to quickly route the best path to follow when finding a business in your area that provides the goods or services you require. The search engines that we use are smart enough to understand where you are, even if you are not at home when making a query.

That means the Internet provides you with the most relevant information for each search based on your needs and geographic location. If you have the need to hire a landscaper, then requesting that service will give you a list of local providers and their websites.

5. We can manage our finances more effectively because of the Internet. Instead of receiving a paper statement in the mail, the Internet allows us to access our bank account information at any time. That means you can view your available balance, transfer money between accounts, or pay your bills electronically. It prevents payments from getting lost when you send them with a postal carrier while offering immediate compensation for those who receive the funding. This benefit allows us to save money on stamps, late fees, and other potential penalties.

6. The Internet allows us to shop for what we need online. Online shopping is another significant advantage to consider when evaluating the pros and cons of the Internet. E-commerce platforms let us find goods and services of interest, giving us the option to purchase them online instead of visiting a physical store. It also provides us with an efficient way to compare prices between manufacturers, companies, or platforms to make sure that we get the best price possible.

Public reviews about companies, products, or services give us a way to be confident when making an online purchase. This structure provides us with the advantage of having a better understanding of all of the purchasing decisions we make each day.

7. We can create employment opportunities because of the Internet. The Internet provides us with several ways to find employment. You can decide to be a freelancer and offer services directly to others through a website you own or platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. If you own a business, then a domain allows you to create an e-commerce platform that you can use to buy and sell goods or services. Since the Internet is almost everywhere in the world today, you have more access to potential customers than any local store.

The Internet is always on, even if some websites experience downtime. That means you have the potential to make money at all times because there is always a place in the world experiencing normal business hours. You can advertise what you offer to everyone within the specific demographics you want to reach with very little effort.

8. The Internet provides telecommuting options for employers. Having an Internet connection available makes it possible for people to work from home or to operate a virtual office. Many businesses today allow their workers to use telecommuting as an option if their equipment meets or exceeds required specifications. When employees have an opportunity to avoid a daily commute, then it can help them to save money by avoiding childcare costs while reducing the wear-and-tear on their vehicles.

That means every small business has an opportunity to tap into a global workforce of experts. Even though competition levels are higher than ever because everyone can access the Internet, you also have more scalability options because of the greater access to expertise.

9. Charitable donations are easier to manage because of the Internet. The Internet provides charitable organizations with access to a much wider and more diverse audience. Anyone with a connection can quickly donate to a favorite cause. It is also possible to fund projects or ideas that are interesting or benefit the public in some way with only a couple of clicks. The rise of crowdfunding platforms makes it possible for us to help each other at the same time, with memorial funds and hospital bill campaigns giving us ways to manage the high costs of care – especially in the United States.

The Internet also helps charitable organizations find the online services they need to make their efforts more efficient. These connections can also help them to secure more volunteers to do good things locally.

10. The Internet provides us with plenty of entertainment options. The number of streaming services that are available on the Internet today allows us to have a never-ending amount of content to consume. Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, CBS All Access, Crackle, and many others let us watch our favorite shows and movies for a low price.

The Internet also lets us play games on social networking sites, through platforms like Xbox or PlayStation, and on independent websites. We can listen to music while we are working online. We can even stream our favorite songs or sounds around the house with Bluetooth technology. That’s why not having access to this technology can make life feel boring in many ways.

11. Cloud computing and storage expand our abilities to keep data. The Internet connects your computers and enabled devices to cloud services that include computing and storage. That means you have access to more powerful platforms to complete complex tasks while you or your business continues to work on other tasks. The rise of quantum computing technology is expanding the influence of this advantage, making it possible to create entirely new resources because of how fast the calculations occur.

Cloud storage provides us with the opportunity to synchronize data across your devices. That means you have access to your files from almost anywhere. It is easier than ever before to backup information, making your data secure on professionally-maintained servers. If something happens to your home or business equipment, then you can restore your functionality almost immediately.

12. The Internet of Things helps us to create a smarter world. The Internet makes many of our devices become connected and smarter because of their online design. You can connect a thermostat to control the heating and cooling of your home remotely or automatically. Your locks, lights, and outlets can receive the same upgrade. These improvements lead to a world where we are more efficient with our resources, helping us to save time, energy, and money.

List of the Disadvantages of the Internet

1. What can be used for good can also be used for evil. Anyone who has ever spent some time on the Internet has encountered abusive people. There are trolls, stalkers, and cyberbullying that happens regularly on a variety of platforms. Because it feels like someone can be anonymous when they sit behind a screen or mobile device, the filters that we use when speaking with each other go away. That means a lot of people treat each other unkindly when they are online.

Hidden places on the Internet, such as the deep web, can even make it a place for criminals to conduct business. There isn’t as much of a risk of getting caught, especially when cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can facilitate transactions.

2. Pornography and violence are prevalent on the Internet. Although not everyone would consider this issue a disadvantage, exposing children to violence or pornographic images before they are mature enough to process them can be detrimental to their development. Teens who watch movies or listen to music that glorify specific behaviors are more likely to pursue them in real-life situations. It is an issue that can lead to drug use, drinking, violence, and risky sexualized behaviors.

Children who have sexual intercourse by the age of 13 are more likely to have multiple sexual partners, engage in risky behaviors frequently, and use drugs or alcohol before sex.

3. It creates an addiction to technological devices. Using the Internet can quickly become addictive for many people. You can find a massive amount of information to review, spend time connecting with friends on social networking sites, or play games while at work. Instead of doing something productive, this technology off and promotes something that is frivolous.

21% of employees in the United States say that they spend up to five hours each week on the Internet during working hours doing something that isn’t related to their career. Even when a company has policies in place that block personal websites during working hours, employees can use their personal devices to access the information they want.

4. People struggle to disconnect from work because of the Internet. The average employee, even if they are in an entry-level position, will spend between 3 to 7 hours working outside of their usual shift because of the Internet. Managers and executives put in up to 20 extra hours per week. Being available for work at any time of day due to this technology can make it challenging to transition from professional responsibilities to personal ones.

Even if you are not on the clock, a notification that an important work email is in your inbox creates a temptation to check it. That means workers are often being productive without getting paid for their work.

5. The Internet can provide people with your private information. With billions of computers operating around the world, hackers or malicious users can access accounts through the Internet to locate and steal personal information. These connections allow for a quick scan of millions of computers simultaneously to quickly identify vulnerabilities that are open for exploitation. When someone has your identity information, they can use it in unauthorized ways to gain access to new financial resources.

6. Students can use the Internet to cheat. The Internet allows students of any age to cheat on their tests or find ways to get around assignment requirements. One of the fastest-growing areas of e-commerce that you can find online involves professional writers who get paid to produce essays for high schoolers, college students, and even doctoral candidates.

Even if a student tries to be above board with their work, the prevalence of mobile devices today allows for Internet access while seated in a classroom.

7. The Internet exposes all of us to more advertising. The Internet provides businesses with an opportunity to reach a wider audience than television, radio, or traditional print media. It occurs on such a massive scale that many people tune it out because it is present on every website today. Many find that the amount of spam that goes into their junk mail is much more likely to get sent their way than a meaningful message from someone they know.

That means the amount of information that we receive each day is primarily useless. We delete it from our accounts in the same way that we throw away junk mail when it arrives in our mailbox.

8. Going online can adversely impact a person’s focus and patience. When we use the Internet, then this technology gives us an instant gratification effect. We can find what we want, when we want it, at any time of day. When we receive information through this structure, then it rewards our ability to search for data instead of trying to recall it. This process impacts our interactions in general, making you more impatient and less focused on meaningful activities.

The best way to balance this natural disadvantage of the Internet is to spend time away from it. Focus on having productive, real-life activities that include exercise, time with your family, and other fun events.

9. Frequent Internet use can lead to social isolation. The networking websites that billions of people use regularly can lead to issues of social isolation. It can also create feelings of loneliness or begin the process of forming clinical depression. Although the Internet and online gaming facilitate communication with other people, this structure causes individuals to disconnect themselves from their real-life relationships as they make new connections with people they’ve never met online.

10. Using the Internet often requires a sedentary lifestyle. If you spend too much time sitting, then you are at a higher risk of obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle. Most people use the Internet while on a couch or sitting behind a computer. Unless conscious decisions are made to become more physically active, a host of health problems can start to develop over time.

Using a computer also means that your body must go through repetitive movements frequently. A common injury for those who use the Internet often is called carpal tunnel syndrome. It occurs when you move your hand from your keyboard to a mouse repetitively, followed by similar typing actions. Keeping a correct posture, taking breaks, and understanding the ergonomics of computing can help with these issues, but it may not prevent them from happening.

11. You might decide to purchase things that you don’t really need. The Internet does an excellent job of reducing the barriers that people have when connecting to information or other individuals in real-life situations. That also means the entire online world becomes a place where impulsive purchases become a possibility. Many users find themselves buying things without putting much thought into whether or not they need the products or services in question.

Working with e-commerce platforms can become such an addictive process that it can lead to severe debt in some situations. Since a debit or credit card facilitates these transactions, it can be challenging to some trying to avoid places on the Internet where this issue could occur.

What will the Internet be like in 50 years? In 100 years? We may not know what it can do today, but it will be a life-changing experience.

Some experts say that keyboards, screens, and the mouse will disappear entirely as we use voice-activated systems. Artificial intelligence and machine learning may be technologies that manage multiple facets of our lives. The world may very well become a mix of virtual and reality, and it might be challenging at times to decipher between the two.

We might have real-time access to information about everything. There could be more ways to communicate. It might even be possible to connect humans to the Internet of Things.

The Internet has come a long way since it crashed when trying to send the word “Login” on its first attempt at communication. When we look at its full potential, it is clear to see that we still have a long way to go.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet Essay

Introduction, some of the advantages, the disadvantages and drawbacks.

Since the advent of humans on this planet, a long way has been passed during the journey that has progressed from the Iron Age until the present era of information technology. During this passage of time, more facilities and amenities have been developed by man, which has revolutionized and benefited the human race around the world. The invention of computers has been considered one of the major twists during the twentieth century. Approximately two decades back, most of the populace was practically unknown with the term of internet. However, nowadays, this term has been enveloped in almost all the homes, offices, malls, and several places around the world. Man has been benefiting from the abovementioned term that has powerfully provided an informative as well as an interactive platform throughout the globe. (Gattiker, pp. 55-61, 2001).

Briefly, various services and resources have been collected and provided by the internet for the improvement and promotion of humankind. In the history of humankind, the field of communication has developed a lot, and one of the most outstanding innovations is conceivable the Internet. However, everything has its advantages, as well as, disadvantages, and it depends upon the person to either benefit from it or allows the matter to harm the surroundings. Thus, the internet has also advantages, as well as, drawbacks; however, disadvantages have been outweighed by the superior enormity of its advantages.

Although, it is a common thought that the principal ingredients of the internet are e-mail, chat rooms, search engines, and the World Wide Web. However, the internet constitutes more than the abovementioned tools and resources, which will be discussed in this paper. Nowadays, the contemporary state of affairs has been benefiting from this tool, which has proved itself as one of the best among the rest of the world. Today, a single room has been presented as a new and innovative appearance of the whole globe. Currently, a student can acquire his education on the internet without even standing up from his chair. On the other hand, a businessperson can make a deal on the internet with the best suppliers around the world without any visa application, as well as, without any traveling expenses, which was not possible some decades ago.

Moreover, a South African can catch the latest news of an event occurring in an American part of the world, which has only become possible due to the availability of the internet in almost every corner of the world. In addition, thousands of books can be read and studied within mouse clicks, and without collecting these books in bookshelves that require lots of space. Interestingly, shopping can also be done within minutes with the help of credit cards without roaming in the rush of shopping malls, which has been greatly appreciated by the female populace of the globe. Thus, the internet has become a matter of just fingertips and has promoted, as well as, assisted humans in achieving a better and improved place in their lives.

In other words, a small global village has been formed by the creation and introduction of the internet into human lives. Communication has become a matter of seconds from one corner of the world to another. Reliability and speed are being innovated and improved day by day, which has changed the perceptions of humans at all. It is now just a fraction of a second to greet loved ones or study the African culture while residing in the United States. One of the biggest advantages of the internet is the plenty of information that has been provided by this platform. (Gattiker, pp. 23-29, 2001) A virtual library of millions of books has been an innovative wardrobe of the internet, which is one of the major reasons for its popularity and demand around the world. As the result, internet surfing has become one of the common and popular habits of students and children around the world. Today, research work is carried out by the utilization of internet libraries and virtual tours that are provided to internet users. One of the advantages of the internet is its reliability, as the data and information on the internet are updated within seconds. Businesspersons can be informed of trade fairs and exhibitions that would be organized shortly. Thus, the internet has become a necessity, rather than a luxury in almost every part of the world.

Until now, we have described and discussed some of the advantages of the internet, such as communication, information, entertainment, services, e-commerce, etc. Now, the disadvantages and drawbacks of the internet will be discussed in the following pages. As the internet has masses of advantages that have benefited almost every sector of the planet, it has become an addiction and a compulsion for several people. As the result, the internet has become one of the places for theft of personal information that is available on the internet. Nowadays, schools and colleges do not observe fights in their classrooms or grounds, which was a common habit in previous years. One of the reasons is that nowadays, hacking has become an alternative way for many students, and even professionals to take revenge on other persons by stealing their personal information, which can result in emotional trauma or psychological disorder.

Secondly, spamming is another disadvantage of the internet. Several experts have evaluated and noted that frustration and anxiety have been the outcomes of spamming, as the entire system of internet users is obstructed by the illegal act of spamming. Thirdly, one of the basic requirements of the internet is the utilization of computers, which is made difficult by the viruses that threaten and harm computer systems. It has been observed that several internet systems and businesses attached to the internet have been destroyed and deteriorated due to these virus programs. (Gattiker, pp. 100-107, 2001).

Moreover, pornography is another gigantic weakness and annoyance of the internet. It has been observed by several medical experts that the healthy mental lives of children are being threatened by the abovementioned drawback of the internet. One of the main downsides is that pornographic sites can be found with several easy mouse clicks and can easily endanger the lives of children, which has become a serious issue and concern of most parents around the world.

Several disadvantages have been studied in this paper, which can deteriorate human lives. Havoc and destruction can be created by the internet, and fatal outcomes can be observed by the misuse of this informative and interactive world. Moreover, it has been observed that the attractive world of the internet has resulted in the avoidance of family members by internet-addicted persons, which has worsened the emotional lives of thousands of families around the world. The time of exercise is now given to the chat rooms with unknown internet chatters, who can be nerds, professionals, and sometimes, even criminals.

It has been observed by most professionals that chatting is one of the main factors that have deteriorated and addicted masses of students, children, and internet users around the world. In this regard, different programs and activities are being introduced by the schools, colleges, and universities, to avoid any obsession related to the internet from these students. Thus, the advantages of the internet have outweighed the disadvantages, and humankind has benefited a lot from this informative and resourceful platform, which is still being innovated and improved every day.

Urs E. Gattiker. (2001). The Internet as a Diverse Community. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Essay on Internet

• Updated on  
• Oct 1, 2021

With throat-cutting competition, the difficulty level of various competitive exams has increased. Apart from domain-specific knowledge, questions framed in various exams evaluate critical thinking and decision-making ability, reading and writing skills, and  Logical and Analytical Reasoning . It thus has become important to focus on all the components equally. Just like the aforementioned topics, Essay writing is another crucial element of a wide range of entrance tests like IELTS , TOEFL , UPSC exams , etc. The topics for essays can range from Digital India and Economic issues to the role of Education and Women Empowerment . In this blog, we will share some samples of essays on the internet with you!

Uses of Internet Essay

Essay on advantages and disadvantages of internet, tips to write an essay on the internet .

Here are some of the tips which you can follow in order to write an impressive essay on the internet. 

• Your essay on the internet should be clear and concise with appropriate information. 
• Research meticulously before you start writing an essay on the internet.
• Add both, advantages and disadvantages of using it.  
• Write the content in paragraphs. 
• Avoid the use of jargons and slangs. 
• Keep the tone formal. 
• You can also add statistical data.

The internet is a worldwide network of computer networks that connects millions of people in over 150 countries. Using the internet, you can send emails, chat with people, and obtain information on different variety of subjects. 

Internet can be used for multiple purposes including finding information, communicate with people, shop online, manage your finances, etc.

The first workable prototype of internet came in the late 1960s with creation of ARPANET or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. ARPANET used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network.

In order to complete your application process for studying abroad, apart from the basic documents, you also need to submit a personal essay / statement of purpose as it elucidates your motive to take admission in a particular course and university and also shed light on your career goals. It thus needs to be impressive! Take the assistance from the experts at Leverage Edu who will help you write an SOP that will highlight your achievements, purpose and future goals in a very lucid yet impeccable way!

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Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Internet — The Impact Of The Internet On Society’s Everyday Life

The Impact of The Internet on Society's Everyday Life

• Categories: Impact of Technology Internet

About this sample

Words: 2577 |

13 min read

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 2577 | Pages: 6 | 13 min read

• Amichai-Hamburger, & Zack Hayat – computers in human behavior, 2011.
• Glor, Jeff. ‘‘Cyberbullying Continued After Teens Death.’’ New York, NY: CBS Interactive Inc. March 29, 2010. Web.
• LM Hinman –Ethics and information technology , 2002-researchgate.net
• Kumar, M. (2011). Impact of the evolution of smart phones in education technology and its application in technical and professional studies: Indian perspective. International Journal of Managing Information Technology (IJMIT), 3(3), 39-49.
• Phillip EN Howard, Lee Rainie, Steve Jones – American behavioral scientist 45 (3), 383 -404, 2001 Retrieved 24 January 2020, from http://www.internetlivestats.com/      

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Provides a foundational overview, outlining the historical context and introducing key information that will be further explored in the essay, setting the stage for the argument to follow.

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Essay On Internet for Students and Children

500+ words essay on internet.

We live in the age of the internet. Also, it has become an important part of our life that we can’t live without it. Besides, the internet is an invention of high-end science and modern technology . Apart from that, we are connected to internet 24×7. Also, we can send big and small messages and information faster than ever. In this essay on the Internet, we are going to discuss various things related to the internet.

Reach of Internet

It is very difficult to estimate the area that the internet cover. Also, every second million people remain connected to it with any problem or issue. Apart from that, just like all the things the internet also has some good and bad effect on the life of people. So the first thing which we have to do is learn about the good and bad effect of the internet.

Good effects of the internet mean all those things that the internet make possible. Also, these things make our life easier and safer.

Bad effects of the internet mean all those things that we can no longer do because of the internet. Also, these things cause trouble for oneself and others too.

You can access in any corner of the world. Also, it is very easy to use and manage. In today’s world, we cannot imagine our life without it.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Uses Of Internet

From the time it first came into existence until now the internet has completed a long journey. Also, during this journey, the internet has adopted many things and became more user-friendly and interactive. Besides, every big and small things are available on internet and article or material that you require can be obtainable from internet.

Tim Berners-Lee can be called one of the main father of internet as he invented/discovered the WWW (World Wide Web) which is used on every website. Also, there are millions of pages and website on the internet that it will take you years to go through all of them.

The Internet can be used to do different things like you can learn, teach, research, write, share, receive, e-mail , explore, and surf the internet.

Read Essay on Technology here

Convenience Due To Internet

Because of internet, our lives have become more convenient as compared to the times when we don’t have internet. Earlier, we have to stand in queues to send mails (letters), for withdrawing or depositing money, to book tickets, etc. but after the dawn of the internet, all these things become quite easy. Also, we do not have to waste our precious time standing in queues.

Also, the internet has contributed a lot to the environment as much of the offices (government and private), school and colleges have become digital that saves countless paper.

Although, there is no doubt that the internet had made our life easier and convenient but we can’t leave the fact that it has caused many bigger problems in the past. And with the speed, we are becoming addict to it a day in will come when it will become our basic necessity.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What are the limitation of internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Although internet can help you with anything but there are certain limitation to it. First of it does not have a physical appearance. Secondly, it does not have emotions and thirdly, it can’t send you to a place where you can’t go (physically).” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the ideal age for using internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Nowadays everybody from small kids to adult is internet addicts. So it is difficult to decide an ideal age for using internet. However, according to researches using internet from an early age can cause problems in the child so internet usage of small children should be controlled or banned.” } } ] }

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How the internet can harm us, and what can we do about it?

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years.

Written by Gianluca Quaglio,

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years. Articles focus on major privacy scandals and security breaches, the proliferation of fake news, rampant harmful behaviours like cyber-bullying, cyber-theft, revenge porn, the exchange of child porn and internet predation, internet addiction, and the negative effects of the internet on social relations and social cohesion. Nevertheless, some 87 % of European households have internet access at home, and 65 % use mobile devices to access the internet. Europeans aged 16 to 24 years spend 168 minutes per day on mobile internet, dropping to 30 minutes for 55 to 64-year olds. Around 88 % of 15 to 24-year olds use social media, 80 % on a daily basis.

While the social and economic benefits of the internet cannot be denied, some of these developments can severely affect such European values as equality, respect for human rights and democracy. Technology companies are under increasing pressure to mitigate these harmful effects, and politicians and opinion leaders are advocating drastic measures.

The recently published STOA study on ‘Harmful internet use’ covers the damage associated with internet use on individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, and the impact on social structures and institutions. While the study does not attempt to cover all possible societal harm relating to the internet, Part I focuses on one specific cause of harm, internet addiction, and Part II covers a range of harmful effects on individuals and society that are associated with internet use. The report concludes with policy options for their prevention and mitigation.

Other studies have already extensively discussed some harmful effects, and these are already subject to a history of policy actions. These include harm to privacy, harm related to cybersecurity and cybercrime, and damage resulting from digital divides. In contrast, this study covers the less-studied but equally important harmful effects that concern individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, the quality of social structures and institutions, and equality and social inclusion.

Internet addiction and problematic internet use                             

Internet addiction and problematic internet use prevalence rates vary across studies and countries. The noteworthy discrepancy in prevalence estimates has a number of causes, including the different populations studied, as well as the various diagnostic tools and assessment criteria utilised. With this in mind, it appears that roughly 4 % of European adolescents demonstrate a pathological use of the internet that affects their life and health, while 13 % of adolescents engage in maladaptive behaviour when using the internet. Similar numbers are reported for adults.

Part I of the study focuses on generalised internet addiction, online gaming addiction, and online gambling addiction. Clinical presentations, patient profiling, comorbidities, instruments, interventions, and prognoses are different across these three potential addiction disorders. The study states that the individual, cultural and media-use context significantly contributes to the experience and severity of internet addiction.

The study proposes a set of preventive actions, and evidence to support future policies . It states that offering information, screening tools and campaigns to students in secondary schools and at universities regarding internet-use-related addiction problems can help, especially regarding gaming addiction in adolescent populations. This will require allocating research and resources for schools and their staff, and for families, as well as the establishment of working relationships with health professionals and services.

Harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use

Part II of the study identifies a number of different harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use. The evidence points to the occurrence of significant damage to both individuals and society. Some of these harmful effects are described briefly below:

Information overload: Having too much information to be able to adequately understand an issue or make effective decisions. Information overload is associated with loss of control, feelings of being overwhelmed, reduced intellectual performance, and diminished job satisfaction. Studies show that information overload affects up to 20-30% of people.

Damage to social relationships: Extensive internet use, of social media in particular, is correlated with loneliness and social isolation. Intimate relationships can be degraded by internet use, particularly due to viewing online pornography. Malicious online behaviour, particularly cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking and online predation, affects a significant percentage of internet users.

Impaired public/private boundaries: The way in which the internet and smartphones blur the distinction between private and public, and between different spheres of life, including work, home life and leisure, harms the boundaries between people’s public and private lives. Harmful effects that can result from such permeations include loss of quality of life, lack of privacy, decreased safety and security, and harm to social relations – when friends and family members feel they are left behind by new technology.

Harmful effects on cognitive development: Empirical evidence suggests that internet use can have both positive and negative impacts on cognitive development, depending on the person and the circumstances. There is evidence that children’s cognitive development can be damaged by prolonged internet use, including the development of memory skills, attention span, abilities for critical reasoning, language acquisition, reading, and learning abilities. More research is however needed to draw more reliable conclusions.

Damage to communities: Many off-line communities suffer through the partial migration of human activities – shopping, commerce, socialising, leisure activities, professional interactions – to the internet. Online communities sometimes extend off-line communities and sometimes replace them. They are often inadequate replacements, however, as they do not possess some of the valuable or the strongest qualities of off-line communities, and communities may consequently suffer from impoverished communication, incivility, and a lack of trust and commitment.

The study identifies a number of broad policy options for preventing and mitigating these harmful effects. They include, among other things:

• promoting technology that better protects social institutions, stimulating or requiring tech companies to introduce products and services that better protect social institutions and internet users;
• education about the internet and its consequences;
• stronger social services support for internet users: this policy option involves strengthening social services dedicated to internet users to prevent or mitigate harmful effects such as internet addition, antisocial online behaviour or information overload;
• incentivising or requiring employers to develop policies that protect workers against harmful effects of work-related internet use, such as information overload and the blurring of lines between public and private life;
• establishing governmental units and multi-stakeholder platforms at EU level,to address the problems of the internet’s harmful social and cultural effects.

Problematic use of the internet (PUI) research network

Finally, in relation to internet-caused damage, it is worth mentioning the recent article published by the European Science-Media Hub (ESMH) on the European Problematic Use of Internet (PUI) research network. The project, funded by the European Commission, gathers over 120 psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, with the objective of reaching a better definition of diagnostic criteria, the role of genetics and personality traits, and the brain-based mechanisms behind internet related disorders.

Scientific Foresight (STOA)

Linking tech, science & policy: stoa gears up for the 10th parliamentary term, mental health: what is the eu doing for mental health, eu finances: is next generation eu delivering | eprs policy roundtable, european parliament plenary session – october ii 2024, parliament’s confirmation hearings of the commissioners-designate, beef and soy imports from south america – answering citizens’ concerns, european parliament plenary session – october i 2024, apply for a robert schuman traineeship in the eprs, economic outlook quarterly, world maritime day 2024 celebrates ‘navigating the future: safety first’, eu budget 2025, european parliament plenary session – september 2024.

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