The Internet has had an overall positive effect on our society.

Although my opponent has not given one single source I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt in this instance and assume that over 1 billion do have regular access to the internet and that the modern economy does rely on the internet. (I find it odd that someone espousing the wonders of the internet was not able to find sources when Google is only a click away). Google shows that their are 6.7 billion people in the world. I don't believe that 1 billion is an accurate figure so for the sake of simplicity I will say that 1/6 people have access to the internet. If we were to take 6 people and we were to give to give 1 of these 6 people an iPod, this person doesn't share the iPod or any of its benefits, would you suggest that this iPod overall had a positive effect on the group of 6 people? Now if we take this further and put those 5 people who do not have an iPod and put them in areas where no one had an iPod and people do not have have the money or the ability to benefit from iPods can we really suggest that the 1 person with an iPod is somehow benefiting the entire group? Whilst it probably wouldn't have a negative effect it surely wouldn't have a positive one. So it is fair to say overall the internet had little effect on our society. As for your benefits to society most of them exist without the internet, the economy still exists, people can still make huge profits (the internet is simply a new medium in which to do so), people can still find love. Clearly we cannot communicate 'with anyone around the world' since the majority do no have the internet. Perhaps the only point I saw that was actually dependent on the internet was a massive database of information (especially obscure information) that people can educate themselves with. However I fail to see why this is positive to society as a whole, how does obscure information benefit society? Why does the plumber need access to articles on quantum physics or the farmer an explanation of set theory? My opponent must show why having education beyond secondary school level will make a person happier and why it is necessary for the majority of society to know these things. My opponent must also say why being entertained is important to society or more specifically why people need the internet to be entertained and for that matter must explain why it is better for commercial purposes. Since we have four more round I shan't use all my points too early but I will address the social one. My opponent suggest it is good to meet like-minded people, I suggest that it far more beneficial for people to meet people with different views and opinions. If people only visit sites that contain people of a similar mind then they will not become familiar with different people. Furthermore some research* shows that the internet can be detrimental to social skills, it suggested that people who used the internet a lot were lonely and lacked some social and emotional intelligence skills. It is likely that many of these people already had poor social skills and turned to the internet for that very reason, however this has meant they cannot develop their social skills properly. I'm in a bit of a rush now and don't have time to find sources for this but I believe that many teenagers turn to the internet and that is a crucial time in a person's life when they should be developing these skills to help them later on in employment. I'd also like to add that from my own personal experience has been detrimental to my education, for instance I have a pile of books next to me that I should be reading but I am instead trying to argue that the internet is bad. Thank you for the debate, I look forward to round 2. *http://www.liebertonline.com...