In defence of the internet: an essay by a disgruntled millennial.
By: Caffeine
Tags: First Post, Internet, Technology

In defence of the internet: an essay by a disgruntled millennial.

I’m writing this on my iPad, sat in bed waiting for my body to permit me to sleep. The mindless ritual consumption of pre-bedtime entertainment media has been a staple of my schedule for years now. I know I am not alone in this: it’s universal in this day and age, more prevalent in some than others but ultimately, it’s a relatable truth.

I was a child of the Information Age, born in the strange period between the mid 90s and early 2000s. I still remember playing on the streets with my friends as a child, but I needn’t strain myself to remember a technological childhood. I can remember rushing home from school, my heart pumping excitedly at the prospect of an evening of gaming and laughter with friends around the world. Complete strangers of course, the kind of individual that schools meant when they lectured on stranger danger. Yet suddenly, the concept stranger danger faded into the backdrop when the machines took over.

It is undeniable that the world has been shaped and transformed by technology – the internet being a preeminent example of this. As with all new things, there have been those who have struggled to adapt, and have attempted to push the burden of all of society’s ills onto this up and coming bogeyman. Socrates, for instance, was known to be anti-writing. He believed that the only true way to communicate ideas was face-to-face interaction, an argument which has been rehashed into the digital age, I think, however, the internet is unique, in that it has been perhaps the most demonised of revolutionary developments in living memory. For once, I intend to sing it’s praises and ask the question: is the internet truly a force for good?

To answer this question, we must first understand the core, contemporary arguments against the internet. I understand that it’s not, perhaps, the most literarily appealing of ways but for the sake of ease I shall simply bulletpoint the arguments.

1: The internet detracts from real, face-to-face social contact

This is one especially popular with the black mirror-esque style commenters. Often, people post pictures of individuals within a room together all on their phones failing to socialise. I can understand that this is a real concern, and yes, this happens – I’ve been in such a situation many times. But what do these individuals actually do on their phone? Often, they socialise! I grew up around the world, and the internet is the only thing that allows me to maintain any sort of real connection with my friends in Thailand, the Middle East, New Zealand and so on. For all the flak the internet is given for de-socialising the world, it does a damned good job of connecting people! The age of face to face contact is far from over – on the contrary, the internet, to me, is a tool to enable far superior socialisation than ever before. Organising gatherings, events, activities etc no longer requires weeks of meticulous planning and trying to work out when everyone is available: all that’s required now is a group chat and some speedy googling!

2: The internet, and especially online video games, are removing people from the real world.

This is a particular favourite of the tabloids. We all know the gist: a photo of a child, curled up over the computer, headset on, absorbed in an entirely different world whilst the parents are on the record pleading for their baby to be returned to reality. Such a heart-wrenching story. You really can feel for the parents – even though it’s often their fault!

Raising a child requires, as it always has, that boundaries be established. I remember having a limit on TV time and a curfew on how long I could play with my Doctor Who five inch action figures every evening, as do a great deal of my friends. In fact, take the aforementioned article and switch the word ‘video games’ for ‘television’ and you have yourself the classic scare-mongering anti tech tabloid scoop of the 20th century! The fact of the matter is this: video games, like TV and action figures and sweeties, are an entertainment product that appeal directly to children. The only difference is that computer time is far easier to control with the use of a few simple, freely available programs. Instead of blaming the internet for gaming gluttony, perhaps we should examine the true source of the problem: lazy parenting.

3: The internet is a hub for nefarious practises.

Drug trade, dark web, terrorist groups, credit card fraud: these are all very powerful buzzwords that the media love to summon to stir readers into a foaming-at-the-mouth anti-internet frenzy. With such increased connectivity, it was always inevitable that the shadier members of society would soon follow rank and move their operations into the digital age. The media knows this, and you can bet that they’ve played it to death to sell copies. Every time a new catastrophe occurs, the news media jumps to blaming forums such as 4Chan, dark web communities, etc. They prey off the technological illiteracy of the masses to peddle their scare-mongering propaganda – and it works! Fear is a powerful motivator, and fear of terrorism, crime, chaos and so on is what caused the world to turn a blind eye as their governments set up massive-scale snooping systems. However, the power of the internet in terms of illegal activity is rather overstated. Yes, there are websites from which you can purchase ‘recreational paraphernalia’ and yes terrorist grounds have been known to communicate through dark web channels. However the reason we know this is because such channels are not secretive – certainly not as secretive as the physical meetings that would take place in the dark ages (any time before YouTube). Rather, the use of the internet in the conduction of criminal activity has greatly helped law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime. Poor security, human error and undercover nodes have all been very effective in tripping up internet-criminals: once something is on the internet, it is ultimately accessible by anyone if they wish to access it enough. And agencies such as the NSA, GCHQ and so on are very good at getting what they want.

I fear that you may be falling asleep by this point, so I’ll keep this short and sweet: the internet has enabled socialisation on a scale never seen before; It has increased economic activity by a truly unprecedented amount; and, despite the risks, it is generally a very safe place for one to conduct themselves.

My point is this: the next time you feel inclined to launch into a racing rant about how the internet is ‘destroying this generation’, ask yourself: who is telling me the internet is evil and where would we be without it?

(This has been my first post, so thank you for reading! It wasnt supposed to be public yet but hey, that’s what happens when you use a new app for the first time, hope you enjoyed and feel free to add any constructive comments!)