Impact of Internet

[tomas]

A member posed this excellent question (which I now paraphrase) in a recent thread:

Has the power of the internet advanced truth, or obscured truth?

The surrounding comments in @Jackl1956 's post sent the entire thread to snippiness... unfortunately throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Now this question has been haunting me throughout 2017 to date.

I thought I'd re-ask the question in a more sanitary way. Discuss...

FWIW, I feel the answer is both + made truth optional. I believe the internet has increased our ability to research, compile information, synthesize, analyze, and determine facts... but has also allowed positions unsupported by facts to be widely propagated and adopted very rapidly. Then there are those who see facts and truth as two different things.

PS, the result of this poll, of course, is not necessarily the truth. PM me and I'll tell you the truth

 

[ecarfan]

People who are capable of independent thinking and who possess a degree of critical judgement certainly benefit enormously from the wealth of information available online.

People who do not have those characteristics may be misled by the vast amount of erroneus information available online.

 

[Grendal]

Before the internet, we had to spend a lot of effort to search for information. In more recent times, access to the internet means that you are inundated with information. The trick is to be able to filter out the nonsense. As an older person who was around before the internet I am lucky enough to have a core of somewhat realistic basic knowledge. If I were raising children in modern times I would be spending a lot of my effort to teach my children how to spot nonsense and not be distracted by the marketing.

An interesting aspect of this is that a lot of my schooling was built around learning and memorizing information that is now at children's fingertips. If that is still what school is focused on, then modern children are probably bored to death and coming to the realization that school is a waste of time. That will cause an even more quick disconnect from society.

 

[Boundtogo]

Internet has so much impact to many especially to younger generations. This could be an advanced truth and obscured truth. Its difficult to understand but it influences people so much. It became the turning point in our daily activities. People can act and avoid adverse circumstances with the help of a basic technology.

 

[bonnie]

Good question, but the one that fascinates me is how the internet will impact all of us as we age.

Prior to www and search engines galore, if you wanted to know something, it required a trip to the library. And usually the desire to find the answer to a specific question was lost. But now you can get that information right at the teachable moment, which means you are far more likely to retain the new information. And the internet helps to fight isolation, another factor in negative aging.

I expect I'll still be learning right up til my last day - hopefully at a slightly faster pace than that of losing info .

Sorry to hijack your thread - just I think there is more to the impact of the internet than just what happens to truth.

 

[BozieBeMe2]

Good question, but the one that fascinates me is how the internet will impact all of us as we age.

Prior to www and search engines galore, if you wanted to know something, it required a trip to the library. And usually the desire to find the answer to a specific question was lost. But now you can get that information right at the teachable moment, which means you are far more likely to retain the new information. And the internet helps to fight isolation, another factor in negative aging.

I expect I'll still be learning right up til my last day - hopefully at a slightly faster pace than that of losing info .

Sorry to hijack your thread - just I think there is more to the impact of the internet than just what happens to truth.

So true. I still remember getting, for my 12th birthday, a set of encyclopedias, WITH indexes!
Now, all you need is a phone / tablet and the world is at your finger tips.
The internet is so valuable that the 'Dark Net' was created ((in part)) so that governments won't be able to censor the people.

 

[ziggytrace]

the internet has a huge impact on society, it creates new ways for citizens to communicate, congregate, and share information. It is obvious that the Internet has and will continue to change the way we live.

 

[Boundtogo]

Although the positive impact is unimaginably huge, there is also the negative side of this. Like, kids nowadays are too exposed to the internet that definitely needs to be regulated by adults.

 

[Off Shore]

According to many scholars, the development of the printing press contributed to the European (and later North American) witchcraft scares. (One of those is referenced here: European witchcraft - Wikipedia). Once you open the tap, you really have no idea what's going to come out. Education helps, especially if it includes training on how to be skeptical.

 

[Watts Son]

People who are capable of independent thinking and who possess a degree of critical judgement certainly benefit enormously from the wealth of information available online.

People who do not have those characteristics may be misled by the vast amount of erroneus information available online.

+1- Leadoff hitter hits a home run-discussion over

 

[tomas]

+1- Leadoff hitter hits a home run-discussion over

You know I'd like to believe that, but I have some friends with incredible intellect and critical thinking skills who still occasionally get sucked in by BS because it is well presented and propogated by what they see as 'reliable' sources. Reality is that you have to fact check EVERYTHING these days, and it is easy to occasionally get lazy. Done it myself!

 

[Watts Son]

I do have some smart friends suckered by those phishing emails....not sure if that counts but....