Internet and Society (Essay Sample)

Internet and society
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Internet and society
Since its advent, internet has wrongly been synonymously discussed with technology. When we talk about internet and society it is a wise thing to allow one not to be a captive of looking at it only in terms of electrons, atoms, cables, data to mention but a few terminologies in technology on which internet is anchored. Through a historical analysis of internet as a development rather than a technology, you find so many commentators who are for and other are against the internet. Taking society to mean the inhabitants from certain areas occupying a certain geographical area, the idea of people is indispensable ( HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jardine" \o "Lisa Jardine" Jardine, 1975). Talking therefore about internet and society drives us to talk about people; people who respond uniquely in an ever-changing world and environment. Any debate concerning internet and society is in fact a debate about people (Fuchs, 2008).
Telegraphs, telephones, radios, television sets, computers are among the products of technology that have for real enabled communication by making it cheaper, more effective with an increased immediacy. They have demonstrated their vital role in the world of interconnectivity. People have talked about them with a lot of amusement and excitement. The world of technology seems to have great innovators who seem to spend sleepless nights trying to launch great technological products in comparison to the predecessor gadgets. Developments in most of these technological products have been noted in terms of size, color, shape, speed, life span and ease of operation. All this has been n the attempt to come up with user-friendly electronic gadgets. One thing that we need to appreciate is the fact that all these gadgets have served and do continue to serve the purpose of connecting people; passing information from one-person to another person. Whether it is the telegraph or the radio, the need to pass certain information from one place to another is evident. So as we continue to see how the term ‘internet’ become widely used rather than ‘technological advancement’ in the word of communication, it is good not to forget the basic human need to get connected to the ‘other’ who is near or far.
As a good historical observer, you can see a common denominator in the history of internet and technological advancement in our society. Since the 1960’s of J.C.R Licklider, Bob Taylor and Lawrence G Roberts to the 1990’s of the Federal Networking Council (FNC) when the term ‘internet’ was first formally defined to date, the need to connect people remains a human need. Some schools of thought have defined man [and woman inclusive] using very interesting statements. He has been referred to as a rational animal, a social animal, a political animal, a religious animal among other definitions. Either in the absence or in the presence of internet, his characteristic nature has remained the same. He still needs friend. He still needs to express his opinions on matters of developments and leadership. He still acknowledges some forces beyond his physical realm. The internet factor does not change this order, which was there before it, which is there today and which will remain there. In fact, internet has not been about what we do but it has been about the manner and the style of doing those basic day-to-day things. The factor of speed, impact, involved people and the usability has been among the factors considered while thinking in terms of internet. The more effective the speed of a technological communication gadget is in transmitting information in the form of words, voice, sound, photos, graphics, and the most people will prefer it. However, what is the information that people transmit through this platform really?
A critical analysis of the content that people share and transmit via the internet comprises emotions, discontentment, feelings, attitudes, tones among other human factors ( HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jardine" \o "Lisa Jardine" Jardine, 1975). It is not that these things did not exist, before the onset of the internet. Internet seem to have just promoted the rate at which those human factors spread and the number of people that get influenced within the little time span possible. When people share their nude photos with other users through the internet, it is not that people have never exposed their nudity in the history of humanity, but using the internet seems to be exciting and amusing. The reason behind the action like these is not what this paper seeks, but it would do little or no harm to see the extent to which internet has promoted self-expression, which would have otherwise been embarrassing in front of real physical people. There are people who feel obliged to tell the strange world about their plans in life, this they do it through the internet. There are people who feel obliged that I is their responsibility to tell the world about where they are travelling and what they are doing and doing it with which people; this they do it through the internet. There are people in this world who feel obliged to tell the society when they are happy, when they are sick and when they are feeling bored; this they do it through the internet. Most of these people, do not communicate their personal lives in order to be assisted or to be accompanied. Majority display their lives in the internet to connect with the other people both near and far; both friends and strangers. Most People want to have a sense that at least somebody somewhere whether a stranger know this and that activity that I am engaging or have engaged in. it is a society that criminalizes people keeping to them as it continues to spread the gospel of sharing with the ‘other’. Nevertheless, there is no harm to mention various internet platforms through which emotions and other human characteristic nature get transmitted to continue showing how internet is more about people and not technology.
Most of the social media platforms require that you just create an account, which is referred to as signing up and start interacting with the world (Bryfonski, 2012). They gives you that added advantage of befriending other people who in real life situation you would not even dare look at. This is the extent to which internet sets in as a savior to bridge the gap between two people who would have otherwise remained strangers to each other. As the saying goes that no man is an island, the internet seems to have taken this simple saying seriously. However, has this phenomenon called internet been of any value so far to humanity and to the society in general?
Without the internet, some developments that we have could not have been realized. Some of these things include distance learning, on line dating and friendship, telemedicine and many more. People who complain about the internet claim that it has eroded cultures and morals. They say that most young people have started to suffer internet addiction related complications. It has become opium to many. While this may be true to some extent, there are some painful truths on the other hand that need to be passed to these opponents of the internet. It is true that obscenity is getting a very fertile ground in the internet in the form of photos, stories and videos that celebrate all forms of immorality (Watt, 1997). However, has the person never been immoral throughout the history of human civilization? In Allegory of the cave, Plato describes prisoners who rejected the sunshine and preferred their accustomed darkness; this turn of ev...