Mr Bombastic wrote:
Actually, you could make the case that the internet has hastened the decline of America. Also, it has given us unprecedented access to information, yet Americans are dumber than ever. Every nut job wacko can post whatever they want on there, and people believe it. Then there is internet porn, also. No telling how much damage that has done. Overall, I believe the internet has done far more harm than good.
I prefer to focus on the beneficial effects. Had you asked me 30 years ago if I would like to have the sum total of human knowledge at my fingertips, my answer would not only have been an emphatic 'yes!', it would have been 'Oh, Hell YES!'. Here's a short article I wrote back in July of 2009:
https://www.nolanchart.com/article6645-revolution-at-your-fingertips-htmlI had people tell me, back in 2009, (only 8 years ago) that I was way ahead of my time with that article. I couldn't see it then but I do now. "Anyone can type a few keywords in a browser window and literally thousands (or even millions) of web pages are offered in response. This is truly information at your fingertips".
As for the gullible taking everything they see on the internet as Gospel, maybe 'way back when', but not any more. I'd say the vast majority of internet users are very (if not exceptionally) good at spotting BS and calling it. People are coming to understand that some sites are reputable:
http://drudgereport.com/And some are not:
http://www.cnn.com/What I see from the internet is a world becoming more and more connected on a personal basis and less and less relevance is being assigned to the 'traditional media' outlets. This connectivity is a beautiful thing on so many levels. Were it not for the advent of the internet, we would all be so much the worse off, not just for information but commerce, entertainment, education, political discourse, the list is practically endless.
As for internet pornography, I get a hunch that you see it more as a sinful pastime than anything 'positive' in nature. I get that, and tend to agree. Having said that, I don't go looking for it and it doesn't come looking for me so I don't know much of anything about it. I know how to use an internet search engine and have no doubt I could find some if I wanted to, just don't want to. That doesn't mean I condemn anyone else for their 'preference'. You might say that what I don't see doesn't bother me. Indifference, perhaps?