Group C: A Multidimensional Internet

The text Misunderstanding the Internet by James Curran was interesting for me to read because it opened my eyes to the way in which the internet has revolutionized individualism but at the same time has become a source aimed towards bringing people together. The internet provides “a space for the expression of individual identity” (pg. 58) as places like Facebook, Twitter and blog accounts are all personalized. For example, on Twitter I like to follow accounts such as “Best Earth Pics” and “Country Music Quotes” whereas my friends follow other types of accounts. In regards to blogging and online journalism, you are free to talk about what you want, when you want, and how you want. Although the internet is a route for people to utilize their right to freedom of speech, it can be so individually-based in the sense that you only search or read about what you want. On places such as the internet, it is easy to disregard opposing viewpoints to different controversial subjects like politics and abortions. In this case, I believe that the open-ended characteristic of the internet can sometimes be detrimental.

Although many people take advantage of the individuality which can be expressed on the internet,   writer Harley Hahn claims that the internet is “’our best hope…for the world finally starting to become a global community and everybody just getting along with everyone else’” (pg. 8). On an online chat room, you are a click away from conversing with someone across the world. Above I mentioned how lots of social media sites are personalized, but they also are a source of connecting people together. Facebook, for instance, allows you to view, comment and like photos of others, while at the same time you have the ability to message or video chat; in this way, we can “host a free, unconstrained global discourse between citizens” (pg. 8).

Unfortunately, this discourse is not always positive as Curran states that “the world is divided by bitter conflicts of value, belief and interest” (pg. 10). Misunderstanding the Internet discusses how the “internet can spew out hatred, foster misunderstanding, and perpetuate animosity” (pg. 10) as there are many very opinionated sites such as race hate sites. In my opinion, one of the largest and most relevant problems of the internet today, is the rise of cyberbullying. I remember in middle school and high school, every student would have to attend the assemblies in which the principals and teachers addressed this issue. This article from the Chicago Tribune talks about a seventeen year old girl who deals with her personal experience with cyberbullying and why she promotes her anti-cyberbullying video “Your Social Life”.  Out of her survey of 700 peers, she found that more than one third of them have been cyberbullied and even more have admitted to engaging in and encouraging the act. When I think of cyberbullying, I immediately think of the Formspring site where anyone can anonymously comment on a person’s formspring page. It is having access to sites such as this which makes me agree that the internet can be more harmful than helpful in some cases.

All of this got me thinking about the idea of unintended consequences of technology which we often talk a lot about in class. Besides personal pleasure, we Americans often use the internet for work and education and so I couldn’t imagine having the entire internet shut down like Egypt did in January of 2011 (pg.53). How do you think an entire shutdown of the internet would affect the school system? The workplace? Our everyday lives in general?