The expansion of the Internet has brought us new wonders and at the same time, new horrors. The acquirement of new technology and access to a vast amount of information on the web seem so wonderful but thinking about these things closely reveals terrors that somehow make us doubt the web.
Virtual revolution episodes 3 and 4, the Cost of Free and HomoInterneticus , have made me think of the activities I have been doing on the Internet. A lot of people around me had been using the Internet for various purposes and I did not see any harm this has done to them so I used to think that I could use this technology as long as I want, in whatever way that I fancy. That was before I became aware of the consequences of putting and extracting information from the web.
In this generation, i see a lot of my friends connected on Social Networking Sites from Friendster to Facebook. Signing up in these sites, and any other sites that asks for memberships, requires the user to enter personal information that identifies them as a person. I am aware that the information required is so crucial that it can be used against me by the administrator of the site but I put it in anyway. Other SNS users are not even hesitant to enter whatever information is asked from them. Even there is a "Terms of Agreement" that one must read and check before signing up on a particular site, it is usually ignored. I, myself, just ignore every "Terms of Agreement" because I am too lazy to read the small characters and long document when all I just want is to gain access to the site and to the information and services that I need from the website.
Stephen Fry said that the reward we get from the internet is so great that whatever the risk is, we try to contain it. I think there is a cathartic feeling in being able to express one's self online that whatever the risk is, people do not mind at all. However, people not minding the risk and people not aware of the risks are two different cases that I think deserve to be looked at.
The internet is so free and I think there is no way of controlling and regulating it in the near future. A lot of people have access to the web and a lot of information has been stored already. Differences among government policies in different nations also affect the regulation and policing over the internet. If we cannot change the way things go in the internet, then I think, change should first be directed to us, the people who use the web and contribute greatly on its expansion. We should find a way to inform the people of the consequences of our online activities. We should understand what really happens to the information we exchange online. The vast number of adolescents who usually go online or go to internet cafes to access the web may not be fully aware of these consequences.
Virtual revolution episodes 3 and 4, the Cost of Free and HomoInterneticus , have made me think of the activities I have been doing on the Internet. A lot of people around me had been using the Internet for various purposes and I did not see any harm this has done to them so I used to think that I could use this technology as long as I want, in whatever way that I fancy. That was before I became aware of the consequences of putting and extracting information from the web.
In this generation, i see a lot of my friends connected on Social Networking Sites from Friendster to Facebook. Signing up in these sites, and any other sites that asks for memberships, requires the user to enter personal information that identifies them as a person. I am aware that the information required is so crucial that it can be used against me by the administrator of the site but I put it in anyway. Other SNS users are not even hesitant to enter whatever information is asked from them. Even there is a "Terms of Agreement" that one must read and check before signing up on a particular site, it is usually ignored. I, myself, just ignore every "Terms of Agreement" because I am too lazy to read the small characters and long document when all I just want is to gain access to the site and to the information and services that I need from the website.
Stephen Fry said that the reward we get from the internet is so great that whatever the risk is, we try to contain it. I think there is a cathartic feeling in being able to express one's self online that whatever the risk is, people do not mind at all. However, people not minding the risk and people not aware of the risks are two different cases that I think deserve to be looked at.
The internet is so free and I think there is no way of controlling and regulating it in the near future. A lot of people have access to the web and a lot of information has been stored already. Differences among government policies in different nations also affect the regulation and policing over the internet. If we cannot change the way things go in the internet, then I think, change should first be directed to us, the people who use the web and contribute greatly on its expansion. We should find a way to inform the people of the consequences of our online activities. We should understand what really happens to the information we exchange online. The vast number of adolescents who usually go online or go to internet cafes to access the web may not be fully aware of these consequences.
Dr. Krotoski posed a question whether the internet enriches or distorts humanity. Maybe I am just a real humanist and I believe that humans are on top of anything, most especially technology. I do not fully subscribe to Marshal McLuhan’s Technological Determinism. Technology can shape our culture only if we let it. The way we interact and communicate changes through time because of the emergence of new technologies but being the creators of this technology, having a higher faculty of thinking than the machines, we should know better up to what extent we can let these technologies shape the way we think, speak and act. If the technology is capable of “shaping” us, then, we too, must be able to reshape the technology and this digital revolution so as to save our humanity.
Maybe we should focus our vision not on what this digital era is doing to us, rather, we should focus our vision to what we are doing in this generation, what we are doing to this phenomena, what we are doing because of this evolution, and what we should do today and on the coming years of human existence as we continue to co-exist with these technology and inter-connectivity.
Sources:
Virtual Revolution episode 3 The Cost of Free
Virtual Revolution episode 4 Homo-Interneticus
Technological Determinism at http://www.allsands.com/Misc2/technologicalde_ubp_gn.htm
http://news.cnet.com/i/tim/2011/01/19/child.jpg
http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/CON3004.jpg
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