General Chat

I think the good far outweighs the bad. We have a gift here that our ancestors would arguably have valued more than television.
Well the literate ones, anyway.
John

The Internet is not bad, its people who are bad.
the same as a pen is not bad, but the person who uses it.

I agree with everything Sheila said, but couldnt have put it so well)))) The internet can do tremendous good and tremendous harm.

But I think we often forget that before the age of instant communication trmendous good and harm was metered out by the written word using the mail, telephone, fax etc etc.

Such a shame that such a wonderful tool as the internet is abused so freely.

Jac xx

Edit: sorry that was a stupid thing to say! I meant that tremendous harm was metered out by various forms of communication prior to the introduction of the internet! DOH!!!!

I agree with everything Shelia has said.

We have a husband and wife acquaintance, who dont know anything about the internet, They call it 'The Devil's Web'

Their married daughter and grandchildren have computers and go on the internet.

Mo

I remember someone posting a while ago. Someone had posted nasty stuff about her daughter on one of the sites which in effect was bullying her. She was having trouble getting the stuff removed.

It is a force for whatever you make it for yourself. It is an excellent tool for information and communication.

How marvellous, if say, you are housebound and/or disabled, to be able to go for a 'walk on the net' and see what is outside, in the next road, in the next town or in another country.

Sadly, there will always be those who abuse it and those who are vulnerable and need protecting and I expect there will need to be much more control in the future which will undoubtably limit us all at the same time.

wow! can't improve on that answer Sheila. I was going to say it depends how you use it.

It is a great tool for improving knowledge on practically anything but it has also given the opportunity for those who wish to pursue evil to do so (i.e pornography).

Within the umbrella of the Internet we have the forums/chat sites such as Facebook Bebo etc and the sites such as genes with the message boards. These give great opportunities for socialising among people who may not be able to get out and about but they have also spawned the unpleasant side affects of cyber bullying.

I think that the people who run these social networking type sites should have to 'police' them more thoroughly, there should be more safeguards in place that people they chastise/ban etc should not be able to just reappear under a new name.

Ann
Glos

Was going to reply but can't think of a better answer than Sheila's...lol..

Well done you!! Said what I wanted to say perfectly!

Thanks Sheila. What an excellent answer! :-)

Do you think there should be more restrictions (eg by governments) on the internet or do you think that would ruin it?

By its very nature it is both - open and accessible - which means that it will attract those who have something positive to impart (knowledge, humour, wit, music, dialogue, support, friendship) and those who use 'cyber' land to pour out spite, hatred, fanaticism, ridicule and drivel, or as a tool to prop up their delusions or inadequacies.

is a force of good or bad?