Need help on research assignment on the internet

Grandphoenix

Grandphoenix

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Working on an opposing viewpoints assignment over the effects of the internet on society. However, I seem to only be able to find mostly negative effects such as less socialness. Anyone know the benefits of internet on our society or maybe some database that would have info on this?
 
An increased knowledge, availability of information, and general awareness are the biggest positives, IMO. When I was younger (Damn I feel old just SAYING that), if you needed to lookup something, you had to make a trip to the library and dig through card catalogs and books to find what was sometimes outdated information, spending hours to find the same information you can find in minutes today. Wanted to know what was going on in the world? Better be home at 6 to catch the news, or rely on the newspaper that was already 24 hour old info.........
 
alanon said:
An increased knowledge, availability of information, and general awareness are the biggest positives, IMO. When I was younger (Damn I feel old just SAYING that), if you needed to lookup something, you had to make a trip to the library and dig through card catalogs and books to find what was sometimes outdated information, spending hours to find the same information you can find in minutes today. Wanted to know what was going on in the world? Better be home at 6 to catch the news, or rely on the newspaper that was already 24 hour old info.........
Click to expand...

My God....how barbaric.



no but seriously I remember those days too >.>
 
I'm trying to find some statistics of deaths and dissolved marriages from things such as WoW or Starcraft etc. Can't really think of a term besides death by internet.. I fail at research reports
 
Aside from the blimp of a tip Al mentioned, there's always communications. Try calling certain parts of Peru - the copper there is older than dog shit and can't support voice very well. Yet somehow, you call them via VoIP (Skype or any equivalent) and it's damn near crystal clear. Also, the higher need for bandwidth to access the Internet brings other benefits - look at Project FiOS. Fibre to each user's house? Think of the payloads you can throw across that. Who needs satellite feeds when you're capable of dishing 54.12Mbps to the modem at your customer's house? This wouldn't have even been considered if the Internet wasn't the mammoth it is today.

There's also the fact that any Joe Schmoe can make millions in his basement just by pitching the right product on the Internet. Look up any famous "dot commers". They turn ridiculous profits by advertising to millions of potential customers via a cheap, easy medium. This makes it easy for competition to step into a field and lower costs across the board for the consumer.

How about Google? It's changing the whole god damn world by itself. They're now applying some pressure on Microsoft's Office suite, bringing further competition to the industry. Again, lowers prices for all consumers. Google Earth, which is making it easy for civil/infrastructure designers who need to understand what a road looks like without the need for a trip (which in itself, saves cost to the client as well as environmental savings from less travel by plane/car). They're also providing free voicemail for homeless people in NYC (or maybe it was San Fran... one of the two) so they can appear to be legit applicants when they're applying for jobs.

This is just what I can rattle off the top of my head.

Deaths - try "online gaming kills".
 
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