Impact of the Internet – The presence of the internet not only has many positive impacts, but also negative impacts, even though its use aims to make it easier for humans in all aspects of life.
The internet is also the widest network in information technology systems which then allows devices around the world to be connected to each other.
Because of the vastness of the internet network, this information technology also always has a positive impact as well as a negative impact on its users. The internet network can also be accessed by the public which then sends data using standard Internet Protocol (IP).
This information itself is spread on the internet and can be accessed via the World Wide Web (www) in the form of text, video, music, photos, or whatever. In its operational system, the web is also served by browsers such as Chrome, Opera, Safari, Firefox, and so on.
Quoting from The Guardian, Google also handles more than 40,000 searches per second and has 60 percent of the global browser market through Chrome. There are nearly two billion websites which then exist, most of which are not visited.
Information that can be accessed via the internet is very large and wide. How to measure the amount of information on the internet itself is about five exabytes a day. This amount is also equivalent to 40,000 films lasting two hours per second.
According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) website, the internet itself is defined as an electronic communication network which then connects computer networks and computer facilities. The connection between these two networks is organized around the world by telephone or satellite.
Meanwhile, in the Class IX Kemdikbud Information and Communication Technology book it is stated that the internet is a network of millions of computers around the world, connected via the TCP/IP protocol.
Initially, the internet as a computer network was formed by the United States Department of Defense in 1969 through the ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency) project. Then, ARPA itself decided to conduct research on how to connect a number of computers so that they formed an organic network.
According to the Class IX Information and Communication Technology book which was later published by the Ministry of National Education’s Bookkeeping Center in 2010 and written by Mashadi and Arif Dwi Armawan, this research program became known as ARPANet.
They also linked several UNIX-based computers over long distances over telephone lines so that the computers could communicate with each other.
UNIX is a computer operating system that started with the Multics project in 1965. Then, this project itself designed how the network would look like, reliability, and how much data or information would be transferred from one computer to another.
The first network was then built by connecting four places, namely the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), University of Utah, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Until 1972 the internet then has connected more than 20 computers. ARPANet itself is an internetworking backbone for educational institutions, research, industry, and contractors, especially those related to military networks.
Negative Impact of the Internet
1. Lack of face-to-face communication
It sounds very ironic when the lack of face-to-face communication is cited as one of the negative effects of the Internet because the Internet is supposed to bring people closer too.
But the reality is that somehow many people find it easier to communicate via the Internet than face-to-face.
The ease of communication offered by the internet will also make you prefer discussions through chat applications and messages available on the internet. This will also affect your personal relationships with friends and family.
Because somehow, the habit of liking and chatting online will separate you from real world life.
2. Lack of creativity
One of the important features of the Internet is that it is an unlimited source of information. This feature will also benefit users with quick access to the information they need later easily.
However, this will also make you less creative because whether you realize it or not, the ease of getting all the information you need from the internet itself will increase plagiarism, which will lead to a lack of creativity.
3. Cyberbullying
Cyber bullying is basically a term to describe bullying in using the Internet. The disadvantages alone can be considered as one of the most sinister negative effects of the Internet. Many people have become victims of cyber bullying.
Internet users are also more vulnerable to becoming victims of bullying because the method of bullying on the internet is also safer and easier than physical bullying because there are almost no regulations or laws to control the problem of cyber bullying.
Victims of cyberbullying may also feel humiliated or embarrassed by mean or bad comments and opinions. Negative effects will be worse in adolescents, especially in those who are in puberty with all the vulnerabilities and sensitivities they have.
There are several cases of victims of cyber bullying that will make the victim go crazy and eventually commit suicide.
4. Ignoring family and people around
Excessive use of something then always creates side effects, and the Internet is no exception. When you will use the internet too much, you will unconsciously ignore your family and those closest to you.
When you spend most of your time surfing the Internet, you also become insensitive to real life and the people around you, including your own family members. The original purpose of using the Internet is to open doors to new worlds, not to shut oneself off from real life.
For most teenagers and millennials, the internet is also the only friend they can have, while family and close friends are replaced by hours of browsing the internet.
This will also cause you to ignore your family and make you feel hesitant to talk or interact with the people around you.
Negative Impact of Internet on Children
Many benefits will be felt with advances in technology and with the internet. The functions of the internet in everyday life include facilitating and completing work, communicating with other people, or developing skills through various online training.
However, you must be aware of the positive and negative impacts of the internet, especially for children who are not yet filtering information. Following are the negative impacts of the internet on children:
1. Stretching social relationships
Children who are then addicted to gadgets tend to spend a lot of time in the room and lack interaction with other people. If allowed to drag on, the child will then find it difficult to get along with school friends or with family.
Even though with the positive impact of the internet then by making friends from cyberspace, direct social interaction in the real world is still very much needed for the growth and development of children.
2. Tend to isolate themselves
Along with the high amount of time spent with the device, the intensity of indoor activities continues to increase. Children will also become less concerned and responsive to the conditions around them. When you decide to buy a new gadget for your child, try to make rules that will protect their social life.
3. Being a grumpy person
When children have started to feel obsessed with gadgets, they will also overreact when their favorite electronic devices are kept away from them. They become irritable and often have tantrums.
Before children experience this, it is very important to be able to set the duration and make rules regarding the use of gadgets.
4. Got a bad influence
On social media, children will also interact with people with various characters. Without supervision, children can get various bad effects from parties with malicious intent.
In addition, shows that are not educational can also be the main cause of children having various bad habits, such as being happy to hit, shout, or being a rebellious child.
Steps to Deal with Negative Internet Impacts
How to prevent the negative impact of the internet? The amount of negative news related to internet use for children can then make parents worry when children spend more time with devices. In fact, these bad things will also be overcome by means of proper supervision.
1. Teaches the importance of privacy
There are still quite a lot of children who then do not understand the dangers of data misuse. So it is very important for parents to be able to teach the boundaries of privacy that can be shared in cyberspace.
Prohibit children from including various personal information such as telephone numbers, emails, home addresses and school addresses, as well as passwords, or certain photos. Also explain the various possibilities that can occur if someone uses their personal information, such as the case of kidnapping in the school environment that occurs by relying on photos from social media.
2. Applying restrictions on internet play
Also provide a list of any sites that they cannot access while playing the internet, such as pornographic sites, online games full of violence, gambling sites, or making acquaintances with strangers without their parents’ knowledge. Don’t hesitate to also discuss with the child the sanctions that will be received if they violate these limits.
3. Explain about cyber bullying
Playing social media will be fun for children because they can make friends with anyone. However, you also need to explain that they still have to be kind in cyberspace friendships.
Explain that in Indonesia there is an ITE Law that protects someone from bullying and will punish the perpetrator. Ask your child to be able to tell you a story when they were victims of cyber bullying. Establish a closer emotional connection with children so that they can be open to various problems they face.
4. Take advantage of parental control features
Also activate the parental control settings that are usually available on the device. This feature will assist parents in managing what sites children can display and watch. On search engines like Google, you can also activate safe search so that sites that are not child-friendly will be filtered out.
However, you also still have to carry out periodic checks regarding children’s internet use to ensure that there are no harmful messages or inappropriate viewing that accidentally escapes the settings.
5. Provide other activities
Usually, children who are dependent on gadgets begin with no interesting activities that they can do. So to overcome this you can prepare various activities that children like. The busier the children are with their activities, the less time they need to surf in cyberspace.
Internet Related Books
1. Watch out!! Evil Internet Stalking Your Child
This anxiety arises for parents who have children who are underage or teenagers at this time, because these negative sites and things can have a bad impact on them, especially if you can’t accompany your children all the time while they are using it. Internet.
In addition, of course you want your child not to tamper with important files on your computer. There is one way to outsmart is to use Parental Control. You can use the tips and tricks the Caution! Evil Internet Stalking Your Child like:
- Securing Your Important Data on Computer
- Install the Most Reliable Anti virus
- Web Browser Settings for Safe Use
- Installing Some Security Apps
2. Internet Business Classroom: Affiliate Marketing
If you are still thinking about renting a shop or getting up early just to catch up on attendance, you should read this book to see other opportunities in doing business in modern times. This book will introduce you to the fastest growing internet affiliate business today.
If you have physical or virtual products such as eBooks, videos, audio, software, scripts and the like, you can sell them by utilizing a global network throughout the world. Many networks are available for it.
If you don’t have a product to sell, you can use the affiliate network to get a variety of potential products that can give you up to 80% profit, just by placing your banner in a potential place.
Sometimes, you don’t even need to have a super busy website to do it. You just need a super precise strategy.
3. Awesome! Become a Billionaire with the Internet
The trick is to run an online business. This book describes the sundries of online business in full. You will be invited to realize the great opportunity to make exorbitant profits through online business, how to run it in a practical and easy way, as well as tips on dealing with various challenges in it.
So you have to absorb as much knowledge from this book as you can before you get into the online business world. After that, make sure you pursue an online business in full totality. As time goes by, you will definitely reap big profits that you never imagined before. Good luck!
Those are some of the positive and negative impacts of the internet that we need to be aware of. Sinaumed’s can read internet-related books that you can get at sinaumedia.com so you have #MoreWithReading information.