Although the Internet has proven to be a valuable asset in the new era, it has also presented negative effects. Internet is a poor substitute, with no doubt it has broken geographic barriers, however has created barriers of its own. The Internet has the potential to further deprive individuals of social contacts such that the unintended consequences of social isolation and its implications cannot be excluded. The individualisation of leisure time becomes a further source of increased social isolation. It is natural that with an increase in time people spend surfing the net, the less time they spend with friends, neighbours, and family members. Thus, in addition to shopping in the biggest virtual mall, to find a bargain will not require the exchange of information with friends and relatives but rather a good search engine that provides all the details.
The technology that has allowed people to keep in touch with distant family members and friends, to find information quickly and to develop friendships with people around the world apparently is also replacing vital, everyday human communication. Internet cannot provide intimacy. Turkle (1995: 235) “pointed out the absurdity of the notion that community can arise from among people sitting alone, typing messages to virtual friends.� Nie and Erbring (2000) found “that as Internet use increased, users were more likely to report a decrease in time spent talking to family and friends and attending social events.�
Barnes states that the disadvantage of online dating is “deception� (quoted from Mathews, 2002). Online relationships may develop “less interdependence, understanding, and commitment than comparable off-line ones do� (Parks & Roberts, 1998). Furthermore, they argue that contacts developed or maintained via the Internet by electronic mail lack the more involving quality of face-to-face contacts. Survey research indicates that “online social relationships are weaker than off-line relationships� (Parks & Roberts, 1998), that people who use email regard it as “less valuable as other modes of communication for maintaining social relationships� (Cummings & Kraut & Attewell, 1996). The anonymity that is offered by the Internet permits people to create their own identity. Joe Schwartz believes that people cannot trust each other in a relationship until “time has proved that person reliable� (quoted from Mathews, 2002)
Another area of concern is children and the Internet. Interaction with other children is essential to develop social skills. Internet and video games lack a great deal of abilities that children need to develop their social skills properly. When the child loses “the motivation to interact with friends it is much easier for him or her to become addicted to the Internet� (Monoroe, 2001). However, a child who does not learn to socialise when they are young rarely learns how to socially interact when the child becomes an adult. Both savoury and unsavoury contents are available on the Internet. Access to these materials such as pornographic at an early age will cause harm to children behaviour in future. However, legislation and censorship tries to controls the access to these sites through firewalls to restrict the access of children to sexually explicit materials on the Internet.
Related Topics
Pornography and Internet Technologies
Privacy and New Technologies
Internet activism
Online censorship
Moral Panics and the Internet
Sexual Identity Online
Copyright
Reference
Cummings, J., Butler, B. & Kraut, R. (In press). "The quality of online social relationships", Communications of the ACM.
Mathews, Sherry (2002), “Negative Aspects of Internet Dating Services� Retrieved October 23, 2004 from http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~smathews/negative.html.
Monoroe, Meredith. (2001), “The Internet: A Positive or Negative Influence on Children?� Retrieved 24 October, 2004 from http://firstclass.wellesley.edu/~mmonroe/cs100/rp1.html#one.
Nie, N. H., & Erbring, L. (2000). "Internet and society". Retrieved August 22, 2004 from http://www.stanford.edu/siqss/Press_Release/Preliminary_Report.pdf.
Parks, M., & Roberts, L. (1998). "Making MOOsic: The development of personal relationships on line and a comparison to their off-line counterparts." Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15, 517-537
Turkle, S. (1995). "Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet", New York: Simon & Schuster.
Kelvin Khoo 00:21, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
