Text: Discussion.

The Internet, a double-edged sword

The Internet is one of the most important inventions in the last years, or at least it is one of the
most revolutionary. It is known that the Internet changed the way how people across the world
get in contact and interact with each other, also it has made a big impact on culture, commerce,
education and research. But we always need to think about the deep impact of the things that we
create. It is important to talk then about the advantages and the disadvantages related with this
interesting topic.

We need to consider the world of opportunities that the massive phenomenon of the Internet has
created for us: The first advantage to consider is the possibility of being in touch with the people
that we care about and love, even if they are far away (communication in general), and this is not
just related with having news about the family and friends around the world, we can see them at
the same time that we talk or write to them, and that is amazing for our human psychology
around the relationships. The second advantage definitely, it is the increasing access to
information on time and about almost everything in the planet. We can read, see, research, learn
and understand the world surrounding (around) us. I think it is possible to say that every topic in
every field of knowledge is now on the Internet and we can access them with just one click. The
third advantage is related with geopolitics. I can say that is about to stop being blind in relation to
the social reality of human beings in our country and elsewhere. The Internet exposes
dictatorships and gives the opportunity for people to unite and stop governments through online
communication (Syria case. Twitter revolution and Facebook cyber activism have been related to
social revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and even Libya).

But on the other hand, the disadvantages actually exist. One disadvantage is the change in
people’s relationships, for example people are using more social networks on the internet to keep
in contact with people far away, diminishing interest in the real contact between people in life.
Users of social networks usually prefer a cold “like” in Facebook than a warm “I like you” in the
real life, and this is because the interaction with other human through a screen made the things
more manageable and less risky, but this is a false sense of security. Instead of being more in
touch we are further away. Another disadvantage is the security, we already know that whatever
thing is on the Internet never is going to disappear completely, so our bank accounts, personal
photos or documents, and even conversations as they pass through the network are not really
safe, governments and companies could access everything that one day passed through the
network, and also criminals. And then there is the last disadvantage I want to mention in this text.
The children aren’t safe anymore in a room with a computer, not just because they could access
through the Internet pornography and information that they don’t have sufficient criteria to
manage (ways to commit suicide or different ways to make a homemade bomb), which is in itself,
terrifying for parents, teachers and governments. But also when they are in front of a computer
with Internet access the door to the pedophiles and criminals in general is open. The children
share personal information easily and the criminal knows that and they take advantage of it.

To finish I think the Internet is a great invention and is also a world of possibilities, but it is a
double-edged sword, because not all people could handle it in a responsible and secure way. We
need more education around this amazing digital world, and parents need to keep an eye over the
information to which their children have access online. The Internet is a tool and the security of a
tool depends directly on the responsible use we give to this.

Erika Herrera.