The internet started off as something small and with good intentions in mind. As stated by Antonio Garcia Martinez, "The original internet was built by super-geeky engineers who didn't fully understand the commercial implications of it. They could muck around, and it didn't matter." In the beginning, the internet was a place for users to share information and open up to new people. A paradise for introverts and others seeking to socialize. It was amazing, and others wanted in on all the action. One of the most ingenious functions as a result of the internet was the search engine. Everybody loved it for its easy access to information. The world was developing and information was the key to success. However, as it got bigger, some took advantage of all the fame and the innocence of it.
The future of this novelty was limitless. Some came to see the internet as a magnet of people, and they started to get ideas on what they can do with this innovation as users were spending more time on it. Companies used the internet to sell their products and they worked with others too. Many businesses grew from using the user's attention such as Facebook and Google. They came up with ways to grab their user's attention and are still coming up with new methods. They profit off the information of their users. For instance, they could sell a user's information to companies to see what this possible consumer may prefer and send ads to them to buy their products. The once miraculous internet gradually went to the dark side.
The dark side of World Wide Web came to be as there are programs, individuals, and companies out there that want personal information of users to sell them. In addition, they employ schemes to influence the actions of users through ads, videos, articles, and social media. The dark side of the web wants to manipulate users, and make money off them for their own personal gains. There are things out in the web, that kids should not be exposed too, but are unavoidable. For example, some videos on the web have curse words, and little kids can stumble upon these videos too.
It's sad to see the internet swoop so low. From something praised by everybody for its usefulness is now being insulted for its demerits that it causes to the general public. The founding geeks never intended for the internet to turn out this way nor did they want to see the internet become so unlawful. It is not their fault the internet turned out this way. The rise and the expansion of the internet is unstoppable. To prevent ourselves from being total slaves to the internet, we must remind ourselves that we can not believe everything we see on the internet.
- Jirote Jiyacharoen
I agree with you that everyone cannot believe everything that there is on the internet. It really is disappointing to see how the Internet, something that was once all about video chatting and viral cat videos all of a sudden became and environment polluted fake news. The Internet has served as an ideal platform to execute false information because in can spread information in a matter of minutes.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue that I find upsetting is how the Internet has become a prevalent way of harvesting people's attention and profiting off of it. It's like companies are just shoving ads down our throats. Also, what really freaks me out is the use of algorithms because they can learn so much about us just to market products that would appeal to us. I really hope its possible to make the Internet an amazing environment of fun, knowledge and creativity as opposed to a platform that purposefully spoon feeds us fake news and ads.
It's concerning as well because it almost feels like an invasion of privacy for websites to track your clicks and views for their sponsors. The saddest part is that any media we use will be adopted and manipulated by companies desperately craving our money. It is in our nature as a capitalist society to turn everything into the issue of money. There is no escape from the ads or the marketing that attacks us with every site we visit because people know how to make money, and they will stop at nothing to get it even if it hinders the pursuit of knowledge gained from the internet.
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