Internet: Altering Everyday Life

English 11
30 April 2013
The Internet: Altering Every Day Life
Most Americans do not go a single day without accessing the internet. Within the past few years, the number of internet users increased dramatically. In fact, in 1996, 15.2 million households were online, and in 2000, the number grew to 51.5 million (Mur 11). The internet has changed life dramatically over the past few years and will continue to alter society in the future. It is important that the internet is used in positive ways, rather taking advantage of the power it enables users to have. Unfortunately, more and more people are choosing to make the internet their personal tool for cheating, spying, and criminal activity, and using it far too often. Many of these issues have produced a counter action response to stop the unmoral undertakings.
A major problem that is occurring with the internet is cheating. Today, cheaters can access tests, term papers, foreign-language translators and notes for the class they are taking with just a few clicks. This new form of plagiarism allows people to download full length essays from internet document sources or from web-based term papers (Colin 754). Some even go as far as ordering personalized papers. In response to this issue, there are now anti-plagiarism services that will scan papers for copied work. Unfortunately there are not many schools that have adopted these anti-plagiarism programs, and they do not always work effectively. Colin expressed as a major concern: “When these junior high and high school kids who’ve acquired these [internet cheating] habits get to college, you will see higher levels of Internet cheating” (755). In order to stop students from cutting corners, many teachers end up going out of their way to make sure assignments cannot be found online. They also must keep alert and be sure that the quality of work presented to them is reasonable given their education background and previously demonstrated abilities. Many internet users will also run into the problem of privacy on social networking sites.
Over the years, humans have made numerous developments to meet their desires to socialize. In the 1970s, perhaps the most impressive of these developments was created: the internet (Clemmitt 758). Soon after the internet started, social media sites started up. These sites allow gossip and rumors to spread quickly and are especially popular among teens. When a conflict has occurred at school, teenagers will often elevate the problem by posting about it on these sites. Since most high school students have accounts to these social media outlets, the drama is being unfolded in front of practically the whole school. Teenagers can then gain courage to say something that they usually would not say if the conversation was face-to-face (Clemmitt 757). This has been the reason behind the ending of many friendships.
A few popular social networking sites (SNS) that have risen above the countless others are MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. In just 5 years, Facebook increased its number of users to 499 million members, and many of these members joined being slightly skeptical whether their privacy would be protected (Clemmitt 749). Privacy, or protection of your personal information, has been a reoccurring issue for SNS users. On the other hand, “actions speak louder than works, and while many people say they worry about privacy ‘we give it away easily’ when protecting personal information conflicts with another desire” (752-3). Users must be careful not to give away their personal information. In 2009, a study showed that 46 percent of people on Facebook accepted friend requests from strangers. By doing so, almost all of these people exposed their email, hometowns, and some even their birthday (754). From personal experience, it is obvious that if you want to stop this exposure, the privacy settings are not made to be manipulated easily. It can take a lot of time to control the settings the way you intend for them to be; however, it does not help that in the mix of things, the social networking sites continually add more features to expose personal information. Facebook’s GPS feature, introduced in 2010, allows Facebook friends to see where they are at all times, when the user is accessing the site through a mobile internet device (759). Perhaps it is time for the government to put regulations on what type of information is allowed to be exposed. Other countries such as Europe and Canada, which have stronger consumer privacy laws than the United States, have already dealt with many legal challenges to social networking sites (757). When personal information is visible, it can get into the hands of a harmful person, who could potentially take advantage of a user.
When personal information is shown on the internet, it exposes it to the whole world. Internet predators are online at work every day waiting to cause harm. These predators now have online fraternities where pedophiles or criminals of another sort can share their experiences and tips (Mur 37). The failure to regulate the internet allows these people to easily and quickly sell women in what is known as “mail-order bride sites”. In most of these instances, women end up being sexually abused; however, women are not the only targets online (86). It is said that “49 percent of children who use the web have taken part in a sexually explicit conversation with another person in a chat room” (99). The scariest part of this fact is that conversations of this sort mainly take place with strangers. The internet was not designed for children to roam around and discover websites and chat rooms. Children are regularly in contact with violent and sexual material. This type of content can be extremely distressing for them (95). Each day, another instance of illegal activity on the internet is discovered. It is important to take control of these situations, by making it easier to catch predators, and dishing out greater penalty when they are caught.
There are still numerous other negative components to the internet. Once it is incorporated into everyday life, it can sometimes be hard to pull away from it. Hours can be spent on a web page without realizing that a significant amount of time has elapsed (McCormick 36). “The line between addiction and heavy use can be hard to draw. But the problem of internet addiction is now taken seriously by most mental health professionals” (18). If it is impossible to live a single day without the internet, it is likely that an addiction is present. Smartphones that have internet capabilities are contributing to internet addiction. Another popular use of the net is dating. The problem is when users are looking at online profiles; people take the information given and create an ideal partner (Clemmitt 66). When the internet is used too often, relationships can become more superficial and less deep (757). This goes for all kinds of relationships, whether they originated online, or were continued there. Finally, the evolution of smartphones has created lots of communication in one place. In turn, governments can easily spy on a whole population (Head 19). The thought of a government spying on its country has always worried citizens. While there are a lot of negatives that go along with the development of the internet, the positives get users hooked easily!
The Internet can cut time wasted on tedious tasks in every day life. It allows workers from big corporations to work from their home computer. This is especially beneficial for the workers who would normally have a large commute (McCormick 29). An additional task that can be completed at home is internet shopping. The number of internet shoppers climbs substantially each year, as well as the quality and efficiency of shopping websites. It is very convenient for shoppers who are looking to buy items from a store that does not have a location nearby (Head 12). Also convenient for internet users are medical websites. These can inform patients about treatment options and symptoms. They can in turn make suggestions and ask more relevant questions to their doctors (Mur 50). When patients take initiative to look into their own problem, they have a better understanding of what is going on, and can have higher expectations of care. The internet has been incorporated into schools and is also showing positive results there.
Discussed earlier were issues that have been occurring in schools, but what the internet has done to positively impact education impressively outweighs those negatives. “What changes the classroom— for teachers, students and the community—is the end of isolation” (Mur 17). There are no longer limits to what can be learned thanks to the internet, which has opened many doors. The internet allows students to get the answers to their questions quicker and in more detail (19). Before the internet, the only information that students could access for research would be printed resources in their library. Today, the massive information on the web is not comparable to the previous content available. The integration of web in schools has also given teachers a few less headaches. Teachers can now contact parents by sending e-mails and can post grades in a district wide program such as PowerSchool. New programs recently introduced to many schools allow teachers to post assignments for all their students to see and access anywhere. Thanks to these incredible innovations, education, as well as communication, have been taken to a level never seen before.
Perhaps the most impressive feature the internet provides is speed. This mind-blowing speed allows two users to send messages to each other instantly, even if they are halfway across the world. Social networking sites allow users to retain ties with people that are hard to reach. They also allow access to information from “second-tier friends” which is most likely different news than is heard every day (Clemmitt 756). More organized forms of chat rooms, called cyber communities, allow people from all over the world to join and discuss common topics of interest. Cyber communities prohibit users to judge others, because race, age, sex, religion, etc. are anonymous (McCormick 35). This in turn levels the playing field for those who have medical and psychological conditions, like stuttering, social phobia, or autism, which generally make face-to-face socialization challenging (Clemmitt 756). Since more information of everyday lives is exposed to the world, people may become more honest and accountable (749). While all of these incredible developments have improved our lives already, the best is still yet to come.
It has been said that, “looking ahead 15 to 20 years, the internet will be unrecognizable” (Head 11). The additions and improvements being planned will once again flip the world. The phenomenon known as convergence will transition traditional computers to television like devices that are interactive. The joining of the TV and internet will create a technological home base, most likely liking multiple appliances. An example of this would be when your refrigerator gets low on eggs, an alert will be sent to your smart phone and/or interactive TV. Furthermore, fingerprint scan and facial recognition through the internet will eliminate a need for keys and credit cards (88). Cashier jobs will become fewer when radio frequency identification, which is linked to the computer, automatically scans the items in your cart at the supermarket as you push it past the scanner. The purchase will automatically be debited from your account thanks to the facial recognition feature (87). It is hard to imagine that the advanced technology we currently have will expand beyond its current state.
Internet users must recognize that too much of anything is not healthy. Abusing the features the internet offers, or just using the internet too much, causes big problems. The internet is, however a wonderful tool that can save loads of time for everyone. It has changed the way people meet, mate, work, fight, buy, sell, govern, and create (Head 22). It can make tasks performed in everyday life simple, effortless, and painless. Over the past few years life has been changing drastically thanks to the features it offers, and in the upcoming years, only bigger and better things will come about. These improvements will be simply remarkable.

Works Cited
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Social Networking." CQ Researcher 17 Sept. 2010. CQ Press. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.
Colin, Thomas J. "Cheating in Schools." CQ Researcher 22 Sept. 2000: 754-55. Congressional
Head, Tom. The Future of the Internet. Farmington Hills: Greevhaven, 2005. Print.
McCormick, Anita Louise. The Internet: Surfing the Issues. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Print.
Mur, Cindy. Does the Internet Benefit Society? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2005. Print.

Cited: Clemmitt, Marcia. "Social Networking." CQ Researcher 17 Sept. 2010. CQ Press. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Colin, Thomas J. "Cheating in Schools." CQ Researcher 22 Sept. 2000: 754-55. Congressional Head, Tom. The Future of the Internet. Farmington Hills: Greevhaven, 2005. Print. McCormick, Anita Louise. The Internet: Surfing the Issues. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Print. Mur, Cindy. Does the Internet Benefit Society? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2005. Print.