I like the Internet.
I'm not very social in real life, but on here I have tons of acquaintances, friends, and I even met my bf there. It allows me to talk to people with like interests, where if I walked outside right now there probably wouldn't be a single one who wanted to speak to me about anything I'm interested in. I also need it for work as a freelancer, and I can get jobs from people all over the world. Can't fault that.
I also don't think it's a bad thing to be able to communicate anonymously. Where everyone can be anonymous it's a great equalizer. You could go an post in a male-majority sports forum and not mention your gender for example, and people wouldn't belittle you for being a woman interested in sport because they simply wouldn't know you were one. You are in control of the information you give others, and therefore how they perceive you, unlike in real life where people make snap judgements based on sex or age or general appearance and treat you according to their prejudices. On the Internet, you control all of that, which is fantastic. And it's a great escape sometimes to be able to say what you think online, if you can't IRL.
I just hope that all of us who enjoy the Internet's freedom will protest for it when governments attempt to control or filter it. Because I think they will. Most of them are moving toward filtering of what they consider harmful content already. One extreme would be China who won't let anything in from the outside. Even the US is considering an internet killswitch. Certain other countries like to use the internet to spot people voicing opinions the government dislikes, and then drags them off to prison. This sort of thing is happening slowly but surely. Even here in the UK the goverment reserves the right to store all emails sent from ISPs for a certain length of time - in other words spy on everyone's electronic mail - to 'fight terrorism'. Ha. Like terrorists are going to fill their emails with the words 'bomb' and 'Jihad' now that they know they're being monitored. A pathetic breach of human rights, if you ask me.
It's what gets me about (the mostly un-netsavvy) people who think the Internet is some work of the devil. Because there's porn on it, or child porn, or identity thieves or spammers or stalkers, or 'unregulated' published content - as if they're not there in real life as it is. "But it's easier to find those on the Internet." But it's easy to find them in real life if you go looking in the right (or wrong) places. The Internet reflects what's already out there, it doesn't create these things itself. You can just find them faster on the net, so you just need to be more careful, that's all. Is that too much to ask of people? I think many people are just afraid of the power of the Internet. In other words, fear the power of human communication. Or maybe they just fear the darker side of human nature, which isn't going to go away in a hurry, no matter how much you whitewash it and pretend it isn't there.
As long as you're sensible on the internet, just like IRL, there's no especial reason it will make life difficult or unpleasant for you, only easier. If there are things you don't want to see on the net, don't go looking for it, etc. etc.
Lastly, I don't watch TV, because the Internet has everything I need. I can find what I want, when I want, which has to be 1000 times better than a constant stream of mostly total crap from the box. Why do people watch so much TV? You can find it all on the net anyway, if you must.
