Hi Folks,
That was a good start to the GD round. At the time of writing this post there are 14 comments on the previous topic. I would of course prefer greater participation but the start is quite good. I am not closing the discussion when another topic is posted so feel free to contribute to the previous discussion(s) too.
Now I want to know from you guys, especially the ones who have already posted and who intend to do so in the future, is how do you want me to participate? If at all…. ;-)
What I mean to ask is:
Do you want me to give you feedback on your comments?
or
Do you want me to participate in the discussion?
or
Do you want me to do neither?
I am fine with any of those roles, particularly the last one. ;-)
Now for today’s topic:
Is the Internet more of a bane than a boon?
Ciao
Update: I have posted my general feedback in the Comments Section. Feel free to revert to me right here in case you want/need something else.
Since the topic is such that it would be rather difficult to jump to a single conclusion, I think we can start out by weighing both the sides of the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Internet can be considered as a tool; A tool that lets people or organizations from across the world to communicate or share information. And as the general rule goes, the strength or the weakness of a tool depends on the person using it and I think the same applies to Internet too.
What do others think?
Internet no doubt has contibuted a lot .with the help of internet people all over the world get connected .It saves lot of our crucial time for eg :online bookin of movie tickets,conferences,emails and many more so according to me it is of great boon.although there are some negative points but it comlpetely depends on how people use it.
ReplyDeleteEvery thing has two aspects, positive and negative.one can use concept of atom bomb to produce electricity or to destroy another city like hirosima or nagasaki.
ReplyDeleteSo if we think about the internet we can get every think either it is course material, world wide information or whatever u want, u will get within few minute.
now it once again depends upon how one uses it, a creative mind will use it for knowledge gain or a destructive mind for devastation.
i agree with sawn and aky for the same.it entirely depends from person to person on how he/she intends to use the internet.internet has on a wide scale helped people for various purposes from information to entertainment.infact the internet is a boon in a developing country like India.for eg:lets consider the news,updates are faster than the broadcast medium.internet is a faster and an advanced medium in terms of communication also.internet uses and benefits are more if used in a proper manner lest depends on its misuse.
ReplyDeleteIts quite an interesting response to the topic.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is:
It is definitely NOT MORE OF A bane rather than a boon.
Sure it has positives and negatives. Sure comparisons can be made with atom bombs and I am sure I can even come up with quotes like "It is not the internet that is a bane or a boon but just like a stick which can be used to hit as well as walk, it is wielder of the stick (internet) that makes it a bane or a boon".
But, Can someone tell me how will all the negatives of the internet outweigh the positives of the internet? I think it cannot and hence, No way, hosey can internet be MORE OF A bane than a boon.
i believe that this totally depends on the individual using internet. In the hands of a person hungry for knowledge this is the greatest boon possible while in the hands of a miscreant it can wreak havoc.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has shrunk the world to a great extent creating a pool of information where anyone from anywhere can take a dip.. yes internet has a cosiderable share in discouraging the habit of reading but it provides information at such speed that i think the above mentioned effect is just a by product rather than an ill-efect. various social networking sites have made it possible for people to stay in touch of their loved ones in these busy times wiith minimum efforts. but again this can be exploited by miscreants the society has seen ample examples of misuse of these facilities. all in all it seems that all the bad effects of the internet which are largely effects of personal thoughts are countered by an equal number of good effects..effects that maybe were intended to be when internet was concieved.
Internet is definitely a boon. The number of factors that support this is simply too high that it outweighs the number of factors that make it a bane.
ReplyDeleteInternet is the ultimate source of information. WHatever one wants to know, however less-known the topic is, there is always something to satisfy the knowlege hungry person.
Also, I would disagree with gunner on the fact that internet discourages reading. It infacts promotes it. The more things available to read, the more will people read. Shying away from reading is just a result of the individual's taste.
Moreover, internet is the most common tool for communication, especially for people who are far away from each other. It has become an indispensable part of life.
Finally, as with any technology, there is always a chance of misuse. But then, as mentioned earlier, the negative aspects of internet are completely subdued by the positive factors.
And ya, it would really help if u could play both the parts u mentioned in the beginning..:)
ReplyDeleteThe interNET and the WWWeb.
ReplyDeleteIf I am allowed an analogy, I would say the answer lies in the words Net and Web. both serve their purposes. A net has enough gaps to let the water out and enough thread to hold the catch. A web has enough holes for the insect to escape but the silk has enough glue to trap the insect.
There are pit falls in all walks of life, we need to learn or train ourselves to use things to our advantage.
Internet has its flaws and glaring ones at that, it requires some stringent regulatory measures, educating the users against its harms and a liberal outlook. Internet is a mans gift to man, use it wisely - it helps. ;)
@Sir - Please do participate in the discussions, at least once towards the end of the day. It will surely be of great help to learn your take on things ( gather some solid points for GD. :D. )
ReplyDeletei want u 2 give more topics and help me out....
ReplyDeleteI think we are just scratching the surface and not analysing the pros and cons. I would suggest the participants to enlist the negatives and positives of Internet before reaching a conclusion or asking for help. Let us start with the negatives first.
ReplyDeleteCons
1) Privacy has losts its meaning - a miscreant can easy gather information about any individual from the internet. The tools are social sites (eg: orkut), professional sites (eg: Linkedin), Blogging and Micro Blogging sites (eg: Twitter).
2) National security under questions - with sites like Google map, terrorists can easily plot attacks.
3) Untracable VOIP calls - a security risk that is exploted by terrorists making it more complex with gadgets like satellite phones.
4) Cyber war - the warfare of the future. with greater dependency of Internet in the future, bringing down banking sites, trading houses and communication infrastructure can bring major economies to a stand still.
Pros
I don't think i need to explain the pros.
1) Email
2) Search engines
3) Knowledge portals
4) Social Networks
5) Job sites
6) Online banking
7) e-bookings
8) Online trading
9) VOIP
10) Video-conference
The list is endless.
While the pros clearly outweigh the cons, the scale of disaster, both personal and national, that can be brought about by exploiting the loop holes is huge. In this cyber era thinking of living without Internet is a harakiri.
Although Internet is a definite boon than a bane, effect cyber laws and cyber policing both at the national and international level are mandatory, so that it is not transformed from a boon to a bane.
Hi Guys,
ReplyDeleteThe comments, rather the participation in the GD has been quite good.
However I would like to suggest a few points:
1. Do not take a stance in the GD. A GD is a "discussion" it is not a Debate. So you can look at both sides of the topic. There is no problem. Statements like "It is definitely NOT MORE OF A bane rather than a boon." or "Internet is definitely a boon." should not be made right at the beginning. The reason is that once you say this it would be difficult to go over to the other side.
2. Whenever statements are being made it would be better if you were to substantiate the same. this should be through examples maybe of different types of websites and/or events related to the Internet.
3. Do not ask questions unless you want to invite people into the discussion. The reason is, if you ask a question and someone else answers the same the marks will accrue to the person who has answered the qn/made the point.
4. Please get to the core of the topic. I agree with Abhilash, to an extent, when he says that the participants, "are just scratching the surface and not analysing the pros and cons."
What you could have done is talk about the concept of Web 2.0 where you talk about interactivity. Earlier it was just information that was being sent from the website to you, now you can generate content and share the same with the world. Abhilash has put together a good list. Maybe to that I can add sites like Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Second Life, Zygna, elance, Facebook, Twitter, Google Books, Four Square, Digg and other sites. Talk about how these sites have changed the way we interact with each other and with the wide world around us.
The way online campaigns tend to put pressure on Govts. can also be highlighted (Indian egs). However we can also talk abt how there was no pressure at all on the Iranian Govt. So maybe we can talk about the same issue and how different countries react to issues regarding the Net.
There are some negatives also, for e.g. Child pornography is proving to be difficult to control; Security is compromised, both online and off-line; Privacy will be an issue gooing forward.
Identifying the different sites and roles that they play in your life and how it is a long term advantage or disadvantage could be a good way to deal with this topic.
Hope this helps. You are free to ask further questions and I will respond to it in the comments section.
Hello Sir! first of all thank you for conducting this GD and in order to make it more interesting I would suggest that you should give your feedback on the points which we have posted.
ReplyDeleteEvery coin has two sides & while discussing on any particular topic we can always think of it in two perspectives, positive & negative, and Internet is no exception.
Internet has always made our life simpler. It has shrinked the world into a small home, where it is possible to communicate with a person irrespective of the location. As already mentioned, Internet has its pros & cons and it depends upon the person how he tends to use it. Some pros:
1. E-mail
2. social networking
3. knowledge portals
4. search engines
5. Job sites, etc.
Internet has always helped me to stay in touch with my friends(whom I have never met after School/College)with the help of social networking sites.
It has helped me to search for vacancies after I completed my graduation.
It has helped in gaining some knowledge on any particular topic through knowledge portals and also updating the same,etc.
There are also some cons:
1. security threat
2. hacking, etc
In this cyber era there will be hardly anyone who have not come across Internet Banking atleast once. There is always a threat of our Credit Card PIN being hacked & used for some unlawful activities. So, to prevent such things to happen again in future effective cyber laws should be enacted & the culprits should be booked in no time.
I do believe with Jay and others above that everthing has two sides. And it would be difficult to choose any one side as, as the internet has marginal difference in its pros and cons. Like others I too have certain number of pros and cons about internet to be written,but then what does it prove.
ReplyDeleteMy opionion about this topic considering the present situation would be that Internet is becoming more of a bane than boon. I'm sorry but above somewhere I read about social networking sites being useful to stay in touch with friends etc. If it was so useful it wouldn't have been banned in Australia, Gulf countires and many other parts of the world. Cetain internet sites give terrorist's an open invitation to have a look at some of the very important buildings of a country to plan an attack. There are many such examples like this.
I feel its more of a bane than boon..
This is a very interesting topic becoz we can't say that internet is a boon or bane confidently. The use of internet depends upon the user. Creative minded persons use it for getting knowledge hence it is boon for that person but distructive minded person use same source of knowledge for bad purpose hence it is bane for creative minded person but it is boon for distructive minded person hence internet is always in the form of boon but concept of BOON or BANE is depends on thinking of CREATIVE MINDED PERSONS and DESTRUCTIVE MINDED PERSONS.
ReplyDelete