Everyone"s privacy is greatly harmed by the internet. We can quickly see what politicians and celebrities are doing when the paparazzi posts news pictures online, but people can also see what we"ve been doing. Some sites store information. Some ask us to fill in information which can be sold to other sites for commercial purposes. Once we post something online, it is almost impossible to erase it from the net. For example, if I break up with a person, they can take revenge and post embarrassing photos of me online. There have been numerous court cases where a woman demanded that her ex remove some privately taken photos from a dating site, so that she would be left alone. Unfortunately, the law cannot protect your right to privacy in this area.
You are the first and most important person to protect your own privacy. Don"t fill in private information, if you don"t want people to know about it. There are laws protecting you from websites that just sell on your information, but if you give personal information out without being sure that it will be properly used you only have yourself to blame.
You can choose any identity you want when you are online. Many people hide behind profiles they have made up. They start making nasty remarks on public forums or chat rooms. They would never have normally said these things, but because they can hide behind an identity they start upsetting and hurting others. Even though other people can try to stop them from this behaviour, their warnings are not as effective as a warning from someone you know very well, like a friend, a parent or a teacher. The internet"s anonymity allows them to show sides of themselves that, for good reasons, they normally wouldn"t have shown. This increases the risk that, because they get away with it online, they show similar behaviour in their real life. This harms everyone.
Against this group of people who misbehave online is a group of people who have finally found individuals with similar mindsets. Not everyone likes the same things and the more unusual your preferences, the harder it will be to find friends. The internet has finally given many people a place where they can be themselves, and where they can meet likeminded people. It is a great relief for them that they do not have to fear being discovered by people they know.You cannot let a small group of badly behaved people ruin the freedom of many others. We should work on creating better policies to deal with rude people, but we should not go back to the old situation where people who are different in some way end up feeling isolated and lonely.\
Many people are just addicted to the internet. They can"t stop browsing, they are hooked on gaming and they spend too much time indoors. Instead of going out for a walk or play outside, they sit behind their computers for hours. A sad consequence of the addiction is that they are so used to high speed information by just clicking on the next link that they can no longer appreciate a good book, or a nice conversation with a friend. By failing to take exercise they grow fat and unhealthy. Their family life suffers and their only relationships are online " they can"t cope in the real world.
There is nothing wrong with sitting indoors. It"s better to sit indoors and actively research and surf online than to sit in front of a television and passively take in what the TV company decided you should watch. 20 years ago people used to worry kids spent too much time inside watching TV, but viewing hours have dropped as people choose to use the internet instead. There are lots of educational games and news sites we can browse around and learn from in much more effective way than television could ever provide. Furthermore, many people keep up their social contacts online. Saying they cannot appreciate a nice conversation, or a good book is just a wild claim.
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