The Internet: Scary or Safe?

Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner’s essay Oppositional Politics and the Internet: A critical/ Reconstructive Approach demonstrates the positives and negatives found with the Internet. As Kahn and Kellner state, “the Internet constitutes a dynamic and complex space in which people can construct and experiment with identity, culture, and social practices” (1). This is both interesting and scary all at once. Think about how many people create fake identities on the World Wide Web. Hackers who go on others Facebook’s and pretend to be people you actually know in need of help, and need to use your e-mail to send something. In reality, they just want to hack into your e-mail system, but how are you supposed to know if that is actually your friend Facebook chatting with you or a hacker. Online dating sites allow you to put up whatever lies you want to say about yourself (weight, height, hair color, etc) and whatever extremely photoshopped picture or a picture of someone else you choose to upload. No one knows who is standing behind the screen of that computer. As Kahn and Kellner state, the Internet has been shown “to retard face-to-face relationships” (1). As the cartoon below states, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” This is a scary thought.

On the other hand, the Internet allows for information to be widely available to a greater number of people around the world. I personally do not see what I would do without the Internet. I use the Internet everyday of my life, whether it be on my computer or on my cell-phone. Another interesting point Kahn and Kellner make is that now the Internet is available to a greater number of people because of the invention of Wi-Fi. Many wireless networks are not secure with passwords; so people can use those networks if they are within the area, this makes hacking much easier (9). The Internet has also now allowed for many people to partake in online politics that before would never voice their opinions – “technopolitics.”

Our world is surrounded by the Internet and has turned all of us into Internet junkies. Look where we are today, not only do we now have online dating, but online classes where students can lay in bed in their pajamas, cheat off the internet, and pass courses. We can even read books online now without actually having to purchase a hard copy.