To begin, the Internet has given people an ideal place to exchange opinions with other people. Before the Internet was invented, when a person wanted to advocate his ideas, only a limited number of people in his local area were able to learn about his opinions. If the majority couldn't accept his ideas, he would become isolated from other people. Now with over 50 millions people connected to the Internet, a person doesn't need worry about that he will be isolated because he can't find someone who is in agreement with him. Besides, being able to express one's opinions more easily also creates the opportunities for others to get advice. In the article "The Virtual Community" by Barry M Leiner, the author asserts that the Internet is a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location. ¨Information dissemination¨ is one of the most important features of the Internet because the Internet enables larger amounts of information to travel at faster speeds so that more information will be available to those who need it. For example, in Urbana, Illinois, the Federal Department of Education has developed a website for parents, teachers, and community workers who have questions concerning children, financial assistance, and educational assistance. The advice might not necessarily be from professionals; however, the advice is more valuable because people who give advice on the Internet are those with real life experiences and those who see the problems on a more personal level. By providing individuals information and advice from real people all over the world, people no longer feel isolated when they encounter problems that they can't solve alone.
In addition, the Internet also provides people who are unable to get an education because of their physical disabilities or location the valuable opportunity of learning. Before the Internet was invented, people who had difficulties attending schools either becomes isolated from quality education or had to pay expensive tuition in order to hire private tutors. Nowadays, the Internet starts to play a more popular role as an educational source, and online lecturing is the product of such a trend. Online lecturing has the advantages of both a quality education and a convenient way of taking it. More and more educational facilities are starting to conduct courses on the Internet so that those who are disabled are no longer isolated; instead, the Internet has given them an opportunity to participate in group-activities. In the news article ¨Survey Shows a Sharp Rise in Net-Savvy Academics¨ by Pamela Mendels, the author indicates that 571 technology officials at two and four-year colleges around the country, found that professors are discovering and embracing the pedagogical possibilities of e-mail and the Web. The Internet has simply become an alternative way of lecturing in the classroom for those people who don't have easy access to educational institutions. For example, Kaplan College offers many computer courses online. The instructors post class materials and other resources on the Internet for students. The class meets in a virtual classroom, which is an online chat room and email, to ask instructors and their classmates’ questions about materials they don't understand. With the advanced technology today, some universities even offer videoconference lecture online so that teachers and students can meet face to face while both are in distant locations. With the Internets help, the dream of some disabled students has become reality. The Internet has opened the gate of knowledge to those people who might be isolated because of their illness or disabilities.
Also, the Internet has provided those who are in isolation because of their difficult situation a way to interact with people. Many people in today's society are forced to become isolated from other people not because they don't want to interact with others but because of the invisible barriers, such as languages, races, and social status, between them and other people, which they cannot overcome. The Internet has provided them a place where they can share their feeling with someone who cares about them. According to the article “Battle for the Soul of the Internet¨ by Joann Halbert, someone may feel that they are truly isolated from a world that they do not know so they meet people the easiest way they know how, online. Joann believes that the Internet has given those people who are isolated in real life an opportunity to interact with other people on the Internet. For example, In the San Francisco Bay areas there are coffeehouses with cheap access to an on-line chat area that even homeless people can afford. Many homeless people have come to find that these chat areas give them a sense of community and home. Homeless people are usually the group of people who are neglected by the society and it is meaningful for them to make friends who don't discriminate them for what they are and with who they can share their loneliness. Therefore, the Internet has become a tool of interaction with people for those who have difficulties interacting with others in real life.
Some would claim that the impression of being in a place that expands beyond the monitor and interacting with someone far away is only an illusion that the Internet has created. The term “cyberspace” has become so convincing to some people that they have been drawn to it and have become almost addicted. They argue that this “cyberspace” doesn't exist in reality because the basic elements that build up this virtual world are only electronic signals and computer programs, which cannot be used to substitute for the warmth and emotion involved in real human interactions. According to Daniel Brandt, who wrote the book Digital Drug, a person is nothing more than a cryptic e-mail address, and thus, disappears into the endless numbers of people as just another name in the crowd of information. He believes that what represents a person's identity on the Internet is only an e-mail address that doesn't carry any personal traits and characteristics, and people can choose to erase and create a new identity on the Internet anytime they want. Because the Internet is based on anonymity, these people conclude that the interactions on the Internet are meaningless since people don't take any responsibilities for what they have said and what they have done. These critics conclude that, eventually, people would discover that they still feel lonely and isolated because they can't form real relationships with other people on the Internet.
However, the anonymity doesn't prevent people from interacting with others; instead, it breaks down the barriers of interactions people have in the real world. On the Internet, people are equal without bearing any stereotype. You cannot judge a person without any reference to age, race, sex, and appearance and your sole references are his thoughts and ideas, which enable you to have a deeper understanding of this person. On the Internet, people have more opportunities to interact with those who they don't usually interact with in real life. For example, you might be more willing to hear what a 12-year-old child with a brilliant mind wants to say on the Internet than you might in real life. Because of anonymity, people whose physical handicaps make it difficult to form new friendships may find that the Internet provides them with a more comfortable environment in which they are treated the same way as others. Equality and understanding are the essentials of human interactions, and the Internet has provided a much easier way to achieve these goals.
Without a doubt, people are always concerned about the negative impact to our society when a new technology is introduced. They fear that the new technology will replace good traditions. For example, when the telephone was invented in the beginning of 20th century, people may have had the similar concern as people have about the Internet today. They feared that the telephone made communicating with others so easy that people no longer wanted to write mails, which they believed were more emotional than talking on the phone, or people no longer wanted to visit their friends in person because they could talk on the phone, and thus reduced depth of human interactions. However, it turns out that the telephone has much improved the quality of our lives, and so does the Internet. Today, the Internet literally provides the whole world at our fingertips. Users of the Internet are able to connect with a wide variety of people. Issues of isolation may not be as relevant as the benefits of cross-global interaction.
Work Cited
Leiner, Barry M. The Virtual Community
Mendels, Pamela. Survey Shows a Sharp Rise in Net-Savvy Academics? The New York Times November 4, 1998: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/cyber/education/04education.html>.
Joann Halbert. Battle for the Soul of the Internet Time Magazine, July 25, 1994 pp 50-56.
Brandt, Daniel Digital Drug National Review Jul.1997
