The Internet Should Be banned

I firmly disagree with the fact that the internet should be banned. The reasons why I think this is because it is an easier way of researching information, reuniting with relatives through cheap communication and shopping online.

This 21st century is a whole new world of technology. It is a virtual era where knowledge is always power and can be easily obtained through the internet. It provides search engines such as Google, dictionary.com, ask.com, Google maps and Wikipedia. Google is one of the biggest search engine on the net, providing access to a wide range of information ranging from the latest flu epidemic occurring in another country to watching the latest movie online. Another example of researching information is through Wikipedia a very effective online encyclopedia. I personally find it very helpful in doing my history assignments because it has got all the chronological dates and events in one place.

The internet has given the word 'communication' a whole different meaning. Talk is cheap online because the net enables instantaneous contact with people all over the world without spending a dime. Examples of this is emails and skype. Email is basically an electronic way of sending messages or letters. It is extremely fast and inexpensive and there are no long distant bills for you to pay. Another example of cheap communication is through skype. Skype is quite similar to emails. It is a software that allows its users to make person-to-person calls over the internet. I find skype very useful and cheap when contacting my relatives in Ghana. Other than calling them though skype, the only other option I have is to buy a calling card which costs me 10 dollars, an amount of money I can use to buy fish and chips. I would rather much prefer the easier, cheaper, simpler way through skype over the internet.

Shopping.Shopping.Shopping. Shopping could not get anymore convenient. Why? Well because you can shop 24/7 from the comfort of your own home within a few clicks browsing a whole range of stores and shop whenever you want. If you want to buy a new Alexander McQueen smoke jacquard dress at 3a.m you can! Another reason why it is so effective is because of privacy. There are times when privacy really matters especially when you need to buy condoms, tampons or Viagra. Many of us will be too embarassed to buy these things in a store where we would have to make some eye contact with at least one other person who knows what we are buying. So when we buy these kind of things online, that embarrassment is very, very minimised.

However, as the saying goes, 'for every positive, there will be an equal and balancing negative'. Hackers, sexual predators and cyber bullying are all problems associated with the internet. Any program that is communicating over the internet, can be tricked into downloading and installing unwanted programs on your computer. Chatting programs, surfing programs and even the program that enables us to connect to our internet provider fall victims to hackers. A way this problem can be solved is by downloading the latest security service pack for your windows version. I highly recommend ZoneAlarm. This software is a seriously good firewall and it actually works. When you connect your computer to the internet it prevents hackers from getting into your system at all.

To conclude, the positives such as researching information, reuniting with relatives through cheap communication and shopping online definitely outweighs the negatives such as been worried of your system getting hacked into, cyber bulling and sexual predators. After all, just like anything in this world, you have to take precautions. on the net, you have to make sure you do not give out your private details and you have to make sure you have downloaded or installed some kind of trusted firewall to ensure security.