Chapter 3.

The Internet`s Influence on Everyday Life

The Internet has made the world a real global village which permits us to travel, pay bills, talk to your cousin living miles away or do the shopping without going out from our houses. There is no physical, geographical distance anymore, nearness and distance lost their sense. Nowadays there is a personal computer in many households and at the same time they are connected to the net. But before people start surfing on it, hey need to be aware of its negative and positive influence on their lives. any fear the Internet because of its bad effects, they claim that they are afraid of the possible conse!uences.Today"s technological society must reali#e it is up to them to protect themselves on the Internet. The influence of the Internet on our lives is immense$it caused changes in our personal, social lives and interpersonal relationships$ it is still changing our society and these are more profound than those caused by the invention of the television, radio or telephone. There is no !uestion that easy access to the Internet has changed the nature of people%s connection to others. &' mail, chat and instant message services made possible connections among people without physical pro(imity. But has this communication revolution changed the pure nature of interpersonal and group processes) *irst of all, since the primary use of the Internet is communication, we could say that the Internet will have positive social conse!uences in people%s everyday lives. Interpersonal communications become more fre!uent and of a better !uality$ it increases people"s self +confidence, because they would feel better connected and more strongly supported by others. *eeling more secure can lead to a happier family life personal fulfillment and engagment in organi#ations, communities and society. But, on the other hand, the ease of electronic communication may lead to weaker social connections, because people have less reason to visit friends, face'to'face communication is deteriorated. The Internet allows people to form and sustain friendships and even romantic affairs from their home. In my opinion it is an important issue because psychologists proved face to face connections as being of higher !uality. The

psychological !uality of Internet social interaction is lower than is the psychological !uality of traditional face'to'face interaction. ,nother advantage of the internet is that you can -oin a community..ou can create new social contacts all over the world using the various social networks. /uch communities can also help people who can not go out to find friends in the real life because they are disabled. Therefore they can chat with other people via the internet. /ometimes it is also easier for people, who are afraid of direct communication to chat with a person that they do not know. 0earning by doing, everybody knows this phrase and it is still an essential part concerning the Internet. The young generation is brought up computer'iliterate, compared to older generations, for them it is obvious that they can use the computer and the Internet from a very early age. ,t first they use the Internet most of the time for playing, but gradually but they learn to work with the computer. There is only one way to learn something, you have to do it1 2hildren are offered wide range of learning opportunities via Internet, -ust they should be monitori#ed by parents and educators in order to use it for good purpose. They represent the most vulnerable group of consumers$ t whether surfing the net, reading newspapers or using email, children can be e(posed to e(tremely inappropriate material so they should be instructed to be aware of the dangers that net' surfing implies. oreover, the internet is much cheaper than the real life, e.g. phoning a friend abroad costs more than to chat with him. *rom my point of view the e'mail has replaced the traditional letter. .ou do not have to buy stamps anymore and it is much faster and also for free. .ou can also attach files to your &'mail and that3s why a big data transfer is possible. The internet is also a big advertising company. , lot of enterprises have a homepage with ads and support opportunities. .ou can order products online and avoid waiting in front of the cash because of a long !ueue. 4efinitely it makes our life easier and more

comfortable. 5nline shopping is important also for disabled people, they can en-oy shopping -ust sitting in front of a screen.

The world of the world wide web and virtual space is going to become more important with every year and everybody should be able to use this tool + even children and elder people. 6e can see how some old people are afraid of comple( things such as computers, while others are fascinated by new technological devices. They learn how to send emails, attach files, upload or download materials, chat online and they are active members of certain social networks. It is very beneficial because they do not feel lonely anymore, they are able to connect with their family members in spite of distances. Internet communication is having a positive influence on education in and out of the classroom. &ducators are adapting curriculum to incorporate Internet applications that support national standards. The Internet provides the opportunity for people anywhere in the world to access !uality educational services from the comfort of their home. The Internet allows you to have access to educational opportunities on your schedule, and at your own pace. ,s well, educational institutions are also linked together, they can change e(perience, materials and work online which is a great opportunity for student$ nevertheless it makes the process of teaching7learning more creative. 8owever, it is very difficult to differ between the good and bad aspects of internet. There are good and bad things about every service of the internet. 2licking on the Internet is getting more and more thrilling nowadays. If you chat with someone you cannot be sure about the truth of his7her words. ost people cheat emotions, cheat about their appearance, age, -ob. If you get to a web site of a bank + is it a real bank or only a faked one) There have to be some signs which identify an original website reliably. 8ow can I be sure if I want to buy something on the web and send my credit card'number that nobody will read it)

/earching for information you will find a huge amount of it on every topic you are searching for. This can be very comfortable. But be careful1 There is also false information. /ometimes it is hard to distinguish between true and false information. 6hile sending an email is it totally secure) any hackers will try to read the message

you send to your friends. This leads to the ne(t problem of the internet9 8ow can you provide privacy in a non' private world) &verybody wants to know everything about everyone. Nothing is more interesting than a forbidden place. There is some special anonymity about the internet. .ou may tell anything about yourself and everyone will believe you + if nobody checks the information. 5n the other hand, if you constantly give information about yourself to websites, chances increase that someone can abuse of it, and you can become even a victim of identity theft.