Today I was scrolling through my classmates' blog posts, and I came across a really poignant entry by Mary Alta Feddeman that got me thinking. In it, she writes a thank you note to the internet. It immediately caught my attention because we all tend to display a sort of innate cynicism toward the internet (I mean, my blog is entitled "World Wide Woes"). People often treat the internet as a tool that proliferates ignorance and diminishes the value of face-to-face interaction. We tend to cast Google in this Big Brother-esque light, with its users the innocent victims of invasive, data-crunching tech giants. But as Mary points out, the internet doesn't have to be all bad. In fact, the benefits the internet can provide may drastically outweigh the misfortunes. The internet can be a platform for meaningful engagement and for diverse voices to be heard.
"You’re good for a lot of things, and you’ll forever be only as good or as bad as the people who log on."
It was this final line of her thank you note to the internet that really stuck with me. The internet is a tool, and like any other tool, it can be used for good or for bad. YouTube can be used for free access to copyrighted music, or it can be used as a platform for discovering new artists' talent. Twitter can be a way to anonymously bash people we don't like, or it can be a way to creatively express our grievances. Facebook can lure us to mindless distractions, or it can help us reflect on the most significant events in our lives.
The internet is empowering, and ultimately, its users choose how to use that power.
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