Society and the Web: the dichotomy of choice

The invention of the internet has proven to be one of the most influential changes to society in the history of humankind. In my opinion, prior to the technological advancements of the internet and the devices that house it, the world was always pretty similar. No matter how far back in time you went, societal standards only differed so much. Yes, there was once a time when people killed each other for entertainment, but truly, things really started to vamp up once the internet was introduced to society and people began to realize the real scope of what it could do, as well as what people could do with it.

There are clearly two very prevalent sides to the internet: the incredible aspects that allow you to learn, stay connected, and experience, and the dark sides that cause you to feel, think, and hide. These more challenging parts of the web are where bullies, frauds, and predators live. The internet is an infinitely vast web, making it extremely difficult to locate and crack down on each and every villain that lingers within it, but thankfully there are many legal forces that are working against these evils every day to rid the internet of them.

In the meantime, I can only give advice from a girl who has put a large majority of her life on the internet for almost as long as I can remember. Every day is a battle between choosing the parts you want to experience and avoiding the sides that you know might hurt you, like reading negative comments on your posts and doing too much research on the stories that make you scared for your future. Instead, I choose to focus on the aspects that remind me how incredible the internet can be. Some of my favorite "check-ins" revolve around peaking at my grandma's Facebook wall, learning new recipes on TikTok to try in my kitchen, and watching my favorite YouTubers update us on their lives. These connections give me purpose on the neverending Web and allow me to remember the happy feelings I get from just relaxing and letting my mind wander.

I like to read articles and books about how to better our environment, our society, and our own personal lives, and stumbled across a good one about how to better our internet, by doing our civic duty on the Web. The key takeaways basically made me think that everything we aspire to do in real life to better our society, we can be doing on the web too to help make it a better place. These are things like contributing real knowledge on sites like Wikipedia, reviewing products you've purchased online, and sharing good causes.

I believe that if we all try our best on the Internet, it will grow to become a more inclusive place. If we ban together to stop the liars and the trolls, they will eventually disappear. And, if we fully commit to using our Internet privileges for good, it will have no choice but to harvest into a place for love, learning, and acceptance for all walks of human life. We have the power to make this happen, just like we also have the power to make it a breeding ground for hate and shame. We must choose to do what's right in order for our digital society to blossom to its full potential.