Thinking and Learning and the Internet
If we analyze the way people used to think and learn in the past, we will see that today the situation is different and the habits of thinking and learning became a history. Modern technologies and internet in particular allowed for development of greater possibilities and chances that people learned to use in their everyday life (Westerman et al., 2008). People today can choose any sphere that is interesting to them and get all the necessary information on the web. It brings about vast possibilities for development. For example, a person is not satisfied with the chosen profession. In this case he/she can find some other area of interest, find some articles, textbooks in this sphere, communicate with people who are experts in this sphere and become a good professional in it as well. Thus, internet and modern technologies will allow this person to receive all the necessary knowledge an even practice the necessary skills to change life for the better (Shedletsky & Aitken, 2004). I consider this opportunity to be one of the major advantages of the internet.
In the past obtaining information and mastering some field of interest was often a challenging and time-consuming task (Shedletsky & Aitken, 2004). People had to apply major effort to find the necessary information and practice it, which is why people often had to do what they knew, because they didn’t want to step in the challenging path of changing their life (Pornsakulvanicha, Haridakisb & Rubin, 2008). Today the way we think is different, which can also be observed on an example of a conversation between representatives of two generations. When a teenager speaks with her mother, and says that she wants to find out what kind of laptop it is better to buy, it would be typical of her mother to say that she has to call some of her friends for consultation. Her daughter, instead, knows where to ask for professional advice, and thus solves this problem faster and more efficiently . But her mother can even not understand how it was possible to solve this problem in such a way. It is often difficult for the elder generation to understand the new technologies and change the way of thinking they have had during their entire life.
The main paradox of internet for learning and thinking is the vast scope of information available, which sometimes results in unfortunate outcomes, because people can get lost in this information and not know what to do and what to choose. It is necessary to be aware of this paradox and find such sources of information that are reliable enough and can bring interesting information to you (Leydesdorff, 2009). In this way it will be possible to make use of the existent advantages and avoid possible dissatisfaction.
Social Relationships and the Internet
The internet has changed the meaning of social relationships. People extensively use internet for reciprocal communication and this communication medium proved to be a windfall for the people who are in romantic relationships. Internet has changed the way of communicating in the society and made interactions easier in certain respects. First of all, it became much easier to find friends and even romantic relations with people who live far from you (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). I think that it is really great, because the boundaries are being erased and there are huge possibilities for development of relations and keeping them even at distance.
Human relationships on the web have certain paradoxes. For example, there are some people who hesitate to make friends, communicate and interact with other people apparently, but with help of the internet they have a large list of friends at social networking sites (Shedletsky & Aitken, 2004). It helps shy people to overcome their problems with self-confidence, which is one of the internet main advantages, in my point of view. These paradoxes should be used for the benefit of internet users. Face-to-face relationships are also changing due to the internet. In many situations it becomes easier to clarify some issues on the web instead of personal meetings. But I think that it is not so much a problem.
The changes described above already happened in our society, and I think that there is no way back. The best thing to do now is to find out more information about the influence of the internet on our lives, to be aware of it and to make use of its advantages. Still, it is necessary to know that technology has some drawbacks and several instances shows that criminals are using the internet for crimes. Internet emerged as the easiest medium for the economic offenders and sexual predators (Shedletsky & Aitken, 2004). We have to be careful when using the new technologies, and be aware of the possible crimes so as not to let them happen to us and our friends.
References
Shedletsky, L. & Aitken, J.E. (2004). Human Communication on the Internet. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc./Allyn and Bacon.
Valkenburg, P.M. & Peter, J. (2009). Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents: A Decade of Research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(1), 1-5.
Pornsakulvanicha, V., Haridakisb, P., Rubin, A.M. (2008). The influence of dispositions and Internet motivation on online communication satisfaction and relationship closeness. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 2292–2310.
Leydesdorff, L. (2009). The Construction and Globalization of the Knowledge Base in Inter-human Communication Systems. Canadian Journal of Communication, 28(3), 1-21.
Westerman, D., Van Der Heide, B., Klein, K.A., Walther, J.B. (2008). How do people really seek information about others?: Information seeking across Internet and traditional communication channels. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(3), 751-767.
