internet good or bad for students essay

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A for and against essay about the internet.

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Essay On Internet for Students and Children

500+ words essay on internet.

We live in the age of the internet. Also, it has become an important part of our life that we can’t live without it. Besides, the internet is an invention of high-end science and modern technology . Apart from that, we are connected to internet 24×7. Also, we can send big and small messages and information faster than ever. In this essay on the Internet, we are going to discuss various things related to the internet.

Reach of Internet

It is very difficult to estimate the area that the internet cover. Also, every second million people remain connected to it with any problem or issue. Apart from that, just like all the things the internet also has some good and bad effect on the life of people. So the first thing which we have to do is learn about the good and bad effect of the internet.

Good effects of the internet mean all those things that the internet make possible. Also, these things make our life easier and safer.

Bad effects of the internet mean all those things that we can no longer do because of the internet. Also, these things cause trouble for oneself and others too.

You can access in any corner of the world. Also, it is very easy to use and manage. In today’s world, we cannot imagine our life without it.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Uses Of Internet

From the time it first came into existence until now the internet has completed a long journey. Also, during this journey, the internet has adopted many things and became more user-friendly and interactive. Besides, every big and small things are available on internet and article or material that you require can be obtainable from internet.

Tim Berners-Lee can be called one of the main father of internet as he invented/discovered the WWW (World Wide Web) which is used on every website. Also, there are millions of pages and website on the internet that it will take you years to go through all of them.

The Internet can be used to do different things like you can learn, teach, research, write, share, receive, e-mail , explore, and surf the internet.

Read Essay on Technology here

Convenience Due To Internet

Because of internet, our lives have become more convenient as compared to the times when we don’t have internet. Earlier, we have to stand in queues to send mails (letters), for withdrawing or depositing money, to book tickets, etc. but after the dawn of the internet, all these things become quite easy. Also, we do not have to waste our precious time standing in queues.

Also, the internet has contributed a lot to the environment as much of the offices (government and private), school and colleges have become digital that saves countless paper.

Although, there is no doubt that the internet had made our life easier and convenient but we can’t leave the fact that it has caused many bigger problems in the past. And with the speed, we are becoming addict to it a day in will come when it will become our basic necessity.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What are the limitation of internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Although internet can help you with anything but there are certain limitation to it. First of it does not have a physical appearance. Secondly, it does not have emotions and thirdly, it can’t send you to a place where you can’t go (physically).” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the ideal age for using internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Nowadays everybody from small kids to adult is internet addicts. So it is difficult to decide an ideal age for using internet. However, according to researches using internet from an early age can cause problems in the child so internet usage of small children should be controlled or banned.” } } ] }

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Home » Blog » How the Internet is Beneficial to Students

How the Internet is Beneficial to Students

The internet is regarded as one of humanity’s greatest gifts, and in the last 10 to 15 years, it has spread rapidly throughout the globe. Things like transfer of information and conversation between two or more people sitting far from each other have gotten a lot quicker. It is a place where concepts from all parts of the world are found easily. There are several benefits of the internet for students because it allows them to easily obtain the information they require. It has made a significant contribution to the education of students by improving their ability to study and gain knowledge, right from their homes. They use the internet for a variety of purposes, including online lectures, research, latest information, and more.

Below are the advantages of internet for students –

• 1 – Relevant information present on the internet

2 – Online education through internet

3 – developing communication and connectivity, 4 – career planning, 5 – getting up to date information, 6 – self study.

Students can easily search for the relevant information they require on the internet. Before the spread of the internet, students had to go through many books to find the information they needed, which was a time taking process. Things are now faster and easier because there are numerous websites that provide important information that can help students with their academic work and assignments. This also helps students remain up to date with the latest information.

Almost every student is now aware of the terms online education and distance learning, both of which have been the most significant benefits of the internet during the pandemic. They can learn a wide variety of things from the internet while at home, in a comfortable atmosphere. Students can easily access lectures or classes on various academic subjects to clear all of their doubts. Different institutions, such as colleges, universities, and schools, have started to offer online programmes and courses to anyone in any part of the world.

Having good communication and connectivity with others has proven to be beneficial. The internet has made it easy for students to connect with their classmates and teachers using different mediums from any part of the world. They can easily discuss study material and clear doubts with the teacher in order to fully understand any topic. This can also help students in coming up with new ideas and enhancing their knowledge.

Choosing the right path and developing a good career plan is critical for the future, and it can be difficult for students to do so without proper guidance. The internet has lots of resources for the students to seek proper career guidance and achieve future goals. To make a better career decision, they can consult with experts and attend career counseling sessions.

The internet has been the best source to get up to date information in the quickest possible way. Different websites and social media platforms play an important role in bringing the most recent news or information to people’s attention. Students can gather the latest information related to their academics that can help them in their studies. There are also media websites where students can share their thoughts and the most recent facts.

The internet has established itself as a vital tool for self-study. Google, bing and yahoo helps in  learning and discovering various sources to get the latest information. Students can carry out research on any topic to improve their knowledge and get necessary study materials, which can be crucial for their academics. Youtube and other platforms also provide free classes and courses for students.

The internet is one of the most powerful information tools present in the world today. There are numerous benefits to using the internet for students, and it has proven to be one of the best places to learn. It has changed the lives of students and made several things easier for them. Many students are now enrolled in online education , which is changing the face of academic education. Nowadays, most assignments are completed on computers with the use of the internet. The internet has many benefits, but it also has some drawbacks, so it is essential to teach students how to use it responsibly.

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How can the internet be used for educational purposes?

The internet can be used for educational purposes in many ways, including research, online courses, collaborative learning, virtual tours, language learning, test preparation, and time management and organization.

How does the internet make students' life easier?

The internet has revolutionized students’ lives in countless ways. From online classes to virtual study groups, the internet provides a wealth of resources that allow learners to manage their day-to-day responsibilities more efficiently. Students can now access course materials and communicate with facilitators from anywhere they have an internet connection, enabling them to complete assignments independently. Additionally, social media provides students with a platform to connect and collaborate with peers, allowing them to form study groups without ever leaving their homes.

What are the dos and don'ts of internet use for students?

Here are some dos and don’ts of internet use for students:

• Use the internet for educational purposes, including research, learning, and collaboration.
• Verify the accuracy and reliability of online information before using it for academic purposes.
• Use strong and unique passwords to protect your online accounts.
• Back up your important files and data regularly.
• Protect your privacy by being cautious with your personal information online.
• Keep your computer and software up to date with the latest security updates.

Don’ts:

• Plagiarize or copy others’ work without proper citation and attribution.
• Share personal information such as your full name, address, or phone number with strangers online.
• Engage in cyberbullying or other harmful online behavior.
• Download or share copyrighted material without permission.
• Spend too much time on social media or other non-educational online activities.
• Open emails or click on links from unknown or suspicious sources.

Following these dos and don’ts can help students use the internet safely, productively, and responsibly.

What are the uses of the internet in education?

The internet is a handy tool for education and can be used to facilitate learning in a variety of ways. For instance, students can access online resources to supplement their in-class learning. This could include using web tools to research topics, do practical tasks or submit assignments. It has significantly contributed to students’ education by improving their ability to study and gain knowledge right from their homes.

What are the benefits of the internet for students?

The internet provides students with easy access to a vast amount of information and resources, which can enhance their learning experience . It also allows students to communicate and collaborate with their peers and teachers from anywhere in the world, and access online learning platforms that offer flexible and personalized learning opportunities. Additionally, the internet can help students develop digital literacy skills that are crucial in today’s interconnected world.

What are the side effects of the internet on students?

The internet can have side effects on students, such as addiction, distractions, misinformation, cyberbullying, health issues, and online privacy and security risks. It is important for students to be aware of these risks and take steps to mitigate them.

What are the impacts of the internet on students?

The internet has opened up so many possibilities for students. It has allowed them to access information in ways never before possible – from educational materials to new entertainment options. It has also enabled them to interact with other students and teachers in entirely new ways, allowing them to collaborate on projects, share resources, and ask for help. The internet has also made it easier for students to stay connected with the outside world – from staying in touch with friends and family to participating in activities or events that would otherwise be out of reach.

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New ai, new jobs, openmind books, scientific anniversaries, louis leakey and human evolution emerging out of africa, featured author, latest book, the internet and education, introduction.

In many ways, it is difficult to discuss any aspect of contemporary society without considering the Internet. Many people’s lives are saturated so thoroughly with digital technology that the once obvious distinction between either being  online  or  offline  now fails to do justice to a situation where the Internet is implicitly  always on . Indeed, it is often observed that younger generations are unable to talk about  the Internet  as a discrete entity. Instead, online practices have been part of young people’s lives since birth and, much like oxygen, water, or electricity, are assumed to be a basic condition of modern life. As Donald Tapscott (2009, 20) put it, “to them, technology is like the air.” Thus, in many ways, talking about  the Internet  and education simply means talking about contemporary  education . The Internet is already an integral element of education in (over)developed nations, and we can be certain that its worldwide educational significance will continue to increase throughout this decade.

That said, the educational impact of the Internet is not straightforward. At a rudimentary level, it is important to remember that well over half the world’s population has no direct experience of using  the Internet  at all. While this is likely to change with the global expansion of mobile telephony, the issue of unequal access to the most enabling and empowering forms of Internet use remains a major concern. Moreover—as the continued dominance of  traditional  forms of classroom instruction and paper-and-pencil examinations suggest—the educational changes being experienced in the Internet age are complex and often compromised. In addressing the topic of “the Internet and education” we therefore need to proceed with caution. As such, this chapter will consider the following questions:

• What are the potential implications of the Internet for education and learning?
• What dominant forms of Internet-based education have emerged over the past 20 years?
• How does the educational potential of the Internet relate to the realities of its use?
• Most importantly, how should we understand the potential gains and losses of what is being advanced?

The Internet as an Educational Tool

For many commentators, the Internet has always been an inherently educational tool. Indeed, many people would argue that the main characteristics of the Internet align closely with the core concerns of education. For instance, both the Internet  and  education are concerned with information exchange, communication, and the creation of knowledge.

The participatory, communal nature of many social Internet applications and activities is aligned closely with the fundamental qualities of how humans learn, not least the practices of creating, sharing, collaborating, and critiquing.

Thus, in light of the Internet’s capacity to allow these activities to take place on a vast and almost instantaneous scale, the educational implications of the Internet are understandably often described in grand terms. Take, for example, this recent pronouncement from Jeb Bush:

The Internet isn’t just a powerful tool for communication. It’s arguably the most potent force for learning and innovation since the printing press. And it’s at the center of what is possibly America’s mightiest struggle and greatest opportunity: How to reimagine education for a transformative era.

(Bush and Dawson 2013)

Beyond such hyperbole, the implications of the Internet for education and learning can be understood in at least four distinct ways. First, is the potential of the Internet to offer individual learners increased freedom from the physical limitations of the  real world . This is often expressed in terms of reducing constraints of place, space, time, and geography, with individuals able to access high-quality learning opportunities and educational provision regardless of local circumstances. The Internet is therefore portrayed as allowing education to take place on an  any time, any place, any pace  basis. Many commentators extend these  freedoms  into a transcendence of social and material disadvantage, with the Internet perceived as an inherently democratizing medium. The ability to support  freer  and  fairer educational interactions and experiences is seen to reflect the Internet’s underpinning qualities as “a radically democratic zone of infinite connectivity” (Murphy 2012, 122).

Secondly, the Internet is seen to support a  new culture of learning —i.e., learning that is based around  bottom-up  principles of collective exploration, play, and innovation rather than  top-down  individualized instruction (Thomas and Seely-Brown 2011). The Internet allows learning to take place on a  many-to-many  rather than  one-to-many  basis, thereby supporting  socio-constructivist  modes of learning and cognitive development that are profoundly social and cultural in nature. Many educators would consider learners to benefit from the socially rich environments that the Internet can support (see Luckin 2010). For example, it is often argued that the Internet offers individuals enhanced access to sources of knowledge and expertise that exist outside of their immediate environment. In this sense, there is now considerable interest in the ability of the Internet to support powerful forms of  situated learning  and digitally dispersed  communities of practice . The Internet is therefore seen as a powerful tool in supporting learning through  authentic  activities and interactions between people and extended social environments.

Thirdly, the capacity of the Internet to support a mass  connectivity  between people and information is felt to have radically altered the relationship between individuals and knowledge. It is sometimes argued that the Internet supports forms of knowledge creation and knowledge consumption that differ greatly from the epistemological presumptions of formal schooling and mass instruction. The networked relationships that Internet users have with online information have prompted wholesale reassessments of the nature of learning. Some educationalists are now beginning to advance ideas of  fluid intelligence  and  connectivism —reflecting the belief that learning via the Internet is contingent on the ability to access and use distributed information on a  just-in-time  basis. From this perspective,  learning  is understood as the ability to connect to specialized information nodes and sources as and when required. Thus being  knowledgeable  relates to the ability to nurture and maintain these connections (see Chatti, Jarke, and Quix 2010). As George Siemens (2004) puts it, learning can therefore be conceived in terms of the “capacity to know more” via the Internet rather than relating to the individual accumulation of prior knowledge in terms of “what is currently known.”

Fourthly, the Internet is seen to have dramatically  personalized  the ways in which people learn—thereby making education a far more individually determined process than was previously the case. The Internet is associated with an enhanced social autonomy and control, offering individuals increased choice over the nature and form of what they learn, as well as where, when, and how they learn it. Education is therefore a wholly controllable aspect of one’s personal life, with the Internet facilitating a  digital juggling  of educational engagement alongside daily activities and other commitments (Subrahmanyam and Šmahel 2011). Indeed, Internet users are often celebrated as benefiting from an enhanced capacity to self-organize and  curate  educational engagement for themselves, rather than relying on the norms and expectations of an education  system .

The Educational Implications of the Internet

All these various shifts and realignments clearly constitute a fundamental challenge to the  traditional  forms of educational provision and practice that were established throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially institutionalized modes of  formal  schooling and university education. For many commentators, therefore, the Internet contradicts the monopoly of state education systems and the vested interests of the professions that work within them. In all of the ways just outlined, the Internet would certainly seem to test established educational boundaries between  ex perts  and  novices , the production and consumption of knowledge, as well as the timing and location of learning. In terms of how education is provided, the Internet is associated with a range of radically different learning practices and altered social relations.

The Internet has certainly prompted ongoing debate and concern within the educational community. On one hand, many educationalists are busying themselves with rethinking and reimagining the notion of  the school  and  the university  in ways that respond to the demands of the Internet age. There have been various proposals over the past decade for the development of educational institutions that are better aligned with the characteristics of Internet-adept learners and online knowledge. As Collins and Halverson (2009, 129) put it, the task of reinventing schools and universities for the Internet age involves not only “rethinking what is important to learn” but also “rethinking learning.” This has seen modes of schooling being developed that are built around the communal creation (rather than individual consumption) of knowledge, in an attempt to imbue learning with a sense of play, expression, reflection, and exploration. The past ten years has seen a rash of ideas from enthusiastic educators proposing the development of new pedagogies and curricula built around social interaction, exploration,  gaming , and  making . All of these proposals for  school 2.0  reflect what Whitby (2013, 9–11) describes as  new models  of education provision based around “openness to learning and masterful tech-savvy.”

However, in contrast to these  re-schooling  proposals has been a countermovement to align the Internet with more radical forms of educational deinstitutionalization. These  de-schooling  arguments have proven popular with groups outside of the traditional  education establishment , framing the Internet as capable of usurping the need for educational institutions altogether. Key concepts here include self-determination, self-organization, self-regulation, and (in a neat twist on the notion of  do-it-yourself ) the idea of  do-it-ourselves . All these ideas align the Internet with a general rejection of institutionalized education—especially what has long been critiqued as the obsolete  banking model  of accumulating  knowledge content . Instead, Internet-based education is conceived along lines of open discussion, open debate, radical questioning, continuous experimentation, and the sharing of knowledge.

As with other aspects of digital activity, education is therefore imagined as something that is now open to reprogramming, modification, and hacking to better suit one’s individual needs.

As Dale Stephens (2013, 9) reasons:

The systems and institutions that we see around us—of schools, college, and work—are being systematically dismantled…. If you want to learn the skills required to navigate the world—the hustle, networking, and creativity—you’re going to have to hack your own education.

These are all highly contestable but highly seductive propositions. Indeed, whether one agrees with them or not, these arguments all highlight the fundamental challenge of the Internet to what was experienced throughout the past one hundred years or so as the dominant mode of education. It is therefore understandable that the Internet is now being discussed in terms of inevitable educational change, transformation, and the general  disruption  of twentieth-century models of education provision and practice. As the noted technology commentator Jeff Jarvis (2009, 210) concluded in an acclaimed overview of the Internet’s societal significance, “education is one of the institutions most deserving of disruption—and with the greatest opportunities to come of it.” Bold statements such as these are now being made with sufficient frequency and conviction that talk of an impending  digital disruption  of education is now rarely contested. Many people, therefore, see the prospect of the Internet completely reinventing education not as a matter of  if , but as a matter of  when .

Prominent Forms of Internet-Based Education

In the face of such forceful predictions of what  will  happen, it is perhaps sensible to take a step back and consider the realities of what has already happened with the Internet and education. As was suggested at the beginning of this chapter, amidst these grand claims of transformation and disruption, it is important to ask how the educational potential of the Internet is  actually  being realized in practice. In this sense, we should acknowledge that the Internet has been long used for educational purposes, and a number of prominent models of Internet-based education have emerged over the past 20 years. Perhaps the most established of these are various forms of what has come to be known as  e-learning —ranging from online courses through to virtual classrooms and even virtual schools. Many early forms of e-learning involved the predominantly one-way delivery of learning content, thereby replicating traditional  correspondence  forms of distance education. These programs (which continue to the present day) tend to rely on online content management systems, albeit supported by some form of interactivity in the form of e-mail, bulletin boards, and other communications systems. Alongside these forms of content delivery is the continued development of so-called virtual classrooms—usually spatial representations of classrooms or lecture theaters that can be  inhabited  by learners and teachers. Often these virtual spaces are designed to support synchronous forms of  live  instruction and feedback, with learners able to listen to lectures and view videos and visual presentations while also interacting with other learners via text and voice. Other asynchronous forms of virtual classroom exist in the form of digital spaces where resources can be accessed and shared—such as audio recordings and text transcripts of lectures, supplementary readings, and discussion forums. These forms of e-learning have continued to be developed since the 1990s, with entire  cyber schools  and online universities now well-established features of educational systems around the world.

While these examples of  e-learning  tend to replicate the basic structure and procedures of  bricks-and-mortar  schools and universities, a variety of other models of Internet-supported education have emerged over the past 20 years. One of the most familiar forms of Internet-based education is the collective  open  creation of information and knowledge, as exemplified by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Despite ongoing debates over its accuracy and coverage, the educational significance of Wikipedia is considerable. As well as being a vast information resource, the ability of users to contribute and refine content is seen to make  wiki  tools such as Wikipedia a significant educational tool. The belief now persists amongst many educators that mass user-driven applications such as Wikipedia allow individuals to engage in learning activities that are more personally meaningful and more publically significant than was ever possible before. As John Willinsky (2009, xiii) reasons:

Today a student who makes the slightest correction to a Wikipedia article is contributing more to the state of public knowledge, in a matter of minutes, than I was able to do over the course of my entire grade school education, such as it was.

These characteristics of wiki tools correspond with the wider  Open Educational Resource  movement which is concerned with making professionally developed educational materials available online for no cost. In this manner, it is reckoned that content from almost 80 percent of courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are available on this free-to-use basis. Similar commitments can be found in institutions ranging from world-class universities such as Yale and Oxford to local community colleges. In all these cases, course materials such as seminar notes, podcasts, and videos of lectures are shared online with a worldwide population of learners, most of whom could otherwise not attend. Crucially (as with Wikipedia), the emphasis of Open Educational Resources is not merely permitting individuals to use provided materials, but encouraging the alteration and amendment of these resources as required. For example, the UK Open University’s extensive OpenLearn project provides free online access to all of the institution’s curriculum materials with an invitation for individual users to adapt these resources as they wish.

Other forms of online content sharing involve the open distribution of educational content that has been created by individuals as well as institutions. For example, the YouTube EDU service offers access to millions of educational videos produced by individual educators and learners. Similarly, Apple Computers’ collection of educational media—the so-called iTunes U—is designed to allow learners to circumvent traditional educational lectures and classes in favor of on-demand free mobile learning (Çelik, Toptaş, and Karaca 2012). Describing itself as “possibly the world’s greatest collection of free educational media available to students, teachers, and lifelong learners,” iTunes U offers free access to hundreds of thousands of educational audio and video podcast files. Most recently, there has been considerable praise for the Khan Academy’s online provision of thousands of bespoke educational videos alongside interactive quizzes and assessments covering a range of subject areas and topics. The aim of Khan Academy is to support individuals to learn at their own pace and to revisit learning content on a repeated basis. This so-called flipped classroom model is intended to allow individuals to engage with instructional elements of learning  before  entering a formal classroom. Face-to-face classroom time can be then be devoted to the practical application of the knowledge through problem solving, discovery work, project-based learning, and experiments (Khan 2012).

Another notable  open  example of Internet-based education has been the development of  MOOCs  (Massively Open Online Courses) over the past five years or so. Now, most notably through successful large-scale ventures such as Coursera and Ed-X, MOOCs involve the online delivery of courses on a free-at-the-point-of-contact basis to mass audiences. At its heart, the MOOC model is based on the idea of individuals being encouraged to learn through their own choice of online tools—what has been termed  personal learning networks —the collective results of which can be aggregated by the course coordinators and shared with other learners. This focus on individually directed discovery learning has proved especially appropriate to college-level education. Now it is possible for individuals of all ages to participate in mass online courses run by professors from the likes of Stanford, MIT, and Harvard universities in subjects ranging from a Yale elective in Roman architecture to a Harvard course in the fundamentals of neuroscience.

Another radical application of the Internet to support self-directed, non-institutional learning are initiatives such as the  hole-in-the-wall  and  School in the Cloud initiatives. These programs are built around an ethos of  minimally invasive education  where children and young people can access digital technology at any time, and teach themselves how to use computers and the Internet on an individually paced basis. The guiding ethos for the original hole-in-the-wall program was to locate Internet access in what Arora (2010, 691) characterizes as “out-of-the-way, out-of-the-mind locations” rather than in formal settings such as schools or universities. Indeed, the program’s credo of minimally invasive education is an avowedly non-institutionalized one, with children expected to engage with the Internet as an educative tool “free of charge and free of any supervision” (Mitra 2010). This approach is seen to be especially applicable to locations such as slum communities in India and Cambodia where Internet access is otherwise lacking. The recent elaboration of the initiative into the School in the Cloud marks an attempt to use online communication tools to allow older community members in high-income countries to act as mentors and  friendly but knowledgeable  mediators to young autonomous learners in lower-income communities. The provision of such access and support is therefore seen to underpin what the project team term “self-organized learning environments” and “self-activated learning”—thus providing an alternative “for those denied formal schooling” in low-income countries (Arora 2010, 700).

These programs, projects, and initiatives are indicative of the variety of ways in which education and the Internet have coalesced over the past 20 years. Yet perhaps the most significant forms of Internet-based education are the completely  informal  instances of learning that occur in the course of everyday Internet use. In this sense the Internet’s implicit support of various forms of  informal learning  could be seen as its most substantial educational impact (see Ünlüsoy et al. 2014). As the cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito has described, there are various different genres of everyday Internet-based practice that can be said to involve elements of learning (see Ito et al. 2009). At a basic level is the popular practice of using the Internet to simply  hang out  with others. Often these forms of  hanging out  can spill over into more focused instances of what Ito terms  messing around —i.e., activities that are interest-driven and more centered on peer sociability, often involving fortuitous searching, experimentation, and playing with resources. This messing around can then sometimes lead to the more intense commitment of what Ito has described as geeking out . These are bouts of concentrated and intense participation within defined communities of like-minded and similarly interested individuals driven by common and often specialized interests. In supporting all these forms of  learning , everyday use of the Internet can be seen as an inherently educational activity.

The Reality of the Internet and Education

These examples—and many more like them—are now seen as proof of the Internet’s growing contribution to what it means to learn and be educated in the twenty-first century. Undoubtedly, developments such as MOOCs, flipped classrooms, and self-organized learning could well turn out to be educational  game changers (Oblinger 2012). Yet the history of educational technology over the past one hundred years or so warns us that change is rarely as instantaneous  or  as totalizing as many people would like to believe. Indeed, the history of  modern  educational technologies (starting with Thomas Edison’s championing of educational filmstrips in the 1910s) has usually been characterized by sets of complex mutually shaping relationships between education and technology (see Cuban 1986). In other words,  new technologies rarely—if ever—have a direct one-way  impact  or predictable  effect  on education. Rather, established cultures and traditions of education also have a profound reciprocal influence on technologies. As the historian Larry Cuban (1993, 185) observed succinctly of the remarkable resilience of schools to the waves of successive technological developments throughout the 1980s and 1990s, “computer meets classroom—classroom wins.” In asking how the Internet is shaping education in the 2010s, we therefore need to also ask the corresponding question of how education is shaping the Internet.

From this perspective, it is not surprising to see the most successful forms of Internet-based education and  e-learning  being those that reflect and even replicate  pre-Internet  forms of education such as classrooms, lectures, and books. It is also not surprising to see the long-established  grammar  of formal education and educational institutions having a strong bearing on emerging forms of Internet-based education (Tyack and Cuban 1995). Take, for instance, the persistence of familiar practices such as dividing knowledge into distinct subject areas, using graded individual assessments, or relying on  expert  teachers. While understandable, these continuities certainly belie claims of radical transformation and disruption of the educational status quo. Thus in contrast to the revolutionary zeal of some commentators, it could be observed that the Internet is having most  impact  on education where it is  not  causing radically new patterns of participation or practice. For instance, rather than extending educational opportunities to those who previously were excluded, the recent rise of the MOOC in countries such as the U.S. and UK appears primarily to be supporting well-resourced, highly motivated, and already well-educated individuals to engage in more education (thereby replicating a trend referred to by some social commentators as the  Matthew Effect ). This is not to say that MOOCs are an insignificant form of education—however, it does suggest that their main  impact  is that of increasing rather than widening educational participation. Indeed, this view does imply that some of the more  radical  claims of social transformation and change that surround MOOCs (and other forms of Internet-based education) require careful consideration.

This leaves any attempts to predict the likely influence of the Internet on future forms of education on uncertain ground. Of course, it is unwise to adapt an overtly cynical view that there is nothing  new  about Internet-based education at all—i.e., that the educational effects of the Internet are simply a case of  old wine in new bottles . Yet it is equally unwise to presume that any of the examples given so far in the chapter necessarily herald a fundamental shift in education. The Internet is certainly associated with educational changes—yet these changes are complex, contradictory, convoluted and decidedly  messy .

In this respect, perhaps the most significant issues that need to be considered about the Internet and education are sociological, rather than technical, in nature.

In this sense, the Internet prompts a range of ideological questions (rather than purely technical answers) about the nature of education in the near future. Thus, as this chapter draws to a close we should move away from the optimistic speculation that pervades most educational discussions of the Internet. Instead, there are a number of important but less often acknowledged social, cultural, and political implications that also merit attention:

1.The Internet and the increased individualization of education

First, then, is the way in which Internet-based education promotes an implicit individualization of practice and action. The Internet is celebrated by many educationalists as increasing the responsibility of individuals in terms of making choices with regards to education, as well as dealing with the consequences of their choice. All the forms of Internet education outlined in this chapter demand increased levels of self-dependence on the part of the individual, with educational success dependent primarily on the individual’s ability to self-direct their ongoing engagement with learning through various preferred means. Of course, this is usually assumed to work in favor of the individual and to the detriment of formal institutions. Yet the idea of the self-responsibilized, self-determining learner is based upon an unrealistic assumption that all individuals have a capacity to act in an agentic, empowered fashion throughout the course of their day-to-day lives. In Bauman’s (2001) terms, the successful online learner is someone able to act as an empowered individual  de facto  rather than an individual  de jure  (i.e., someone who simply has individualism  done to  them). Of course, only a privileged minority of people are able to act in a largely empowered fashion. As such this individualization of action leads to education becoming an area of increased risk as well as opportunity.

These issues raise a number of important questions. For instance, just how equal are individuals in being able to make the educational  choices  that the Internet actually offers? How are the apparent educational freedoms of the Internet resulting in enhanced  unfreedoms  (such as the intensification and extension of educational  work  into domestic settings)? To what extent are  personalized  forms of Internet education simply facilitating the  mass customization  of homogenous educational services and content? What is the nature of the collective forms of Internet-based education? How do  communities  of learners established through the Internet differ in terms of social diversity, obligation, or solidarity? Is the Internet undermining or even eroding notions of education as a public good?

2. The Internet and the growth of data-driven education

Another significant issue related to the increased educational significance of the Internet is the ways in which online data and information are now defining, as well as describing, social life. The Internet has certainly extended the significance of databases, data mining, analytics, and algorithms, with organizations and institutions functioning increasingly through the ongoing collection, aggregation, and (re)analysis of data. Crucially, the Internet allows this  data work  to take place on a mass, aggregated scale. We are now seen to be living in an era of  Big Data  where computerized systems are making available “massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions” (Boyd and Crawford 2012, 662).

The collection and analysis of online data is now a key aspect of how actions are structured and decisions are made in many areas of education. Now, for example, masses of online data are being generated, collected, and collated as a result of the Internet-based activities that take place within educational institutions—ranging from  in-house  monitoring of system conditions to the  public  collection of data at local, state, and federal levels. These data are used for a variety of purposes—including internal course administration, target setting, performance management, and student tracking. Similar processes and practices exist in terms of use of data  across  educational systems—from student databases to performance  league tables . There are, of course, many potential advantages to the heightened significance of online data. There has been much recent enthusiasm for the potential of  learning analytics —i.e., “the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs” (Siemens et al. 2011, 4). Similarly, there is growing discussion of  educational data mining  and  academic analytics . All of these uses of digital data are seen to lead to more efficient and transparent educational processes, as well as supporting individuals to self-monitor and  self-diagnose  their learning (Eynon 2013).

Yet, there is a clear need for caution amidst these potential advantages—not least how the increased prevalence of online data in education is implicated in the shaping of what people can and cannot do. For example, how are individuals and their learning being represented by data collected online? How does the Internet support the connection, aggregation, and use of these data in ways not before possible? To what extent are individuals’ educational engagements now being determined by  data profiles ? How are these online data being used in forms of  predictive surveillance  where educators and educational institutions use data relating to past performance and behavior to inform expectations of future behaviors? What aspects of educational engagement are  not  represented in the online data being collected and analyzed?

3. The Internet and the increased commercialization and privatization of education

Thirdly, is the need to recognize the role of commercial and private actors in the growth of Internet-based education. Indeed, the role of the private sector is integral to many of the forms of Internet-based education described in this chapter. For example, it is estimated that the global education/technology market is worth upwards of $7 trillion, with burgeoning levels of private capital investment in online education. A range of multinational commercial interests such as Pearson, Cengage, and McGraw-Hill are now involved heavily in the business of e-learning and online provision of teaching and training—competing with countless smaller commercial concerns and a range of nonprofit organizations. Clearly Internet-based education marks a distinct move away from a  planned economy  model where education provision is largely the preserve of state-run, public-sector institutions (see Picciano and Spring 2013).

Of course, the increased involvement of commercial interests in online education could be seen to have many potential benefits. The private sector is able to focus considerable technological resources and expertise on educational issues. It is often assumed that commercially provided education is more responsive to the demands of its  customers —be it the immediate preferences of learners or the longer-term workforce requirements of business and industry. Moreover, as Chubb and Moe (2012) reason, improvement can arise from market competition between private and public education providers: “in time, [for-profit institutions] may do amazing things with computerized instruction—imagine equivalents of Apple or Microsoft, with the right incentives to work in higher education—and they may give elite nonprofits some healthy competition in providing innovative, high-quality content.” Indeed, the appeal of many of the forms of Internet-based education described in this chapter is predicated upon bringing the innovation of the private sector to bear on the inefficiencies of public education. As Sebastian Thrun (the computer scientist credited with the popularization of the MOOC concept) argued recently: “Education is broken. Face it. It is so broken at so many ends, it requires a little bit of Silicon Valley magic” (Wolfson 2013).

Yet the possibilities for commercial innovation and  magic  notwithstanding, there are a number of reasons to challenge the growing influence of private interests in shaping education agendas in these ways. For example, how committed are IT producers and vendors to the public good of educational technology above and beyond matters of profit and market share? Given that education is an integral element in determining the life chances of the most vulnerable members of society, how appropriate is a Silicon Valley, venture-capitalist mindset of high-risk  start-ups  with expected high rates of failure? What are the moral and ethical implications of reshaping education along the lines of market forces and commercial values? Why should education correspond automatically with the needs of the digital economy?

4. The Internet and the changing values of education

Finally—and perhaps less tangibly—there is also a sense that the Internet might be altering the psychological, emotional, and spiritual bases of education. For example, many of the forms of online education discussed in this chapter imply an increased expansion of education into unfamiliar areas of society and social life—leading to an  always-on  state of potential educational engagement. Indeed, the  anytime, anyplace  nature of online education clearly involves the expansion of education and learning into domestic, work, and community settings where education and learning might previously have not been prominent. There are clear parallels here with what Basil Bernstein (2001) identified as the “total pedagogization of society”—i.e., a modern society that ensures that pedagogy is integrated into all possible spheres of life. This raises questions of what is perhaps lost when one is able to engage with education at all times of the day and in all contexts? Is there something to be said for being able to disconnect from the pressures of education? Is learning best suited to some contexts and circumstances than others?

Many of the forms of online education described in this chapter could also be said to frame learning (often inadvertently) as a competitive endeavor. Thus in contrast to allowing individuals to learn harmoniously alongside others, the Internet could be seen as placing individuals in “personal formative cycles, occupied in unison within individual feedback-action loops. They learn to become industrious self-improvers, accepting and implementing external goals” (Allen 2011, 378). Thus while a sense of achievement at the expense of others may not be immediately apparent, the Internet could be seen as a means of humanizing, disguising, and intensifying the competitive connotations of learning. Continuing this line of thinking, the partial, segmented, task-orientated, fragmented, and discontinuous nature of online education could perhaps even be seen as a form of  spiritual alienation —i.e., alienation at the level of meaning, where  conditions of good work  become detached from the  conditions of good character  (Sennett 2012).

All these points also relate to the correspondences between the Internet and the altered emotional aspects of educational engagement. In particular, many of the forms of Internet-based education described earlier in this chapter (such as the virtual school or the MOOC) could be said to involve learning being experienced on less immediate, less intimate, and perhaps more instrumental grounds. These points were explored in Jonathan Wolff’s (2013) recent reflections on what might be lost when a lecture takes place online as opposed to in a face-to-face lecture theater. While these diminishments are often difficult to pinpoint, Wolff suggested qualities such as the immediacy, the serendipity, and the  real-ness of the live experience  of learning alongside other people. Certainly, the remote, virtual sense of learning online is qualitatively different to the embodied sense of face-to-face learning—both in advantageous and disadvantageous ways.

Conclusions

Whether one agrees with any of these latter arguments or not, it is clear that the topic of “the Internet and education” needs to be approached in a circumspect manner. The predominantly optimistic rhetoric of transformation and change that currently surrounds the Internet and education distracts from a number of significant conflicts and tensions that need to be better acknowledged and addressed. This is not to say that we should adopt a wholly antagonistic  or  wholly pessimistic stance. Indeed, many of the  issues  just outlined should not be assumed automatically to be cause for concern. There are, after all, many people who will be advantaged by more individualized, elitist, competitive, market-driven, omnipresent, and de-emotionalized forms of educational engagement. The Internet clearly works for the millions of people who are learning online at this very moment.

Yet while it may well be that the Internet is helping  some  individuals to engage with education in more convenient, engaging, and useful ways, we would do well to acknowledge that this is unlikely to be the case for all. Any Internet-led changes in education are accompanied by a variety of unintended consequences,  second-order effects , and unforeseen implications. Perhaps the most important point to consider is the well-worn tendency of digital technology to reinforce existing patterns of educational engagement—helping already engaged individuals to participate further, but doing little to widen participation or reengage those who are previously disengaged. In particular, any discussion of the educational  potential  of the Internet needs to remain mindful of the limited usefulness of a  technical-fix  approach to understanding contemporary education. The Internet should not be seen as a ready  solution  to apparent inefficiencies of  twentieth-century  education institutions or practices—it will not lead automatically to more engaged or motivated learners, more highly skilled workforces, or rising levels of national intelligence and innovation. Instead, it is likely that many of the  problems  of contemporary education are primarily social and cultural in nature, and therefore require social and cultural responses.

As such, while there is plenty of scope for the increased use of the Internet within education, any claims for  change  and  improvement  should be seen as contentious and debatable matters, rather than inevitable trends that educators have no choice but to adapt to. To reiterate a key theme that has emerged throughout our discussion, underlying all of the issues raised in this chapter are questions of what sort of future education one believes in. As such, the role of the Internet in improving ,  transforming ,  or even disrupting  education is a deeply complex and ideologically loaded matter that goes well beyond technical issues of how to personalize the delivery of educational content, or support the production and consumption of online content. The future of education may well involve increased use of the Internet—but will not be determined by it.

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The internet has become an essential part of our lives, and it has brought about many benefits for people of all ages. In particular, students have greatly benefited from the advent of the internet. The internet has opened up a vast amount of information and resources that can aid students in their studies. In this essay, I will discuss the advantages of the internet for students.

First and foremost, the internet provides students with access to a wealth of information. Gone are the days when students had to rely solely on textbooks and the knowledge of their teachers. With the internet, students can now access millions of pages of information on any topic imaginable. This has greatly enhanced the learning experience, as students can now research topics in greater depth, and they have access to a wider range of resources.

Secondly, the internet has made education more accessible to students. Online courses and tutorials are now widely available, and students can take advantage of these resources from the comfort of their own homes. This has made education more affordable and convenient, as students no longer have to travel to attend classes.

Thirdly, the internet has enabled students to collaborate with their peers more easily. Online forums and chat rooms provide students with a platform to discuss topics and exchange ideas with others from all over the world. This has helped to broaden students’ perspectives and has enabled them to learn from each other.

Fourthly, the internet has made it easier for students to communicate with their teachers. Email and video conferencing have made it possible for students to ask questions and receive feedback from their teachers outside of class time. This has provided students with greater support and has helped to enhance their learning experience.

Finally, the internet has provided students with access to a vast range of multimedia resources. Videos, podcasts, and interactive simulations can aid students in their learning, and they can provide a more engaging and interactive experience than traditional textbooks.

In conclusion, the internet has greatly benefited students in many ways. It has provided them with access to a wealth of information, made education more accessible, enabled collaboration with peers, facilitated communication with teachers, and provided access to multimedia resources. As such, it is essential that students make use of the internet to enhance their learning experience.

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• Internet Seen as Positive Influence on Education but Negative on Morality in Emerging and Developing Nations

Internet Usage More Common Among the Young, Well-Educated and English Speakers

Table of contents.

• 1. Communications Technology in Emerging and Developing Nations
• 2. Online Activities in Emerging and Developing Nations
• 3. Influence of Internet in Emerging and Developing Nations
• Methods in Detail

As more people around the world gain access to all the tools of the digital age, the internet will play a greater role in everyday life. And so far, people in emerging and developing nations say that the increasing use of the internet has been a good influence in the realms of education, personal relationships and the economy. But despite all the benefits of these new technologies, on balance people are more likely to say that the internet is a negative rather than a positive influence on morality, and they are divided about its effect on politics.

Publics in emerging and developing nations are more convinced that the internet is having a negative effect on morality. A median of 42% say it is a bad influence on morality, while only 29% see the internet as a good influence. And in no country surveyed does a majority say that the internet’s influence on morality is a positive.

However, many in these emerging and developing nations are left out of the internet revolution entirely. A median of less than half across the 32 countries surveyed use the internet at least occasionally, through either smartphones or other devices, though usage rates vary considerably. Computer ownership also varies, from as little as 3% in Uganda to 78% in Russia.

But accessing the internet no longer requires a fixed line to a computer, and in many nations cell phones are nearly universal, while landlines are almost unheard of. In some countries, such as Chile and China, smartphone usage rates are comparable to that of the United States.

Internet access and smartphone ownership rates in these emerging and developing nations are greatest among the well-educated and the young, i.e. those 18- to 34-year-olds who came of age in an era of massive technological advancement. People who read or speak English are also more likely to access the internet, even when holding constant other key factors, such as age and education. 1 Overall, across the countries surveyed, internet access rates are higher in richer, more developed economies.

Once online, internet users in emerging and developing nations have embraced socializing as their most preferred type of digital activity. Majorities of internet users in all countries surveyed with large enough sample sizes to analyze say they stay in touch with friends and family online. Many also use cyberspace for getting information about politics, health care and government services. Less common are commercial and career activities, such as searching or applying for a job, making or receiving payments, buying products and taking online classes.

Social networkers in these countries share information on popular culture, such as music, movies and sports. To a lesser extent, they share views about commercial products, politics and religion. Regardless of what internet users choose to do online, most in these emerging and developing countries are doing it daily.

These are among the main findings of a Pew Research Center survey conducted among 36,619 people in 32 emerging and developing countries from March 17 to June 5, 2014. All interviews were conducted face-to-face. Comparison figures from the U.S. are from a Pew Research telephone survey conducted April 22 to May 11, 2014, among 1,002 people, unless otherwise noted.

Internet Influence Seen as Positive on Education, Negative on Morality

A clear majority of people in these emerging and developing countries see the internet as a positive influence on education. A median of 64% among the general population (including non-internet users) in the 32 emerging and developing nations surveyed say the internet is a good influence on education. People are also keen on the internet and its influence on personal relationships (53% good influence) and the economy (52%). Few people say that the internet has no influence on these aspects of life.

Publics are less enthused about the internet’s effect on politics. A median of just 36% say it is a positive for their country’s political system, while three-in-ten say it is a bad influence.

Generally, people who have access to the internet are more positive about its societal influence. For example, 65% of internet users in these emerging and developing nations say the increasing use of the internet is a positive for personal relationships, while only 44% of non-internet users agree. Similar gaps appear on the positive influence of the internet on education, the economy and politics.

Highly educated respondents are also more likely to say the internet is a positive influence. Six-in-ten of those with a secondary education or more say the increasing use of the internet is a good influence on personal relationships, compared with 44% among people with less education.

Internet Access Lacking in Many Countries, but More Common in Wealthier Nations

Even as general publics see the influence of the internet increase in their everyday lives, there are still many people without access to the internet in these emerging and developing countries. Across the 32 nations surveyed, a median of 44% use the internet at least occasionally, either through smartphones or other devices. Comparatively, as of early 2014, 87% of adults in the U.S. use the internet, according to Pew Research Center studies .

Access rates vary considerably across the emerging and developing nations surveyed. Two-thirds or more in Chile (76%), Russia (73%) and Venezuela (67%) have access to the internet, as do six-in-ten or more in Poland, China, Lebanon and Argentina. Yet less than half in Vietnam (43%) and the Philippines (42%) have internet access. And in nations that are less economically developed, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, internet access rates lag even further.

Toward the bottom in terms of access rates are some of the world’s most heavily populated nations in South and Southeast Asia. These include Indonesia, where only 24% of the population has access to the internet, India (20%), Bangladesh (11%) and Pakistan (8%). Combined, these countries account for approximately a quarter of the world’s population.

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For example, 70% of young Vietnamese (18-34 years old) use the internet, while only 21% of those age 35 and older do. And three-quarters of Vietnamese with a secondary education or higher have access to the net, while only two-in-ten with less than a secondary education do. A similar gap appears for Vietnamese who can speak or read at least some English (83%) versus those who cannot (20%).

In addition to these factors, having a higher income, being male and being employed have a significant, positive impact on internet use, though to a lesser degree.

Socializing Most Popular Form of Internet Activity

Along with social networking, an equally popular use of the internet is staying in touch with friends and family. A median of 86% of internet users across the emerging and developing nations surveyed say they have used the internet this way in the past year.

While not as popular as socializing, many internet users also like to access digital information, whether it is political (a median of 54% among internet users), medical (46%) or governmental (42%). Getting online political news is particularly prevalent in Middle Eastern countries, like Tunisia (72%), Lebanon (70%) and Egypt (68%).

Utilizing the internet for career and commerce is a less popular activity. Among internet users, medians of less than four-in-ten say they look and apply for jobs (35%), make or receive payments (22%), buy products (16%) or take online classes (13%).

In certain countries, these professional and commercial online activities are more common. For example, 62% of internet users in Bangladesh and 55% in India say they have used the internet to look for or apply for a job. In China, home to internet commerce giants such as Baidu and Alibaba, 52% of internet users say they have purchased a product online in the last year.

Sharing information about personal views regarding religion and politics and purchases is less common. Less than four-in-ten social networkers in emerging and developing nations say they share views about products (37%), politics (34%) and religion (30%). But there is a range of interest in debating these topics online, from the 8% among social networkers in Russia and Ukraine who discuss religion to the 64% in Jordan who say the same. Similar ranges can be found for sharing views about politics and products on social networks.

Smartphones Have Not Yet Replaced Regular Mobile Phones

In several of the countries surveyed, sizeable percentages access the internet from devices other than a computer in their home. Across the 32 emerging and developing nations, a median of 38% have a working computer in their household. In 10 countries, computer ownership is roughly two-in-ten or less. By contrast, 80% in the U.S. and 78% in Russia have a computer in working order in their house.

But smartphones – and the mobile access to the internet that they make possible in some locations – are not nearly as common as conventional cell phones. A median of only 24% say they own a cell phone that can access the internet and applications (See Appendix B for a full list of devices in each country). In the U.S., 58% owned a smartphone as of early 2014.

These cell phones and smartphones are critical as communication tools in most of the emerging and developing nations, mainly because the infrastructure for landline communications is sparse, and in many instances almost nonexistent. In these emerging and developing nations, only a median of 19% have a working landline telephone in their home. In fact, in many African and Asian countries, landline penetration is in the low single digits. This compares with 60% landline ownership in the U.S.

Cell phones also have the added benefit of being capable of more than just vocal communication. Among cell phone owners across the 32 countries, 76% use text messaging via their phones. This is similar to the 83% of cell owners in the U.S. who text. And an additional 55% of mobile owners in these emerging and developing nations use their phones for taking pictures or video.

• For more on how these demographics influence internet use, see Appendix A. For a list of countries surveyed, including the smartphone devices and social networks specified in our questions in each country, see Appendix B. ↩

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IELTS essay sample: The advantages and disadvantages of the internet

by Manjusha Nambiar · Published February 20, 2016 · Updated April 27, 2023

Essay topic

The Internet has brought many changes into our day to day life. Nowadays we can do things such as mailing, contacting, banking and communication much faster. Is this a positive or negative development?

Sample essay

The internet has revolutionized our lives. It has changed the way we connect with our friends and family. It has changed the way we access information and buy things. It has enabled people to work from their home. In my opinion, the internet has more positive impacts than negative impacts on our lives.

The internet has made information accessible to everyone. Much of the content on the internet is free. Anyone who has an internet connection can access it from any part of the world. Having an internet connection is a bit like having access to all the books in the world. In my opinion, this is the biggest advantage of the internet. Because of it, people can now get medical and financial advice online. Students can prepare for their tests online.

Internet also allows us to buy and sell things online from the comfort of our home. Online transactions save time and money. Another advantage of the internet is its ability to facilitate communication. Thanks to technologies such as video conferencing, people living in different parts of the world can now participate in online conferences at the same time. This eliminates the need for them to travel to another country just for the sake of attending a conference.

The internet has its fair share of disadvantages too. Plenty of obscene and offensive content is available online. While surfing the internet, children might stumble upon this content accidentally. In recent times, anti-social elements have started using the internet to recruit youngsters. This has become a major threat to the security of nations.

To conclude, the internet has both positive and negative impacts; however, in my opinion the positives outweigh the negatives. It has connected the world and made opportunities available to everyone. In fact, today, it is impossible for us to imagine a life without the internet.

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Internet good and bad 8 models

Last updated Saturday , 16-03-2024 on 10:01 am

Internet good and bad is a topic about the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet in English briefly, which enables you to benefit from the positives of the Internet as much as possible and get away from the many and multiple disadvantages. All of this information will be found here in a topic entitled Internet good and bad.

Internet good and bad

There is no doubt that the Internet is one of the most important means of technology that serves humanity, but like any invention has its advantages as its disadvantages and we should improve its use as much as possible. All of this will be found here in Internet good and bad.

The positive points of Internet

 Used extensively in the field of education and study, where there are countless books, encyclopedias and references.

Develop self-learning and reconnaissance skills.

Develop interaction skills and share data, information, experiences and opinions .

Teaching the art of buying, selling, producing and marketing  through e-commerce.

 Follow up on what is happening in the world in terms of cultural, artistic and sports.

Explore many areas of the world.

 Learn many foreign languages.

Develop skills and hobbies.

Meet new people.

 Identify different cultures and civilizations in the world.

Follow-up discoveries, and all that scientists have reached all over the world.

Play collective educational games, and intelligence games that develop a spirit of participation and competition.

Learn the skills of communication with different nationalities.

Get enough entertainment like watching a movie or listening to music.

The negative aspect of Internet

Access to sites and pages that violate morals.

Exposure to many fraud, fraud and threats.

Harassment and abuse of children through corrupt chat rooms.

Promoting the concepts of racism.

 Advocacy of ideas contradicts religion, morals and customs .

Call for suicide through some sites.

Infringement on the privacy of others, through hacker programs and hacking.

Addiction to the Internet and preoccupation with other important things.

 Spread rumors that harm people and businesses.

Use the slang and stay away from the traditional.

Violation of title, by copying movies and songs.

Computers are damaged by viruses that arrive via mail or websites and download files.

 Health damage to the eyes and back, resulting in long-term pain and problems.

Internet good and bad points

There is no doubt that the Internet has become a social partner for every person in the 21st century. There is no doubt that every day becomes more important than it was in previous years. Now we can see children in the third world using the Internet and present on social networking sites everywhere.

Despite the spread of the Internet all over the world, there are still aspects, good points and bad points for using the Internet, regardless of the different origins, religions and beliefs. And we can learn this stuff through these models.

The good points of the internet

1- Knowledge

The Internet contributes a lot to spreading knowledge and raising awareness in many living matters or previous projects and experiences that you can view from your place.

2- Communication

The Internet provides an amazing means of communication that distinguishes the 21st century from other centuries, as it has greatly facilitated communication, whether through written or voice conversations or free video calls.

Which helped many expatriates to communicate continuously and quickly and transfer news with ease. This made alienation a little easy for the expatriates, far from their families.

The Internet can facilitate security and remote monitoring operations in the 21st century. It can be linked to many protection programs, whether for home, companies and offices,

It also helps in monitoring children through computer programs or mobile devices and knowing what their children are spending their time and what their interests are.

Bad points of the internet

1- pornographic content

Pornographic content represents a great danger to both children and adults, as it affects many of their instincts and cultivates many extremist habits and ideas that do not help in building advanced and healthy nations.

It changes behaviors and builds erotic characteristics from a young age within children, which can make them more changeable and tend to harassment and rape, in addition to early sexual weakness.

2- False dreams

Many people fall into the virtual world and live an illusion that they can achieve profits and victories without any effort. Many people fall into fraud and virtual illusion through the Internet, whether in purchases or investment. They often lose anyway.

3- Waste of time

It has been scientifically proven that using the Internet for long hours causes several problems, including depression, sleep disturbances, loss of sense of the surrounding world, poor concentration, and autism.

All of these symptoms can be observed in our daily surroundings, whether from our family members, friends and relatives.

There is always a person who does not leave the mobile from his hand and cannot speak two intelligible sentences with his family members and all his time on the Internet does not feel at what hour it is, whether in the morning or evening.

These were the good and bad points of the internet that are scientifically proven today.

Internet is good or bad topic

There is no doubt that the Internet is one of the inventions that has greatly affected the whole world. And as time passes, we witness tremendous developments and successes. It is always in constant development, because it is a fertile ground, on which millions of ideas that serve humanity can still be established. It can be benefited from, either financially or educationally.

Nevertheless, the most important question remains, is the Internet good or bad?. I can say about this that ignorance and lack of education are not commensurate with the Internet, and whenever a person is weak in education and does not desire expansion and education, his use will certainly be bad, because he is not looking for something useful, all he wants from the Internet is to occupy his free time with it and waste time. Because of this, things that are not good can be addressed.

As for the educated person who is looking for knowledge and gaining experiences, he can find a very large knowledge, available in all the languages ​​of the world, of historical figures or hardworking people, through which he can learn and develop himself and look at the experiences of others and where they stopped, and where he will start in completing their unfinished business.

Such things can be good on the Internet and replace the library, or museums, where everything is online and easy to access. Therefore, I see that each person has a use according to his vision and education, and what he wants from the Internet.

Internet good or bad essay

The Internet is the fastest and least expensive means of communication in the 21st century. In addition to its use in research and knowledge, and quick access to a lot of information and news.

It has also become a profession that many people rely on. And there are many who want to reach fame and make a huge profit through it. But it remains like many inventions useful to mankind, but it has some defects that may harm many.

The good side of the internet

Everyone, whether students or otherwise, can search for any information, learn and benefit from it from specialized personalities and have experience in this specialty, who put their experience on websites or YouTube channels. Where women can learn a lot of simple professions that help them in managing the house, such as new and tried recipes. Or learn some ways to facilitate their daily life at home.

Men can also learn other things, and women also, help them in work, or gain them industrial skills that help them earn money through them. Or marketing and other new advanced jobs that appear on the Internet and are in great demand.

The bad side of the internet

1- The lack of supervision and ideas can be planted and attract many to learn wrong ideas and bad habits and traditions.

2- The greed for quick profit and doing immoral things in exchange for money.

3- Wasting time and addictive games for long hours.

4- The psychological impact because you can know how others live and see them in places and situations that you dream of, without knowing how their real lives are.

Thus, we see that there are many aspects of the bad side of using the Internet, but we can limit them through education, supervision and proper guidance on how to use and the objectives thereof.

Is internet good or bad essay

There is no doubt that the Internet is one of the good things that we enjoy in the 21st century. But it depends on its use and hours of use.

The more a person is aware of what he is doing, what he is looking at, the hours of use and not living in his own virtual world on the Internet, it is a good use. It is useful in increasing his knowledge and gaining a lot of experience and information.

But if sitting is to waste time, sit for long hours, and escape from reality, then it is without any doubt bad, and we should not waste our time and our real life because of it.

Internet good or bad for students essay

The Internet can be good, as well as bad. Each person uses the Internet according to his personality and personal inclinations, in addition to his morals and upbringing.

If a person uses the Internet for learning and research, it is definitely a good use, and that is why the Internet was created.

But if the use is for entertainment and a waste of time, to the extent that it affects your personality and affects your mind and thinking, and makes you live in the virtual world, and move away from real life, then it is definitely bad.

Therefore, there must be supervision and guidance from the beginning, on the part of the parents, where there are restrictions and what is permitted, and what is not.

In addition to monitoring the hours of use, and what we are looking for, many young people are manipulated, and their behavior and personality change, because of what they are looking for.

Therefore, the use should be for a few hours, and we must know that the Internet is a good opportunity to see and learn, and that it can provide decent jobs through it, and that you do not have a manager on you, and that there is freedom in working hours and appointments.

Therefore, I believe that the more a person is aware of what he is doing, the more he can benefit from the Internet.

Internet good or bad speech

The Internet is one of the modern things created in the 21st century. Which many people have accepted, but despite the information, research, development and modern inventions that we can learn from, but it does not represent the great importance that makes us dispense with books and written research with reliable reference.

Because the Internet is one of its shortcomings, everyone can write and own a website on it, and put the certificate and experience he wants.

As for the old traditional methods, it was necessary to prove the research, your scientific reference, the certificate you possess, and other accurate information.

I also see that throughout all ages there have been great scholars, and there have been great doctors, and there have been thinkers, writers and other greats in all fields without the use of the Internet. Therefore, it is only a quick reference, and this reference may also be inaccurate and reliable.

But far from the scientific aspect, there may be many benefits, such as quick communication, follow-up, and seeing the news of friends and family.

There are also many ways to spend time without getting bored, whether by learning some new skills such as cooking, handicrafts, or by watching entertainment videos.

But this aspect also has some problems, whether in communicating with strangers, or following up on their ideas and beliefs, all of these things need to open your mind, and you need to learn right and wrong before.

In recent years, we have witnessed people working with great effort to change ideas and plant toxins in the minds of all societies. Indeed, they managed to attract a lot of young and old to them.

Therefore, it is good to use the Internet, but knowingly to take a risk first, and fully know what you are looking for and what you want. Determining enough time to sit and use it so as not to be addicted and live in the virtual world.

In this way, we have presented to you Internet good and bad topic, and you can read more topics through the following link:

• Internet effects on society

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Essay on Importance of Internet: Samples for Students

• Updated on  
• Nov 23, 2023

Internet is not just a need or luxury, it has become a household necessity. It was used as a source of entertainment but now it is impossible to work in offices or study without the Internet. When the global pandemic locked everyone in their house, it became an important medium to connect, study and work. Students were able to study without the risk of catching COVID-19 because of the Internet. The importance of the internet is also a common topic in various entrance exams such as SAT , TOEFL , and UPSC . In this blog, you will learn how to write an essay on the importance of the Internet.

This Blog Includes:

Tips to write the perfect essay on internet, sample 1 of essay on the importance of the internet (100 words), sample essay 2 – importance of the internet (150 words), sample essay 3 on use of internet for student (300 words).

Also Read: LNAT Sample Essays

Now the task of essay writing may not always be easy, hence candidates must always know a few tips to write the perfect essay. Mentioned below are a few tips for writing the correct essay:

• Prepare a basic outline to make sure there is continuity and relevance and no break in the structure of the essay
• Follow a given structure. Begin with an introduction then move on to the body which should be detailed and encapsulate the essence of the topic and finally the conclusion for readers to be able to comprehend the essay in a certain manner
• Students can also try to include solutions in their conclusion to make the essay insightful and lucrative to read.

Also Read: UPSC Essay Topics

The last few years have witnessed heavy reliance on the Internet. This has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. If we take the current scenario, we cannot ignore how important the Internet is in our everyday lives. It is now indeed a challenging task to visualize a world without the internet. One may define the internet as a large library composed of stuff like – records, pictures, websites, and pieces of information. Another sector in which the internet has an undeniably important role to play is the field of communication. Without access to the internet, the ability to share thoughts and ideas across the globe would have also been just a dream. 

Also Read: IELTS Essay Topics

With the significant progress in technology, the importance of the internet has only multiplied with time. The dependence on the internet has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. By employing the correct usage of the internet, we can find various information about the world. The internet hosts Wikipedia, which is considered to be one of the largest best-composed reference books kept up by a vast community of volunteer scholars and editors from all over the world. Through the internet, one may get answers to all their curiosity.

In the education sector too, it plays a major role, especially taking into consideration the pandemic. The Internet during the pandemic provided an easy alternative to replace the traditional education system and offers additional resources for studying, students can take their classes in the comforts of their homes. Through the internet, they can also browse for classes – lectures at no extra cost. The presence of the Internet is slowly replacing the use of traditional newspapers. It offers various recreational advantages as well. It can be correctly said that the internet plays a great role in the enhancement of quality of life.

Also Read: TOEFL Sample Essays

One may correctly define the 21st century as the age of science and technology. However, this has been possible not only by the efforts of the current generation but also by the previous generation. The result of one such advancement in the field of science and technology is the Internet. What is the Internet? So the internet can be called a connected group of networks that enable electronic communication. It is considered to be the world’s largest communication connecting millions of users.

The dependence on the internet has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. Given the current scenario, the Internet has become a massive part of our daily lives, and it is now a challenging task to imagine the world without the Internet. The importance of the Internet in the field of communication definitely cannot be ignored.

Without access to the internet, the ability to share thoughts and ideas across the globe would have been just a dream. Today we can talk to people all over the globe only because of services like email, messenger, etc that are heavily reliant on the internet. Without the internet, it would be hard to imagine how large the world would be. The advent of the internet has made the task of building global friendships very easy.

The youth is mainly attracted by entertainment services. Streaming platforms like Amazon , Netflix, and YouTube have also gained immense popularity among internet users over the past few years. The presence of the Internet is slowly replacing the use of traditional newspapers among people too. 

In addition to these, it has various recreational advantages to offer as well. For instance, people can search for fun videos to watch and play games online with friends and other people all over the globe. Hence, we can say the internet holds immense importance in today’s era. Internet technology has indeed changed the dynamics of how we communicate, respond or entertain ourselves. Its importance in everyday life is never-ending. It can be correctly said that the internet plays a great role in the enhancement of quality of life. In the future too, we will see further changes in technology .

Also Read: SAT to Drop Optional Essays and Subject Tests from the Exam

Related Articles

The internet provides us with facts and data, as well as information and knowledge, to aid in our personal, social, and economic development. The internet has various applications; nevertheless, how we utilize it in our daily lives is determined by our particular needs and ambitions.

Here are five uses of the internet: email; sharing of files; watching movies and listening to songs; research purposes; and education.

The Internet has also altered our interactions with our families, friends, and life partners. Everyone is now connected to everyone else in a more simplified, accessible, and immediate manner; we can conduct part of our personal relationships using our laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

This was all about an essay on importance of Internet. The skill of writing an essay comes in handy when appearing for standardized language tests. Thinking of taking one soon? Leverage Live provides the best online test prep for the same. Register today to know more!

Nikita Puri

Nikita is a creative writer and editor, who is always ready to learn new skills. She has great knowledge about study abroad universities, researching and writing blogs about them. Being a perfectionist, she has a habit of keeping her tasks complete on time before the OCD hits her. When Nikita is not busy working, you can find her eating while binge-watching The office. Also, she breathes music. She has done her bachelor's from Delhi University and her master's from Jamia Millia Islamia.

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Is the internet good or bad?

In this day and age, it’s hard to imagine life without the internet. Accessible via our PCs, laptops, tablets and phones, it has permeated society and transformed the way we go about our day to day business. But is it actually a good thing? DisCUss takes a look at the good and bad points of the worldwide web.

Good: You have an enormous library of information and resources at your fingertips

Bad: Not every source is reliable or trustworthy

How wonderful that almost all of the questions we ponder, from the sensible “where is my nearest takeaway” to the inane “what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way” (actual search), can all be Googled in seconds. The internet is a powerful source of knowledge for all of us, certainly few students could imagine getting though their studies without this amazing research tool.

However, it is important to remember that not everything you see or read on the internet is 100% reliable or genuine. Online encyclopedia giant Wikipedia is a prime example of this: it is created and edited by volunteers around the world, but “anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism.” Best to keep this in mind before you reference an article in your assignments.

Good: It’s really easy to keep abreast of current news and events

Bad: Internet can also be used as a platform to spread negative messages

The internet is a fantastic global resource for current affairs and entertainment news, with many channels now updated in real time. Important campaigns and messages can be promoted, such as health awareness campaigns, so that it reaches a greater audience and ensures we are well-informed. Most news articles now allow readers the option to comment and voice their opinions too, which make us more engaged with the world and sparks interesting debates and viewpoints.

The downside, as with any platform, is that people can also use it to share propaganda and/or inappropriate content. The challenge is trying to control how these messages are spread, as they can reach vulnerable and impressionable audiences.

Good: You can do all your banking online, and shopping on the web is so easy

Bad: Accounts can be hacked into

From food shopping to keeping track of your outgoings, the internet allows us to manage our finances and buy the things we want with relative ease, all without having to venture out of the door. While businesses are constantly developing ways to make your online customer accounts more secure, it is worth remembering that accounts are at risk of being hacked, so ensure your passwords are changed regularly, and where possible, try not to save your card details on shopping accounts.

Good: Social media means I can keep in touch with friends old and new

Bad: Social media changes the way we interact, and not everyone is who they say they are

Social media can sometimes get a bad rap, but we cannot deny it has become a prevalent part of society, and a key tool many of us use to keep in touch with loved ones or expand our virtual social circles. Long distance friendships can be maintained, conversations can be struck up over shared content and we are allowed a glimpse into the lives of others, which will always be a source of fascination.

However many people argue that this is making us lazy in our interactions, and accuse social media users of ‘cherry picking’ the content they share with friends, so that it makes their lives appear a lot more exciting and glamorous than it really is, inadvertently making others feel inferior  (#FOMO).

Good: When you’re bored, the internet provides entertainment

Bad: It can become addictive

The internet hosts a plethora of technology and entertainment. Our impatient natures are satisfied by the ability to instantly conjure games, music and videos. It can provide a talking point among friends, keep the kids quiet for hours or provide you with a window of escapism from a stressful day. But have you ever just been scrolling through your Instagram feed or playing a game and then before you know it, it’s 2am and you haven’t even had your dinner yet? Yeah…we’ve all been there. Emerging research has indicated that the effects of using technology can mimic those of drugs and alcohol, where the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — is affected in exactly the same way as it would be through cocaine use. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic.

Our verdict?

The internet continues to be an enigma: we are still learning about its capabilities, and new ideas are constantly being developed to improve and expand usability. While it’s true that some of the negatives can never be completely eliminated, it is fair to say that through education and experience we as a community are gradually becoming savvier. Awareness campaigns surrounding cybersecurity and online conduct are certainly helping us to recognise how to protect ourselves and others online, and recent research has shown a decrease in the amount of time we are spending on sites such as Facebook, perhaps suggesting that the novelties of social media are less overpowering.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the internet has a positive effect on your life?

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Essay on Is Internet Good or Bad?

June 7, 2018 by Study Mentor Leave a Comment

Imagine if you wake up tomorrow and came to the find out that Google is no longer up and running. You try to search why, but no matter what search engine you try, you can’t find any leads. Imagine the feeling of helplessness that you might feel then. That exactly how dependent we are on The Internet.

Search engines like the most commonly used, Google and the others like Yahoo, Bing etc are all search engines that we use whenever we are in doubt about anything, or to gather information about a certain product when we want to buy it, or any such trivial queries.

All this has been made possible because of the internet. In today’s date, there might be very few people who do not own a smart phone and fewer people who do not know what internet is, or what it can do.

Table of Contents

The idea of Internet was first materialized when scientists were still experimenting with the concepts of packet switching. This research then led to the creation of packet switching networks like ARPANET, CYCLADES, the Merit network and a few others.

But the real breakthrough occurred when English scientist, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web or (www) as commonly know it, in 1989. It opened new dimensions in network access, data sharing and information exchange across the globe.

The life we are living today, the simplification of certain tasks and communication we have with our friends and family , would not have been possible without the Internet. For example, many a times has it happened that we accidently run into one of our childhood friends on Facebook ?

You catch up with each other’s life and are now connected once again. This was possible because of Facebook, which ultimately was possible because of the Internet.

If we didn’t have access to Internet, we might have never had Facebook and might have never even seen that particular friend of your ever again.

Another example we can take is, imagine you are in a new place, for a job or as a tourist on a vacation. Since you have no idea about the place, you immediately whip out your phone and check your location on Google maps and your destination, which is the place you intend to go. Now, Google maps give you a comprehensive explanation, which multiple routes and travel time to the destination.

Without the internet, there would be no Google Maps and you would be stranded in an unknown place, wondering about asking for directions. Thus, we can notice that the Internet has impacted our lives in multiple ways possible.

We can use search engines to make our lives extremely easy, as everything there is in this world is available for us to access through search engines and websites.

We can talk with our loved ones who live far away on Skype, video and audio calling software that uses the internet and enables communication free of charge. You can watch videos from all over the world on YouTube and similar sites.

Disadvantages

Though the number benefits are overwhelming, the internet has its own terrible demons. It is used by hackers, a group of technically sound people, who exploit the vulnerabilities of a system and access private data, sabotage the system and other illegal and immoral activities.

The terrible crime of child pornography is another curse that the internet has had to deal with. The hidden part of the internet, called the Dark Web, is actively used to carry out illegal activities.

People of often bullied online, termed as Cyber bullying. Such activities place tremendous pressure on the emotionally weak and make them take drastic steps when they are unable to cope with the anxiety.

As you now know, the Internet is an inseparable part of human life in the current age. Every activity we perform has something to do with the Internet one way or the other, directly or indirectly. Every individual, from every corner of the world is connected when they use the internet.

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Essay on Internet Boon Or Bane For Students

Students are often asked to write an essay on Internet Boon Or Bane For Students in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Internet Boon Or Bane For Students

Internet: a blessing for learning.

The internet is like a huge library that never closes. Students can find information on almost any topic at any time. This is great for homework and learning new things. It’s also easy to practice skills with online exercises and games.

Staying Connected

With the internet, students can talk to friends and family, even if they live far away. They can also meet people from different countries and learn about other cultures, which can be very exciting and educational.

Distractions and Misinformation

But the internet can also be distracting because of games and social media. Sometimes, finding wrong information can lead to confusion. It’s important for students to learn how to tell if something is true or not.

Staying Safe Online

The internet has some dangers, like bullies or strangers who may not be friendly. Students need to know how to stay safe by not sharing personal information and telling adults if they see something bad.

250 Words Essay on Internet Boon Or Bane For Students

Introduction.

The internet is like a vast ocean of information where students can fish for facts, games, and friends. It’s a tool that has changed how we learn and play. But is it good or bad for students? Let’s find out.

Learning Made Easy

Firstly, the internet is a big help in studies. It’s like a magic library that never closes. You can find information on almost any topic, watch educational videos, and even take online classes. It’s great for homework help and learning new things on your own.

Another good thing is staying in touch. You can chat with friends, work on group projects without being in the same room, and make new friends from all over the world. The internet connects people, making it easier to share ideas and learn from each other.

The Dark Side

But, the internet has a dark side too. Sometimes, students spend too much time on games or social media. This can make them less active and hurt their eyes. Also, there’s wrong information and bad people online. Students need to be careful and smart when using the internet.

In conclusion, the internet is both good and bad for students. It depends on how they use it. With the right balance and safe surfing, the internet can be a student’s best friend for learning and connecting with the world. But remember, too much of anything is not good, so use the internet wisely!

500 Words Essay on Internet Boon Or Bane For Students

Introduction to the internet.

The internet is like a giant library that’s always open. Imagine being able to find any book or piece of information without having to leave your house. That’s what the internet offers. It connects us to the world and has changed the way we learn, play, and talk to each other. But is it all good, or are there some bad parts too? Let’s explore whether the internet is a boon (a good thing) or a bane (a bad thing) for students.

First, the internet is a powerful tool for learning. If you’re curious about the stars, the deep sea, or how cars work, the internet has answers. You can watch videos, read articles, and even join online classes. Homework help is just a few clicks away, and you can learn at your own pace. For students who live far from libraries or schools, the internet is especially helpful.

Connecting with Friends

Another great thing about the internet is staying in touch with friends and family. Students can chat, share photos, and work on projects together even if they’re miles apart. This can make learning more fun and lets you make new friends from different places.

Unlimited Information

The internet is full of information on every topic. This is great for students who are naturally curious. You can find facts about history, science, math, and more. It’s like having the smartest teacher who knows everything and is always there to help you.

But, the internet has some dangers too. Not all websites are good for kids. Some might have wrong information or things that are not suitable for young minds. It’s important to stay on websites that are safe and made for students. Parents and teachers can help by showing you which sites are good to use.

Too Much Screen Time

Spending too much time on the internet can also be a problem. Staring at screens for a long time can make your eyes tired and keep you from running around and playing outside. It’s important to balance the time you spend online with other activities.

The internet can also be distracting. With so many games and social media, it’s easy to forget about homework and studying. Plus, not everything on the internet is true. Learning how to tell if something is true or not is a skill that students need to learn.

So, is the internet a boon or a bane for students? It seems like it’s both. It’s a wonderful place to learn and talk to friends, but it can also be risky and distracting. The key is to use the internet wisely. Spend the right amount of time on it, stay on safe websites, and always double-check the facts. With these tips in mind, the internet can be more of a good thing than a bad thing for students.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Is technology good or bad for learning?

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, saro mohammed, ph.d. smp saro mohammed, ph.d. partner - the learning accelerator @edresearchworks.

May 8, 2019

I’ll bet you’ve read something about technology and learning recently. You may have read that device use enhances learning outcomes . Or perhaps you’ve read that screen time is not good for kids . Maybe you’ve read that there’s no link between adolescents’ screen time and their well-being . Or that college students’ learning declines the more devices are present in their classrooms .

If ever there were a case to be made that more research can cloud rather than clarify an issue, technology use and learning seems to fit the bill. This piece covers what the research actually says, some outstanding questions, and how to approach the use of technology in learning environments to maximize opportunities for learning and minimize the risk of doing harm to students.

In my recent posts , I have frequently cited the mixed evidence about blended learning, which strategically integrates in-person learning with technology to enable real-time data use, personalized instruction, and mastery-based progression. One thing that this nascent evidence base does show is that technology can be linked to improved learning . When technology is integrated into lessons in ways that are aligned with good in-person teaching pedagogy, learning can be better than without technology.

A 2018 meta-analysis of dozens of rigorous studies of ed tech , along with the executive summary of a forthcoming update (126 rigorous experiments), indicated that when education technology is used to individualize students’ pace of learning, the results overall show “ enormous promise .” In other words, ed tech can improve learning when used to personalize instruction to each student’s pace.

Further, this same meta-analysis, along with other large but correlational studies (e.g., OECD 2015 ), also found that increased access to technology in school was associated with improved proficiency with, and increased use of, technology overall. This is important in light of the fact that access to technology outside of learning environments is still very unevenly distributed across ethnic, socio-economic, and geographic lines. Technology for learning, when deployed to all students, ensures that no student experiences a “21st-century skills and opportunity” gap.

More practically, technology has been shown to scale and sustain instructional practices that would be too resource-intensive to work in exclusively in-person learning environments, especially those with the highest needs. In multiple , large-scale studies where technology has been incorporated into the learning experiences of hundreds of students across multiple schools and school systems, they have been associated with better academic outcomes than comparable classrooms that did not include technology. Added to these larger bodies of research are dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller , more localized examples of technology being used successfully to improve students’ learning experiences. Further, meta-analyses and syntheses of the research show that blended learning can produce greater learning than exclusively in-person learning.

All of the above suggest that technology, used well, can drive equity in learning opportunities. We are seeing that students and families from privileged backgrounds are able to make choices about technology use that maximize its benefits and minimize its risks , while students and families from marginalized backgrounds do not have opportunities to make the same informed choices. Intentional, thoughtful inclusion of technology in public learning environments can ensure that all students, regardless of their ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language status, special education status, or other characteristics, have the opportunity to experience learning and develop skills that allow them to fully realize their potential.

On the other hand, the evidence is decidedly mixed on the neurological impact of technology use. In November 2016, the American Association of Pediatrics updated their screen time guidelines for parents, generally relaxing restrictions and increasing the recommended maximum amount of time that children in different age groups spend interacting with screens. These guidelines were revised not because of any new research, but for two far more practical reasons. First, the nuance of the existing evidence–especially the ways in which recommendations change as children get older–was not adequately captured in the previous guidelines. Second, the proliferation of technology in our lives had made the previous guidelines almost impossible to follow.

The truth is that infants, in particular, learn by interacting with our physical world and with other humans, and it is likely that very early (passive) interactions with devices–rather than humans–can disrupt or misinform neural development . As we grow older, time spent on devices often replaces time spent engaging in physical activity or socially with other people, and it can even become a substitute for emotional regulation, which is detrimental to physical, social, and emotional development.

In adolescence and young adulthood, the presence of technology in learning environments has also been associated with (but has not been shown to be the cause of) negative variables such as attention deficits or hyperactivity , feeling lonely , and lower grades . Multitasking is not something our brains can do while learning , and technology often represents not just one more “task” to have to attend to in a learning environment, but multiple additional tasks due to the variety of apps and programs installed on and producing notifications through a single device.

The pragmatic

The current takeaway from the research is that there are potential benefits and risks to deploying technology in learning environments. While we can’t wrap this topic up with a bow just yet–there are still more questions than answers–there is evidence that technology can amplify effective teaching and learning when in the hands of good teachers. The best we can do today is understand how technology can be a valuable tool for educators to do the complex, human work that is teaching by capitalizing on the benefits while remaining fully mindful of the risks as we currently understand them.

We must continue to build our understanding of both the risks and benefits as we proceed. With that in mind, here are some “Dos” and “Don’ts” for using technology in learning environments:

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15 Reasons Teachers Say Social Media Isn’t All Bad for Students

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Social media is the bane of many educators’ existence.

The platforms distract students from paying attention in class, make it harder for kids to communicate in-person, keep teens feeling isolated, and hurt students’ overall self-confidence, educators say.

But many teachers and school and district leaders do see some positive impact from the apps and platforms that they otherwise disdain.

One big bright spot: social media gives students a chance to pick up knowledge or delve into topics that they aren’t learning about in school. Thirty percent of educators surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center in December and January identified that learning opportunity as a positive outcome of social media use.

“Social media is a place where young people do engage in some self-directed and informal learning,” said Jeff Carpenter, a professor of education at Elon University who studies social media in education, who is also a former high school teacher. “And I think [for] teachers, there’s interest in encouraging students not just to learn within the confines of the school building, not just to learn about the things that teachers tell them they have to learn about, but to realize that you can learn outside of the school context, you can learn [about] topics that aren’t assigned to you. Follow your passions. Explore things.”

Nearly another quarter of educators surveyed said their students have been able to go deeper into topics they are learning about in school through social media, developed positive friendships, improved their creative skills, or received recognition or praise for their accomplishments.

Another quarter of educators surveyed said they couldn’t think of a single positive development arising from students’ social media use. The nationally representative survey of 595 educators was conducted from Dec. 21, 2023 to Jan. 2, 2024.

While Stefanie McKoy, a special education teacher at Branson Middle School in Missouri, understands why some teachers find social media nothing but problematic, her own perspective is more nuanced.

“Social media is a way for students to connect to the world,” said McKoy, who also works as a lecturer at University of Arkansas and studied social media platforms while pursuing her doctorate . “It gives students power, and a sense of choice. … I think what draws students to social media is that they’re like, ‘Oh, hey, you know, I can purposely look at this,’ or, ‘Hey, there’s another student that looks like me, but maybe they’re at a different school.’ And I think that that’s really great.”

Still, McKoy thinks students need help in navigating social media platforms safely and with a critical eye.

“I think that we have to do a better job at preparing our students for social media use,” she said. “And we as educators haven’t necessarily caught up to that yet.”

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Is Social Media Good or Bad for Students?

The benefits of a more connected world through social media far outweigh the downsides. With proper education about the dangers of social media, the downsides can be mitigated. As with all advances in the way we lead our lives, it’s never a clear path!

Remember when they said the internet would close all libraries? I say this because I am currently sat in a library writing this!

Allowing young people to connect with others all over the world will teach them so much and help them become more rounded individuals.

Before the Digital Era and the Rise of Social Media, life used to be pleasurable and straightforward, with no pressure of constantly updating your life. Everything you do use to be personal to you, with no fear of getting hacked or data leakage.

With the continued and increasing dominance of social media, the way of communication has changed.

You can communicate with anyone you like just in a couple of clicks.

Social media has shrunk physical distance and has made people closer than ever before. You can now move to any part of the world without fear of being far away from your family members and loved ones.

According to Statista, currently, there are more than 3.6 billion social media users worldwide. And this number is projected to increase by 0.81 billion by 2025.

According to Statista, here are the most popular social media site by the end of January 2022:

How Old Are the People Using Social Media?

People in the age group 18 to 30 are the biggest social media users, most of them being students. Here, the data prepared by Pew shows social media users according to the age:

The increase in the number of students on social media has changed the education system . Social Media has both positive and negative impacts on students .

Here we discuss the Pros and Cons of Students using Social Media

How Is Social Media Useful for Students?

• Social media connects people from across the globe.
• Social media makes education more accessible for all students.
• Connection with family and friends is easy and simple, regardless of physical distance.
• Young people can showcase their individual talents much easier with social media platforms.
• Social media allows young people to get a more unbiased view of current affairs by having multiple sources at their fingertips.
• Job opportunities are more accessible, both in social media itself and any other career path.

Social Media Connects Students From All Over the World

Social media is all about connecting people from all around the world. There are no geographical boundaries when it comes to connecting people through social media.

For many students, social media has been useful for connecting students studying the same courses as they are.

If you are a student, you may have come across many social media groups created to connect students studying the same subject as you are.

Students solve each other’s problems in such groups and share their experiences while learning a particular subject or topic.

You may also share much other important information like the scope of subjects you are studying, job opportunities, etc. This kind of data can be helpful for the group members.

Moreover, social media can also provide a platform for students’ exchange programs that many colleges and universities offer.

How Can Social Media Platform Connect Students With Teachers?

With specific education “social media” platforms such as Google Classroom , Zoom and Google Hangouts, teachers can connect and educate students remotely.

Social media provides a platform to connect students and provides a platform to connect students and teachers. Social media has made it easy for students to solve their queries anytime they want.

Now students do not have to make an appointment with their teachers to solve their queries. This can be either through built-in secure messaging or via in-app class chats, e.g. in Google Classroom .

This is beneficial not just for students but also for teachers, as sometimes when teachers cannot physically meet students, they can give effective feedback and assistance assignments through these platforms.

Furthermore, they can even conduct classes through social media. You might have come across many YouTube channels of teachers to make videos related to their subject matters. This has made the teaching and learning process easier and effortless for both students and teachers.

How Does Social Media Connect Students With Family Members?

Social media can connect students with family, regardless of physical location and with the advent of platforms such as Zoom , Google Hangouts and Microsoft Teams, multiple people can have a video conversation at the same time.

This is a huge benefit of social media among students, especially those living away from home, either at university or boarding school.

You may be aware that some of your students are living away from their homes. Students can get homesick if they do not habitually stay away from their house.

If the Covid pandemic has taught us anything it’s that connection with those we love is something that we all need.

Social media has reduced this physical distance by being a medium of connecting students with their family members.

There are so many video-calling photo-sharing educational apps now that the world feels smaller, the distances reduced.

Can Social Media Provide a Platform to Showcase Talent?

Platforms such as YouTube and TikTok can easily and inexpensively allow young people to showcase their talents and launch very profitable careers. Anything from singing to dancing, from baking to making, there is an audience out there.

You cannot deny that social media is one of the biggest platforms to showcase up and coming talent. Many students are using social media to show their hidden talent.

YouTube videos of children, teenagers, and even adults showing off their talents are now commonplace, in fact, many YouTube channels have launched successful careers.

From singing to dancing, reciting poetry to cooking, there are students out there making waves and showing the world what they can do.

One of the best things about making a career through social media is it requires zero investment. And importantly, it has potentially global attention.

As teachers we strive to help our students become the best version of themselves, surely this form of social media feeds right into this?

How does Social Media Provide a Broad Range of Opportunities?

Social media job boards provide up to date relevant job opportunities more efficiently than before. Also, the rise of social media has created a wealth of job opportunities itself. There is also the role of brand influencers which is a whole new avenue of opportunity.

These days social media is not just used for communication. It has been working as a pool for both job seekers and job providers.

There are even groups on social media that are specifically created to post about job opportunities that students of working age can do.

Moreover, social media has been one of the best platforms for business students to conduct and grow their businesses.

From Facebook Groups to Telegram chats, there is support, help and opportunities that would simply be out of reach without social media.

Students Can Use Social Media to Keep Up To Date With Current Affair s

Gone are the days where the only current affairs students had access to was their parent’s newspaper of choice. Now young people can keep up to date with news from a global melting pot of news agencies, that may report on something not covered in their own country.

You might have come across many posts on social media where people share current affairs. Obviously, we should instil a sense of objectivity in our students.

If we prepare students to spot biases and agendas, “Fake news” will become less of an issue.

Similarly, many news channels are sharing breaking news and other important current news on social media platforms.

Students do not need to read a newspaper or sit in front of the TV to watch the news. They can read or watch the news anytime they want.

What are the Drawbacks of Social Media for Students?

• Social Media can reduce the time spent on studies.
• The “perfect life/body” images can lead to low self-esteem in young people through social media.
• Bullying has moved to an online arena which is more difficult to track and remedy.
• Cases of teenage anxiety and depression are rapidly rising. There are strong links to social media being, in part to blame.
• Social media is 24/7 and young people can lack the maturity to switch off, leading to sleep deprivation.
• A reduction of physical activity is a real effect of social media. Even “hanging out” with friends is now commonly done over social media.

Reduced Concentration on Studies

Many parents agree that social media has been one of the main reasons for a decline in their kids’ academic performance.

You may have experienced this yourself; whenever you start to study, you get distracted by your notifications from social media.

Whenever you try to work or learn, you constantly check social media, thinking you might be missing some significant events.

Lowers Self-Esteem Among Children

It’s well understood that the life painted on most social media channels is not a true reflection of someones actual life. As adults, we understand this and take it with a pinch of salt.

This is not the case with children !

Children lack the life experience to be objective in what they see on social media.

They compare themselves with the “perfect” bodies and lifestyles they see and this can heavily contribute to low self-esteem and can lead to further problems affecting their mental health.

Social media influencers try to show “ The Most Perfect ” lifestyle, which a student cannot afford and start making students feel inferior about themselves.

Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking

One of the biggest and most dangerous issues students face while on social media is cyberbullying and cyberstalking.

Cyberbullying is one of the biggest problems among teenagers in schools. Students used to bully each other physically; now the bullying has moved to the virtual world.

Kids usually bully their peers whenever they post some picture or status on social media. They even harass your kids and blackmail them, which reduces kids’ self-confidence.

Online cyberbullying is even worse because it is not done face to face so people can easily say things that they wouldn’t dare say in person.

These instances of serious cyberbullying can and have, in many cases lead to teen suicide.

There are some brilliant charities that give help and advice around cyberbullying, cybersmile.org is a great international example.

Social Media is a Big Cause of Anxiety and Depression in Children

This point is related to the issues mentioned above. Unfortunately, cases of anxiety and depression in children are rising rapidly.

It is commonly assumed that the rise of social media platforms is a driving factor behind this.

In the UK the statistics are frightening, to say the least; youngminds.org.uk reports the following:

• 1 in 8 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder – that’s roughly 3 children in every classroom.
• 1 in 6 young people aged 16-24 has symptoms of a common mental disorder such as depression or an anxiety disorder.
• Half of all mental health problems manifest by the age of 14, with 75% by age 24.
• In 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for both boys (16.2% of all deaths) and girls (13.3%) aged between 5 and 19.
• Nearly half of 17-19-year-olds with a diagnosable mental health disorder has self-harmed or attempted suicide at some point, rising to 52.7% for young women.

Whilst these statistics are for the UK, they are mirrored in many other countries, where social media is common.

Sleep Deprivation

As a working teacher in the UK, I have noticed over the last few years that more and more of my students are reporting to be awake long into the night and in some cases the early hours of the morning.

Students can spend the whole night on their social media, chatting and posting random pictures and videos.

When I have spoken to my students about it, the most common thing I hear is that they didn’t want to miss out on anything (gossip, chat etc).

This FOMO (fear of missing out) is driven by their worries of being ostracized if they don’t know what happened “in the chat”.

This lack of sleep sadly has two major effects on students. Their academic progress suffers as well as their mental health.

Top Tip: Turn your wifi off when you go to bed (or earlier) then you know your children are not online all night!

Reduces Physical Activities

These days many students log in to their social media in their free time. As soon as they have some time, they get on their social media, reducing their physical exercise.

Students are either spending their time on their studies or their social media. Many children prefer to stay inside their room all day and night and use their devices instead of going out to get some fresh air, even if it is just for a walk.

How to Protect Students from Social Media (For Parents)?

• Communicate and educate young people about the benefits and dangers of social media.
• Use parental control platforms such as Google Family Link .
• Only allow young people to use a social media platform when they are old enough (many platforms require a user to be 13).
• Encourage young people to make their profiles private and only talk to people they already know.

If you are a parent, you might be worried about protecting your kids away from the dark side of social media. Adults might understand their dark side of social media, but kids and teenagers may not have the perspective adulthood gives us.

Communicate With Your Kids About the Dangers of Social Media

Communication is the key to solving any problem. As a teacher or parent, you should communicate with your kids about the dark side of social media. It would be best to make them aware of what happens when they use social media for a long time.

You should guide them on using social media and taking advantage of it and what things they should avoid, thus turning social media into a benefit.

Use of Parental Control Software

Sometimes, even when you communicate with your kids about social media, they might ignore you. Even when your kids are aware of social media, they may use it all the time.

To know what your kids are doing on social media, you can use parental control apps. Parental control apps help you to monitor your kids what your kids are doing on their devices.

Some parental control apps monitor your kid’s social media activities like their post, comments, messages, etc. They even show you random screenshots of your kid’s device activities.

One of my personal favorite parental control apps is fenced.ai which helps you monitor your kid’s online activities.

Restrict the Use of Some Social Media Sites

If your kids are using social media apps beyond their age limit, you should block such websites from your kid’s device.

It would help if you talked to your kids about using social media and their age limit to join social media.

Most social media requires an age limit of 13; it’s better to restrict kids from using social media until 13.

Encourage Your Kids To Make their Social Media Private

Many students, especially teenagers, make their social media public gain more followers and likes.

In short, to gain popularity on social media, kids and teenagers add random people on social media and make their posts public.

As adults, we can immediately see the danger here, but again, for teenagers the risk/reward ratio is different!

Thus, always encourage your kids to make their social media private and only add people they know in their real life.

Overall, it can be said that social media can be both detrimental and a benefit for students. It all comes down to education and being lead by responsible adults

Is Social Media Good or Bad for Students? FAQ

Social media can be both beneficial and detrimental. As with most new innovations, used correctly, it can be great, used poorly, it leads to problems. Regardless of the answer, the important thing is teachers and parents must lead by example and educate students.

Social media helps connect students studying the same subject in different parts of countries or even the world. Students can use social media to interact with their teachers, getting feedback on their work. Caveat : This interaction should only ever be conducted on school-approved social media like Google Hangouts or Microsoft Teams. NEVER INTERACT WITH STUDENTS ON YOUR PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS!

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• 25 Tips For Improving Student’s Performance Via Private Conversations

2 thoughts on “Is Social Media Good or Bad for Students?”

so i agree and disagree at the same time because social media can really help you at some points and some times it can make you feel really bad about yourself and your physical appearance , people are open to do anything they want on the internet and it will most likely be allowed unless its some graphic type of content so im in the middle of agreeing and disagreeing at the same time.

My parents completely agree with this article. I am not allowed to get a phone until 9th grade at the least, and after things I have heard, I think this is a good idea. We are allowed onto specific websites and are blocked from others, and though that can get annoying when I search up videos about things for school projects, it’s the wisest thing to do.

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Essay on Internet Uses For Students

500 + words internet essay.

The internet is described as a global network of computer systems interconnected and following the internet security protocol. However, have you ever considered why the internet is important? This 500+ Words Essay on internet advantages and disadvantages will help students ace essay writing during exams.

A combination of high-end science and advanced technology, the internet is a viral invention. Here, in an essay on the internet, students can learn about the uses and impact of the internet.

Why the Internet Is Important

The internet has undergone significant development from the time of its birth to the present. Over a period of time, the internet has become more interactive and user-friendly. It has also helped man in day-to-day transactions and interactions. The Internet is widely used for numerous functions such as learning, teaching, research, writing, sharing content or data, e-mails, job hunting, playing games, listening to music, watching videos, exploring and finally surfing the internet. Meanwhile, though it makes life easy for people, the internet also comes with a lot of pros and cons. Find the advantages and disadvantages of the internet from this essay.

Also read: History of Internet

Essay on Advantages of Internet

Read this essay on internet advantages to know the effects of using the internet. Look for the points mentioned below.

• The internet has helped reduce the usage of paper and paperwork to a large extent by computerising offices, schools, NGOs, industries and much more.
• Internet helps to provide updated information and news from all over the world
• Education, business and travel have been thriving with the growth of the Internet
• The internet is of high educational and entertainment value
• The internet makes access to public resources, libraries and textbooks much easier
• The internet makes it easy by reducing the time and energy taken to do work
• Work has become more efficient, quick and accurate
• Meetings and conferences are made easier with video calls and other brilliant tools

Apart from all these, as mentioned in the above paragraph on Internet uses, it helps carry out banking activities, exchange information, shop for various goods and more.

Essay on Internet Disadvantages

Despite the use of the internet and its positives, there are also some internet disadvantages. Continuous use of the internet can affect our lifestyle and health. Let us check out the disadvantages of the internet from this paragraph.

• Over-dependence on the internet can lead to many health problems
• People tend to spend more of their productive time doing nothing but browsing
• Even if the internet is now used extensively at work, overuse of the internet could lead to depression
• Quality time with friends and relatives is primarily reduced due to the use of the internet
• Cybercrime has also increased as internet security and privacy are compromised

Thus, we have seen the uses of the internet and its impact on students and working professionals. While we know that overuse of the internet should be avoided, we also have to acknowledge that the internet has still not been exploited to its full potential, despite its massive growth. In conclusion, we can state that to make internet use more comfortable and pleasurable, school students should be taught about the pros and cons of using the internet, thus ensuring that they can stand up against cybercrime and ensure safety.

Also Read: Social Media Essay | Essay on Women Empowerment | Essay On Constitution of India

Frequently asked Questions on Internet Essay

What is the internet.

The internet is a global system of interconnected computers and this system uses a standardised Internet Protocol suite for communication and sharing information.

What are the top 5 uses of the Internet?

The Internet is mostly used by people to send emails and to search on any topic. It can be used to download large files. People depend on the internet for electronic news and magazines these days. A lot of people, especially the young generation use it to play interactive games and for entertainment.

What is WiFi?

WiFi is the latest wireless technology used to connect computers, tablets, smartphones and other electronic devices to the internet.

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A digital book ban? High schoolers describe dangers, frustrations of censored web access

Their schools block information about abortion, suicide prevention and lgbtq+ resources like the trevor project. here's what students say..

This article was copublished with The Markup , a nonprofit, investigative newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good.

There’s a common complaint among high school students across the country, and it has nothing to do with curfews or allowances: Internet filters are preventing them from doing online research at school. Records obtained by The Markup from districts across the country show just how broadly schools block content, forcing students to jump through hoops to complete assignments and even keeping them from resources that could support their health and safety.

School districts must block obscene or harmful images to qualify for federally-subsidized internet access under the Children’s Internet Protection Act, passed by Congress nearly 25 years ago. But the records, from 16 districts across 11 states, show they go much further. Schools are limiting not only what images students can see, but what words they can read.

Some of the censorship inhibits students’ ability to do basic research on sites like Wikipedia and Quora. Students have also been blocked from visiting websites that web-filtering software categorizes as “education,” “news,” or “informational.” But even more concerning for some students are blocks against sex education, abortion information, and resources for LGBTQ+ teens—including suicide prevention.

Investigation: Schools are censoring websites for suicide prevention, sex ed, and even NASA

Virtually all school districts buy web filters from companies that sort the internet into categories. Districts decide which categories to block, sometimes allowing certain websites on a case-by-case basis. 

The records show that such filters do sometimes keep students from seeing pornographic images, but far more often they prevent them from playing online games, browsing social media, and using the internet for legitimate academic work. Records show that filters in the 16 districts collectively logged over 1.9 billion blocks in just a month. This includes blocks that students wouldn’t necessarily notice, such as parts of a page, like an ad or an image. 

Students told The Markup their schools block so many websites they have trouble doing their homework. Beyond that, some of them described problems accessing resources related to pregnancy and sexual and gender identity.

In their own words, here’s what high schoolers—in California, Michigan, and Texas—have dealt with.

Abortion care in Texas

While Texas student Maya Perez was conducting a Google search about abortion access for a presentation, she found many results were blocked. 

Searching for a workaround

Michigan student Sana Schaden uses her cell phone’s hotspot to avoid school web filters altogether.

Web filtering and remote learning

California student Ali Siddiqui noticed his district’s web filter seemed to get more aggressive when he was engaged in remote learning during the early stages of the pandemic.

A petition to unblock LGBTQ+ resources

While researching news sites for a digital arts class, Texas student Cameron Samuels ran into a block on “The Advocate,” an LGBTQ+ news source.

Samuels later tried to access a range of sites that offer resources for LGBTQ+ people. All were blocked.

During senior year of high school, Samuels petitioned the district administration and then the school board to unblock these sites—and won. They are now accessible to high schoolers in the district.

This article was copublished with The Markup , a nonprofit, investigative newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good. Sign up for its newsletters  here .