There is no doubt that the internet makes our life more and more convenient, we have learned how to use smart devices. The internet definitely is one of the most significant breakthroughs in human history. We are the beneficiaries of a small cyber-cable. It powers us to surf the net by smart devices, no holds barred.
The benefits lead us to overlook the downsides, most of us have not been told or taught how to sit with the downsides.
Here some negatives you should be aware of:
- The apps we use are not free
Let us dish about all the apps we use , we would find most apps are free. The fact behind the scense you may not know, you are trading privacy for convenience, we use our personal data as the currency to pay the bill. You may not be aware that Whatsapp,Facebook and Instagram belong to one big company named Meta. Meta could track all the data you generate. Thereby , Meta could package all your data as a product for advertising agencies. - we only can see what we like
A few years ago , Tweet’s information flow was organised by the time of creation, with the latest Tweets at the top of the screen. Nowadays , there is a feature called “For you”, that uses AI recommendation instead of the time-ordered information.
The companies behind free apps know our age, education and interpersonal relationships,etc. Now, it goes further, they control the context we can see. Cumulative influence of AI recommendation is we can only see what we like. This is the real logic that allowed Cambridge Analytica to influence the election through Facebook. - The information is probably fake
The information or news was generated by professional journalists who followed regulation to censor themselves. We can trust the information or news like we trust a doctor in a hospital from the limited channels, like newspaper, television or radio. Nowadays, everyone can post anything they like on internet without self-censorship ( they do not have the duty to do so) .
People tend to believe the news which has received numerous responses, this situation is called conformity. It leads to a situation where the higher volume of responses of an article or news , the more people tend to trust it , eventhough it is fake.
As I was mentioning, the companies behind free apps track our personal data, and customize the fake information by AI recommendation to influence the way we think of the world. That is why I agree with The internet is centralization. I strongly recommend practicing critical reading when surfing the net, including what you read at this moment.
Lim Wu 