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Debate Info

8
19
Yes No
Debate Score:27
Arguments:21
Total Votes:33
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Argument Ratio

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 Yes (7)
 
 No (14)

Debate Creator

Thewayitis(4071) pic



Is the internet a let down?

News, social net works, dating sites, information available, all just hype?

Yes

Side Score: 8
VS.

No

Side Score: 19
1 point

For news, the existence of the Internet grant people access to information around the world. People living in Africa can know about the issue igniting in the USA in just less than an hour, while i do admit that excessive information is sometimes detrimental to us.

For social networking sites, communication between people seems to be enhanced right after the introduction of the two popular websites- Facebook and Twitter, which are being used by millions of people worldwide. However, wheresa we aciqure the innovative services the Facebook offers us, a weird phenomenon can be seen around the world as well, which is that people are obssessed with these websites, checking replies all the time, if not completely, with their portable gadgets. But this also raises a question, "How about the one standing next to us?". Actually, we are now spending less time with our "real" friends because of these websites nowadays. And this comes to a conclusion that we should indeed rethink thoroughly about whether the so-called technological advancement has no drawbacks at all.

Side: yes
0 points

Two years ago I finally give in to modern technology, bought a computer, and began searching the web, only to end up in disappointment. There is no more news to be heard than what free TV others, unless you pay for it. Social net works fail, because people only want to associate with the same type people they are already. Dating sites only want your money. Anything that is free on here isn't worth the price. Misinformation and a world that is only filled with small minds. Createdebate a perfect example of how big a let down. Maybe I expected too much in a world with so many possibilities.

Side: yes
Bohemian(3860) Disputed
2 points

You just need to know where to look, my friend. There is nothing that you can pay for, that cannot be found for free on the internet.

Side: No
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
0 points

One always gets what you pay for. I'm in search for quality, not quantity.

Side: yes

The porn sites get me up ; )

Side: No
1 point

News: can often be provided quicker via internet. The fact that most news is archived means I can access it at any time. Easier access to a wide variety of perspectives.

Social networks: can be annoying, but allow me to keep up with old friends who have moved away.

Dating sites: Not my cup of tea, but they work nicely for some people. My mom and step-dad met through a dating site.

Information available: the possibilities are endless. Plus it is much more efficient to research online than rummaging through the limited resources found at libraries.

Other: wide variety of entertainment. Also provides access to self-assessment. For instance, you can find out if you are tone deaf without having to leave your room (although I suppose you could argue that this fits under the "information" category.)

Side: No
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
0 points

News, you have to be kidding. Today we do not get news, just drama. Broadway cannot produce a show like the media puts on.

Social networks, aren't they for cackle hens?

So much of the information on the Internet is disinformation. Not facts, but opinions. What is in print, is at least consistent. Most information on the Internet is not reliable.

Entertainment means nothing to me, I have in search of knowledge not games.

Side: yes
imrigone(761) Disputed
2 points

"News, you have to be kidding. Today we do not get news, just drama. Broadway cannot produce a show like the media puts on."

This is more inherently true of mainstream media, which is bankrolled by organizations who constantly filter what they report in the name of money than in the search of truth, than it is for independent sources. Publishing something online is cheap enough (quite often free) that people can do it without having to worry how they are going to pay rent next month. I grant you that this does tend to lead to disinformation, but one can fact check and use logic to weed such stuff out.

"Social networks, aren't they for cackle hens?"

Social networking sites aren't just for meeting new people, although we are welcome to do so if we wish. It can allow us to obtain near-immediate updates on the lives of people we already know who we don't get to see often. I am much more in contact with my extended family on facebook than I would be otherwise.

"So much of the information on the Internet is disinformation."

More like "so much information on the Internet is stuff you disagree with". I already admitted that information online can be disinformation, but again, there are ways around it. Don't let a few bad apples ruin the barrel for you.

"What is in print, is at least consistent."

Never in the history of humankind has that ever been true. And consistency does not equate to truth anyway. Someone can be consistently wrong. And format does not have anything to do with veracity.

"Entertainment means nothing to me, I have in search of knowledge not games."

Knowledge is an admirable quest, it is my top use of the internet. But the occasional game or movie can have emotional benefit. And I sometimes like to listen to new music while I educate myself.

Side: No
1 point

No the internet is the second best invention ever created.

Side: No

Second? What is the first?...............................................

Side: No
1 point

Porn.

Side: No
1 point

Al gore Invented the internet. What a cool dude.

Porn? Free. Music? Free. Software? Free. Movies? Free. There is no limit as to what you can get on the net. So by saying 'is the internet a let down?', my only true answer is, You have let down the internet.

Side: No
1 point

Definitely not. I'm just old enough to have observed the gradual replacement of traditional methods of communication and information storage with computer and the internet. I think I'm incredibly lucky to be living at this time, to witness and enjoy the Digital Revolution.

Because of the internet:

I have friends from around the world, instead of local-only friends who add far less diversity to my life.

However niche my interests are, I can find internet groups for it, instead of sitting around moping about how nobody knows what it's like to be me.

I can catch up on the news anytime I want instead of having to wait for the daily paper or the 6 o'clock news.

Casual research means typing a word into Google rather than asking around and hoping someone knows the answer, or digging through piles of junk in the library.

Proper college research means searching a few databases for articles rather than digging through unimaginably large piles of junk in archives around the world.

I watch movies whenever I want, instead of having to wait for the show to screen or to premiere in my country.

If I want to buy something, I can look up reviews, product comparisons and price comparisons and make an informed choice, rather than walking to the shops and hoping that the shops salesperson will recommend what's right for me rather than what's right for their pockets. (As if.)

Porn, nuff said.

Side: No
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
0 points

You don't have anymore friends with the Internet than you do in person. An acquaintance is not your friend. Friends are those people that will do almost anything for you without anything in return. People have many acquaintances, but few friends.

Out of boredom one can find an interest on the Internet. "Misery loves company."

Watch the news tonight and in a week it will be the same. Let me highlight it for you. 50/50 chance of rain, somebody shot, a Hollywood couple split up, some sports team won, and another video was a success on Utube.

As far as information goes, I'd suggest doing research into reliability. Check out Wikiapedia's disclaimer, for example. About the junk in the library, one should read it before dismissing it.

Casual research means reading someones opinion.

I'm so glad that modern technology lets you sit on your ass and watch movies whenever you want. All hail the Internet.

About product reviews, who ever spends the most money gets the best reviews. See definition of capitalism.

Porn, trying a real person and you'll lose more than just your virginity.

Side: yes
Peekaboo(704) Disputed
1 point

Dispute my terminology if you would; it makes no substantive difference to my point. A large number of my acquaintances I met and interact with on the internet.

In some ways you can say that everything you do, other than life-sustaining functions (eating, sleeping, etc) and what enables you to perform them (working so you have money to buy food, etc), is done out of boredom. Why do you go to the movies? Because that's better than sitting there staring at your fingernails. Why do you chat with your friend - er, I mean, your acquaintance? Because that's better than sitting there staring at your fingernails. Why do you go fishing, or hiking, or learn Latin, or travel to Egypt? Because that's better than sitting there staring at your fingernails. Why do you join a Japanese cuisine club online, or join a book review club online, or find other people who play Diplomacy online? Because that's better than sitting there staring at your fingernails. But that's a rather pessimistic way of seeing the world :P

If you're not interested in news developments, that's fine. But I am. If you don't care about movies, that's fine. But I do. And if you don't watch porn, that's fine. But I do. For people who do share these interests, the internet makes practising these interests a lot easier. Dismissing the internet because other people use it to practise interests that you don't share in is rather short-sighted.

Onto the point about the reliability and usefulness of information on the internet, which I think is your biggest error. Firstly, let me clarify that when I say "junk in the library", I'm not dismissing the information you can find in the library. Rather, I'm dismissing the method of information storage and retrieval in physical locations like libraries, which is unnecessarily time-consuming and convoluted compared to information stored on computers. (Of course, that's looking a little into the future - not all paper material has been digitised yet, so there are times when you'll still need to track down physical sources. But archives and libraries around the world are catching onto the ease and accessibility of the internet, and are steadily republishing their material online.)

Now, reliability is an issue no matter where you do your research. Published hard-copy books can contain unsubstantiated statements, silly arguments, and crackpot theories too. When you're doing serious research, you need to learn to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information, and blindly drawing that line based on whether your source is published in paper or on the internet is going to get you into trouble in any respectable academic institution.

For example, you do know that a very significant number of the academic journals published by universities around the world in the last hundred years or so can be read through online databases? That many collections of primary source materials, previously available only on microfilm to people able to travel halfway across the world to study them, have now been digitised and are available free or via subscription? That new theories and the results of new studies are usually published in journals, which are distributed online, before they are published in hard-copy books? If you're dismissing the internet because "the information is unreliable", that means you haven't yet learned how and where to find reliable information online.

Most research, casual or serious, involves reading other people's opinions to some extent. When you learn the theory of relativity, you're finding out Einstein's opinion on the way the world works... which he supported and strengthened with the research and theories of other people, of course, making it an opinion worth learning about. Opinions are by no means useless. Product reviews are a subset of "opinions" in general, and some are indeed influenced by ulterior motives, as you say. Again, it all comes down to how good you are at finding material on the internet that impart useful and relatively reliable information.

Side: No

The Internet is uplifting and a marvelous invention. The world remans connected through the Internet.

Side: No