Free as the internet rewires our brains essay example

According to the article by Curt Cagle, the internet has many benefits, which are apparent and obvious to the user. However, the internet has many disadvantages as well. Some of them are obvious and some are not so easily seen. One of the advantages of the internet according to the author is that social media can and does improve some critical skills to the users. On the other hand, teens, who are the ones that use social media to the greatest extent, have registered health issues coming from over using computers. Staring at the computer or the whole day can cause eyesight problems.
The internet is a great and vast source of information. It comes in handy to the users as it is easily available and convenient to use. On the contrary, teen’s ability to socialize face-to-face depreciates to some extent. As much as teens use the internet for communication, online communication is not as effective as face-to-face communication. Lack of face-to-face communication could lead to social awkwardness and shyness among other social disabilities, which could be avoided if teens were not so dependent on the internet. According to the author, friendships are stronger if the individuals meet physically, the internet has laid waste to the need to meet physically therefore friendships nowadays are not what they used to be.
The internet is a great source of information. Be it as it may, this has caused the users be over dependent on it. As a result, many people have developed laziness and do not study as much as they should. It is a common occurrence for people to just turn to the internet for information that they do not know. This has hindered the reading culture and people have become less inclined to read extensively which broadens their minds. If any changes are to be made, the dependence on the internet for educational purposes should be minimized and a reading culture cultivated.
As much as the internet has improved communication from one individual to the other, social media like twitter and Facebook inhibit the ability of children to develop communication skills. The need to communicate faster has necessitated the need to abbreviate words when sending messages. Consequently, the kids continue learning slang instead of proper language. The internet and social media has made it easy to send and receive messages. The disadvantage is that it has also provided an extra way for which slang can be communicated among the teens.
According to the author, the use of the internet has helped develop critical skills like typing, context switching, and the ability to scan faster among others. This according to the author is because this is the mode of communication to the teens. As a result, this has reduced face-to-face communication among the teens. Another consequence is that it has placed a greater social divide among age mates that use social media and those that do not because their chances of meeting are significantly reduced.
Social media has made it easy for teens to form friendships with other teens with similar interest rather than based on locality. In addition, friendship based on common interest increases the number of friends an individual can have to a worldwide stage. Consequently, this has made the teens prone to factors that are unfavorable including cyber bullies and online stalkers.
On young minds which are still developing, the can learn a lot from the internet since their minds are more impressionable then adults’. This also means that they can adopt other materials that are not favorable to them like pornography. It is therefore advisable to use the internet to some extent while communicating and doing other activities like research but develop mechanisms to counter its addictive properties.