Intended Audience: Philosophy Professor
Bakie Goodman
HUMW
12:30 PM
Prof. Linkon
The Harmful Nature of the Internet
The internet is harming society. In this essay, I will prove an argument to backup this
assertion regarding the world as we know it today. The internet has become one of the largest
facets of life as it continues to rule over mankind. There is most likely almost no place on Earth
where the internet has not been introduced. It continues to grow and has shown no signs of
stopping its reach over the minds and bodies of all of those considered to be its users. The
internet of today’s day and age has begun a transformation of the mind which does not appear to
be stopping anytime soon. The mind has become lazier than ever and has shown no ability to
What is
the
overall
purpose
of this
essay?
return to its former self. This is a major problem with society today and a main reason as to why
the internet is not doing the world any real favors with its existence. Our brains are receptors of
knowledge, processing whatever comes into their grasp. But when there lacks a need to discover
new information due to being fed new and constant material, our brains become not so active
anymore. Society has come to truly rely on its existence for the maintenance of our minds.
Without the internet today, the brain would lose its use of processing information. Even society
as a whole is becoming fractured due to its control over so much of the population. The internet’s
presence has become more destructive than ever as it continues to harm society. First, I would
like to show that the minds of society have become lazier than ever due to the involvement of the
internet. Secondly, I would like to argue that the internet has begun to harm our memory
How is the
thesis being
supported?
systems, rendering them inefficient at this point. Lastly, I will show how the internet has
disrupted the common form of communication leading to a disruption in society.
I will now argue for the point that the brain has become lazier than ever in the course of
Earth’s history. I believe this to be true due to the recent study taken by over 100,000
participants that has discovered that 80% of people who use the internet less than an hour a day
What can
you draw
from this
study?
spend more time outside participating in physical activities while 90% of those who stated they
use the internet more than 3 hours a day stated that they rarely leave their homes for more than
an hour a day other than for work. I view these daily physical actions of the surveyors as a
correlation to their daily mental actions in that they have become lazy mentally as well. The
brain has a significant relationship to the body and ultimately controls every single action the
body makes. This study clearly shows that the physical body has become lazy in people who
spend too much time on the internet, meaning that the mind has caused this due to its laziness as
well. I will now present the view of John Rawls who stated that the mind has the ability to
control the body in every manner of life, as it is the most powerful aspect of a human life. I
would agree with this belief as well as it is also proven by the study listed previously. To further
Is the main defend this claim, one needs not look further than the statistics provided. The extreme nature of
contention
the results indicates the reality that can be drawn from such a study. If the body becomes lazy in
properly
supported?
a human being, it becomes this way due to being told to do so by a higher authority such as the
mind. If the mind becomes lazy then the body does as well. The internet has resulted in laziness
taking over society piece by piece, especially when it comes to the mind. The more one depends
on the internet, the more likely it is they become lazy in most major aspects of life. The mind has
become a casualty at the hands of the internet’s overruling presence in society.
I will now argue the point that the internet has begun to harm the mind’s memory system
in order to defend the argument that the internet is harming our society’s minds. The memory is a
unique aspect of the mind that depends on its continuous functioning. The worldwide belief on
memory states that as long as the mind continues to function at a reasonable rate, being mentally
sane, then memory continues to function at a perfectly acceptable rate. After the following
analyzing, this belief cannot be considered to be true demonstrating that the internet continues to
harm society’s minds. Without the continuation of careful processing of information, memory
ceases to exist becoming yet another useless function within the brain. If the brain were to stop
carefully examining information, there would no longer be an ability to memorize this same
information. Memory depends on the careful examination of information in order to turn it into
processed material, which is not the current mindset of much of society. The internet has led to a
mass flood of new information from all new sources at all times leading to an overload of the
What is
your
reaction to
the
information
presented
in regards
to the main
contention?
human mind. This accumulation of new material has led to a lack of the very important
information processing that determines the success of one’s memory. This directly correlates to
the internet harming the mind’s memory systems in today’s society. To further support this
claim, I would now like to argue against a well-known philosophical belief from John Locke. He
states the memory system is independent from the rest of the mind with the way it acts and that it
does not depend on any other function inside of the brain. This assertion cannot be true however
as the memory system does rely heavily upon the rest of the mind. I disagree with the beliefs
created by Locke and argue that memories depend on the mind’s experiences and analyzing of
those same experiences. Society is now at the point where it no longer takes the time to examine
their own actions. This steady move to this train of action is bringing memory to its own
What can
be taken
away from
this
paragraph
given the
informatio
n
provided?
destruction. The internet is threatening the abilities of memory and continues to do so as long as
it holds such a strong presence in society.
The last point that I will make here is that the internet is causing a significant disturbance
in communication within a society. Communication has transformed since the development of
the internet as a real part of society. It has changed from spoken word to written text through a
computer. This is doing society great harm as communication now primarily involves a computer
instead of one speaking to another human being. Thomas Aquinas once stated that
communication is the most important aspect of human life within a community due to its
How has
the
internet
changed
society?
involvement of the spoken word and the depths of knowledge within our minds. This view
argues directly against the acts of the internet, which has led to a revolution in the forms of
current communication. I also support the views of the philosopher against the actions of the
internet. Communication no longer exists primarily through speech which is how it is meant to
be. Facebook, Email, Twitter, and other social networks have become the new modes of
communication in society today. This has led to speech diminishing while communication
through the internet advances. These new mediums have even made their way into common
speech with new forms of speaking and new uses of language. Plato once argued that
communication is a developing aspect of life that needs balance between spoken word and
written text. I agree with the part of this claim that states communication continues to develop
which is what is seen in society today. The forms of written text in today’s society however are
not what is meant by the development of communication. The internet has created these new
modes leading to the disturbing nature of society today. People no longer communicate in
person. They simply write a message on the internet or on an email. These written texts are not
complex either as they simply have replaced the spoken version of communication in the world
How is
communica-tion
changing?
Does it
appear to be
changing in
a positive
way?
today. This has led to the problems that currently exist with people relying on the internet too
much and people believing they live their lives on these modes of communication. Society has
become more disturbed than ever regarding the subject of communication proving that the
internet continues to harm the world.
I present each of these studies and beliefs to display the central problem to all of these
disconcerting situations revolving around society today. The internet is separating society while
devaluing the complex nature of humans. Minds are becoming less efficient, less able to fully
understand, and less able to communicate as well as they once did. The results have not been
positive in these cases and they will continue to remain the same. The internet is harming society
in more ways than one.
Was the overall purpose of the essay presented and
explained thoroughly? How about the support?