JC-R

Im a Carpenter by trade and one of the things i like is people who have no idea how to do a manual job i.e carpentry, brick laying, electrics or plumbing etc etc. The amount of bodge jobs i come across done by people who thinks they can do it because theyve watched a couple of how-to videos on youtube is quite shocking

The pros and cons about the internet is one massive list.
One of my biggest concernes is what are these kids who are glued to FB and XBOXES etc every day going to be like when they are grown men and women?? What is society going to be like in say 20 or 30 yrs ?

JackClark

Roll on Google Glass, you'll be able to pretend you're looking at someone whilst browsing Facebook.

DYK

One thing the net as been very good for in my life is keeping in touch with family etc living abroad.Canada,USA,New Zealand,Czech,Italy.
Within seconds I can be cyber chatting to them from thousands of miles away,personally this is a big plus for the internet.
Couldn't imagine going back to the old days when you had to write letters and send it by post.
I think if the internet were to switch off now,tomorrow,we'd be screwed.

Turbohot

This Google Glass won't be applicable to just the Facebook, would it? Also, what will be the point of pretending that you're looking at someone? Won't they know that it's nothing but the Google Glass magic, and therefore they needn't feel intimidated? Forgive my ignorance, but my mind boggles.

Sounds interesting, anyway. I'm gonna Google it. Let's see how people's cyber-expression changes with that when it comes out.

stilover

+2

thenewgalaxy

This ladies and gentlemen, is the internet.

lozgti1

Could that happen? It's one of the things I don't understand,like where the universe came from

DYK

I think possibility we would.
Was watching a tv programme months ago about future events,cyberwar fare,terrorists/hackers shutting down cities,essential services,disabling websites and networks.
If you look around nowadays,really everyone relies on computers and the internet to do work/business,as well as your social side of it.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Regrettably this applies equally within the IT industry, but has two sides. I have found myself in situations where I have needed to turn to google to find answers to a specific problem, I will typically look at a cross section of reliable references to gain an understanding of how to solve the problem.

On the other hand I know of someone who made some changes to a production computer system, because he followed some advice he found from google, without understanding or testing the implications first.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

If only

(quality episode btw )

DIY info stuff has its advantages and disavantages.


Most of my diagnostics work comes via people who've had a poke and prod via info off the internet and its not fixed it.

If I had a pound for every MAF sensor fitted becuase of bad internet advice I'd be rich enough to take early retirement.

That said the internet has helped me on occasions, but its always a task of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Funny how with some things there is a wealth of good info, whilst other things there still very little, or its been lost in a load of inane social networking drivel.

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Ha!

They happened to show that clip the other night on 'The 800 lol Funniest Comedies'.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

This pretty much sums up my thoughts, so I'll just agree with that and not bore everyone by typing the same thing in more words.

This opinion kind of irritates me a bit, although I do see where you are coming from to a point. I come from a poorer background, hell, I'm not all that much better off now, but just because I didn't grow up with loads of money, or my parents didn't grow up with loads of money, didn't make us misfits or scum and it didn't mean we were thick or not like minded in some ways. Just because someone isn't 'well off' doesn't equate to them being some sort of waste of space that the internet gods would be better off not knowing.

I know that isn't entirely what you were getting at, but I'm in rant mode at the minute, so you were fair game.

Turbohot

I agree with you, Lisa. Poverty doesn't come in just one shape or form. One can be rich with the riches, and dire in other departments. I'd rather communicate on internet with a decent poor with some integrity than a shallow, money minded rich any time of the day.

RA Dunk

A bit like this place with Dump Valve threads then.

ScoobyWon't

Or on the other hand, you get the Daily Mail, which whips up hysteria in the media, knows nothing about the deep web and what lurks there, rants about paedophiles lurking on-line and then publishes it's own stories like this one - Paris Jackson, age 15, in her bikini, for the whole world to see.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...ii-family.html

Ok, so a 15 year old girl originally posted it herself, but that doesn't mean that the adults at the Daily Fail should think it's fine to publish. I honestly don't know how the Daily Fail can manage to have so many mixed messages.

I don't know why they just don't run with:

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

The real issue is how are they going to be brought to account for the continual lies and **** they publish? If karma were working properly they'd all be wiped out by a freak act of God or worse hopefully! I really would not p1ss on one of them if they were on fire.... absolute pondlife!

hodgy0_2

the internet is simply a "tool"

A hammer - good or bad?

A camera - good or bad?

A pen - good or bad?

A screwdriver - good or bad?

seems a pretty redundant argument when articulated in this way tbh

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

The internet is a reflection of humanity, it's users, it's what we make of it, that's what makes it different from other tools. We bring our morals to it, our ethics, laws, artistry, creativity, our criminality, perversity, our relationships, our politics, our science, our history, our knowledge.... It's akin to asking the question "are humans good or bad?"

It's not a screwdriver.

dpb

Ummm..Its a media tool

hodgy0_2

you can apply most of that to a screwdriver

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

It's a really interesting issue. As someone involved in education I think my feelings on the matter are pretty much that:

+ The internet has made information more readily accessible and increased the potential for everyone to become more knowledgable and empowered.
- The above has tended to make people consumers of information rather than users of information and there is a big difference intellectually speaking. (Sorry that sounds really pompous!)

BUT never forget the biggest plus point and contribution of the internet:

+ Almost unlimited ****

It's a good thing: end of argument right there!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

No it doesn't sound pompous at all and it is actually a really good way of putting it!

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Whilst I'm intrigued about how a screwdriver has helped forge relationships* for you, I'd actually rather not know

* insert joke here about Phillips and Head.

Turbohot

So, what do you suggest we should say, then? Shall we say that if fact a lot of people that use internet are tools themselves? We don't mind saying that, but that will be a like a group suicide on Scoobynet.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Oh s**t. I'm in for a leathering in the mods room now

Anyhoo shovel at the ready....

I think what I'm getting at really was trying to find reasons why the internet is so different now to what it was 15 odd years ago. Bearing in mind I could not afford internet either...but I gained access via college and uni via JANET (which technically predated the internet ). My Uni had its own dial-up server so I could dial in and connect to the internet from home for the cost of a local call....which of course quickly mounted up. The alternative would have been the likes of AOL subscriptions that were unaffordable.

So my point of views is that people using the internet were either people in higher edcucation with access to computer suites that had internet connectivity (and/or a password from the IT dept to use the dial-up server), or people with enough money to have their own subscription and had IT skills. So more often than not they were normal, if not quirky/geeky/nerdy individuals. As computers tended to attract certain types of people.

Computers back then were different beasts to now...MS-DOS 6.22 running Windows 3.1 was what I ran whilst at College/Uni...Computers ran command line interfaces, and windows back then was just a graphical user interface often referred to as a shell....which is about as user freindly as Windows 8 ( thats a joke: Windows 8 is the worst OS ever made since Windows ME ). So you really had to be into computers to use them, and they could be very expensive things to buy. So being a geek with a few quid was line I was comming from. Sure there are a few misfits (i'll have to find the news article of the British kid who was convicted for hacking various governments and organisations using his BBC microcomputer - a 1990s version of Gary Mckinnon ), but these were a minority non the less.

The scum really is just all the scammers, paedoes, bullies, criminals etc. You know, the same peope we have all seen in day to day life and wish to avoid. You can't avoid them on the internet either now.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

I knew what you were getting at. Just fancied a rant, plus the one I was having on FB was going nowhere at the time, probably because normal people were in bed by then.

I suppose it's a bit like mobile phones. Like the internet, they were becoming more widespread by the time I was in my teens, but everyone (or the majority) didn't have them like today. I suppose you are probably right about the link between affordability/personal wealth and access.

I think where I was more coming from, is that isn't always a bad thing, and that poor doesn't mean bad. I think it's a good thing that technology is more accessible to the masses and I think it's a good thing that people now interact with people of varying backgrounds that may otherwise never have done in the 'real world'. Of course, as with most things, there is a downside, and that is where your comments come in.

hodgy0_2

well, given the fact that the internet is a multi-function tool

and i did give the example of a pen in my list of "good or bad" tools


your question is easily answered by the fact that I used to write - with a pen, love letters to my (current) wife 35 years ago

Lydia72

I started some of my best relationships while off my head on screwdrivers ( aka vodka and orange)

SouthWalesSam

iTrader: (1)

Absolutely!

And what a tool!

It's people who behave 'good' and/or 'bad'. It's how we were pre-internet and we're just the same now. Except that now we can use the internet as the tool when we being 'good' or being 'bad'.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

This question reminds me of one of Aesop's fables. The one where the cook prepares tongue as both the best meal and the worst.