The Effect of Internet on Community

A community is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has the ability to manifest in a variety of forms. They are shared with many of both living and non-living things, but in the case of humans , it also has at frequent times been established by the uniting of a group of individuals who cooperate with one another and share one or more of the same interests . Some might have the opinion that the invention of the internet has aided this unity, such as Howard Rheingold in his article The Virtual Community : “ …I found fellowship and comfort in this unlikely medium. “ (p. 148), while others might say the opposite. I however, after carefully thinking to the extent that my brain would allow , have come to a third conclusion that the internet has for the most part accomplished neither. The world wide web has rather become just another part of the community that man has already put in place, and has therefore changed very little. It seems that community has benefited from the creation of the internet, when in fact it probably has not. As most know, it is true that it allows individuals people to form bonds with one another and share ideas in a quick and easy way. Some may find the internet a very useful way of finding solace in times of desperation .This is shown in Howard Rheingolds article : “ I’ve never met them face to face, although I feel I know something powerful and intimate about the Allisons and have strong emotional ties to them.“ ( p 147) .However, if any person is humane and friendly, than the same type of positive relationships could be both created and maintained even if one had not been using a computer to do so. In addition, the internet may also seem like it ruins the meaning of community, but there is not necessarily proof that that theory is true either, although it might not be beneficial in other ways. The people of today have placed it on such a high pedestal that they believe that it is necessary to make use of it as frequently as possible . This possibly is unbeneficial to humans in that it distorts their view of reality along with waste their valuable time . It can also possibly damage the human language : “ ’ … it’s too easy for them to throw anything that seems like less than a first draft at us. ’ “ ( Harmon 141) and be used to inflict cruelty on others as well as cause people in real life to be ignored while another is typing away , but those are slightly different topics to debate about. These may or may not be some of the more negative effects of the internet, but do not necessarily mean that one is not participating in some form of community or another.

I believe that not only has the internet has done almost nothing to benefit what a community is, but it has furthermore failed to become a burden as well. The way in which people interact would be the same even if it had not been created. It does not matter if one is on the computer , telephone or speaking in person. People will still find ways of sharing what they think along with perform any other method in which a group can be born. Friends will still find ways in
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which they can be friends, enemies will still find ways in which they can be enemies, nice people will still find ways in which they can be nice. People who prefer to perform acts of evil will unfortunately still be evil. Some will continue to be just as antisocial as they were before. Just as if face to face , all will most likely still find ways of building one another up and just as fast picking one another to bits . It is how people form bonds and treat their neighbors that determines if a community shall be formed, no matter how perfect or imperfect that community may be.

The internet may be just different kind of tool that a person can use to behave how they already behave. People use the internet to act in the same way that they might in real life. Even if they do invent a new identity on the internet , that new identity is still probably contributing to some kind of community one way or another , and identity can be just as easily changed in reality. Almost everything interaction that a person does on the internet could also be accomplished in reality, it is just a different and faster, seemingly for convenient than before.

Sitting in front of a screen and surfing the Internet for hours on end most likely is not going to change anything as far as community goes, even if it may seem the opposite. If thought about long enough, most aspects of the internet do not appear to make any difference to human companionship being formed, which is what community is built on. If humans have naturally invented community by forming cooperative groups with each other in the past, than it is almost without doubt that the same phenomenon may still occur in the future. The uniting of one another will continue, even if it might have website addresses attached,