For the internet, positive and negatives are the same

The internet is a great tool. It allows you to connect to people around the globe. It allows you to find knowledge that could never be found in your local library. But it can also allow people to find hateful groups. And find misinformation making the user dumber and more confused. What is the difference between these positive and negative scenarios? They are none.

Connecting people around the globe can be good if you're finding your international surfing partners. But can also mean finding communities that harbour hate. Or finding the wonders of space by reading a Wikipedia article of our solar system. Compared to stumbling upon into anti-vax information. Making people think they are informed when they are not. There is nothing different from any of these scenarios. The positive is normally the same as the negative. Finding information about the solar system vs finding information about anti-vaccination is the same.  You were curious about a topic. Then you went on a web page. Then proceeded to learn about the information that the page gave.

After 2016 people started to think about the negatives of social media and by extension the internet. This was prompted by the Cambridge Analytica scandal with Facebook. As people saw these tools as no longer innocent. Not just something that you can share your cat photos. But a place where people will influence the electoral process. But contrary to the issues above. Lots of problems were simply caused by humans using the tool for other uses. (Yes, Facebook did mess up big time. I know)

One the biggest issues were Cambridge Analytica using Facebook data to give you personalised ads. For the election. For example, if data suggests you love small government then Facebook serve you ad showing how the candidate is a libertarian and wants to cut red tape. But what people fail to realise is that that same process was used to serve millions of normal ads. If Facebook data thinks you’re a new mom. Then it will start promoting diapers and baby milk to your feed. The tools and scenarios are the same. The only thing different is the content. After 2016 Facebook made a few improvements so companies can’t abuse your data. And added more safeguards in place. For paid advertising. Like showing who is paying for the advert publicly. Allowing fewer ways for someone to discriminate by race or gender.

One of the great things about the internet is that everyone can have a voice. And can give their opinion to the rest of the world. Some people may not have had an outlet. Now they can share their thoughts with the rest of the world. So, a person wanting to share their point of view for the news of the week. Or a person wanting to share industry news for his colleagues she can do so without joining a magazine. Same with a conspiracy theorist wanting to share his bullet-proof view of the world, explaining the Illuminati and interdimensional aliens. Before the internet, the person would’ve screamed and sharing flyers on his local high street. Now he can just rant on YouTube and share his ideas to an open audience. As we can see the scenario is the same. Without gatekeepers, anyone can share their voice. Good or bad. The human rights activist to the anti-vaxxer. Everyone is free to share their opinions with the world. Regardless of content. Summarising this. The great thing with the internet everyone has a voice. The bad thing with the internet everyone has a voice.

One of the great things about the internet that people share content that interests them almost instantly. If you have a guitar passage you find interesting can share the video via WhatsApp. And they check the video straight away. With the internet regardless of the location you only a few seconds away from your friends and family. Which makes it easier to keep up with what’s happening with your social circle. As you always up to date. But that keeping up to date can be bad depending on the content being shared. WhatsApp is known for its fake news epidemic. Where your boomer parents share some questionable information from a questionable news source. That can be shared as instantly as the guitar video you wanted to share with your friend. What is interesting with WhatsApp or any other group chat app. That it is not algorithmically powered. Where content is not pushed up with a feed. And engagement helps to get further reach. These apps are supposed to be used with the rest of the family and friends. So how is fake news still an issue with this app? It’s simple, like the rest of the examples in the article. Its humans. If a person finds a bit of information interesting, he can share it with less than two clicks. A piece of information being truthful is not related to the question if the piece of content is interesting. Especially if the content is emotionally charged. Yes, algorithmically designed feeds can help prompt emotionally charged content more often. But as humans, if something has more emotions, we are more likely to do something about it. Which means sharing it with more people. They are some WhatsApp unique things people do to get information shared more. Like chain mail. The text may read: “Share this text to 5 of your family members and get  £100” or “Share this text 5 of your friends get a free car after clicking this link”. This is an updated form of email chain mail. So even if the technology changes you still have the common Denominator of dealing with humans.

As I gave all these examples about the internet and technology, in general, are great. But for the same reason, they are great. Its same reason why they fall short. When talking about the internet in positive utopia terms. People forget the importance of the words everyone, anything, anywhere. Everyone can create content. Your lovely neighbour to the hate-filled bigot. People can find anything from cell theory to the Illuminati. People can connect to each other from anywhere, from your cousin who moved out of the country. To the flat earthers finding other likeminded people.