Advantages and disadvantages of the internet

The Internet has been perhaps the most outstanding innovation in the field of communication in the history of mankind. As with every single innovation, the Internet has its own advantages and disadvantages. But usually, greater magnitude of advantages outweighs its disadvantages.

Today the Internet has brought a globe in a single room. Right from news across the corner of the world, wealth of information to shopping, purchasing the tickets of your favourite movie.

Advantages

Communication

The main target of the Internet has always been the communication. By the advent of the Internet, our earth has become a global village. Now we can communicate with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world.

Information

Information is probably the biggest advantage the Internet offers. Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it is almost required that students should use the Internet for research purpose of gathering resources.

Entertainment

Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the entertainments. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet.

Services

Many services are now provided on the Internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets. Often these services are not available off-line or can cost you more.

E-Commerce

It has got a really amazing and wide range of products from technology to household needs.

Disadvantages

Theft of personal information

If you use the Internet, you may be facing danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number, etc. can be accessed and used by a criminal.

Spamming

Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails, which provide no purpose and obstruct the entire system.

Virus threat

Computers attached to the Internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk.

Pornography

This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your children’s healthy mental life.

Text 13

Task 1

Before reading match the words below to make word partners.

1. global a. chat rooms

2. surf b. privacy

3. visit c. danger

4. download d. village

5. household e. needs

6. face f. disk

7. hard g. the Internet

8. respect h. games

Task 2

Now use the word partners to complete these sentences.

1. McLuhan believes that the world is rapidly becoming a ________, in which mankind is interconnected by contemporary technology, especially television and the world wide web.

2. This method will allow you to _________ without leaving any information about what browser you're using, which computer system you have.

3. Many people who ________ use them as a place to discuss their problems and get a kind of a support.

4. People of all ages visit special free sites to safely ___________ of high quality.

5. You are not computer addict, so low-powered computer is suitable for all your _________.

6. How does computer software usually react when it ________ of virus attack?

7. _____ can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 200GB.

8. Sites like Facebook must ___________. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites.

Task 3

Skim the text and say what the main idea of it is.

Task 4

Read the text again and give your ideas on what could help Zack to understand that Professor Butz's Web page wasn't a reliable source of information? To understand the text better use the vocabulary given below:

validate ['vælɪdeɪt] v перевіряти надійність

proof [pru:f] (n) доказ

belief [bɪ'li:f] (n) переконання

reliable [rɪ'laɪ əbl] (adj) надійний, якому можна довіряти

reliable information правдива, перевірена

reliable source джерело

low-key (adj) 1) стриманий

2) гамма теплих тонів

Associate Professor доцент університету

widespread ['waɪdspred] (adj) широко поширений

erroneous [ɪ'rəυnɪəs] (adj) помилковий

typhus ['taɪfəs] (n) висипний тиф

fit the bill задовільняти вимоги

to boot до того ж, на додаток

THE WEB – TEACHING ZACK TO THINK

As more and more students access the Internet for research, it's important that they learn how to validate online information. The Internet is a place where you can find "proof" of almost any belief system that you can imagine. And, for too many students, "If it's on the Internet, it must be true."

The following story is also true.

Fourteen-year-old Zack was asked to research a unique topic for his history class. Zack knew a bit about using reliable sources on the Internet, so when he found some information on a Web page on the US Northwestern University site he felt sure that he had found a reliable source of information for his project. The topic was unique too–Holocaust Revisionism–Zack had never heard of that before, so he decided to write his history paper on "How the Holocaust Never Happened."

Zack found his "information" from a Web page at http://pubweb. northwestern.edu/~abutz/ (no longer at this URL), titled "Home Web Page of Arthur R. Butz." On his low-key home page, Butz explained that he wrote "A short introduction to the study of Holocaust revisionism" and that his material was intended for "advanced students of Holocaust revisionism."

At the top of the page Butz identified himself as "Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University". His article began with the following: "I see principal reasons for the widespread but erroneous belief in the legend of millions of Jews killed by the Germans during World War II:

During both world wars Germany was forced to fight typhus… That was one of the main reasons for a high death rate in the camps, and the crematoria...

Look at the above situation from the perspective of a 14-year-old, untrained to think critically about information. He's researching the Holocaust, and suddenly finds this Web page. His teacher told him to find a unique topic, and this certainly fit the bill. The page is simple and clear. It's written in a calm, logical tone. The page is clearly intended for experts in its field. Best of all is the source: Northwestern University! And a professor to boot! Perfect.