How the Internet Has Changed the World

In Terrorist Using Net for Propaganda , Recruiting, Discussion Boards, Online Forums Can Provide Investigators With Leads Jesdanun (2004), states that in recent months, al-Qaida-linked terror groups and their sympathizers haves made a big splash on the Internet, making it their communications channel of choice. They're benefiting from free discussion boards, e-mail accounts and other online forums for propaganda, recruitment, fund-raising and even planning. Terror groups organize crime online in the name of their religion. In The Daily Telegraph Steele (2007) reports that Muslim doctors used a chat site to plan U.S. raids. Yet another troubling side to the internet is pornography. Online porn exists in all forms. It is very accessible to children and children need to be supervised when they are online. In spite of the wonders of the Internet we now also have a much larger scope of problems that are difficult to police. The global connection can be a cultural awakening in both positive and negative ways. Like all other forms of mass  communications it too has its dark side.

The Internet exercises the freedom of the press and ultimately, it is the responsiblility of parents and caretakers to monitor all internet access of their children. In Teens and the Internet; Isolating Tendency of Medium is a Cause for Concern (2005), the unsigned editiorial states that we need to look for ways to ensure that the ever-expanding plethora of personal technologies doesn't further isolate individuals from the larger community. Modern life has empowered the individual in ways undreamed of by our ancestors. But there is a price to pay in a world where we communicate better from a distance than close at hand. Future: There are many predictions for the future of the Internet. In Text Experts Predict We May Become Pet Of Robots, Per Survey Says; Lee (2006) writes that future technological advances may see “humans becoming pets of robots. In Clothes Make a Statement Electronically Researchers See A Day When You Will Update Your Style With a Click Of A Mouse Enemark (2006) envisions that you can only wear one outfit a day, and most of us have a finite supply of clothes. Clothing and accessories that can change their "look," however, could make physical fashion as dynamic as Web culture. While these ideas sound like a chapter out of a George Orwell or Ray Bradbury science fiction novel. Who could have imagined twenty years ago the progress of mass communications and the Internet today?

Twenty years ago the technology we currently are using did seem like science fiction. In the future we will continue to debate online personal privacy and the First Amendment. Our technology will become even more intelligent and sophisticated. As a nation we need to ask tough questions now about addressing these issues. The Internet is our most powerful invention in the last one hundred years. But like all tools of modern technology it has a positive and a negative side. We as Americans and citizens of the world need to use our human brain to think critically and use the Internet effectively in a positive fashion. We still need the power of human reasoning and ingenuity . We need to remember to use the Internet as a tool for making political decisions, continuing with our country's economic growth and understanding cultures different from our own. If we can overcome the negative side of the Internet and use it as it was intended, we can truly see our dreams for the future materialize into a global reality.