The Internet: The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Horrible

The phenomenal World-Wide Web or ‘Internet’ has been in public existence for about 30 years. Many now alive can recall its humble beginnings and also remember what life was like pre-Internet. (Imagine, back then people used their phones to talk to each other!)

For the sake of brevity, I’ll call the pre-Internet period ‘B.I.’ (Before Internet) and the last 20 years ‘P.I.’ for Post-Internet. I can’t use A.I. — After Internet — since ‘A.I.’ is, well, already taken and is also a big part of the unfolding story.

Notice, I call only the last 20 years the P.I. period — even though the Internet entered the scene far earlier. That’s because 1995–2005 was the roughly decade-long period of transition from B.I. to P.I., and as such fits into neither framework. The mass Internet ‘takeover’ wasn’t in full force until about 2005, and the smartphone ‘revolution’ didn’t begin until 2008.

That said, it seems that now — 20 years into P.I. — is a perfect time to evaluate the various impacts and social effects of the Internet and sort out its positives from its negatives. Today, the Internet is a ‘given’ in most modern societies and nations, but it is still a relatively new technology and social force. In truth, we are just beginning to understand its potent effects on individuals and entire societies.

A wondrous new communication system starts to… devolve

It’s important to note that the Internet is primarily a new communication technology. This may seem obvious, but the Internet has become so commercialized over the past 20 years that it’s hard to even remember its initial glorious impact.

Email! Instant access to worldwide databases and information! The ability to connect with people and groups all over the world! Remote work! Free online music! It was all quite amazing and wonderful… and wonderfully non-commercial. Briefly. But that early euphoria was over well before 2005.

To be clear, the wonderful aspects of the Internet are (mainly) still there and readily available. Yet, they’ve increasingly been swamped by other, less desirable forces such as social media ‘siloing,’ Internet addiction, and widespread extremist and far-right ‘influencing.’

Also, the surge in smartphone usage led to a corresponding surge in texting and direct messaging as opposed to actually calling on the phone and talking to people (or leaving a voicemail). Oddly, the ‘telephone’ aspect of smartphone usage has declined to the point that hardly anyone makes calls or leaves voice messages anymore!

This counter-intuitive trend seems to be worsening the ‘loneliness epidemic’ that’s overtaking our young people and smartphone users in general — since our current one-sided ‘communication’ style involves NO direct, open communication or interpersonal give-and-take.

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Of course, it didn’t have to be this way; people could have opted to keep using the telephone function and actually talk. But it’s (supposedly) ‘easier’ to just message someone than to call and be forced into a two-way interaction or to leave a voicemail. Plus, DMs allow the user to control the situation and not be forced to react in real time.

That is, they encourage people to be more fearful and controlling and less relational. And clearly, these tendencies are not conducive to satisfying relationships and fulfilling communication. That’s one of the burgeoning negative effects of the Internet.

A host of harmful unintended consequences

Before going further, I must point out that the way we relate to and use/abuse the Internet is purely a function of human consciousness — or unconsciousness. Any pervasive and highly influential new technology can have massive effects, but a pervasive and, some say, ‘addictive’ communication technology is sure to have major unintended consequences (inner and outer) along with some expected ones.

It’s in the realm of widespread unintended consequences that most of the ugliness and horrors of the Internet have taken shape and accelerated. I can see at least five harmful unintended consequences that have a major ongoing impact on our personal and social lives:

1) Social media have morphed from a cool new way to stay in touch with people or create ‘meet-ups,’ into a breeding ground for disinformation, group-think, misogyny, racism, wild conspiracy theories, and political extremism.

2) Many people have developed crushing FOMO (fear of missing out) and feel compelled to check their phones constantly for messages, new ‘viral’ trends, and the latest influencer videos. It’s been documented that many people check their phones up to 200 times daily — which is just bonkers, in my opinion. Plus, many people are totally ‘hooked’ on social media like Meta (Facebook), ‘X,’ Instagram, TikTok, etc. and engage in endless, time-devouring ‘doomscrolling.’

3) The rapid development and deployment of A.I. — Artificial Intelligence — is threatening to replace human beings in many tasks and paying jobs, and is already doing so. The ‘wonders’ of A.I. are countered by its profound destabilizing effects on industry, teaching, and especially paid human labor. Tech ‘oligarchs’ and technocrats seek to use A.I. to, in effect, take over the world and transform civilization and the global economy — whether we like it or not. Plus, there’s the huge added problem that A.I. and rampant ‘data mining’ require a massive number of giant ‘data centers,’ which in turn require tremendous amounts of electricity and scarce water.

4) The Internet has enabled and promoted the rapid growth of both the ‘surveillance state’ and constant corporate surveillance. Everyone under the sun wants our personal ‘data,’ for reasons ranging from legitimate to highly manipulative and deceptive. Our personal information, preferences, and buying habits have been totally ‘commodified’ — and are bought and sold on the Internet like any other product. Plus, the Internet offers a vast global platform for increasingly audacious fraud, cyberwarfare, and ransomware attacks.

5) As folks spend more and more time on the Internet and surrender their attention (and lives) to its infinite variety of interactions with acquaintances, total strangers, ‘influencers,’ and ‘fake news,’ most people’s real lives, relationships, personal needs, and even crucial ongoing tasks or demands fall by the wayside and either don’t get enough attention or simply don’t get done. For many people, compulsive Internet use ends up replacing vital aspects of their personal lives — with truly terrible, painful results including increased anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

Internet addiction is spiking

As you’ve probably noticed, these problematic aspects of the Internet are linked to each other and tend to be both destabilizing and mutually reinforcing. The bottom line, it seems to me, is that billions of people have been sucked into a massively influential and socially irresponsible global media system called ‘the Internet.’

By now, many if not most have become heavily addicted to its endless siren-like lures, options, videos (wow, cute cat videos!!), fake news, and, quite often, extremist, violence-prone viewpoints. This final intensifying ‘lure’ has led to a troubling new category of social and political extremism: online radicalization.

The strong tendency for people to get deeplyaddicted to constant Internet use — and in effect ‘lose themselves’ in the Net — tells me that our current human consciousness and maturity level are simply not ready for such a momentous, transformative technology. Over the past 20 years, the Internet has largely been taken over by a combination of greedy commercial interests and malign ‘bad actors’ trying to sway public opinion to support hate, White supremacy, misogyny, racism, and fascism.

The Internet’s negative impacts far outweigh its positive effects

Thus, my overall ‘review’ of the Internet and its rapid spread and adoption must be mainly negative. Human beings are simply too unconscious, too emotionally ‘primitive’ and reactive, and/or mentally lazy and immature to use a vast and complex communication tool like the Internet in moral, intelligent, and positive ways.

While I value the Internet greatly and depend on it for certain interactions, email, Zoom meetings, etc. — hell, I’m writing this essay to publish it on the Internet, for heaven’s sake! — I would give it all up in an instant if I knew for sure that its malign, addictive influence would disappear from the earth and its inhabitants.

We humans just can’t seem to handle this widespread new ‘communication technology,’ and it looks like we may well destroy ourselves (and much of the planet) before we can ever mature sufficiently, as a species, to make consistent positive use of the Internet.

If or when human consciousness and relating evolve to a much ‘higher level’ (for lack of a better term), then — and only then — would we truly be ready for an intense and ubiquitous new technology like the Internet. Since we’re clearly not ‘there’ yet… well, humanity as a whole is simply not ready for the Internet.

Thus, the Internet will continue to be a grim reflection of our woeful unconsciousness, greed, gullibility, and ‘group-think.’ Scarily, it will primarily be a destructive, divisive force and will never reach its best, most positive potential.

WE — humanity as a whole — have to change, mature, and ‘grow up’ for a more positive, visionary version of the Internet to develop. Only then could it fulfill its potential and help us attain our full potential.