The Internet in our Everyday Lives

The Internet has basically changed the way the world works, and will work in the future. From personal communications to business communications, the Internet, e-mail and all of the capabilities that come with it have forever changed the way we live our lives.

As Mark Poster says in “CyberDemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere”, the Internet “opens new positions of speech, empowering previously excluded groups and enabling new aspects of social life to become part of the political process.” Basically, those without a voice, now have one because of the Internet. It gives people a place to speak their mind, voice their opinions, and receive feedback on those feelings. In this way, peoples everyday lives have become more of a public domain, it gives them a gateway to reach everyone, everywhere. The PEW reports also show that people are using the Internet to become more informed in every aspect of life. As with politics, it shows that people who use the Internet know more about candidates, issues and even more about subjects that are the opposite of what they believe. It gives citizens a greater knowledge of all things.

To me personally, the biggest effect the Internet has had on society is through creating and keeping relationships. This includes friends, family, co-workers and other relationships. The Internet “bridges great distances” (The Internet and Social Life). In this article I didn’t find it surprising at all that the final conclusions they came to were that the Internet actually created connections with both family and friends and that it really does not deviate from the one-on-one contact that people have with each other. The Internet to me just provides another portal or means of communications with them. It also doesn’t surprise me that they found that Internet users are more involved in the community. The Internet is useful in finding organizations to be in, and then also keeping in contact with the members of these organizations.

I believe the overall effects of the Internet are very positive. It allows everyone to have access to a great deal of information as well as gives them a portal to express their opinions and gain the opinions of other people. It keeps people in contact through both short and long distances and allows people to be more open and social with the world around them.