Is the Internet bringing us closer to an information/knowledge society or exacerbating hysteria and mental health problems?

The danger of social media on a user's mental health has been well documented, bullying, doxing, cyberstalking, and algorithms to anger users or even spread hate speech - as anger often triggers clicks, become traumatic and dangerous experiences for countless users. Many of these social media platforms have also repeatedly proven themselves completely inept at regulating content on their platforms. On Facebook alone scandals and failures keep cropping up in recent years, such as the spread of misinformation during elections, censoring photography Vietnam War Photography, or refusing to curb the spread of hate speech and violent extremism, to name just a few.

Twitter's track record is not much better, but while regulating social media may pose risks, going too far may be seen as censorship and there may be some economic ramifications, the problems are too severe to ignore. Social media companies should be regulated like any other media company, this doesn't have to mean making them less competitive, but should protect users from algorithms that might harm them, society, or democracy, and protect them from bullying. Lying needs to be rejected, not fact checked, as social media companies need to do more to take libellous, slanderous, and bullying posts and materials seriously.

thehill.com/opinion/national-security/354006-regulate-social-media-just-like-other-media news.com.au/technology/online/social/how-facebook-google-algorithms-feed-on-hate-speech-rage/news-story/d749b9f630b1caeeefa6946ddd0eb079 article19.org/resources/regulating-social-media-need-new-model-protects-free-expression psychcongress.com/article/cyberbullying-linked-range-mental-health-effects mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2665/pdf

Although there are many negative aspects to the current level of integration of networking technology in our daily lives there are also many positive aspects that will have a more revolutionary outcomes in time. The internet will lead to economic and financial transformations that alleviate poverty, increased education that will lessen inequality and closed-mindedness, better communication that will increase happiness and increased transparency that could stamp out corruption. Furthermore as the information age progresses greater education on a casual level will make people more mindful of their habits and will help people make better, more informed decisions. As some of the excesses of the Internet are better understood the Internet itself could aid users in limiting or curbing their use of it for health/lifestyle reasons.

whoishostingthis.com/13reasons

The majority of internet use is harmful in some way; it’s actually taking people away from the natural world, minimising natural interactions and harming societies and individual’s relationships. The internet has been associated with negatively effecting communication, negatively effecting people’s health by encouraging a sedentary lifestyle, as well as complicating social developmental issues such as bullying, sexual development and relationship forming. Furthermore the internet is exacerbating modern forms of addiction in the form of video games or pornography for example, not to mention wider issues of crime, terrorism and identity theft. If we are not careful we may be sleepwalking or “sleep-clicking” ourselves into a number of unforeseen social and health epidemics, internet usage needs to be thoroughly analysed, reduced and better integrated into a more wholesome and natural life moving forward.

aspen.review/article/2017/internet-social-media-changing-culture livestrong.com/article/516549-physical-and-social-effects-of-internet-use-in-children