What is Internet? Explain advantages and disadvantages of Internet in society.

Internet is the interconnection of millions of computer networks with millions of computer connected with the standard Internet Protocol suite (often called TCP/IP). It serves more than half of the world’s population on the basis of number of users worldwide. It is the network of various computer networks worldwide which are linked by using different electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. It consists of different web servers and their clients along with workstation. Internet has an extensive range of information resources and services like the interlinked hypertext documents of WWW (World Wide Web) and the infrastructure to support email.

Internet has become very popular through the course of nearly 2-3 decades. Today, 1 in 3 people have access to the Internet and the number is growing rapidly. Through the help of the WWW, the internet has become very useful and it has brought the whole world in a single room. Some of the advantages of the Internet in society are described below:

1. E-mail: E-mail is the fastest and most reliable way of sending and receiving mails or messages to and fro through the Internet. Because of the internet, we can send email to people who are very far from us in just a few clicks within a few seconds. Email is a lot faster than the traditional mailing system of writing letters and sending through post box which takes a lot of time. Our messages are instantly delivered to people anywhere in the world. It is free to use which makes it very advantageous when comparing with telephone, fax and postal services.
2. Buying and selling products: We can buy and sell products in a very less time through the Internet. This is known as e-commerce. There are many online stores and sites that can be used to search and buy products using our credit card. We can also sell our products by creating an account in those websites. We shouldn’t leave our home because we can do all our shopping through the Internet.
3. Easy to find job: We can use the internet to find and give jobs. There are many freelancing sites or company websites where we can get jobs easily and there are many websites to find and hire job seekers easily. Those sites also allow us to connect with employers and job seekers.
4. Easy to share and find information: Any kind of information on any topic is available on the Internet. There are many search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. where we can get information on any subject matter. We can also share information through various websites. Students use the Internet as a guide to their homeworks.
5. Easy to meet and talk with people: There are many websites on the Internet where we can meet and talk with people whom we don’t know. We can also talk with our friends, family and relatives. There are different community sites like Reddit, where we can ask questions to people and get answers and we can share our creations there so that they can reach more people. There are many social networking and micro-blogging sites on the Internet like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc. where we can meet people of similar interests and discuss common issues as well as establish relationships. There are many sites like LinkedIn, where entrepreneurs can build their own personal and business brand.
6. Easier and faster services: Different services of the government such as getting driving license, passports, citizenship certificates, etc. are now provided on the internet along with other important services like job seeking, ticket booking, online banking, etc. These services cost nearly half or they are completely free in comparison to the availability in real life. We can get other services too through the Internet.
7. Easy to send instant messages: There are many chat rooms on the Internet where we can meet new people, make new friends as well as to stay in touch with friends, families, relatives and co-workers. We can do voice calling or video calling too for free through WiFi or in very low cost through data connections on the Internet. We can use Facebook, MSN, Skype, Viber, Yahoo! Messenger, etc. for these purposes. We can send instant messages through these sites.
8. Entertainment: There are various sites on the Internet where we can be entertained. There are various games which can be played online with multiplayer features on the Internet. We can make our own servers for free or with payment to play multiplayer games. We can watch different movies, films, videos, animated clips, cartoons, etc. through various sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, etc. We can also listen to new or old songs and music on the Internet through different services like iCloud. We can also find latest news or find new hobbies on the Internet.

There are many other advantages of the Internet, which can’t be completed describing, but these are some of the major advantages of the Internet.

Like other things, the Internet doesn’t have advantages only, but it also has some disadvantages or negative impacts on the society. Some of them are listed below:-

1. Our personal information can be captured by cyber criminals on the Internet. It is known as identity theft.
2. Our bank accounts, credit card information, email accounts, web server information, websites, social media accounts can be hacked and compromised by hackers.
3. Crackers can crack paid softwares and make them free and upload them on the Internet.
4. There are many criminals waiting for unsuspecting and innocent people to put them in dangerous situations.
5. Some people or bots (automated scripts) can send us email containing fake information like winning lottery, winning free giveaways, etc. Many people have become the victims of those spams and scams.
6. Some people might put viruses in email attachments and send to us. Some people might inject viruses into different softwares and upload to their websites and when we download them, our computers get infected.
7. Some people steal the articles and softwares and creations of famous as well as infamous people and put their names into them and put on the Internet. This is considered as plagiarism.
8. Some people might send us unnecessary messages on social medias or blackmail us by performing various skills like editing our photos and videos, swapping faces, etc. and making them viral on the Internet which causes depression in us which can result in death by committing suicide or due to heart-attack. This is called harassment.
9. Children can be victims of explicit contents which contain blood or other violating or depressing objects easily on the Internet. It can cause them a lot by turning them into criminals. This is a very serious issue in young children which affect their future.
10. Some people act as douche-bags on the Internet by doing various things on social media websites which can result them into dangerous situations in real life such as being attacked, being threatened, etc.

These are some of the major disadvantages of the Internet in the society. There are many other disadvantages of the Internet in the society.