To ask older Mumsnetters if you think the internet has improved or denigrated society?

[Appalonia]

I'm 59 so grew up without the internet. Although I accept it's created a lot of good things, I can't help but think that's it's also created huge issues in the world that just wouldn't have existed without it. For example:

Violent, misogynistic porn that's available to children
Incel culture
The death of the high street
No one talking on the phone anymore, and young people refusing to answer the phone
Revenge porn
Musicians finding it v hard to make a living due to streaming
Anxiety in young people
Trans ideology and young pp being groomed online
The lack of customer service from companies
Loneliness and isolation
The polarisation of political views
Fake news

And so much more. Obviously we can't go back, but sometimes I think we had no idea what would happen when we unleashed this onto the world... Curious to know what other pp think...?

I’m your target age group and was an early adopter of the internet and web. Due to my profession most people I knew/know were innovators in the technology. It was a game changing and fantastic connectivity tool.

I personally think it all went wrong when it became over commercialised and open to everyone. It is now a ubiquitous way of life and there is very little regulation (which there shouldn’t be IMO). But from Web 2.0 onwards I suppose there has to be some control as it is now an essential part of everyday life.

I note that all your negatives are caused by how people use it rather than the technology itself. I think maybe it is a people problem than an internet problem. In that sense maybe more policing of WWW could be justified. Most people in industry or pander for the “old times” use internet infrastructure these in other ways and avoid the traditional web.

I'm 50 and I agree with you.

There are obviously positives - Internet banking, online shopping, Amazon, email...

But even those have associated negatives of which we are all aware.

Old as the hills here. The big mistake was unleashing the internet un policed on the world. Exposed children to the worst of humanity probably corrupting and exposing them to all sorts of influences. Enabled perversion and cruelty to be normalised. The legal system has been slow to respond but then money talks. Definitely more harm than good.

But the reality is, it's here to stay, so it's learning to navigate it, and teaching your children how to use it safely is essential.

This is the thing. I'm not on Facebook and my Twitter is mainly benign as I don't talk politics on it. I belong to a certain hobby group so it's mainly about that. I'm also a news/knowledge junkie.

Crucially children's internet use needs to be safely and strictly managed. I've read horror stories of primary school kids acting out porn that they're addicted to. Boys being influenced by the manosphere and people like Andrew Tate, children being bullied and groomed and young people being radicalised with TikTok videos.

Lots of good things about it, particularly the ease of gaining information and updates, but I'm glad I grew up without it so have known both worlds.

I think people extolling the benefits of looking things up easily and accessing things instantly are proving a negative, because one of the disadvantages of the internet and how we access it (instantly and on the go) is causing people to seek instant gratification, no one can wait for anything now, everything must be 'known' right now, authorities or police/health/emergency services must divulge whats happened even before they have finished analysing it themselves, kids are growing up with very poor social skills and attention spans, inability to focus.

I see the balance has tipped and overall I believe its negative but obviously with parts that can support us.

I am old enough that my children grew up mainly without the internet as dial up was the thing when they were teenagers and mobiles hadn't really taken off yet. I think there are obviously lots of benefits mainly in the timesaving and money saving way but I do think it's ruining many of our young people. Many seem to be rotting their minds with puerile videos, subject to massive bullying, grooming and porn issues and not really harnessing the internet for anything very inspiring or useful.

I hate with a passion ringing some organisation for specific reason to be on hold for up to an hour while a recorded voice keeps telling me that the answers to most queries are on the website.

Yes, that is so annoying. I hate the presumption that either you haven't bothered to check the website or you're too thick to find your way around it. No one rings up to become 109th in the call queue without having first exhausted all other possible ways to resolve a problem.

The other thing that occurs to me is that when one tries to discuss the impact of all this glorious technological progress, and how the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, the argument is always made that it's just a case of adapting and we've been through these cycles before etc etc.

However, this technology is so new and so fast moving, we haven't seen anything quite like it before.

Data is now one of the most valuable commodities in the world, and the drive to profit from it is incessant. Algorithms are carefully designed to manipulate, be it to consume, push us in political or ideological directions or just waste time (My name is MistressiftheDarkSide and I'm a Gardenscapes addict).

It is nigh on impossible to just "step away" from the Internet and it is designed to be addictive.

We are guinea pigs in an experiment that may have few predictable outcomes. This bothers me.

I think it’s good, but should be much, much more regulated. All the stuff on Twitter/x recently has shown that.

Almost all negative, the few positives are vastly outweighed.

"I note that all your negatives are caused by how people use it rather than the technology itself. I think maybe it is a people problem than an internet problem".

I'm same age as the OP and I agree with this. The fact that we can actually have this discussion like this is enormous.

Made it worse. I miss life before the internet.

People said this about the printing press and libraries

Agreed. For so many internet users, social media is their sole source of information rather than the world wide web I can remember being excited about when first going online in 1999.

I see so many posters in one of our local FB groups asking when is the next train or when is a certain shop open. Why not use the internet to search for the correct information instead of taking a random person's word for it. Or maybe they cba searching

I'm 65+ and feel very out of step, also highly concerned at how social media is a resource being exploited by companies and political parties etc to manipulate people's behaviour

The balance has tipped to negative. Pretty sick of it now.

Hardly an equivalent argument given that printing presses and libraries didn't come with the ability to shut down entire infrastructures at the press of a button, nor incite people to riot through disinformation passed on countrywide within hours of a tragedy hijacked for political gain.

I would go back to pre-internet days in a heartbeat, despite spending a huge amount of time on it myself. I recognise it's had some good effects but the bad far outweighs the good imo, we managed without it before and I would be happy to manage without it again if I thought we could reverse the damage it's done to society.

I'm a xennial so grew up without it, and it came in as I was at university. I think generally it is positive but social media and internet porn have both fucked society enormously

The fear mongering that came from the general population having access to all this knowledge was similar. The worry was all these books and all this learning could lead to revolutions and loss of power. Whole rebellions were formulated due to the ability to mass produce pamphlets and leaflets.

It's an undisputed fact that social media bad for society. There are no redeeming features.

The rest of the internet is useful.

MN is social media though.

Yes and I think this site is one of the many positive things that has come from the internet. Seeing women question whether they are in an abusive relationship and the support that they get to safely leave it, is phenomenal. Having a private, safe space for women to discuss their issues, and the warm, wise, tender care they've received from other women is absolutely priceless. I only wish the rest of the internet was like this place!

For information I think it is amazing. The social side of it though - I'd go as far as to say it's ruined the world. I'd give anything to go back in time when life was simpler, nobody envied others on such a grand scale by being bombarded constantly by material items and images of perfection. I'm so grateful I had the childhood I had.

Yes, and it's on the internet - but that isn't the point.