To ask what you would do about the internet?

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Imagine you were given two choices.

First, the internet would disappear and never reappear. It would be like it never existed in the first place, all harms undone, but also anything positive also undone.

OR

Second, everything just carries on as it is now (in respect of the internet)

Which would you choose?

And before anyone asks, no, there isn’t a middle way - it’s one or the other.

Keep it. As a disabled woman, it’s what allows
me to work and maintain a modicum of independence that would not exist without it.

Keep!!!
my life would be dead/old without it.

Interesting ...

I was only talking to my 14yo the other day how a pre Internet teen got to acess information to study or follow their interests. (I was a pre Internet nerd)

My teen was amazed that I bothered to cycle something like 5 miles one way to the next town in order to visit the library!

So yes, keep the Internet!! (But I agree, children should have very restricted access, no social media and the dark Web needs to dissappear!)

This! Can we keep MN though?

I watched a fantastic podcast last night in Diary of a CEO. The absolutely devastating impact phones/SM use is going to have for our younger generations as they grow is astonishing. It really saddened me beyond belief.
The impact on all of us and how we form and maintain connections and much more was horrifying.
I hate SM. I love MN . Maybe that's a contradiction

i grew up without the internet - but I had dial up by the time I was at uni. It’s always been a feature of work in some way shape or form. My entire life has been enabled or enhanced by the internet…both work and personal. I definitely wouldn’t go back.

Get rid. I think the world was a better place without it. I was born in 1985, so I remember life prior, but I also grew up alongside the Internet. Obviously, it has many advantages, and I love the convenience of it, but I truly believe the world would be happier without it.

Undo EVERYTHING the Internet has done? So set us back years in medical advancements for example, because the Internet has helped facilitate doctors talking and testing things much quicker

Or isolate minorities even more? Leave them in unsafe situations and without the ability to find help and advice?

Or advancements in other technology?

Relationships built around the Internet no longer existing, wiping out children born of such relationships, not saving the lives of people who have been talked out of dangerous situations because of them, erasing creative works built around Internet relationships

removing the Internet would remove so much more than "just" the Internet and the bad stuff

Or, if we banned all sexual content, would that include sex advice?

And that's ignoring the fact it's a slippery slope to censorship, which never works out well.

Do without.

I only use it for mumsnet, telephone numbers and banking. I could easily go back to reading the newspaper, using the yellow pages and going to the bank (still do sometimes). Still watch TV.

I still arrange my insurance and manage bills over the phone.

My kids (late teens) don’t have social media and talk to their friends over their laptops but could easily use the phone. They both game a bit but games existed before the internet. They’d rather play sport, run and use the gym.

Same, the sheer amount of independence I would lose would be awful

To disappear and things to be as they were

I think it's very easy now for us to take the internet for granted without fully realising how far-reaching it is in all our lives now. Even folk who don't have computers or smartphones and never go online themselves still very much rely on the internet for their lives now - the same way that I have never driven a lorry (and, I'm sure, never will), but I still thoroughly depend on them to get food and other goods to my local shops for me to buy.

You know how, when there's a power cut, the first thing you instinctively go to do is to put the light on to find your phone or be able to see what's going on (or is that just me?!) - because you just don't live in a world without electricity available pretty much on demand... that's what the internet has become now.

Or, if we banned all sexual content, would that include sex advice?

And that's ignoring the fact it's a slippery slope to censorship, which never works out well.

I wondered this as well. Imagine going on to the world's premier information source, frantic with worry about unexpected bleeding during intercourse or concerned that your baby boy might have hypospadias or whatever - and some algorithm crunches your search and returns a blank screen that just tells you you're a filthy pervert who shouldn't be allowed access to the internet.

Of course, it SHOULD be very easy to distinguish between genuine sex advice and nasty porn, but there would be lots of areas where things may be blurred or seriously misinterpreted by a bot that not only denies you the ability to gain reassurance about a delicate intimate medical issue, but then maybe also reports you to the authorities in a 'minority report' way.

I'm probably overthinking this, but it could even end up being the online equivalent of the paediatrician who was subjected to a hate campaign and hounded out of their home, by severely 'hard-of-thinking' types who only bothered to see the first four letters.

I probably wouldn't have a job without it, as I work in tech.

I have access to much more information more easily with it. I've made RL friends thanks to it. It's easier to check travel, to book tickets for theatres, exhibitions, all sorts of events. I can easily and cheaply contact friends all round the world.

Yes, there are problems with it, but that doesn't mean it should go entirely. Knives are used to kill people, but that doesn't mean we should get rid of them entirely either.

Get rid. A middle way would be to go back before what used to be called “web 2.0”, so no user-generated content, only stuff that you could consume. But if it’s all or nothing, definitely nothing.

It’s wonderful!
Internet Archive for ancient texts and books
Plus keeping in touch with distant people.
Great.

BUT it is addictive .

In an interminable post office queue currently
Phone makes it bearable.

A lot of people underestimate the effect of the internet on things like product development.

It makes getting information much easier. And people can leverage that to design better and faster devices, either from the information itself or from tools that people have created and used on the net.

These devices include everything from things that people might view as negative (sex robots and weapons) to positive (medical devices and educational).

Basically like with books, information, ideas concepts spread. And that pushes development further in all areas and hopefully leads to massively increased progress.

The internet itself is largely amoral, like any tool. It's how we chose to use it that defines what it becomes.

And if you don't want bits of it, it is relatively easy to avoid. There are plenty of bits of it that I have never gone to, just as I have never felt the need to go to a physical sex shop. People moaning about how it's a cess pit yet staying on it or going to particular parts and complaining about it are something of a mystery to me.

Keep it including social media. What needs to change is the older generation and the social norms they are passing down. We grew up with the internet yes their are photos id rather forget but for our generation it's a urgh remember that ick vs the drama that seems to go into some things now. Social media needs to remain as a virtual space that doesn't influence real life that can only change with changing acceptance.

Maybe AI can be used to track and delete child porn in the future which to me is the main issue we have.

Of course, it SHOULD be very easy to distinguish between genuine sex advice and nasty porn, but there would be lots of areas where things may be blurred or seriously misinterpreted by a bot that not only denies you the ability to gain reassurance about a delicate intimate medical issue, but then maybe also reports you to the authorities in a 'minority report' way.

There is already evidence of this online.

Things like YT blocking content for "copyright" despite the fact the content is under free use meaning creators have to go through an arduous process of complaints and reviews to prove that, yes actually you can use these clips because it's for review purposes

Or when Tumblr changed its policy on nudity - firstly only banning "female presenting nipples" rather than all nipples and then the fact it allowed medical pictures and "art" (which is a broad term anyway, allowing wide interpretation) but they would still get flagged and deleted. And then it also flagged other things which it's bots just "thought" was nudity - like clothes, cats, a wall etc...

Leaving it to AI would be bad for 2 reasons. 1, AI is growing but is still fallible and 2, we should not let AI have that much control

I think you need to unpack that one a bit more. Drama about social media is old people’s fault because what now?!

Biased but yes, we can keep Mumsnet. The difference to me is Mumsnet is anonymous so it isn't all about the fake online persona and the likes etc etc.

I think the narcissism of social media is having such a huge and damaging effect on society.

@Mumteedum I absolutely agree. I can't stand SM and very much enjoy the anonymity of MN. I also appreciate not having to like endless pictures of people's children 🤷‍♀️😄

I'd have to say keep.
While a lot of it is awful, it allows me to work from home. I can buy things I couldn't get otherwise, organise trips away/abroad easily. Those are just the main things but then there's 100 other smaller reasons I wouldn't want to be without it.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I mute all my mum friends on Instagram 🤣🤣🤣

Keep it..I think it has done way more good than harm. I could not live my life without it.

Keep it of course. People have to take responsibility for themselves and the young people in their care.