A Million Reasons Why the Internet is Beneficial

Blendspace: Are we using the Internet, or is the Internet using us?

If you have used the Internet before, there should be at least one reason why such medium has changed our lives for the better.

The Internet IS our new source of knowledge and WE are using the Internet!

Most of us - including students, teachers, and parents - are almost completely dependent on the Internet; we are able to accomplish anything online and find anything we need. The Internet is like an idea bank that can freely be used 24-hours a day.

Although in the modern study not the entire population of the globe can access the Internet, if you are one of those people are can, then you must acknowledge and be aware of the fact that the Internet brings forth great accomplishments and better improves our standards of living.

1. The Internet can help overcome health issues!

A lot of the Internet users, especially teenagers and young adults are able to grasp a lot of information about topics that they feel uneasy and awkward talking about in person with either friends or family members.

These topics may include, depression, sexuality, pregnancy, smoking, and drug uses.

For example, the website above is a database for in which students experiencing depression or other emotional disturbances could visit in order to get physical or mental advice. Health websites such as Students Against Depression could ultimately lead in creating a more healthier environment, especially at school communities.

2. The Internet can help people learn!

Access to the Internet can vastly increase the number of educated population. The Internet is the resource that has always been open to most people in urban areas of the world. The usage of Internet can increase the number of university graduates.

Through research, it has been proven that those students who have access to the Internet at home is 8% more likely to graduate than those students who do not.

In addition, whether we are attending high-school or university, a great number of online courses are available to allow students to  pursue more suitable learning in faraway places or for other reasons, as well. For university students, taking online courses could allow students to study through distance learning or it could also allow students to take courses that are not supported by the university institutions near their residency.

According to statistics, in the previous years, the number of students taking online courses has increased about 96%.

This statistics proves that when we use the Internet in the "right" form, our possibility of benefiting from it is beyond infinity!!! More people can learn and bring good to the world!!

Secondly, the availability of the Internet allows people to learn various things for free; it is not always free but we can find uncountable number of non-paying resources online. For example, we can look for piano scores for certain music online, we can ask for tutorials on musical instruments online, and in addition, we can help others learn more easily by posting tutorials like the one shown above.

Through the use of Internet, we are able to grasp what we need very quickly and for FREE!!!

3. The Internet can help people communicate!

 People use Skype as a method to communicate with people worldwide. According to the Skype webpage, "Skype has connected more than 300 million people." I personally use Skype to work on group projects with friends. This application allows us to communicate more easily with less effort.

Turning on Skype does not even take 30 seconds, however, trying to meet together to discuss about the project might seem more time and effort consuming. Skype has always been the medium when discussing about how to get together, and so far it has worked very well in my opinion.

Twitter is another great source for us to find how the society is responding to worldwide issues. Twitter is able to create #hashtags to allow a subject or an idea to go viral in the Internet community. 

For example, last September, a Syrian boy was washed up on beach while trying to flee to Canada. In order to publicize the desperate need and help for refugees, a Twitter #hashtag was set forth, which became widely known as #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik. If there was no help of Twitter, I would not have known about such reality of Syria.

For these reasons, I strongly believe that if our Internet is used at the right time with the right content, we can definitely make use of it! Also, I would bet that almost anyone in the world can find their own reason why the Internet is good for us.

Am I right?