The Internet - Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task

The Internet

The creation of the internet has been one of the biggest developments in the history of communications technology. Like the railways and the telephone before it, the internet has helped to make the world a smaller place, making it easier to undertake both business and pleasure with individuals and organisations located far away. At the same time it has enabled individuals to acquire access, from the comfort of their offices or homes, to both a great deal of information and a wide range of commercial services.

These are activities that previously would have required a trip to the central city. It seems therefore that the internet has made it easier to maintain contact with our fellow human beings, especially those who do not live locally. At the same time however, it has reduced the need to engage in social contact with others in order to conduct the everyday interactions of commercial or social life. These apparently contradictory features of the internet have resulted in a lively debate about whether it has strengthened or weakened the social bonds and ties between individuals. One school of thought argues that it has had a beneficial impact. It points out that the internet makes it much easier for individuals who have similar interests to make contact with each other regardless of where they live, thereby making it possible to create 'virtual communities'. Contact with friends and relatives who live some distance away can more easily be maintained too – not just using words but also using the ability to send photos, video clips and scanned images via the internet.

These consequences derive principally from the opportunity provided by e-mail to communicate asynchronously and to do so at no greater inconvenience or cost with someone halfway round the world than with a neighbour living next door (Hauben and Hauben, 1997; Wellman and Gulia, 1999; Wellman et al., 2001; Horrigan, 2002). These arguments though, do not address the possible impact of the internet on face-to-face communication. It is often argued that face-to-face communication helps develop bonds of trust and loyalty between individuals in a manner that no other form of communication can achieve (Putnam, 2000), though those such as Uslaner (2002) offer an opposing view. Such bonds, encouraged by and embedded in social networks, provide an individual with “social capital” or a social network that helps make societies healthier, more caring and more efficient. Thus, whether or not the internet makes it easier for people to organise face-to-face meetings, rather than just maintain electronic contact with those living far away, is a vital question.

Certainly, those who feel positive about the impact of the internet think it does. After all, it can be used to make an appointment to meet a friend at a local bar or to advertise and encourage people to attend a communal social activity. Moreover, friends initially made on-line may subsequently meet face-to-face. In short, the ability to engage in 'on-line' social activity could help to stimulate greater 'off-line' social activity too (Robinson et al., 2000; Shah et al., 2001; Hampton and Wellman, 2002) - with consequently beneficial impacts on the stock of “social capital”. On the other hand, “on-line” activity could displace “off-line” activity. Those engaged in an online virtual network may spend less time participating in their local social networks.

Even if they are not particularly likely to withdraw from face-to-face contact, time spent on the internet is time not spent doing something else, and one of the activities that might be displaced is socializing with friends and family. (Nie and Erbring, 2000; Nie, 2001). Similar arguments have previously been made about the growth in the second half of the 20th century of television watching (Steiner, 1963; Putnam, 2000); but whereas watching television can be turned into a communal activity, using a computer is usually a solitary one. Indeed it has been argued that the solitary nature of internet use may result in people becoming lonely and depressed, thereby reducing their ability to form or sustain face-to-face friendships (Kraut et al., 1998).

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