Do popilar culture and/or technology help or harm society - Research Paper Example

Earlier after its introduction, the printing press changed the lives of people in many ways and today, the internet is massively impacting the society. The Internet is an example of popular culture and technology. Schell defines an Internet as “a network connecting computer systems” (2007, p. 1). Over the years, the Internet has greatly developed and has become a powerful tool in the society today as “businesses, universities, governments, medical institutions, financial institutions, adults and children” use it in their day to day lives (Schell, 2007, p. 3). It can therefore be said that the internet has become ubiquitous in day to day life.

This paper discusses the positive and harmful effects of the Internet to the society. Among the benefits of the Internet to society include easy access to information, effective and cheap means of communication, support for e-commerce, support for telecommuting and sharing of knowledge. Information on the internet is stored in massive databases and due to their excellent capabilities and the existence of great search engines, the information can be easily accessed. Prior to the development of the internet, the available means of communication were very expensive and ineffective.

The internet provided new, cheap and enhanced ways of communicating through internet communication tools (Turkle, 2007). An internet communication tool as a group of related computer programs or a computer program meant to allow groups and individuals to engage in formal and informal information exchange. Among them are e-mails, instant messaging, chat, blogs and websites among others. An email is a mail that is electronically transmitted. The transmission takes place in a matter of seconds. Instant messaging supports real time conversations among individuals who know each other.

This makes it different from chat available through chat rooms, since some individuals in chat can chose to remain anonymous. Chat services are provided