Global expansion and open internet are the main problems that cause internet popular among the youth on a daily basis, the older generation analysts and educators proclaim that internet is associated with problems such as lack of online privacy, web literacy, and digital inclusion. Such challenges can be handled through implementation of internet regulations and strict formulations (Zaidi " Rajarajan, 2015). Despite the advantages of internet advancement, issues such as the future of inclusion, trustworthiness and internet security will continue to crop up unless stakeholders involved in digital regulation enact necessary actions. Different organizational bodies and boards like the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) offer solutions to address adverse effects of internet expansion but unfortunately, such reports are rarely implemented. According to Rothwell (2017), since the early 1990s, poor internet use that causes adverse effects has continued to spread throughout numerous communities who embrace internet technology. The purpose of this essay is to address internet issues such as online privacy and addiction, internet security and how such issues can be resolved through enacting of relevant internet policies.
Problems
The rampant increase in website crimes is a sign that online privacy and security is very vital. In recent years, there have been cases reported on third party access to personal online information (Rothwell, 2017). Organizations and search engines have been accused of extracting personal information for malicious commercial uses such as website marketing and security investigation. Certain malicious individuals and criminals for the purpose of blackmailing, online threats, cyber bullying and intimidation have manipulated personal individual data that is posted online.
Advancement in internet is associated with cases of mental disorders, which has been established to be a challenge. Since the 21st century began, youths have been highly exposed to Pathological Internet Use (PIU), which has proved to be a major issue. People who have such a condition neglect most aspects of their lives especially the social aspect while they spend numerous amounts of hours on the internet (Cowhey " Aronson, 2017). Addiction to the internet makes victims anti-social because they do not interact with their peers thus they have trouble in self-expression in a public setup. PIU has also been associated with mental conditions such as anxiety and depression (Ritchie, Awal " Eyeson, 2015).
Internet access should be free for all people irrespective of nationality, race or gender. However, internet stakeholders should focus on pressing online issues like data information sharing and digital inclusion to minimize adverse internet effects that enhance online users’ satisfaction.
If internet use is not regulated, the future faces great threat of terrorism acts and criminal trades. Steps are being made by internet stakeholders to prevent use of internet to research on suspicious topics such as how to make biological weapons or bombs or conduction of weapons trade. Individuals who conduct such related research activities are placed under close watch and investigated in case of online criminal activities. However, there are malicious computer wizards who can hack into organizations computer systems to obtain vital information that could be harmful to the government’s operations or a country’s security system thus plunging a whole nation into chaos or sparking conflict between two countries.
Youths and especially student overdependence on the internet for assignment and research tasks robs them of creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Use of the internet for finding answers to assignments has been a challenge to the education sector especially in higher learning institutions. Lecturers are complaining that students overuse the internet for research and assignment tasks such that they are unable to think for themselves, which makes them lazy. If the internet is properly used, it can be very resourceful however, many students rarely know how to use the internet to their advantage thus they directly copy information from the internet and reproduce the same data on their assignments instead of reading and getting to understand such information then writing down what is understood. Copying of copyright information from the internet (plagiarism) is a crime and numerous students commit such frauds without being aware of it.
Pornography is spreading like wildfire throughout the internet on a daily basis, which causes moral decay particularly among youth, teenagers and young children. Technology is advancing at a fast rate and children are being exposed to it at a tender age, thus they are conversant with computers, tablets, ipads among other internet sources. Unsupervised internet use makes such young members susceptible to harmful internet material such as pornography.
Causes
Due to changes in technology, individuals perform online activities for different reasons such as conduction of online trading, social interactions, communication and organization of company protocols. Unfortunately, there are very few internet users who understand the meaning of data control or how to effectively use the internet thus they submit personal information online (Martinovic et at., 2014). Continuous occurrence of online errors has been linked to ignorance of the internet users as well as unawareness of the rules and regulations of internet use.
Improper family structures and social connections in society forces young people to turn to the internet for interaction and communication through Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram among other social sites. According to Bilke-Hentsch (2017), individuals who create fake accounts to share their ideologies anonymously with the assurance of victimization use social sites and online platforms. Even though social sites serve the purpose of enhancing communication especially among people who are far apart, they can be manipulated for selfish purposes such as spreading propaganda, rumors, hate speeches and so on.
Internet users who overspend their time on social platforms suffer from low self-esteem and they struggle to find a personal identity. Most individuals who share private information such as nude photos usually assume that the media organization takes the responsibility of ensuring security and privacy of their personal data however; this may not be the case. Therefore, one needs to exercise individual responsibility in self-regulating information shared on social sites to avoid embarrassing incidences. Moreover, monitoring of internet use by parents and the media platform can be helpful in controlling internet accessibility and it does very little in solving internet addiction.
Solutions
Healthy and effective internet use is not only dependent on formulation of regulation policies but also implementation of such designed policies. In accordance with Zaidi " Rajarajan (2015), the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) formulated a report called ‘One Policy’, which contained relevant information directed to organizations, governments and the society on regulation policies that would ensure healthy and vibrant internet use. ‘One Policy’ contains rules, principles and programs on decision-making that guide internet users. However, the policy report received some criticism from critics who argued that it was somewhat difficult to implement such regulations. The United States however implemented internet governance rules by enacting various internet laws such as the Law of Contract, the Copyright Act and the Computer Misuse Act (Bike-Hentsch, 2017). A database right prevents the use of copyright data in any other media form by an organization or an individual without the owner’s permission. However, the database right suffers corruption such that it cannot be effectively implemented. Therefore, many internet users violate this copyright law and no legal action is taken against them (Carli " Durkee, 2016). One solution to this problem is using technology to reduce the amount of information that can be obtained from copyright data. Another solution is implementing anti-copying signatures to minimize copying of original information. The Law of Contract and the Computer Misuse Act should avail information on terms and privacy conditions to internet users to avoid misunderstanding of information. For example if the terms and conditions do not advocate for data mining, an individual who violates such a regulation is considered to have committed breach of Contract Law and violated the Computer Misuse Act thus one can be charged or banned from using sites where violation took place.
In order to solve internet addiction, effort is required from both an individual and the society. In accordance with Eknci (2014), the society can assist the government in formulation and implementation of youth support programs that advocate for outdoor recreation activities like sports instead of indoor activities that require use of internet such as internet games. It is also an individual responsibility to prevent addiction through regulating time spent on the internet and the content accessed.
Additionally, parents should highly regulate their children’s online activities by monitoring what they research. Time spent on the internet should also be controlled so that there is time for other social activities like outdoor games and sports, physical activities among other activities. This will help to prevent negative effects of internet overexposure such as anti-social behavior, depression and immorality. Institutions of learning should also enact strict policies that regulate plagiarism in assignments handed in by students. Such measures could be reprimanding students who submit plagiarized work and educating them on proper internet use to prevent internet fraud.
Conclusion
Internet expansion among other different communities has both advantages and drawbacks. Benefits of internet use include easy and fast access to a vast of information, effective an efficient communication on a wide scope, online trading, and organization of company information among other benefits. However, if internet access is not well managed, individual negative effects can result including internet addiction, depression, anti-social behavior, low self-esteem and poor moral values. Other adverse effects are online terrorism, illegal trade acts, victimization of social site users, fraud acts to name a few.
Some internet users provide personal information on websites without being aware of their consequences, which makes privacy and internet security a major issue. There is need to educate users on how to use the internet such that they have freedom to choose the kind of information to share and regulate who can have access to such information. Formulation of proper internet policies can offer solution to some challenges experienced however, they are not helpful if they are not effectively implemented. Solving of corruption incidences and enacting of infrastructure will assist in curbing challenges experienced in implementing internet policies. Despite the measures put in place in overcoming internet challenges, digital inclusiveness remains to be a major issue because some people avoid using the internet due to privacy and security issues. Trustworthiness is also another critical aspect when it comes to online services and internet use.
References
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Cowhey, P. F., " Aronson, J. D. (2017). Data Privacy. Oxford Scholarship Online, 15(5), 692-841.
Ekinci, B. (2014). The Relationship Between Problematic Internet Entertainment Use and Problem Solving Skills Among University Students. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12(5), 607-617.
Martinovic, D., Ralevich, V., McDougall, J., " Perklin, M. (2014). “You are what you play”: Breaching privacy and identifying users in online gaming. 2014 Twelfth Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust, 18(16), 745-811.
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Zaidi, K., " Rajarajan, M. (2015). Vehicular Internet: Security " Privacy Challenges and Opportunities. Future Internet, 7(4), 257-275.
