Some people say that the Internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to much information creates problems. Which view do you agree with?
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
The role of Internet in the modern society is a controversial topic. While some people believe that the Internet benefits people by providing an abundance of precious information, others think that relatively easy access to too much information is a potential threat. In opinion, I concur with the latter for two primary reasons.
First of all, the increasing access to information on the Internet does not correlate with the increasing reliability of those sources of information. In fact, the use of Internet has become so worldwide that almost every one can post any piece of information on the Internet. A few decades ago, information was usually derived from books, which were written by leading experts and put under rigorous scrutiny of editors. However, the information on the Internet does not share a mutual advantage. The misleading information together with falsified rumors can be detrimental to the security as well as the development of the society. For example, Wikipedia is a well-known information website. In fact, it contains a variety of articles covering a diversity of topics, varying from political issues as well as history events. A Harvard student carried out an experiment in which he wrote an article about a fictitious town that was named after himself. He wrote the article in graceful manners with a wise use word choice in order to intensify the trustworthiness of the article. He, later, came back to the article after two years. It is surprising that no one has reported the article since he published it. It is unclear that how many people have been deceived with this falsified information.
Secondly, the attention of the public audiences can be drive to trendy issues. In other words, online newspapers usually publish articles with regard to the most popular events in order to attract Internet users. However, taking into account that these newspapers contribute to a proportionally great amount of information on the Internet, the public audience can be driven away from issues that have direct impacts on their lives. For example, the BBC news as well as the Telegraphs and other popular online newspapers have recently published articles about a man whose name is Phuc Dat Bich. The way in which his name can deceive people of his true meaning has been a source of entertainment for many people. This story has been shared many times on Facebook and other social media. However, people tend to forget that there are several issues that are now facing us. Instead of spending time making fun out of a man’s name, we can spend this precious amount of time reading articles with regard to the change in average income or a report of a toxic product, both of which can have a huge impact on our daily lives.
Taking into account the reliability of the information Internet provided as well as how trendy information can be a waste of time, I argue that the easy access to too much information can be a potential issue.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a student and an HR interviewer