The internet, by ordinary definition is the global network of computers, which are interconnected to allow for the exchange, sharing or dissemination of information.
Somehow, the innovation in information technology has effectively turned the world into a “global village”, as mass communications scholars say.
By the accounts of Science historians, the internet was first developed in the U.S. in the 1960s by the Pentagon for military purposes.
It effectively served the communication needs of the American defence establishment, especially in the Cold War era until the 1980s where its use was liberalised.
No doubt, the internet represents one of the finest examples of the benefits of sustained investment and commitment to research and development of information infrastructure.
In Nigeria today, it is estimated that most students of tertiary institutions, one way or the other, have access to the internet for purposes of studies, researches and social contacts at minimal costs via modes as laptops, blackberries, cell phones, among others.
According a Sociology student, Mr Bayonle Anu, the internet provides students like himself sources of information for studies.
“I use internet to source research materials because it is an ‘unlimited library,” he says.
On her part, a Computer Science student of a polytechnic, Miss Vivian Eze, said that the internet helps as an instrument of social interaction since it “makes students to understand themselves and keep in touch with others”.
“It helps me to ping my friends and play games,” she says
According to a final year student of Leisure and Tourism, Mr Babatunde Quadri, the internet has the potential to enhance and transform education.
“It also allows for paperless lectures and assignments; the online circle of friends, pen pals and acquaintances can vastly be enlarged across national boundaries.”
Observers recall that in the early 1990s, very few Nigerian academics had heard of the internet but by 2007, the entire world at large had embraced the internet.
Through the worldwide web (WWW) today, huge volumes of data are accessed, while whole libraries are linked to source, share or exchange information. Bills are also settled via the internet while a whole range of other commercial and financial activities are also transacted.
Moreover, most newspapers, magazines, other national and global publications are now available online and easily accessible to internet users.
Notwithstanding the enormous range of opportunities and benefits that come with the technological innovation, analysts point to some fallouts of the development, which have negatively affected some segments of the society.
In Nigeria, for instance, analysts allude to certain wayward behaviour of youths, which are directly traceable to the use of the internet.
A former President of the Nigeria Internet Group, Mr Lanre Ajayi, argues that the internet has positive and negative aspects on the lives of the users.
While Ajayi agrees that the internet can be a source of information, entertainment and education, he, nonetheless, identifies some of its harmful effects in terms of morality.
“The positive aspects are the online enlightenment, access to educational materials, availability of lecture papers, peer group review, multi-cultural exchange of ideas, access to current information of other countries and making of friendships.
“The negative aspects, on the other hand include yahoo crimes, advance fee fraud (419), gambling, access to pornographic pictures, plagiarism and dampening of interest in book reading,” Ajayi says.
He advises parents and teachers to properly monitor their children in their use of the internet, to ensure that they make good use it.
A lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State Polytechnic, Mr Steve Adesemoye, notes that the internet has become cheaper these days, thus enabling more people to browse the net.
He laments that the internet, despite its technological advantage, has inadvertently caused more Nigerian students to become socially alienated from the society.
“What is supposed to add value to lives, now devalues them. It has now turned a ‘weapon of mass distraction’ because about 98 per cent of the nation’s students have internet access on their cell phones.
“While lectures are on in schools, some of these students do other things with their phones; sometimes going to pornographic sites, facebook and tweeter, etc.
“These students need orientation on how to make good use of the internet,” Adesemoye advises.
Some parents, on their part share some perspectives on the direct effect of internet on their children and wards’ wellbeing.
Mrs Eyinade Adedigba, for instance, says that the internet has affected her children’s lives in both negative and positive ways.
“It enables them to access information fast but it also occupies their times unduly. I don’t need to go far to check my children’s WAEC and GCE results; I do them right here in my room.
Another parent, Mr Emmanuel Aboderin, thinks that the internet has induced mental laziness in many students, stressing that the unusually quick access to information does not allow for good quantitative and qualitative aptitudes in the students.
“It is not helping the educational standards of our country,” Aboderin bemoans.
A cleric, Pastor Remi Okewunmi, highlights another dimension to the perceived adverse effect of the internet on the society, insisting that it has created some setbacks in religions.
According to him, many youths no longer come to church services with their bibles.
“The youth of today don’t bother to bring Bible to the church again; when asked to read any chapter in the Bible, they read it from their phones.
“It is a stab on the society as a whole,” Okewunmi says.
But a youth, Joseph Owolabi seems to disagree with the cleric, insisting that “the pastor is just not moving with the IT Age”.
“Come to think of it; most cell phones and other handy computer devices have the full versions of holy books installed in them and through them references are very quick to make.
“Before you flip open the pages of the bible manually to read a verse or chapter, I would have been there by mere soft touch on the computer. In fact, I see the computer more as an asset in this regard”, he says.
Okewunmi says further that in many living rooms, outlets are usually created by the internet for immoral and illegal acts, which often go ordinarily unnoticed.
“These kids are enticed into the immoral world through many perverse websites and the result is devastating on the society,” he insists.
A cyber café operator, Mr Tunji Falana, says it is regrettable that the internet is utilized for crimes, noting however, that too much of high skill is not required to perpetrate such crimes.
Falana insists that personal discipline and self restraint are desirable for users of internet, so that they are not lured into the negative aspects of the technological innovation.
“Hacking tools are easily available on the net and once downloaded; they can be used to perpetrate cyber crimes.
Communication experts, however, note that effective management of information on the internet can be challenging but they insist that concerted efforts are desirable on the part of all stakeholders to minimize the negative effects.
NAN Features
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