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To put it very simply, internet has allowed access to a huge range of info on almost everything.
Internet provides me with a lot of knowledge be it academic as well as rich knowledge about the needs of my society that needs efficent and effective service delivery.
Neither of the above - I make extensive use of the internet, but am not present on social media, and not "always on". The current phenomenon of people living their lives in the glare of internet publicity I find very odd, and a waste of a good tool. But for cheap and instantaneous communications, information retrieval, banking, shopping, GIS applications, booking travel, etc. etc., the internet is great!!
I think that the question would have been better stated open ended, without your imposed qualifiers of porn vs. productivity, which rather influence the outcomes.
I am a modernism and can connected to worldwide.
The Internet is used mainly for efficiency gains in research, navigation, and personal finance. However, this faster pace of life does not equate to it being an "improvement". In what way has the faster pace improved our health, happiness, or environment?
The internet changed living standards as we can now order from online and save the time for shopping. We can communicate from one place to the rest of the world by using viber, line, tango and so on. We can google whatever we need for studying, looking for references and information and so on.
Unfortunately our questions are biased (many previous comments on this). Trash in - trash out.
I wonder how you will exploit these results. In a biased way?
The internet has changed my life as i am now a data scientist climbing my career ladder more and more each day. As the saying goes "what gets measured, gets done". I have used and i am still using geospatial techniques to bring needed solutions to primary healthcare services here in Nigeria. It is a privilege to make this world a better place.
The answer proposed are two extremes that doesn't represent real life. Why pushing people to take extremety like this?
I can say that most of my life is related to the internet. I always worked with models and patterns of work processes. The emergence of tools and discussion forums greatly increased my ability to work and certainly my production capacity.
Hi
I work in Adult Education, mainly around the use of language, and had worked for several years in high tech. While I love the ease of what we can do widen we have the right technology, I see other things happening that concern me. People are communicating differently when they have a device in their hands. I see this with children and adults and how they socialize and interact. It changes the work processes in many jobs and makes many things easier and accessible.
Some negative things happening include disparity between those who have access to technology and those who know how to upset...digital Literacy. There is also an assumption by some policy makers that the internet and tools/resources on it will make everything easier and cheaper to do. Finally how people communicate is impacted by more evidence of texting (e.g. In the sane room), less face-to-face communication and less awareness of how to be polite in some social situations where technology impedes the communication flow.
The choice of answers is orthogonal to the question. A bogus choice.
I spent about one-third of my waking hours working on the internet. I operate on linkedin, twitter, facebook besides gmail and other internet platforms. I use Watsap and viber for phone calls and sending messages. I am retired Economic Adviser to the Government of India. I am also a writer and written several books. In India internet penetration being low the poor are generally deprived of availing internet facilities. My wife works on facebook and watsap besides using the email. Internet provides a platform for social networking and getting through your message on the social media. Internet besides being intellectually stimulating is also a good pastime and gives you plenty of opportunity to spend your free time. I also use internet for commercial transactions like payment of bills and doing banking transactions.
Poor statement of the questions here, leaving only the two extremes: to be totally dependent or not on the internet. There is also human agency that is improved and empowered by internet but not replaced by internet. Human agency is the free will by which people choose their action and this is important.
La deuxieme reponse est concu de facon a ce quen lisant la fin, (linternet ne sert qu'aux jeux videos, la porn, les scams, ...) on ne s'y identifi pas donc on choisi la premiere! Ma reponse est non je ne suis pas always on, connecte a internet, mais la fin du choix ne me convient pas du tout! Cest quasiment fausse la reponse qui y est possible ! On peut meme le voir dans le resultat !
L'internet à beaucoup contribuer dans ma vie pour mon développement intellectuel grâce à la disponibilité et l’accessibilité des notions sur cet outil technologique.
J'utilise l'internet à des fins intellectuels. La plus part des individus font des recherches inutiles sur internet, cela les conduit à des informations qui les profitent dans les bêtises.
La différence se situe au niveau de l'objectif de l'internaute concernant ses recherches.
Realmente mi vida ha cambiado, me puedo comunicar con mis familiares y amigos que estan lejos, ahora mismo estoy estudiando una licenciatura por internet, puedo comprar los boletos para el cine o pagar mis facturas en linea, en fin el internet nos da una ayuda para la vida sin embargo debemos aprender ano depender tanto de esta tecnología por que tambien es bueno convivir con la gente al hacer fila en el banco o visitar a nuestras familias que viven lejos o simplemente pagar con dinero ene fectivo y eso es lo que nos da el contacto humano social. Es decir no ser 100% digitales pero tampoco cerrarnos a las cosas como eran hace 30 años. Disfrutemos de la tecnologia y tambien del contacto humano.
Have to say tough that it is taking too much space in our daily lives making us totally dependant which isn't a good thing itself. We are wired on a daily basis to such extent that a simple task which would imply require asking someone's help is today accomplished through Internet search via smartphones or tablets. It is undeniable that the Internet is a revolution and that it made our lives easier/better in many many ways bit we should still be aware of its dangers and abuse
I did not really find myself in either of the answers, which re a bit too bipolar in my opinion. For me internet is a professional necessity, but I did feel productive, and did enjoy life (maybe even more) before www. So, if teh questions had been based with a scale 1-10, I'd probably vote for the middle ground :)
It is even hard to imagine the modern work and life without Internet. My daily job is projects management and I'm traveling constantly. This means that all communication with back-office and project partners worldwide is going online, via Internet, Skype calls, etc. On the top of it, having luxury being Estonian, we are using really broadly digital signatures: not only for the communication with government, but mainly for usual transactions: banking, contracts. Without Internet my business will be 3 times slower and 6 times more inefficient.
The internet has indeed been helpful in managing my work and other businesses and having access to important news and services. This is because I have the privilege to be educated and employed. But generally, in my country (Nigeria), even though access to the internet has improved in recent years as a result of increase in mobile penetration, the basic things of life are still amiss: Food, clothing and shelter. It's important to ensure survival before thinking about living and contributing to the society.
Can't really see how this survey would be useful; one has to be online to take part in it, so the answers will obviously be skewed, especially the last one!
Internet has helped me to develop my society through my contributions via social media,listen to inspiring speaches from great personalities and this has contributed to the positivity of my mind and in future will change the world.
I am old enough to have worked when communications were by fax and urgent messages by telex [yeah, I am not that old, did not use the typewriter. :) ]. When I think of that time, and when we did not have cellular phones, I don't know how we did. Has Internet improved the quality of life and human relationships? Maybe not, and certainly not in all aspects (social media not being an improvement, in my view), but changed my life it has!
Internet is my other part/body.
The internet has given me that experience of being part of the world system without having to get approval from the people who are on top of any hierarchy to share opinion on any issues that matter affecting humanity. It likewise gave me the opportunity to speak with people are in fact on top of the hierarchy without fear of the rank system. It revolutionizes how people get to converse and be at "the centre" using the key board. We salute those individuals and institutions that have closed the gaps.
I am on of the oldest digital natives in the world, still "programming" and more and, furthermore, female. So my perspective is in-depth and unusual. #1 people's basic needs must be met BEFORE they can take advantage of "the internet" - food, shelter, clothing and LITERACY! The level of literacy needed in order to take full advantage of "the Internet" and more importantly, all information resources, is not only advanced literacy but better yet, includes English as first of second language, since most of Internet and other advanced resources are first published in English. Furthermore, Westerns must GET OVER the idea that "the Internet" is a democratizing tool. It is a neutral tool, at best, and in reality, based on the current Internet culture and implementation, is a tool that supports anarchy and surveillance more easily than democracy. People who are involved in "development" should recognize that the western culture has been through 60 years of information society development - all the Lesson Learned that need to be applied in "developing countries" are available in that story. Yet, I find that "development experts" not only ignore those of us who have done this in the mid-50's but actually resist our advice, knowledge and expertise. It appears to me to be a "fortress mentality" that is more focused on defending "development jobs and policies" than focused on genuine information society development.
The internet has certainly improved on the way I do my day to day activities. I can do online banking, but most importantly communicate whenever I need to. But I do not agree that "The Internet is mainly used for playing games, porn, scams and cyber crime."
The explanation provided for why the internet is not important -- "The Internet is mainly used for playing games, porn, scams and cyber crime." -- de-legitimizes the entire question. More appropriate might be that internet has not improved one's day to day life because it has not changed fundamental interactions with others, for example.
The internet is both good and bad. I really didn't agree with the either or scenarios because they did so in a black or white fashion. Reality is more blurred- For example, poor people with Malaria who had access to the internet may find out its symptoms, and how to treat a fever, particularly in places where there is no Doctor around. A real asset (if they can read). However, would I say that it is a substitute for health, education, etc... no. Governments need to subsidize those basics for the poorest among us. In terms of how much I use the internet- I could live without it. I enjoy the convenience of looking up things and use it as an encyclopedia or when a question pops into my head. It can also be used for business.. but I don't use it for social interaction...I much prefere one on one contact. Nor for games, and rarely for movies. Certainly, the internet is not the be-all end all. It is distracting, it causes people to loose focus, is likely bad for our health (sedintary lives glued to screens, Electromagnetic exposure, etc) and, should not be used as a substitute for going out there and living real, meaningful, fully engaged lives.
I'm in neither category. Yes, the internet has had a profound impact on my life, and I wouldn't be without it, but no, I am not "always on" and am perfectly happy without a smartphone or tablet or other such device. This could possibly change if I move to a country where a lot of locally relevant resources are online - in Mozambique, where I live, this is not the case, and I use the internet almost exlcusively for international traffic.
This last question is useless and entirely inappropriate. It makes this exercise plain silly. It's a bit like asking whether the World Bank is the finest institution on earth or the worst one: none of the answers make any sense and offer any nuance.
The internet has helped making knowledge easily accessible and also being able to communicate with various stakeholders through various communication channels.
Ever since I was incapacity Internet has made life easier. I also work online for a living.
This question is misleading. Who in his/her right mind is going to say that s/he uses internet mainly for porn and cyber crimes?
Internet has helped me to extend my knowledge overcome gap's in education and being able to look at things from different ( global ) views
Connecting to friends on the whole globe is some much easier travel and still be part of home, family and friends makes my life mor easy and thankful
Internet has allowed me to work remotely with various organizations working for the rights of women, it is a tool that enables publication of important information about institutions and programs of care and support for women victims of violence, as well as projects designed to train women and contribute to their empowerment
This question is silly. Of course the internet has improved my life in some ways (maintaining a history of important things, easing communications with distant friends and relatives, speeding up research, making shopping easier, etc.), but made it worse in others.
Being "always connected" is a bug, not a feature! My own connectivity, and the connectivity of those around me, makes me (and others) less present and our human interactions suffer. People check their emails and text messages every 2 minutes, and are always living in the past, the future, or at great distances.
It would be difficult to formulate the two questions on the transformational impact of the internet in a more biased way. As someone who worked well before the internet and rememeber the excitement when we as engineneers transferred code from one emulator to another via a modem and the telehone line in the early 1990s, there is no doubt we have come a long way. But let us not exagerate the impact of connectivity. Just because I now can look up any idiotic issue on the internet does not mean that it was impossible to get that same information before, you had to work a bit harder to get it. Now it is almost the opposite you get so many studies/opinions on the same topic arguing in different ways that it becomes challenging to decide what is good information from what is just noise. The challenge is not anymore getting information, it is to differentiate between opinions and conflicting interpretation on the same data and information. Finally, for sanity management purposes, disconnecting daily/nightly is probably good practice.
Though it has improved my life mainly in keeping me more easily connected to love ones and to be able to express myself more easily in fully in the World of Too Much Sharing. But is this really better than having that time with the people immediately around me and sharing with them on a real basis in 3D? hard to know? It is, though essentially a middle-class luxury, this improvement? YES, I think so.
What if I could spend the time in a real community of the needy instead of a virtual community? I would know less about the challenges of the world and probably would not have given $25 with the push of a button to Nepal relief.
Still, the question is irrelevant for my middle-class America. The Internet is here and unavoidable and my kids love it, so it is not if I have a choice about it.
The split in the questions is blatantly and fairly outrageously biased towards the Choice no.1. What staff member would associate themselves with the activities mentioned in Choice no.2? The results are therefore not at all indicative and I think most staff members would agree that a nuanced combination of the two responses would be more appropriate. My habits may change without the internet, but I hardly think that my quality of life would unduly suffer.
Unfortunately, I have to answer Yes to the poll's question...
There should be a (C) option. one where there is a mix, yes, the internet has helped me obtain information and organize certain aspects of my life, but I wouldn't say I am so completely connected that if for some reason it became unavailable, I would have serious complications and could not function.
The internet is a universe of ideas - many of them existed before the appearance of the internet, many more have been added since, and now they are all easily accessible. It has profoundly changed the way we inform and educate ourselves, bringing the ideas and answers to a screen near us instantly. If you are like me and like that, you're in a bit of a trouble as the appetite for insatiable learning and the share volume of information can consume each one of us easily. The internet-related technology is certainly adding to development, and is also changing the social fabric of societies whether we like it or not. In the end, its not the connectivity of computers or things (as in the upcoming Internet of Things), but of humans behind every screen that is making all the difference. We and generations which will follow will need to learn to adapt to that - but the humankind has gone through such transformational changes before. The biggest positive for development I see is that the speed and breadth of access to the internet will completely transform the learning process, will spread the best ideas like wildfire, and will greatly reduce the cost of putting them to work (increasingly through social rather than for-profit entrepreneurship, too) - eventually making everyone better off.
Internet has benefited the community, youth in large for social inclusion. Local or national governments are taking steps to make their actions transparent. The details about development indicators are made available to the public to ensure transparency and citizen engagements. Services are made available online to support the needy in society. If you take any section, internet has made it footpath already and more and more people getting tuned to that. All those shows, internet has shorten the routes to gather information and connected people across the globe. As per my observation, Internet has really made the development faster and engaging.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Through internet,I travel around the world in few minutes and see how other people(youth) deal with their everyday problems. Things that happen to other people around the world help me understand my rights and how I should live with other people. Internet is my global platform and a field of developing myself by commenting on issues that affect me.
EDUCATION: It's the quickest way to understand key issues in leadership and business. I learn about different cultures and religions and today I know which ones are bad or good. This is the easiest way for global leaders to reach all global citizens whenever there are urgent reports.
WHAT HAS CHANGED ME: In September,2011 when I heard about world financial crisis with Italy,Portugal,Spain,Greece,Ireland seeking bail out money from IMF and World Bank,I was so touched and didn't know HOW to help until I came up with my own solution. I tried to communicate with my government about it but there was no one who could HELP me. That's when I decided to be global on anything because I see global problems and now my solutions are global and I am willing to help.
1).Bill payments,2).Travel ticket booking 3).Social Media for updates on current topics& connecting with friends....in these areas a lot of efficiency has been brought by Internet.
Internet is going to impact decision making for bigger organisations & infrastructure enhancement for cities ect...e- governance has to reduce cost & improve efficiency to save time ect....
Everyday I peruse my mail, my office Tamilnadu Corporaration for Development of Women (India) sends us mails we try to reply 50% of our work is through internet. Ram
As far as I m concerned, internet means a lot precisely because it has given freedom to iterect ppl from all walks of life nd international regimes that have been working for making world on equal ground on climate change, basic health facilities if any natural disaster occur it unite ppl help nd stand with them. Nd more importantly , equal access to information nd knowledge In the form of oudio visual nd written formate as well.vision of net neutrality should be on ground only international consensus could make it possible , meanwhile, the private firm intentionally or unintentionally against Net Neutrality.I(we) hope only regime like UN could make possible equal access of internet across the globeb.as far as India is concerned equal access of internet should be fundamental righ I hope UNION GOVT. nd TRAI would make it possible.
Results to interpret with caution: "connected " people are more likely to answer web-survey, so they are over-represented (classical selection bias)
Internet is now a need of the Hours as it brings the Whole World Closer on A Click of a button & can contact & Connect all Communities .Just an example of Earthquake in Nepal within no Time The whole World Knew & Help Followed from each & Every corner
Unfortunately, the two options to tick do not cover what my true answer would be. I have organized my personal and professional life for the Internet. But, the Web has not substantially improved my life. This is because of the way it is used (or not used) and because i believe that human beings spend too much time on the Web, which is not healthy or natural.
In my country Rwanda, ICT has been given priority in the development process of the country. It has been one of the pillars of the Vision 2020 of Rwanda. Institutions and individuals are connected to Internet to follow news, access publications on various fields of research, political events, science, etc.Even the villager old women use internet to get in touch with her son/daughter overseas who sends money through Western Union. Without internet, this may be almost impossible without money transfer systems through internet. Simply stating, internet is an invaluable tool for doing business.
The Internet is becoming more and more important for nearly everybody as it is one of the newest and most forward-looking media.
This is a leading question, so results are not surprising.
Plus you have to be online to participate!
Having said all that, in my case, the use of the internet is fully integrated into the way I work, the way I found out information, and the way I communicate with my children who are on a different continent to me. I can remember a time before the internet, so I know life is possible without it! But now I cannot imagine going back to a time when there was no internet and trying to live my life accordingly.
The internet did completely change my life. Every thing that I am doing now is hinged on the internet. It is easy to communicate with my children when they were studying and now that they are working. The internet dominate the greater part of my business activities. I get most of the spare parts for my equipment through the internet. The internet has a great influence in the way I conduct my business.
Um, this is a really leading question. Also, response options are double-barrelled. I answered yes, overall my life is probably better with the interent, but I am NOT always on, and in some ways the internet has made my life more chaotic, not more organized.
A poll on the internet, about the internet being advantageous or not might not be very meaningful as you don't reach the people that don't think it is advantageous...
Internet has brought many improvements and completely new features to our lives. There are so many positive but I'll just highlight one, google search, as a new feature to my professional life. There's also the professional downside, the 24/7 email barrage and everybody expecting that no matter where you are you will always respond without delay. A disappointment to me is that advertizing by mail (post mail) continues relentlessly in spite of advertizing by email which is proving so impossible to control. A great and increasing concern is the criminal side of the internet, the new exposure of individuals to all kinds of scams, hacking, surveillance and exposure and risk of institutions and countries to cyber attacks by terrorists and even by other countries (already happening). Internet is unstoppable.
Is anyone surprised by the results?
The Internet has completely changed my life. I have a business web site which allows me to reach customers all over the world. It is used for banking, and connecting with friends and family. Research and information is readily accessible. However, I try to avoid using it for mindless activities.
I am chronically ill. The internet is my portal to a world in which I can no longer travel, work, or generally participate in public life. Except online.
Couldn't live without the internet. Banking, shopping ordering my prescriptions etc.
The Internet determines almost all my choices except for shopping, but culture, books, theatre, hikes, travel, accommodation, restaurants etc.
Will you include a specific section focused on the gender gap in accessing the internet in the report?
I would hope so, Intel did some work on this as well as the web foundation.
Best wishes, Henriette
The social media are very important for me and so is the access to science,opinions,banking and so many other things,it has changed my life.
Payment for services over the internet or smart phones has substantially improved daily life.
The internet is the foundation for all service innovation today.
The Internet allows me to completely organize my life, such as banking, grocery shopping, travel bookings, etc.. And it allows me to keep in touch with family and friends all over the world, talking to them and sharing pictures. Looking back at how things were 10 or 20 years ago, everything is so much easier now.