[dogsbody70]

discussing Facebook among other types of social networking--

Makes me wonder about the good and not so good aspect of the Internet.

In times when communication is international and various countries views are more easily accessible via the Net what do others feel about the Net.

Many of you will have grown up with it and wonder what I am on about but before the easy communication on the Net, we may have not had as much information about other countries-- apart from that fed to us on TV etc.
Obviously the Internet is here to stay but what would you say are the advantages and disadvantages of this instant communication.

would you say that the world is better off to have easy access to what is going on elsewhere.

I grew up in almost total ignorance as to what was happening in other countries apart from the war.

Now we know so much more and with the easy communications via facebook twitter etc-- it must be a way to bring people together in organised ways.
The Tunisian revolution soon spread to Egypt and could easily spread elsewhere.

We can learn a lot from sites such as Wikipedia-- whereas we probably would have needed to look up encyclopedias etc.

I believe a lot of good can come from the internet but also it could be used to start revolutions among other things.

The young generation have grown up with access to computers etc but for older generations it is something New to learn about. The government here in UK is wanting everyone to have access.

Obviously it has its reasons-- I feel that its a way to keep tabs on us all-- to spy on us.

We are urged to use the Net for Banking and other personal things.

We older people have to learn a great deal and it does not always come easily. we know that young people know everything there is to know about how to use computers. it seems to come easily to them but for some of we silver surfers it can be like returning to school again and learning to accept new ways of doing things.

I have actually found it very useful. I was able to help people who were brought up in care-- plus former child migrants. many of those would probably never have discovered who their mother or father was without the access to the Net and quicker ways of learning where their parent might still be living. many of these people had no information about themselves after being sent to the commonwealth countries. so much family history is available online these days-- so access to information is much easier than trailing through many manuals at records offices. It really is incredible how much easier it is to trace somebody via the Net.

I am still feeling my way and will never be as au fait as many of you here. family History Is Big on the net.

what virtues do you think the Net has to offer against the possible problems?