Material vs Realistic world

Written by João Pedro Sgrott Santos

In the teen generation, multiple people have had a relationship with the internet since they were little. Even though the internet is here to help us, it can be an enemy of the world’s reality. Many people are facing more and more problems socializing outside of the virtual world each day, which has become a problem that people are unaware of. People online can talk and express themselves quickly and confidently since they don’t know who is on the other side of the screen. Regarding those problems, I bring some facts and solutions to them, so that the internet can be even more of a friend. 

The material world which people are accommodated to and confident in sharing ideas, is not what we see today in school, for example. Many times people will need to face harsh decisions and the internet is not able to show us this reality of failures, since most of it is not real and mostly taken as a joke. Preparing to hear and see things you do not want is essential to upgrade your mentality and evolve as a human being. The internet can also be seen as an escape from reality, which is what’s ethical to do in certain circumstances, but believing that people are caring and attentive, as in the internet, cannot be related to the real world. People need to understand this in order to use the internet the way it should be used. For example, it is okay and normal to take silly photos of your friends or even when they are at a constraining event. If only to you or some very close friends. If you take this on and publish it in Instagram for example, so all your followers can see it is not very good. And even though it is bad internet can’t regulate what people publish, so before posting think if you would like or allow people to publish that if it was you. A friend of mine studied in a school where a long time ago, people did not only publish photos but also printed them and glued in the school. In this case, a severe punishment was indeed to them since the damage had been produced to the student’s image.

Throughout the year’s internet has become a major source of information for humans since its very handy, especially in occasions where there is a time limit. Internet’s main things, such as websites are the most used, but we have other areas very known, such as games, news, politics, and much more. And because of these various websites that give different information, it is fast for reports and sources to be made. Making it faster also allows information to spread faster. Although the objective is to be as most accurate, people online can change and publish whatever they want, this way most of the information can be fake or not completely true. Because of this, it is very important to watch out when looking for information, getting information from reliable sources is essential. 

Problems regarding the internet are common in today’s society. Most people feel comfortable in the virtual world and see it as a way of escape from reality, similar to what a drug does. This way the person starts losing lots of social interactions, just because they are not confident with the real world, but yes in the fake world the internet portrays. If you enter the internet today, most of it is unreal and more, it will only show the good sides to you. Have you ever seen a post regarding how the internet is bad, without searching? Yeah, most of the time, the internet shows you the good news and hides the bad, making you even more comfortable in the screen. Regarding social interactions online, now with AI, this can become a bigger problem since it can act as a friend and reply as one. I have heard of people who don’t come out of their bedrooms because they keep interacting with AI. Artificial intelligence today is becoming even more known, so for people not to fall in this trap, guidelines should be introduced to it, in school we have some, but mostly our own goals. 

People when setting their own goals will improve even more and utilize the internet until a certain point, interactions with friends and family are important at this time. To go out of the internet you can play games, talk or even go out to dinner. Said this, proof and evidence come out each day proving that the internet is manipulating people and with time this can become a higher concern for us.