The growing trend in
global communication today is so vast and fast to the extent that if one does not key into it, he/she would be left out. Thanks to the growth of technology, we now live in the computer age.
The widespread of the internet has brought  huge benefits to mankind and the world at large.
The advanced technologies of the internet managed to free people from troubles of losing an enormous amount of time waiting in the line to be served at the bank branches. Internet banking is the easiest, safest, and quickest way to business transactions in banks.
The internet also enables us to buy everything we need from the comfort of our own houses.
Again, the internet has brought into our lives new areas of job and career opportunities that are now open to the public through which many people get employed.
The biggest benefit of the use of the internet can be found in the educational sector.
Educators can obtain learning material from it, prepare courses online and deliver audio/visual information to students.
The internet also, eliminates distance and provides people with a unique opportunity to talk, watch and have fun with their loved ones, friends or acquaintances, chat rooms, messenger services, emails and conferencing programmes are the most common use for communication over the internet.
Despite the numerous benefits that the internet has brought to the world, there are some problems that are associated with the use of the internet.
Overusing the web can make the internet users vulnerable to e-crime such as physical or sexual threats damaging electronic viruses, fraud, harassment, objectionable material such as pornography, dirty content and waste of their valuables.
These days, many people use the web to do shopping online, or take part in online communities like forum. As a result, their private and secret information like card number can potentially be revealed to e-criminals, like hackers who may use the information to commit e-crime.
Another problem is that young internet users can be poisoned by dirty contents which are available on the internet. For example websites with pornography images or sex-related contents can pollute the minds of children. Consequently, they may have sex too early or commit such crimes like rape etc.
Furthermore, overusing the web can cost people their valuable time. For instance, people can spend a great deal of time shopping, listening to music playing online games while at work. Thus, their efficiency and productivity would badly be affected.
Also, sudden and undesirable change in a programme of a computer system can cause a bank to lose millions of naira in a day.
Work of months or even years, may be destroyed within a minute by computer viruses.
Indeed, if the regulations of uploading information or photos through the internet are not properly restricted or revised, one’s privacy may not be protected as one’s private information could be made public.
With the rise in broadband internet connections, people can easily share and download illegal pirated files such as movies and music.
The internet somehow behaves like alcohol or drugs. Being addicted to it, people sometimes don’t know when to stop it. Such behavior is regarded as a kind of illness today in our society. Its excessive use may result in neglect of other aspects of lives such as work, study and marriage. For example, some men will deny their wives the much needed attention and care all because of internet.
Methink that the primary solution to these problems is that public awareness should be raised among all internet users. Those who do such activities as shopping or email should be equipped with the knowledge to protect their precious information. This can be done by themselves, or by the shoppers who own the sites.
Parents and guardians should, on their part, impose sticker controls over their children and wards. A good measure is to let the children use the web at a particular time and under the supervision of their parents.
The employers can also apply the same measures to their employees by limiting access to web at a particular time.
While the internet brings huge benefits it also has many problems that can do harm to its users and children. Preventing or lessening them needs co-operations from individuals as well as from parents and employers controls, raising public awareness plus to stricter controls and the aid of modern facilities like softwares and hardwares can be a solution.
There is no gainsaying the fact that internet has been a major source of information to human kind. We should however, use it wisely and discretely.
Ujile is an intern with The Tide.

Florence Ujile