Strictly From A Moral Stance Would Society Be Better Off Without The Internet?

[centurionguard]

Overall with all things considered In My Humble Opinion YES

Any Thoughts? Pros Verses Cons?

 

[SteveGC]

Alot of things to consider.

If pornography wasn’t part of the internet, I would say NO. There certainly are other platforms that fuel immorality online, but pornography has to be the overwhelming leader of that pack. Without it, I think the good that comes from online evangelization, charities, open communication, education, cross-cultural understanding, etc. is significantly good for society. Presuming, of course, that the internet is used wisely, maturely and in moderation.

I believe Rome’s official position on it is optimistic and opportunistic, despite the existence of obvious flaws, temptations, and immoral conduct currently presiding online.

 

[Catholic90]

The Internet is just a tool, being neither good nor bad in and of itself. Like any tool, it is how one uses it that is good or bad (or neutral).

Consider a butcher knife - it can be used to prepare food to feed and nourish many people. Or it can be a murder weapon.

Likewise the Internet - it all depends on how it is used.

 

[Loboto-Me]

If it wasn’t for the internet, I’d be in dire trouble. Finding Catholic websites, mainly this one and Catholic Online has catechised me since I was a cultural Catholic who didn’t know her faith and eventually even fell away.

The Internet pulls some people down and pulls some people up.

 

[JonathonofOhio]

For one, the internet is my source of income. If I didn’t have it, I don’t know what I’d do given the fact the job market where I live is not so good. I have met quite a few people online just like me that are making an honest living through the internet.

Also, the internet is a haven for free speech and a way for people to share their ideas and knowledge. When I was growing up, I would consult my dad’s outdated encyclopedias when I needed to find some information. Now that my children have the internet, we simply go online and do a quick search. The vast majority of educational information is accurate and kept up-to-date, so it makes the world a better place to have such knowledge at the tip of your fingers at almost all times.

And any form of media will end up being used by the porno industry. Does that make it a bad thing? Books, magazines, and television are all tools used by the porn industry…so in my opinion, no the internet is not a bad thing; the porn industry is.

So I don’t think the world would be a better place without the internet.

 

[1inICXC]

Undeniably so. Relationships and friendships have become meaningless and empty thanks to facebook- the whole 13-30yr old demographic can attest to this.
More and more various forms of cheating. More pornography, more abortions due to the aforementioned.

I just don’t think that the mass evangelization done on the Internet is sufficient to counteract these great immoralities.
On a personal level, I would be worse off however.

Simply put, I think the Internet is leading us to our destruction not to our salvation. The state of the world is enough proof and I believe it is directly a result of the Internet, which is a huge extension of the TV.

 

[RainbowNight]

The Internet is just a tool, being neither good nor bad in and of itself. Like any tool, it is how one uses it that is good or bad (or neutral).

Consider a butcher knife - it can be used to prepare food to feed and nourish many people. Or it can be a murder weapon.

Likewise the Internet - it all depends on how it is used.

This is a very convincing answer

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Overall with all things considered In My Humble Opinion YES

Any Thoughts? Pros Verses Cons?

Would the world be better off without radio? Television? Books? Paintings?

None of these are tools of the devil. They are all simply media, yet all of them can be subverted.

The Bible is a book. It’s also available on radio, TV, and the innerwebs. There are Biblical paintings.

There are also unmentionable radio programs, books, paintings, etc.

It’s not facebook that’s bad. Facebook can allow people to find long-lost friends… connect with old ones. Have family reunions online.

None of those things are bad. It’s us. It’s our fallen nature.

Would you ban all books? Paintings?

That’s like saying, ‘Let’s take away spoons, since some people eat too much.’

And that is statism at its worst.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Undeniably so. Relationships and friendships have become meaningless and empty thanks to facebook- the whole 13-30yr old demographic can attest to this.
More and more various forms of cheating. More pornography, more abortions due to the aforementioned.

I just don’t think that the mass evangelization done on the Internet is sufficient to counteract these great immoralities.
On a personal level, I would be worse off however.

Simply put, I think the Internet is leading us to our destruction not to our salvation. The state of the world is enough proof and I believe it is directly a result of the Internet, which is a huge extension of the TV.

It’s strangely paradoxical that the more tools we get for interacting with people the more isolated we become.

I’ve suspected for a while now that Western Civilization is descending from civilization to savagery, and that our self-imposed isolation from each other is a part of this, though I wasn’t sure how isolation could be connected to savagery. Then, just a few days ago I read this in The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc:

“When I was at college I was compelled to read a work by the crabbed Tacitus on the Germans, where, in the midst of a great deal that is vague and fantastic nonsense and much that is wilful lying, comes this excellent truth, that barbarians build their houses separate, but civilised men together. So whenever you see a lot of red roofs nestling, as the phrase goes, in the woods of a hillside in south England, remember that all that is savagery; but when you see a hundred whitewashed houses in a row along a dead straight road, lift up your hearts, for you are in civilisation again.”

 

[GEddie]

Overall with all things considered In My Humble Opinion YES

Any Thoughts? Pros Verses Cons?

Absolutely not.

There is no sin that becomes possible on it, that was not flourishing for CENTURIES before it. If today people may go to Purgatory for viewing immodest video, in the Renaissance, they went there for looking at pornographic paintings.

Sin is the oldest thing in the book. There is nothing modern or technological about it.

ICXC NIKA

 

[nickybr38]

I think society would be better off without a LOT of technology.

Cell phones, for example. You know, kids these days will text each other before ever making a phone call. You know why? You can THINK about your response via text, you can’t in real time speech. I wonder sometimes if this isn’t making our kids a bit… well, less witty. I have no evidence for this either way but I wonder. If you’re constantly in an environment where you get to think about your intimate and personal conversations before having them… that just doesn’t seem an environment to stimulate quick thinking. And don’t get me started on the number of girls in my sphere who get text messages from adult men trying to hook up with them. It’s RIDICULOUS.

The internet… ah, the internet. What are the stats about porn use? Something like 90% of users use it for porn? I’m not sure. If the internet wasn’t available they’d have other ways of distributing their filth BUT it wouldn’t be as easily accesible to the layman.

As a child I was able to find porn online. Hardcore stuff no less. Most of the time without my consent (you look for teenage penpals in a search way back when and all that came UP were porn sites).

Can a child use the internet responsibly? No. Do all parents monitor what their children do? No.

Child abductions would happen without the internet but I wonder if their frequency has risen since the advent of the internet? Child pornography would happen without the internet but now we have adults talking neglected children into posing nude for pictures WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO MEET THE CHILD.

The internet itself is not bad… however, I DO think society would be better off without it.

I say that while using it (though sparingly - these days it’s just a very few trusted sites that I visit).

Technology, as a whole, can be a very, very bad thing. Even television. The majority of TV shows and movies out there are promoting moral stances that we, as Christians, should not support. And yet Sunday night I sit down with my friends and watch these movies and provide their makers with money to make more movies to promote their morals.

I probably sound really extreme but I own a cell phone, I watch the ocassional TV show, I watch movies, I use the internet… yes, I use them responsibly but how many people do? How many are subtly being changed by this constant bombardment? I just don’t know but it just seems like society would have been better without these things.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Use your own sense of responsibility or someone else will use it for you.

Statism is wrong. If you check the CCC, there are specific objections to it. “I don’t like (fill in the blank) so it should be ILLEGAL!”

Sorry, but that leads ultimately to state control of everything, including which innocent person shall die. Remember Terri Schiavo?

 

[Catholic90]

Cell phones, for example. You know, kids these days will text each other before ever making a phone call. You know why? You can THINK about your response via text, you can’t in real time speech. I wonder sometimes if this isn’t making our kids a bit… well, less witty. I have no evidence for this either way but I wonder…

I would rather text than talk, and I am in my late 40s! Why? Because the person I am texting can respond at their convenience, and I can also respond at my convenience. I will text my son at college, because he may be in class, studying, or hanging out with friends. He can reply when it fits his schedule. I will text my other kids in high school if I need to tell them something rather than call, because they cannot answer their phone during school, and on a few occasions I’ve needed to tell them something before they left school. Plus, no one can overhear texts! I’ve had discussions with one son about Christmas presents via text while the other sons are sitting in the same room When DH was alive and drinking, my kids and I would communicate via text about his location, his condition, and his state of anger.

Have you ever hung out with current teenagers? Let me tell you, they are VERY witty! And funny! And quick thinking! Nothing wrong with THINKING before you speak either. It is a skill too many do not have.

 

[nickybr38]

I would rather text than talk, and I am in my late 40s! Why? Because the person I am texting can respond at their convenience, and I can also respond at my convenience. I will text my son at college, because he may be in class, studying, or hanging out with friends. He can reply when it fits his schedule. I will text my other kids in high school if I need to tell them something rather than call, because they cannot answer their phone during school, and on a few occasions I’ve needed to tell them something before they left school. Plus, no one can overhear texts! I’ve had discussions with one son about Christmas presents via text while the other sons are sitting in the same room When DH was alive and drinking, my kids and I would communicate via text about his location, his condition, and his state of anger.

Have you ever hung out with current teenagers? Let me tell you, they are VERY witty! And funny! And quick thinking! Nothing wrong with THINKING before you speak either. It is a skill too many do not have.

I work with teenagers. They have limited vocabularies (I only have a grade 9/10 education but apparently I use words they’ve never heard… I can’t even give you examples because they’re common words, these kids just don’t know them), they do not catch on quickly in conversation and are generally REALLY BAD examples for the modern teenager. A few of them are pretty sharp (in conversation) but the majority just aren’t. And let’s not even talk about how many sneak off to check their text messages (and how often). It’s ridiculous really. Work ethic? They have none. All they care about are their friends and their parties.

I don’t know. I think my experiences are limited to a group of kids who have little to no parental influence.

 

[_L]

I know for one thing, that if there was no internet I don’t think I would ever have been able to learn so much about the faith.

 

[Catholic90]

I work with teenagers. They have limited vocabularies (I only have a grade 9/10 education but apparently I use words they’ve never heard… I can’t even give you examples because they’re common words, these kids just don’t know them), they do not catch on quickly in conversation and are generally REALLY BAD examples for the modern teenager. A few of them are pretty sharp (in conversation) but the majority just aren’t. And let’s not even talk about how many sneak off to check their text messages (and how often). It’s ridiculous really. Work ethic? They have none. All they care about are their friends and their parties.

I don’t know. I think my experiences are limited to a group of kids who have little to no parental influence.

These are not the types of teens I know. The teens I know are my sons’ friends, most from a college prep high school, so they all definitely have work ethic. Most have jobs, maintain honor roll status while taking AP courses, and are involved in extracurriculars. Some parents are too involved! (helicopters!). But the kids all work very hard.

 

[nickybr38]

These are not the types of teens I know. The teens I know are my sons’ friends, most from a college prep school, so they all definitely have work ethic. Most have jobs, maintain honor roll status while taking AP courses, and are involved in extracurriculars. Some parents are too involved! (helicopters!). But the kids all work very hard.

We run in different circles.

 

[cerad2]

I would suggest that the internet actually improves the morality of porn.

Not so long ago, producing and distributing a porn video cost some serious money. Many of the actors and actresses were exploited. Organized crime ran many of the operations. Profits were high because availability was limited.

Thanks to the internet pretty much anyone can shoot and upload a clip for next to nothing. No more organized crime. Reduced exploitation. Few profits. And eventually, the unlimited free access will probably result in an overall reduction in viewing.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I would suggest that the internet actually improves the morality of porn.

Not so long ago, producing and distributing a porn video cost some serious money. Many of the actors and actresses were exploited. Organized crime ran many of the operations. Profits were high because availability was limited.

Thanks to the internet pretty much anyone can shoot and upload a clip for next to nothing. No more organized crime. Reduced exploitation. Few profits. And eventually, the unlimited free access will probably result in an overall reduction in viewing.

I pray you are joking, because otherwise this makes zero sense.

 

[tvdxer]

Overall with all things considered In My Humble Opinion YES

Any Thoughts? Pros Verses Cons?

If it weren’t for me going to Catholic websites after my first bout of scrupulosity when I was 11 years old (back in 1998), then I probably wouldn’t know nearly as much about my faith nor be nearly as “devout” of a Catholic.