The Causes and Effects of Internet Addiction

It is clear that the use of technology has been rising, and because of this there has been controversy surrounding whether it causes more good or harm to today’s society. I believe that the internet causes more harm to society. For instance, various crimes are made possible and are more easily and frequently committed due to people’s private information being so easily accessible on the internet.

Also, the health of many individuals is threatened by the overuse of the internet, including lowering physical activity levels and damaging people’s vision. Finally, the safety of individuals is at risk due to online harassment through cyberbullying, pedophilia, and stalking. Conclusively, the rise in internet use has a negative impact on society as shown by increased crime rates, health risks, and safety risks.

To begin, the internet proves itself to cause more harm in the world than it does good by increasing the amounts of crime in some areas of the law. The first crime that is more easily committed with help from the internet is kidnapping, as criminals can identify where to find a target simply by searching their name. There have also been many cases in which a person disguises oneself as an internet companion, meets with the target, and kidnaps them. Another crime that frequently occurs due to the internet is identity theft.

So many people reveal personal information about themselves over the internet, resulting in predators finding and using the information to benefit their own lives by stealing another person’s identity. This leads to the final crime that is more easily committed thanks to the internet: money theft. Since many people do banking online and purchase things online, credit card numbers are constantly being sent across the internet, ready to be stolen by anyone.

This has happened recently to my brother; he had bought something online and later that night found out that he had been charged $200 extra than he originally payed for. Predators can more easily take money from these accounts with help from the internet. Since the internet provides easy access to information about people which causes their safety to be jeopardized, therefore internet causes a lot of harm.

Furthermore, the invention of the internet has resulted in the health of many individuals to become at risk, especially since this tool can only be accessed through a screen. To begin, from constantly being online, the blue light from behind the screen causes a person to become more alert and awake, causing people across the globe to suffer with insomnia, which is especially bad for developing individuals. In my personal experience, I find it harder to fall asleep after being on my phone or laptop for a long period of time.

As well, the blue light from the screen damages one’s optic nerve, which can cause gradual blindness to one’s eye. Overall, it’s clear that the screen that allows one to access the internet causes a large amount of harm to a person’s health. However, a person’s health is also in danger from the activities that one does not do while using the internet. The internet is now known as a large addiction for people, especially the newer generations, which prevents these people from participating in daily physical activities, commonly resulting in obesity- another awful health issue that is very prominent in today’s society. To conclude, it is clear that the internet causes harm to many people’s health.

Finally, the internet has created a larger realm of danger for individuals upon use. An individual’s safety is at risk while they are using the internet. Cyberbullying is a major safety issue, especially now that so many people are using the internet. The Cyber Bullying Statistics in 2014 states, “25 percent of teenagers report that they have experienced repeated bullying via cell phone or internet, 52 percent of younger people report being cyber bullied, and 11 percent report embarrassing or damaging photographs taken of them without their consent. 55 percent have witnessed bullying but ignored the behaviour.” Seeing these statistics, anyone could be able to