More and more I am hearing older people say with all the problems the Internet is causing, especially Social Media, why don’t we just turn the whole thing off and go back to a previous world of landlines, letters, engaging with the real world and face to-face-contact which was fine before it all came along.
As a famous Supercomputer once said (which admittedly did go mad and try and kill everyone but let's gloss over that): 'I can’t let you do that Dave' because the problem isn’t the internet, it’s the people.
I imagine questions about television, radio, newspapers, the printing press off and books were raised after their inventions also.
Today I have read a newspaper from around the world, looked up within seconds what a Fungible token is, emailed people on a whole other continent, looked up the Lyrics to 'Ant Rap', booked an MOT and i will later do some grocery shopping online and without Google Maps I would probably still be driving in circles in the middle of Cardiff although in some regards, it was thanks to Google maps that I was driving around in circles in the middle of Cardiff in the first place.
It is hard to argue that the internet has done a lot of harm with Social Media and allowing dingbats with a keyboard to post misinformation and nonsense conspiracy theories but it is a magnificent technological achievement which allows access to knowledge, connected people and transformed learning so rather than ban the internet, we should civilise it by just banning the social media companies that spread hatred on it.
The internet is a communication medium, it is not the communication itself. Blaming “the internet” is like blaming the post office if you get a nasty letter and anyway, it’s far too late to put the genie back in the lamp so should make social media responsible for the accuracy of what they publish, in the same way that the media (in the UK anyway) is responsible because yes it can be a bit of a cesspool at times but we can't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Turning Off The Internet?
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