Shenzhen Tourism College of Jinan University

    With the prosperity of modern technology, human beings are benefiting from the convenience and high efficiency of the Internet. Indeed, without the Internet today, people who lived far away would be relatively isolated. There is no denying that the Internet does affect our life in many aspects.

    As is known to us, human beings couldn’t chat instantly until the Internet came into existence. When you log onto the Internet, your computer or telephone will be connected to the Internet so that you can chat freely and instantly with your acquaintances and send pictures you like to your friends. Besides, it is time-saving to send e-mails. For business purposes, it promotes the productivity of the corporations, and for personal communication, it enhances the intimacy among people.

    In addition, a new way to trade has been created. An increasing number of people tend to trade and advertise their goods and services on the Internet. For instance, it’s popular for businesspersons to sell products on Taobao, Amazon and lots of e-shops so as to earn profits because it is cost-saving as well as simple to set up e-shops. Recently, some youngsters have chosen to open their e-shops on Wechat and they are good at promoting their products on the Internet. Besides, the potential market on the Internet is so huge that it appeals to the merchants to shift their emphasis from real shops to e-shops.

    Moreover, the Internet also provides us a platform to search for information and entertain ourselves. No need for us to go out and no need for us to spend money buying our favorite singer’s CDs. The Internet acts as not only an encyclopedia, presenting rich knowledge and experiences shared by others which are able to meet most of our questions, but also a warehouse full of free songs, films and video games, providing various ways for us to entertain and relax ourselves.

    Convenience and variety though the Internet has brought us, many problems have occurred. Nowadays, lots of people spend too much time on the Internet, leading to a set of problems physically and mentally. For example, when people always sit rigidly to watch the computer or lower their heads to watch their cell phones, their neck will feel painful and eyesight will drop quickly. Furthermore, the more time on the Internet, the less time people will spend on exercising and communicating with friends face to face. What’s more, another vital problem is false information and scams on the Internet which can be dangerous for people.

    Anyway, there are two sides to every coin. The Internet has affected our lives, directly and indirectly, bringing plenty of convenience, creativity and variety to our life. While enjoying the benefits of the Internet, we should not underestimate the negative effects that the Internet has. The most important thing for us to do is to avoid the shortcomings of the Internet carefully, and utilize its strengths to provide more benefits for humankind.