One High School Speech

A couple of years back, I was invited to my high school to address the secondary section students, on

'The Impact of Internet on Students'

I was asked to end my essay on a positive note. I say this because, I had ended my speech with a typical cliched statement. So I went back a few years, and delivered one, as I would write one for an examination. Here are the exact words, that the unlucky bunch of kids had to hear from me...

"Several years ago, Pythagoras and Galileo said that the ‘The World is round’. After eons now, Tom Friedman concludes or rather begins by saying that ‘The World is flat’ in his book ‘The World is flat’. And he goes on to show how the technological advancements have ushered in a collaborative communication framework making the world flatter and flatter, day by day. And as the base of all this, stands the pillar and lynchpin called as ‘Internet’. Every era has kept mankind under control, but for the current ‘Information Era’, where Man has been able to conquer all the information looming large, over him and yet craving to capture more. So let us see what the ‘Internet’ actually is and how it has impacted us and more so the students.

In simple terms, we can consider the ‘Internet’ as a network of millions of computers interconnected and easily accessible. The definition will still hold, if we replace the term ‘Computer’ with the term ‘Information Mines’. The single most impact of the internet has been quick and easy access to unfathomable information. All other benefits are mere tributaries of this feature. We can divide the ‘Impact of internet on Students’ into three major slices: Usage, Academic impact and socio-economic impact and then analyze the pros and cons of these units.

A decade or so ago, not many students were addicted to the internet. There was too much overhead in terms of cost and too less returns, to take the plunge in. But come this decade, and as Steve Jones, (Senior Research Professor of Pew Internet Research Project) proves it, 86% of today’s students have internet facility. Because it takes close to nothing to be online and the returns are way too high. This affinity has not been forced, but is a result of the benefits the Internet has to offer. Thus the fast gained high Usage goes to prove that, first and foremost, the impact has been a positive one. The Usage can be further classified based on its purpose. The major ones being ‘Accessing and Transferring Information’, ‘Communicating professionally and socially’, ‘Entertainment and leisure’ etc.

The academic impact has been overwhelming. Students now have access to all the online libraries and research institutions of the world. A topic of knowledge has innumerable pages of documentation, all at a distance of few clicks. He is no more limited to the confines of one single book. Distance education programs have benefited students remotely. Access to latest news and releases has kept them in pace with the world. The domain of an average student has increased so much in terms of knowledge on various subjects. Be it History, Geography, Literature, Science, Cosmos, Mythology, Sports, Events and happenings, political affairs and anything under the sun, search engines like Google and Yahoo have aggregated all the information into a single page and linked it up. A student hungry for knowledge could not have asked for more.

Communication is the most visible impact of the internet. Today, a student can sit in a virtual classroom (as simple as a well equipped computer at your place) and be connected to an audio-visual classroom in the States, which pulls out notes from around the libraries in the world, has professors commenting from other parts of the world. This ease of communication is what internet has to offer us. A student can opt to communicate online with a professor for queries and assistance, thereby breaking the communication barrier that arises in most cases for a face to face conversation. Assignments can be given and received online, reference materials and study notes can be easily traded because of the file sharing facility provided by Internet. Instant messengers though used socially more, can be effectively used to simulate a quick face to face conversation. Online blogs and mailing sites have enhanced his written communication skills and expression of speech.

Coming to Entertainment and Leisure, there is no denying the fact that Music and video sharing has got the student community hooked onto the cyber world forever. Instant messengers have increased his social spectrum of friends. Online community sites for friends have kept him close to all his comrades. And most importantly, the entertainment facet of Internet has provided the much needed respite and stress busting pill, every student in this competitive arena needs. Apparently, the leisurely aspect of internet may look like having a major impact and occupying the brunt of his time. However as Steve Jones shows in his statistics, only 23% of the total impact of internet is for Entertainment and leisure. This is taking into account the fact, that a little time put in for academic purposes holds far more value than double the time put in for other purposes.

Socially, there was a time when parents were bothered, not because of what their children knew, but how they knew it. Yes we are talking about Sexual awareness. The debate is still on, as to Sex education should be part of the academic curriculum or not. The internet has been most valuable in this respect, as it has nurtured the curiosity of the youth by providing him with the correct information and also not letting him go astray in his quest. There is no better medium to ensure awareness about AIDS and other sexual diseases. Today, students are mature enough at a young age to grasp the awareness about such things, which need to be imprinted early in young minds. This contributes to better psychological behavior as the youth today don’t resort to covert means.

Any discussion on the impact of internet is incomplete without the two major risks it has brought along with it. There is easy access to obscene content, probably a worst threat than online frauds. However, the Internet only helps us access an ocean of knowledge. Man decides what the ocean contains and more importantly what he seeks and makes out of it. This world was never full of Jesus Christs even without the internet. So there is no point discussing the negative impact of internet, since Science does not know good and evil, but only Man does.

Hence due to the positive impact of internet, today’s students who are future entrepreneurs and business managers will know how to gain knowledge, collaborate work, communicate effectively and be successful. Today a student, tomorrow a champion…"