The Internet: The Great Uniter or the Great Divider?

The internet is one of the greatest connectors in the world… As well as one of the greatest dividers. With technology such as the world wide web comes a freedom to the individual. That freedom creates a breeding ground for differences in opinion, especially in one of the most controversial topics today: politics.

In the episode 2 of The Virtual Revolution (embedded below), a main focal point is how the internet brought the world together as well as creating division. The best example of this would be within politics. Politics in the world wide web helps to bring together people from all around the world in order to pursue a common cause. For example, in the United States, it has become easier for people who oppose the Keystone Pipeline to band together in protest. It also created a situation where media can be released to educate people on why they oppose this. Furthermore, it is easier to access state representatives to alert them of their constituents’ opinions.

The internet holds the power to bring together people, but it also has the ability to divide. In the video, Al-Qaeda is given as an example as to why the internet can connect and divide. Al-Qaeda uses the internet to connect radicals around the world, giving them more power than they ever had in the past. However, the connection of the radicals created a rift among many other communities, including the Muslim community. The radical ideals of Al-Qaeda combined with violence and political unrest in the Middle East caused division among the countries.

In the future, the internet may lead us in a multitude of directions. Depending on what happens with net neutrality and the adaptation of internet users, it could either become a place where ideas are formed, people band together, and communities connect, or it could become an over-capitalized resource with unoriginal content, skyrocketed pricing, throttled speeds, and monopolized companies running the greatest information database in the world.