Most of the people around the world use the Internet every single day for various reasons; video games, chatting, reading, schoolwork, taking notes... anything you could possibly need is right there.
Just take the new hacker talk going around as an example. As it turns out, Equifax, a company that holds our personal information, was just doing what they do every day, taking care of all the data they stored, when a security breach was detected. All of our data stored about us could be lost to mad men because of the Internet.
Have you ever played a game that you were really good at, and you had a lot of points or currency? Have you ever had your game hacked and all of your stuff stolen from you? In the online game ROBLOX, one man is a hacker that calls himself "John Doe" and chooses a date to hack anyone who's online on ROBLOX while he is. He tells the world the date so they can get ready or scared. When he arrives, you better be ready.
Have you ever gone to a website that have stuff on it that seemed harmless until you clicked on it? Did a screen come up that said you had a virus? Was it real, or was it a hoax? A lot of people go onto websites on ads and find that the website is not what the ad said it was. When they click on something else, a screen might pop up that says something like this: "Your computer has found a virus in one of your files," or something along those lines. Sometimes, it's true. Other times, it's just something for you to worry about and waste your time.
The Internet opened up a whole new world for people with enough money to access it. People without the money are just about cut off from the rest of the world. While some people are giggling and texting their friends, others are on the street with cardboard signs and some change that they're trying to quadruple the amount of. The Internet costs a lot of money, and since it's getting older, people are adding new things and making it even more expensive. And as a not-so-fun bonus, smartphones automatically come with data, a way to connect to the Internet without Wi-fi. If you don't pay for it, the phone is almost useless. The data is also getting more expensive, especially if you're trying to run a family.
The Internet has fun and games for the children who go there, but what if they stumble across something put there for much older people? The children would have, as they call it, "lost their innocence". It would certainly not be fun to come across something like that.
These reasons plus many more are just more and more issues that can, could, and/or already have happened on the Internet. Probably the biggest thing that isn't good about the Internet? Hacking.
Hacking is used by people who do it for fun, big-time hackers that are paid, and for reasons that are not safe (e.g. breaching security in Equifax or other important places that hold important things to us). Hacking can happen in games, email sites, news sites, data sites, school web pages, and just about every other place you could think of. Hacking can be harder for certain places, for example; the Pentagon. But it could also be a lot easier on lesser secured, newer things, like video games or new websites or website builders. Even apps on your phone, computer, and even your television can be hacked.
That is what is worst about the Internet. It would certainly be easier if people lowered the prices of data and devices, if they secured every website, if they kept the things for adults only for adults, and if people understood the dangers of the Internet. Most likely, we all hope that day will come when someone wakes up and realizes what really needs to be fixed. Perhaps one day the Internet will be the safest thing to use on Earth, or maybe even a thing of the past. But for now, all we can do is be patient.
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