Brad D. Smith, the president and chief executive officer of Intuit, Inc. stated, “Millennials, and the generations that follow, are shaping technology. This generation has grown up with computing in the palm of their hands. They are more socially and globally connected through mobile Internet devices than any prior generation. And they don't question; they just learn.”

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While the businessman behind one of the largest software companies in the world sees the ever-growing role that the Internet and technology plays in our lives with a positive outlook, others could not disagree more with Smith. A poll from YouGov determined that 77 percent of people think that adults younger than 30 years old have a worse work ethic than their elders due to social media and the Internet. With the usefulness provided by the world-wide web, are millenials worse off and lazy because of it?

       

With over 1.35 billion people using Facebook across the world, social media has been able to connect humanity in a way that was impossible before the invention of the World Wide Web in 1990. Through social media and other networking tools, the Internet has made connectivity easier than ever before. ReachOut Australia suggests that the Internet, rather than harming social skills in young people, is helping them to become better communicators: “Social networking services can provide young people with opportunities to learn how to function successfully in a community, navigating a public social space and developing social norms and skills as participants in peer groups.” Along with the ability to collaborate and communicate, the Internet has become a place of infinite knowledge. The collection of human comprehension no longer exists in the library alone, and learning no longer requires hours spent hunched over a book.

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Through databases and search engines, we are able to collect information at speeds incomprehensible in the years before the Internet. Through the Internet, we have been able to become a society more informed and knowledgeable, with the ability to learn the secrets of the world with a simple click, than generations before us. However, the Internet can bring human connectivity and from screen to screen, harmful consequences, as we know, have also resulted from an online status.

       

Anxiety, depression, body image issues, and cyberbullying are all examples of how the Internet is a rose with many thorns. A team of researchers from the University of Houston found that their study “revealed an association between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms for both [men and women].” Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and numerous sources, users can spend hours invested in another person’s life. With social media and the Internet bringing constant feedback from others twenty-four hours a day, comparing ourselves to others becomes part of our daily routine. With this, there is no wonder why daily social media have 2.2 times the risk of developing eating disorders, according to a research conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

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In addition to introspective issues, the Internet has also caused a multitude of interpersonal problems. Bullying is not a new concept and is something more than 30 percent of Americans have experienced. However, the Internet, which has been capable for home use for less than thirty years, can catalyst a harassment situation. Rather than being able to escape aggression from tormenters at school, students are sometimes unable to escape their bullies with the Internet. Because of this, more than 1 in 3 young people have experienced cyberthreats online, according to the i-SAFE foundation. With mental health to consider, do the risks of the Internet outweigh its rewards?

       

Sebastian Hökby from the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health in Stockholm, Sweden researched the effects on mental health from Internet usage and determined, “Internet use is not intrinsically harmful, but it depends on the activity that one engages in, and how it affects the individual.” Ultimately, the Internet is a tool in our lives; in the wrong hands, it can be destructive, but with its intended use, it can create a masterpiece. How we choose to use Internet, for better or worse, will determine its usefulness in our society.