How to Use the Internet Wisely, for Your Health and Your Country's

by Howard Rheingold:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...ely-for-your-health-and-your-countrys/256898/

 

A fair attempt to give some guidance on keeping the built in crap-detecting inner sensors tuned.

 

I'm choosing to believe that most adults know not to trust everything they find on the internet.

I would like to see this type of subject become a mandatory course for middle school students everywhere. To totally generalize an entire segment of the population, teenagers are lazy and want to get a quick answer and move on. It's important to teach them that they can't trust everything.

 

LOL! That's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge. As soon as you think that it's finished, you have to start again from the beginning.

 

are you talking About me xD
this so true not just teenagers most of the internet users

BTW i'm not a tEAn

 

Hahahaha, i've used the internet to self diagnose many times before and it's always spot on. (I said diagnose not self medication, i always visit the doctor)

 

It's not just the internet. Any source of information and the information itself should be treated circumspectly.

It's a rather mean suggestion, but one could ask, "cui bono"? In other words, who benefits? Or, does the giver of information stand to benefit (and how) from parting with the information? For example, we accord salespeople a certain amount of scepticism that we may not if we don't know they're salespeople. So, even at the risk of being accused of ad hominem arguments, it's worth it to find out what the motive of the information-giver is.

The other thing is not to trust the medium. It's not just the internet. Print and visual aren't any better. We're now somewhat accustomed to conventional advertisements. But marketers are using other means that may not be immediately obviously. "Research reports", articles in newspapers, "product placements" in movies, even posts in forums, are instruments that aren't regarded quite so cynically and marketers know and exploit that.

 

I forgot to mention the "comments" section found at the end of many blogs and articles. Its utility is a subject of debate but we've seen it used even at Wilders
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-comments-this-article-will-be-useless/ <<< the language in this link may be considered "adult" by some.
http://www.cornwallseo.com/search/2011/01/is-blog-commenting-useless-for-seo/

 

Couldn't finish that one, got totally blown away by "Liberty upskirtz". ROFL!