All modern innovations come at a cost. While humanity has continuously propelled itself forward, inventing and creating new means of changing the world, the consequences of such action are oftentimes mixed. It is undoubted that the modern person could not live in the same way they do without the achievements of the past, but it is also difficult to ignore the overwhelming and serious harm they have done to both society and the planet. For the purposes of this discussion, the focus will be on one of the most vital and well-known inventions of the current age – the internet. The creation of the internet and the World Wide Web has allowed people to connect all over the world while also enabling any individual access to a vast array of information (Abbate). The sheer number of possibilities an online environment offers is staggering. Many businesses have managed to kick-start their development with the popularization of the Web, including such giants as Apple and Amazon.
However, for some businesses, the sudden popularity of the Web and its growth has proven devastating. For example, film-renting services, such as Blockbuster, have suffered tremendous losses over the years with the introduction of file downloading and video hosting platforms (Satell). The video streaming industry has effectively done the practice of renting movies obsolete. Similarly, physical stores in many locations and other small businesses are now finding it much harder to compete with the offers made by corporations such as Amazon that are using the internet to their professional advantage. Overall, it can be said that the Worldwide Web has been very beneficial for some and extremely detrimental to others, much like many other current-day inventions.
Works Cited
Abbate, Janet. “The Internet: Global Evolution and Challenges.” OpenMind, Web.
Satell, Greg. “A Look Back at Why Blockbuster Really Failed and Why It Didn’t Have To.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 2014, Web.