Constructive Internet usage can prove to be a big economic opportunity

The internet is an amazing place for all those who want to positively explore new genres and to learn something interesting. Memes and GIFs have become the new source of happiness in our hectic lives. Today, children use the internet for studies, they look for information, listen to music, watch movies, socialize on various platforms or even play online games.

These are all constructive activities and there is no doubt that through them people derive benefits from the internet. It is also a place where we can be ourselves and find people with similar viewpoints and make new friends who care and support us. But that same happy and helpful space can very easily turn as an unhealthy, unsafe and sometimes even threatening space.

Online activities are an integral part of everyone’s life and people probably spend many hours surfing the internet. The social networking sites, instant messaging programs, and chat rooms are few potentially dangerous applications that are probably used regularly by all of us. These and others are often misused by cyberbullies. In this article, we are exploring the cause and the solutions for it.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is one of the most pressing problems today. By misusing the anonymity that the internet provides, online bullies might try to take advantage of you, steal your personal information, harass or threaten you. Today kids online are facing this threat the most. It is prevalent in social networking and messaging sites. It has also gone to the extent where people have committed suicides and now governments around the world are taking stricter actions.

One of the main precautions that one can take is to not put our personal details on the internet. Most trustworthy people and companies won’t ask for this type of information online. So if others do, it’s a red flag that they may be up to no good.

Online Trolling

Trolling or harassing people on social media just because one does not agree with their ideas and views is a trend. What we all need to understand is that we need to respect other people’s views. Even if, we don’t agree it doesn’t mean we need to be rude. We can also put forward our viewpoints and opinions politely without hurting the other person’s feelings.

The internet is for Collaboration

The internet is the best place to collaborate, learn and create new and amazing content. It is for portraying our talents and connect with the world. It has been able to shrink the geographical boundaries and bring people together and it is in our hands whether to use it for the good or not.

Read other blogs from #DigitalTrustDialogue Here

Vipra Dodiya is a student of ARCH College of design, Jaipur and this effort is a part of Google India and SheThePeople initiative Digital Trust Dialogues across colleges in India.