Although I enjoy Gransnet and also being able to find all sorts of information and entertainment on the Internet - and mobile phones are also very handy - I sometimes wonder if we were better off without them.
Young people in particular place their phones within clutching distance, as if their lives depended on them. It's not unusual to see a group of young people, each talking on their phones or sending/reading texts, rather than chatting to each other. Children's questions and comments go unanswered as their parents make endless phone calls.
Students seem to rely too much on the internet to get bits of information, rather than reading a book and learning how to scan and summarise chunks of text. Young, and some older, people rely heavily on Facebook and other social networks and reveal the details of their lives to all and sundry, including marketing companies. Most people send e-mails now, and I think it is so much nicer to receive a letter in the post.
Then, of course, there is the bullying, trolling, pornography, scamming, etc., etc. Most of these unpleasant elements existed before but the internet facilitates them to a much greater extent.
