Page 117 - Viva ICSE Computer Studies 6 : E-book

Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet

Let’s learn about various advantages and disadvantages of using Internet.

Advantages of Internet
• Internet has made it easy for the users to communicate with anyone across the world
through e-mails instantly. It also provides the facility for face-to-face interaction through
social media websites (Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn), video conferencing and Skype.
• The users can access any information related to their interests on the Internet through
diff erent search engines.

• Internet plays an important role in the process of learning. Students can learn various
concepts related to diff erent subjects using the audio or video lessons over the Internet.
Teaching videos of teachers and other subject matter experts can be uploaded on the
Internet which are helpful for students.
• The users can share any information in the form of text, graphics, audio and video fi les
over the Internet with one user or many at the same time.

• The users can buy or sell goods on the Internet. They can avail other facilities like
e-banking to do online banking transactions and maintain their accounts. They can also
make reservations online.
• It is easy to share devices like printers and scanners in a network thus reducing the cost
of purchasing hardware. Also, it is comparatively cheaper to send e-mails to people living
in diff erent countries than making phone calls.

Disadvantages of Internet

• There may be some loss of information while sharing the information over the Internet.
This information can be stolen by someone with bad intentions. Therefore, it is advised
not to share personal information like bank details, passwords, and details of credit cards
and debit cards.
• Sometimes, the information present on the Internet may not be true. But it spreads
instantly over the Internet. This can cause problems and misunderstandings among the
users.
• Computers connected to Internet can be attacked by virus. This can delete important
fi les from the system thus resulting in the loss of important data and information.

• The unwanted advertisement e-mails received by the user are called spam. This slows
down the system and makes the user face a lot of problems. Sometimes, these e-mails
may contain virus which can cause harm to the computer.

Potential Threats in Internet World

The use of Internet worldwide also brings along the related threats to the data and information.
The computer systems of the users can be accessed with harmful intent using the Internet.

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