Title: The Internet: bringing people together virtually or pushing them away physically
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Content: The Internet: bringing people together virtually or pushing them away physically
he Internet has the unique ability to connect any user with any other user, according to any quality possible — relationships, beliefs, viewpoints, goals, problems, identity, or interests. For example, using email and chatting software, connecting with family and friends who are far away geographically is cheaper and easier than calling or writing letters. Using a combination of the World Wide Web, chatting software, email, and discussion groups, minority groups that may have been ignored by traditional media have come together online to share information, support each other, and organize events. However, critics of the Internet believe that Internet use, while connecting more people virtually, makes people more isolated socially because the more time they spend online, the less time they spend interacting in real life. They believe that electronic communication is not as in-depth or reliable as communication in person or on the phone. Critics also see a possibility of the Internet breaking people apart into minority groups, as a result of less dependence on mainstream media, a phenomenon known as "balkanization." Critical forecasts of the future of the Internet, for example in the movie The Net, show people whose only friends are online buddies, whose real names are not even known. In these distopian worlds, social relationships are not even based on reality, but on the façades of other online users, whose anonymous interactions can be untruthful and unreliable. These people work from home, so there is no interaction with fellow employees, and their social lives are mingled with their work, which both revolve around the Internet.