C5: Internet

Issue Navigation:

Debates

- Is the computer world a part of the real world?
- Does Cyberspace sucessfully link us to new friends and communities?
- Do we spend too much time in front of computers?

Soul Surfing

- Is it wise to discuss religion with people of a different faith than you? The Internet makes religion much less private. Discuss with your audience if they talk about Judaism with their non-Jewish friends. Is it healthy or detrimental?

- Why isn't Judaism an evangelical religion? Do a short jokey playlet where you advertise Judaism and then discuss it with your audience.

Real hate

The Net is a golden opportunity to spread lies and hate. Is there any way to stop it? Is it best to ignore these developments or to try to stop them?

Intimate strangers

Most people are online because they are lonely. What does this tell us about modern relationships? Have any of your audience been to an 'Internet Cafe'? Most of these are full of people who are holding conversations across the Net. They are used for chat much more than collecting information. This phenomenon is similar to the huge growth in the number of telephone chatlines. So have these technological advances really improved society? Or are they jsut new tools for human interaction?

Cyberwars

Advances in technology haev made war and death a cleaner game. Man to man combat has been replaced by missiles guided by satellite. There is a scene in the film 'Patriot Games' where Harrison Ford sees the entire population of an army camp wiped out on a satellite screen. The violence seems strangely distant and easier to watch. As war enters the virtual world is it becoming less real? What does that do to our sensitivities about life and death? We happily watched the film 'Independence Day' which tells the story of the annihilation of millions of people but because it is up there on the screen we don't take it too seriously. Are all these things harmless escapism or do they reveal a gradual erosion of the awareness and feeling of being alive and caring about it too?

Cyberporn

- This is a very serious problem. If you are confident of your audience then you can talk about this topic. Should there be free speech on the Internet?

- Do you think products such as Net Nanny and Surfwatch will be effective? Does this issue alone make the Internet unsafe?

Another world

- Put Cyberspace on trial for being an immoral world that we would do better to live without. Use the upside and downside arguments to support each side. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? Or maybe the Net is neither innocent or guilty and the real issue is what people do with it.

- What do you think the future holds as regards the Internet? Ask your audience for suggestions and discuss whether they will be worthwhile.

Edutainment

- Do a quick survey of your audience:

How many have access to the Internet at home?

What do they mainly use it for?

How many educational sites do they regularly visit?

- Pop into your school computer room. What sites are people looking up? Are they having fun or trying to learn?

A fun waste of time

Is the Internet a tool or a toy? Does it really save us so much time? When families buy computers are they used more for the accounts or for playing games? Is the Internet here to stay or is it a passing fad?

Reading

Do you think that disks will one day completely replace books? Soon we will be able to download a novel and read it without the need to have a printed version. Will the screen replace the page? You can't cuddle up with a monitor like you can with a good book! Will the Internet change our reading habits?

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