Information is a central element of human behavior. It is deeply coded in us to search for, constantly collect, accumulate, process, and transmit information, as this meant survival thousands of years ago. Information is like oxygen for us. It’s no coincidence that sensory deprivation was a highly effective method of torture because our brain needs new information; otherwise, we might fall into a state of madness. We can only talk about society because we overcame an evolutionary obstacle when we started sharing information collectively. Each generation did not have to reinvent the wheel; it was enough to learn from the elders. The internet is not much more than this; we are just the cavemen of the modern age.

The Good

There is no distance on the internet, and soon, every household will have an internet-capable device, meaning we can connect with almost anyone instantly, without physical boundaries. The amount of knowledge available is astronomical, so learning and development, in theory, have never been easier. Not to mention the number of jobs it has created and the platform it provides for commerce. But where’s the catch?

The Bad

It can be said for many tools that it can be very useful until they are used with ill intentions. Take a knife, for example; you can slice bread with it, but you can also kill someone. Nuclear fission can produce clean, large amounts of energy in power plants, but it can also obliterate cities. It’s clear from these examples that most tools can cause as much harm as they can provide benefit. The internet is similar, but a bit different. The internet is not just black and white; it has many hidden consequences, the outcomes of which we cannot predict, but we can already feel their impact in our present. People do not notice these processes because they are not like an atomic flash or a cut; they feel normal because such deep-rooted instincts are exploited on the internet that most people may not even be aware of. We have lost a war we didn’t even know existed.

For every person, reality is what they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste, i.e., the information that reaches us daily. The modern person’s primary source of information is the internet, so we can rightly say that the internet greatly influences our sense of reality and worldview. But what kind of reality is this?

Impact on Human Relationships

Earlier, I mentioned that one of the things the internet can be proud of is bringing people together. Social media became so huge precisely because people need this; we are social beings. Various hormones, like oxytocin or dopamine, are released when we meet new people, giving us a sense of achievement. These will be discussed later. However, this has several flaws.

The first thing I want to highlight is that no one shares the reality of themselves on social media. Everyone shows their alter ego who is happy, earns a lot of money, travels, and generally only experiences positive moments. Now, when an average person sees this and compares it to their mediocre life, which indeed has sad and painful moments, they will be disheartened because they will think they are doing something wrong. But we can be sure that the person on the other side of the screen also has problems. This was a very general example, but we can see more if we think about bodybuilder influencers who set standards that are naturally unattainable, leading people to false ideals and possibly self-image and body image issues.

Our value system and moral compass is also obviously influenced by social media, as everything we do and share there is rewarded with likes and other people’s recognition, which also gives us a sense of success. Constantly chasing this feeling leads to a value system where there is no value, as everything is “good” that brings views and likes. This is embodied by influencers who claim and do anything for money and views. In their eyes, reality is whatever brings money to the table. “Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia” said an influencer for 3 pence.

Despite bringing so many new people together, overall, I think it can be said that people have become lonelier because of the internet. Friends made online maintain the illusion that hundreds surround you, but in reality, you have no shared memories with any of them, and those are the truly important things. Friendships and relationships flourish when there is what we call a proof-of-work, meaning the more effort and energy you invest to create shared moments in reality.

Unfortunately, the word “illusion” comes up more and more often regarding the internet. This is because there are many things on the internet that trigger the same feelings and hormones in us as if we were doing them in reality, but they are much more secondary and artificial activities. I probably don’t need to mention that porn also belongs here. It completely deceives and reprograms people’s brains. Zero energy investment for infinite pleasure. This is the cancer of modern man. This eventually leads to people becoming indifferent, ambitionless, and unmotivated in every area of life because the body can no longer reward them since they have exhausted their hormone balance with the mentioned pleasures. Nothing matters, nothing brings joy because the internet has burned out the brain. This is hedonism.

Cyberbullying and online grooming are also significant problems, mainly arising from human character flaws, but the internet as a medium also has its share of responsibility in this.

I’ve left what I think is the most painful point for last. One would think that the internet creates dialogue, sparks debates, as it brings together so many people with different thoughts, backgrounds, and financial situations that friction is inevitable. However, the situation is very different. The problem starts with profit-oriented companies, unsurprisingly, wanting to maximize profit (wow), and they do this by maximizing the time you spend on their app. One way to achieve this is by showing you content that interests you, but primarily what you like. The learning algorithms working in the background are so perfect and operate so smoothly that it quickly becomes clear to them what categories you can be classified into. You won’t see opinions that contradict yours. If you’re a dog person, you’ll see dogs. There is no dialogue, no debate, no progress. What follows from this? A hyper-sterilized world is built within you where everyone agrees with you. But this is not reality. In reality, there are indeed many different opinions and thoughts that need to clash. A principle, a theory is worth something if it is put to the test. In the end, the principles that remain are the strongest, most well-founded, and most justified. What happens when this is absent, like on the internet? Theories that would have no chance in reality catch fire, such as Flat Earth believers or other pseudoscientific groups. Bubbles form on the internet with no passage between them; you state your opinion and only hear your own echo. Thus, as much as the internet connects us, it also creates chasms between us. We don’t have to look far for the consequences: after the 2020 US elections, a civil war-like situation developed because the losing Republican party’s followers accused the liberals of fraud. This is also not surprising, just think about the situation of a Republican voter, who was only in Republican groups on Facebook, only saw the ads of their supported candidates, etc. After that, a candidate from a party that did not even exist in their world won the election.

It is also worth examining all this on an individual level, as it affects us as individuals more. I think this “for you” marketing trick has a negative impact on people’s personalities because people socialize into the idea that everything is about them, everything is for them. “This product is just for you!” I don’t need to say that this can cause a rather egocentric character, which has a hysterical outrage the moment someone else has a different opinion. So far, when I said “opinion,” I always meant cultural and respectful opinions, but what about vulgar trolling and abuse that is also rampant on the internet. The best solution would be if people learned to behave empathetically towards each other and to express their opinions in a normal form. However, I think it is unacceptable to simply censor hurtful comments. This does not solve the problem, it just sweeps it under the rug to maintain the illusion. Who then decides what is a hurtful comment, the government? Maybe not today, but tomorrow the term “sliced bread” could be considered offensive just because it suits someone’s interests. People need to develop immunity, tolerance against negative experiences, because unfortunately, reality is full of them. Meanwhile, we should strive to eliminate the ignorance that caused the trolling attitude. Homelessness will not end just by banning homeless people. The lesson is that we should always get information from multiple sources and strive to understand each other, even if we think we are right, because the world is not black and white, and we can achieve much more together, as lone heroes do not exist.

Öngyilkosságok száma

This image shows the number of suicides per 100,000 people in the United States over the years. Of course, no direct conclusion can be drawn from the data and the mentioned internet problems, as many other factors play a role, but it is still a rather depressing curve.

Impact on Cognitive Abilities


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I also mentioned as a beneficial aspect the vast amount of knowledge available to us due to the internet. This is true, but getting information from the internet is like drinking from a fire hydrant. Our brain simply cannot absorb this much information in a healthy manner, and there are consequences.

First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that as easy as it is to spread truth, it is just as easy to spread misinformation on the internet. Societies and groups can be deceived, manipulated, and toppled with it. Most people perceive reality through the internet and news portals, making manipulation and deception child’s play. Just neet to repeat enought times that the grass is blue and the sky is green, and create your own sources, and over shout opposing views. The internet is the perfect tool for spreading propaganda, reaching everyone, not resource-intensive, people willingly watch it, and with the right algorithms, critical voices can be isolated from the believers, the hardcore followers. Luckily, no one on the internet intends to manipulate the masses :D.

The impact of the internet on our brain is perhaps best observed in younger generations, as most neural pathways are formed at a young age, making the brain most adaptable during this period. The problem mainly lies with the quantity and form of information.

In terms of quantity, it’s important to know that the size of the internet doubles every two years and grows exponentially. When this flood of information and stimuli reaches us, our brain defends itself by simply not absorbing it. You read or watch something, but after 30 minutes, you don’t even remember it; otherwise, the brain would be overwhelmed by the flood of stimuli. Furthermore, the vast amount of information divides our attention; we will never be able to concentrate on one thing. We start everything but finish nothing because our brain is already wokring on the next piece of information. This is a sure way for our knowledge to be superficial and useless. We have the entire knowledge of humanity at our disposal, but we can’t do anything with it.

Information comes in many forms, but what I think is worth examining now, is short content. As mentioned before, acquiring information is like a drug for us. Short content perfectly fits into our increasingly fast-paced world, as it requires little time and we enjoy consuming it. We want more and more until our brain’s receptors are fried from the many stimuli. Moreover, we see things that we like and in inexhaustible quantities. I am convinced that most of these applications (like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook) have more psychologists working behind them than programmers, as they captivate our attention in an impressive way by exploiting our various instincts. Because the ultimate goal is to get as much out of us as possible, as we are the products, our attention and data are sold. If you don’t pay for the product, you are the product. This is not our fault; the decision is no longer made consciously by most people but reflexively, for example, reaching for the phone. However, we are very much at fault if we do not protect our children from this once we are aware of the consequences. Unfortunately, the “iPad kid” phenomenon is becoming more and more common, where the parent, out of fatigue or other irresponsible reasons, negligently occupies the child by handing them a tablet. Surely nothing can go wrong if a small child has unlimited access to the entire internet…

To mention specifics, attention span drastically decreases after prolonged consumption of short content. Our brain always adapts to circumstances, and if we always consume content that is a maximum of 1 minute long, the brain simply reprograms itself, and reading a book will no longer hold our attention. Not only do we miss out on books, but also on anything that requires even a slightly longer thought process. Speaking of books, it is also worth noting that an increasing portion of content consumed on the internet is visual. This is perhaps disadvantageous because our creativity never has to be engaged to imagine something since it is already presented to us.

And the Ugly

No matter how wonderful and utopian the internet was as a concept, at this moment, it is about exploiting and milking the masses dry, where people no longer create any real value, only consume. Everything starts when you wake up from your dream. It is time to wake up, wake up from the dream, from the comfort, and face reality, which may be ugly or hopeless, yellow and bitter, but at least it is ours. Use the internet, but don’t let the internet use you.

I hope I managed to summarize my thoughts on this topic well. If you have any comments, don’t hold back! Have a nice day!