Internet is in the name it interconnects different people from different corners of the world to produce or acquire knowledge about a certain issue or topic.

Is the internet a bare necessity? I want to say yes, but looking around today, we have managed to overuse, exploit and exhaust most of the bare necessities. It is time for the internet now, this argument has not two but too many sides of it. I am sure people would have a different stance on this before, but today with the pandemic going on, the internet is the only solution to everything. It certainly is a blessing in disguise. But the internet being a human right, indirectly enables us to take it for granted. Internet managed to bring distanced people closer together, but the people next to us further apart. Are we ready to face criticism from people behind the screens? Internet is the main channel to exchange information and denying information to anyone is outrightly unfair.

The exact number of internet users at this very moment is 4,896,851,200, this still means that forty percent of the country still doesn’t have access to the country. Apart from statistics, let us see what points make which side of the debate more valid. In one part of the world, the internet is used to destroy the meaning of humanity with the use of cyberterrorism, using the privilege to conduct violent acts. Not only this, it has lead to an increase in cases of anxiety and depression, as it paints a perfect picture of how life should be, but that’s just an illusion. It is hard to connect with people because all we see are filtered and polished on the platform, the platform which was mainly to increase the spread of information. Even Newton said it, every force has an equal and opposite reaction force, in the case of the internet it was misinformation, misusing the chance of being anonymous, or framing people.

On the other hand,  The digital divide and equality of access is the biggest issue here, the fact that there still exist people with no internet access, from submitting your homework digitally to job applications. It is just another door to being accepted in society socially, economically, and politically. It is still disappointing, how people in countries like Africa or in Asia still don’t have adequate access to, especially the women or the members lower down in the society. Talking about the positives, they are endless, starting with acknowledging that being online does not guarantee you right and after researching I found out certain examples of internet engagement that helped hold Government and institution and these were much needed when it comes to the level of justice

1.The ‘Arab Spring’- new ways of global reporting on government atrocities

2.Documenting unjustified police violence against African Americans in the US

3. #MeToo campaign — helping to ‘out’ sexual harassment of women by powerful men

4.Black Lives Matter movement

I feel the situation for this wicked debate is strict protocols and policies by the United Nations which are uniform throughout the world, a limit on what content should be on the internet to administering the use of anonymity There shouldn’t be a way for the countries to get out of this just to enforce the country and leave any stones unturned to a human right. The internet is totally in favor of the social issue of Globalization, which was neglected in the olden days, it certainly has grown over the decades and the countries and certain organization like Jio in India have worked towards providing this service to reaching almost 50%, which is a big deal for a developing country. At the same time, the Indian government has coined and aims to make the term “Digital India, Power to empower”. The idea of giving a voice and power to all the minority groups of India in order to reach the desired outcome of Digital Equality.

To get a different perspective, I asked my parents the same question, their stance was pretty neutral because they have a decent education and job experience in the times when the internet didn’t exist, but they do prefer living with the internet cause it made knowledge easier and more accessible, it made certain tasks more efficient. But they believe that sometimes, knowledge from the internet is half-knowledge, and it is said that half knowledge is as dangerous as no knowledge, elaborating their point, we tend to skim read half of the articles and posts, we tend to just read the headline and continue swiping down. At the end of the day, it is all on us, how we choose to use the internet and to what extent do we credit it for our knowledge.

As it was rightly said in a panel discussion, the internet is not just a right, but it is a superhuman right, it enables you access to a plethora of domains and platforms which are physically impossible to reach. A peculiar thought, if the internet existed in the olden times, could we have steered clear of wars and settled in through a few posts and tweets. And one of

the most obvious points, why is it even called the World Wide Web if it’s not widespread? Well, to conclude, the internet is good and bad, it was one of the best inventions but the exponential evolution of it might not be in our best interest, but again you might have not read this without the internet, so bare necessity? YES.

What would you choose, living in a country with no internet connectivity or in a country with internet sovereignty? I just wanted to end with saying, there is a positive and a negative side of, till they co-exist balancing each other, the world is a safe place, but the future generations are in for a ride.