The Yin to the Yang

Some reading I was doing for a graduate course I’m taking got me to thinking about the evolution of electronic commerce. I remember all the hype around it in the late ’90s. “Brick and mortar is dead.” That sort of thing. Oracle had an ad that said something like “The Internet. This changes everything.” Certainly it was over hyped. But there’s no denying that the Internet has indeed had a significant impact on the world. For example, the globalization of the white collar workforce is what I consider to be one of the most significant changes brought about by the Internet.

What wasn’t discussed nearly enough at the time, and probably still isn’t today, is all of the other changes and innovations that come along with the good stuff (such as shopping on amazon.com). The Yin to the Yang, if you will. Part of the “everything” the Internet has changed has to do with crime, privacy, psychological afflictions, and more. SPAM, phishing, identity theft, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism… Those are some of the obvious downsides. I’m also sensitive to some of the more subtle issues. For example, hardcore iPhone and Blackberry users often have a constant assault of emails and instant messages which may result in the shortening of their attention spans and a severe negative impact on productivity – whether personal or at work. Here’s another subtle issue: bad information. Just because it’s published on the Web doesn’t mean it’s accurate. Wikipedia is a well-known example of this issue.

Anyway, just thinking out loud…