1. Impersonality. The internet can improve human interactions when it increases communication (for instance, when we send an e-mail message to someone we can't afford to phone or when we send an e-mail message when there isn't time to write a letter). However, it can hinder human interaction when it becomes a replacement for more intimate forms of communication. The internet convinces some people to stay home, avoid meeting real people and do all of their interacting over the internet. One woman interviewed for a recent TV news story said she spends eight hours a day on the internet; she has lots of friends around the world, but she has never actually met any of them. Because we learn over e-mail only what the person at the other end chooses to type into his or her computer, there is great potential for dishonesty and superficiality.
2. Reliability. There is a also danger of being so impressed with the technological medium that we do not critically examine the message. We may think that information delivered by the most up-to-date technology must also be the most up-to-date, reliable information. The reverse is often the case. Since it is easy and inexpensive to dump information onto the internet, what gets dumped onto the internet is also often easy and inexpensive. If a publisher is going to risk thousands of dollars printing books, the publisher is going to make sure the information is right; if the information costs virtually nothing to publish on the internet and can always be corrected later, the publisher has little reason to be as careful. I recently saw an internet message inviting anyone who was interested to contribute articles to an "online encyclopedia". A more traditional encyclopedia would check out the credentials of its writers before asking them to write.
A related question is accountability. If someone prints libellous or incorrect information in a magazine, he can be sued. If he puts the same information on the internet, it is more difficult to hold him accountable. He may erase the offending information, deny he wrote it (who can prove the file wasn't altered by the person who received it?) or simply take refuge in the fact that he is only identified by an internet address that can be used from anywhere in the world and does not indicate where he actually lives. During a recent church controversy, libellous and misinformed charges which would never have been published by a magazine were nevertheless posted on a Mennonite chat line. Such chat lines can degenerate into opportunities for gossip.
As well, there is a tendency to put new, untried information onto the internet as it is generated, whereas old, tested information is inaccessible because it is already in a different form. For instance, one can access big university libraries on the internet and read their online card catalogues, but the only books that can actually be read over the internet are new ones, not older ones. A significant development is that very good encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia Britannica are now being ignored because computer distributors load cheap alternative encyclopedias onto computer hard drives when they sell them.
3. Addiction. It is quite easy to become addicted to "surfing the net", trying to find new and exotic sites or simply repeatedly purusing the same site. Internet interactive games are particularly addictive, but the problem can also occur with computers and the internet in general. If a pastor spends ten or 20 hours a week searching the internet for theological information, is that good use of his time? If a person spends three hours trying to figure out how to connect his computer to the local library, is that wise? He could have spent the three hours reading the book.
Like many things, the internet is a good tool but a poor master. It works best if we know what we want to do with it and do it, rather than if we float around on it hoping something good will happen. JC