The Internet has changed the world in so many ways. The changes are quite evident in the field of psychology. Many of these changes are very positive, while others are negative.
The Pros
Let me start by discussion some of the benefits of the internet for the field of psychology. A commonly cited benefit of internet in general is that it provides information to those who may not be able to afford to access the information through other sources. Additionally, it helps information become available that was previously difficult to track down even for those who could afford to seek it through various means.
Information has also become accessible more quickly. Whereas previously it took a great deal of time to make this information available, now, sometimes in a matter of seconds, information can be made available.
In academia, the internet has brought with it new approaches to teaching and communication that helps enhance the overall learning experience. In recent years, I’ve created a teaching web site to provide additional course information and links to useful information on the web along with using listservs and blogs to continue class dialogues between classes. Many students have commented that this helped them get the most out of the class.
Therapists have begun to build web sites to promote their practice and help consumers find more information about their services. For example, I’ve decided to focus on advertising my practice through my web site instead of the yellow pages. This allows me to provide more information about the services offered than what a yellow page add could cover. Additionally, this helps me to keep my advertising costs low which in return help me to keep my fees lower.
Consumers are now able to access quality information about psychology, therapy, and mental illness through the internet. Additionally, they are often able to find out more information about their therapist. This allows them to become informed consumers seeking out the services that are the best fit for their needs and values.
My primary motivation in constructed several web sties it to provide high-quality, free information for consumers, students, and professionals. Most of the web sites are primarily targeted to providing information to consumers or students. My commitment is that I will only provide these web sites as long as I am able to provide them for free. While some groups continue to advocate for increasing the cost to be able to have and maintain a web site, my hope is that it remains affordable for some time to come.
The Cons
Some of the cons are very similar to the pros. For example, while there is a good deal of quality information about psychology, therapy, and mental illness, there is also a lot of bad or inaccurate information, too. While its easier to become an informed consumer, it’s also easier to become an informed consumer who’s received bad information. It’s important to not take information on the internet for granted.
The accessibility of the internet has also caused some concerned for many professionals. For example, many therapists are now “googled” by the consumers seeking their services. In other words, it is much more difficult for therapists to keep their lives private today. Additionally, many therapists believe they are spending more time correcting inaccurate information about mental illness and therapy which consumers found on the internet.
Nearly anyone can create a professional looking web site with little accountability for the information provided on the web site. This further complicates many of the issues discussed above. It’s oftentimes very difficult to determine the quality of information on a web site. Oftentimes, its difficult to tell much about the person who developed the web site. Opinions are routinely presented as facts.
Because of these potential dangers, I believe it’s becoming more and more important for education from high school through graduate school to teach people critical thinking skills, including skills on how to evaluate the quality of information on the internet. My hope is that soon many high school and college courses will require students to critically evaluate a variety of web sites to facilitate building these thinking skills.
Conclusion
The internet is here to stay. Along with it come many problems and many blessings. It makes little sense to try to get rid of the internet at this point. This would be a losing battle. However, it is important to learn to use it with caution. This article along with the resources listed below hopefully will help people begin to be more critical consumers of the internet.
Suggested Related Resources:
Determining Scholarly Resources
Using the Internet in Academic Settings