The Internet...good or evil? Discuss.

I'm torn about whether or not the internet is more good than bad, or vice versa. On the one hand, it brings people together from all over the world and allows them to share their experiences, their knowledge, their lives. It allows an agoraphobic woman in Tulsa to interact with the world in ways she never could have dreamed a few years ago. It allows a gay teenager in small-town America to learn that he is not alone in this world. We were discussing this very thing during our city's Pride Parade, when we saw the gay bikers who fit every stereotype of "biker," and not one stereotype of "gay." Imagine, growing up, if you feel like a biker, but know you're gay, and think, "Well, this'll never work for me. Something's gotta give." Then you find out, it doesn't. There are people JUST LIKE YOU, and you can find them and commisserate, become friends, belong. How freaking exciting is that moment? The internet has undoubtedly made it easier for those in any niche to find like-minded folks.

Of course, it also allows rapists and other criminals to find one another, and their victims. (I almost said "perverts," but as long as there are no victims, I'm all in favor of perverts finding one another. Let your freak flag fly, honey.)

It also allows hypochondriacs like me to be relatively sure they're developing osteoarthritis in both left knee and left big toe--and to be glad it isn't rheumatoid arthritis, which my cousin has, which sucks, and which symmetrically affects joints, rather than gettingsimply the left or right side. It also allows me to wonder if my recent dizzy spells and tingling sensations (not in a good way), coupled with the fact that my ongoing instant and hideous bruising indicating a potassium deficiency, might join up with the occasional fluttering I feel in my chest to send me to the doctor for an EKG or something yucky like that. Ah, isn't WebMD great? I did notice that the National Institutes of Health listed this lovely information about arrythmia:

Complications Return to top

• Angina (chest pain caused by imbalance of supply and demand for oxygen in the heart muscle)
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• Sudden death

Well, yeah, I suppose "sudden death" would be a complication, now wouldn't it? I notice there's no hotlink from "sudden death." Hmm....

Don't mind me, I'll just be sitting over here cataloguing and cross-referencing every symptom I've EVER had. Oh, yeah, that's right. The internet lets me whine to at least twice as many people as I could in my "real" life. I guess all in all, it's not so bad.