The Internet is by far one of the greatest inventions of all time for many reasons. The Internet allows people to share ideas, meet old friends, and even express their problems to the masses. While the Internet creates all of these great phenomena, it also brings out some of the crazies of the world.
Let's start with the good things first. The Internet allows for the spread of ideas and information at a phenomenal speed. When a natural disaster, death, or even an important presidential speech occurs, you can find information about whatever happened almost immediately. This speed of information transfer has become a vital role in people's lives, jobs, and even ideas and perspectives on certain issues. A great example of this is YouTube.
YouTube allows normal people to make videos on whatever they wish (which is a problem every now and then) for no cost. This power has created TV shows and even companies. A representation of this is the infamous comedy series known as "Red Vs. Blue" by RoosterTeeth. Red Vs. Blue is an animated series using the different colored characters from videogame Halo as their "actors." The first episode was made as a video for fun, and did not expect to continue making episodes or to make a 10-season long show. The first episode, titled "Why Are We Here," was passed around and watched by about 5 million people. After season 1, the staff of RVB got a letter from Microsoft saying that they didn't know where RVB was going or what it will become, but that they had Microsoft behind them. From there, their company, RoosterTeeth, became larger and was able to make a whole new branch to their company known as Achievement Hunter. The founders of RoosterTeeth -- Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, and Gus Sorola -- were able to hire more people onto RoosterTeeth. The point of all of this is the fact that the Internet not only created a great comedy series, but it also created a tightly knit community that had not existed before and never would have without the Internet. Another great example occurred recently when a comic was posted to the self-proclaimed "Front Page of the Internet," Reddit. The comic said that a girl's friend was clearing out the medicine cabinet and found a pregnancy test, and decided to take it as a joke.
It turned out positive and the conclusion to the comic was him saying, "I'm pregnant!" The comment section quickly lit up saying that he should get checked for testicular cancer and that men with testicular cancer produce the same pheromone produced by pregnant women. He made an appointment and a few days later, another comic was posted saying that they went in and the doctor found a small tumor in one of his testicles. She then proceeded to say that because it was caught so early, it could be treated immediately and he wouldn't have to take any other type of medicine. The Internet used its collective knowledge to help a man with a serious health issue that neither he nor his doctors would have found until much later, making it far less simple.
Now we will go to the dark depths of the Internet where no one should travel alone, so I will be your guide. There is a balance in life to everything, including the Internet. The Internet's dark yin to it's light yang is mainly confined to one website, YouTube. YouTube has produced videos that have made the news for their strange and uncommon features. Now please, brace yourself with the videos you are about to hear about and, if you choose, watch. Now, I am sure a large majority of the crowd on HuffPost Teen has seen the music video "Friday." (If you haven't, here is a link -- WATCH ALL VIDEOS WITH DISCRETION.) "Friday" has become the most-disliked video on YouTube along with racking up 43 million views. "Friday" is an example of people who make a music video and then post it to YouTube, thinking that it is amazing. What these people do is publicly embarrass themselves and the other people in the video. Just recently, a new Rebecca Black has made herself known. Her name is Nicole Westbrook and her video is called "It's Thanksgiving."
The fact that these videos are still being made seriously is one of the problems with the Internet. People see someone fail and think that they could succeed, and so they try and fail and embarrass themselves just like the last victim. My last example is a man named Riak, and if you search his name you'll get plenty of laughs.
The whole point of these good and bad things about the Internet is that the Internet is becoming continuously a more integral part of everyday life. It's important to know what is crossing a line. The Internet is both a beautiful and ugly creature, but the best part is that the users mold its face, so there is time for us to choose what we want the Web to be.